♪ "There's nuthin wrong with me lovin'... Challah French Toast... You know what I'm talkin' about... You don't have to worry that it's wrong... Let's get it on!" ♫
Place: the Manor~ An American Bistro Diner[1] Location: 321a West Portal Avenue (between 14th and 15th Avenues) Hours: open Tuesday - Sunday at 8:00am (they now open a half-hour later than they did last year, but this is still plenty early enough for me to be called a breakfast-joint) Meal: (main breakfast) Challah French Toast ~ with warm fruit compote (option); a side of Deviled Eggs with Togarashi[2] (this came as three halves ~ so, even using Common Core Math, basically 1-1/2 eggs); and a large glassa fresh squeezed orange juice (and afterward for a breakfastary dessert) at BallastCoffee™ a(n extra LARGE) cuppa their house "Regular" drip Coffee; and a PassionfruitChocolatedoughnut from dynamo donut
(See below for today's EweToobular juxtaselectionary-ratiocination.) I went back to the Manor ~ An American Bistro Diner (see last/previous 'blog-entry from Saturday, April 1st, 2017[3]) for breakfast this morning. Once again, I sat at the end of the diner-counter nearest the kitchen-prep area. This morning they were primarily playing on the house radio/stereo a pandora-channel (I guessed and asked, and was told it was indeed a pandora-channel) featuring cool 60's-70's Motown/Soul/R&B classics ~ suchas: the above-linked Marvin Gaye 1973 mega-hit; the Jackson Five; Aretha (no last name is really needed, is it?); Stevie Wonder; and Sam Cooke. There really are not that many different items from which to choose on their menu for breakfast, but I could have also made a meal of: Create Your Own Omelette ~ where I was thinking along the lines of either creating my own artichoke hearts, spinach, and Swiss omelette; or an avocado, roasted bell peppers, and Monterey Jack omelette creation; or possibly just getting one of their salads ~ Butter Leaf Salad with Roasted Beets, Apples, & Fried Goat Cheese or Green Goddess Salad with Little Gem Lettuce ~ and breakfastising them with either two poached eggs placed on top or (three halves) Deviled Eggs with Togarashi.
I mainly went with the choice of Challah French Toast because Passover started last evening... and this dish really should not be passed-over as it was truly exceptional. (I bet that it would have even made a great Last Supper for some unfortunate Nazarene.) The waitress/server-lady person offered some, but I decided (correctly) to forego any butter or maple syrup on top of the French toast; none was needed at all, as their warm fruit compote was perfect all on its ownsome. While this dish may not be in the same category as Baker Street Bistro's Pain Perdu Extraordinaire, it is definitely worth checking out. For condimentary supplementation, the Manor had both Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce for use on the tables and diner-counter. I did not really need any with my particular choices this morning, though.
My original plan after breakfast was to go back to Greenhouse Cafe (as I had been doing after breakfast for the past few years whenever I was in the West Portal neighborhood ~ and I was really looking forward to two or three of the mini-macarons that were sold there); however, they have closed up (Coffee-)shop and there is a brand-new (I was told by one of the barista-dudes ~ since October 2017) coffeehouse in its place. I actually walked right by BallastCoffee™ before back-tracking to discover that Greenhouse Cafe had closed; I did not recognize the façade at all with its new paint-job. Luckily, they did retain the backyard garden patio area; however, it was still way too foggy and chilly this morning to enjoy my Coffee and doughnut out there. Both the Coffee and the doughnut were very good. Happily, BallastCoffee™'s Coffee is much better than the Coffee that they used to serve at Greenhouse Cafe (which was never bad at all, anyway). I have had dynamo donut many times before (and this particular flavour, too) and knew beforehand that I would enjoy it. One of the barista-dudes told me that they do all their own Coffee-roasting in a facility in South San Francisco. I did not grill (or roast) him on exactly what blend/type of beans that are used in their "Regular" house Coffee (I will probably do so on a future visit, though). In a musical-juxtaposition to what was playing earlier at the Manor, BallastCoffee™ was playing on their house radio/stereo (I did not bother to ask, but I can only assume that it was another pandora-style channel) mostly 70's and 80's Rock-and/or-Roll songs ~ suchas: the above-linked Jimi song (while, little Robbie Zimmerman may have penned this song, Jimi completely owns it with his version); Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Yang; (and even a solo) Noel Yang; the Rollink Stonz; ... and Johnny Cash(?!?). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Challah French Toast ~ 7.4; Deviled Eggs with Togarashi~ 6.2; BallastCoffee™ "Regular" drip Coffee ~ 7.3; PassionfruitChocolatedoughnut from dynamo donut ~ 7.2; Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" ~ 7.5; Jimi's "Watchtower" ~ 9.5 (yes, I know, this may be the highest GBS Rating points that I have ever given here, but this song ~ tied with Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry" ~ happens to be my All-Time Favourite Rock-and/or-Roll Song of All-Time and topping it would be very hard to do in my book[4])
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1. They informed me that this was shortened from their original idea of: "An American Bistro Diner Café Coffeehouse Grill Roadhouse Canteen Eatery Dive Restaurant Kinda-thing". 2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day: Contrary to popular belief, Togarashi is not a Starfleet Academy no-win training exercise. Tōgarashi (唐辛子) is simply Japanese for genus Capsicum, or specifically the species Capsicum annuum, and commonly translated as chilli pepper. When the term is used in English, it refers to any number of chilli peppers or chilli pepper-related products from Japan, including Shichimi, or Shichimi tōgarashi, a condiment that is a spice mixture of seven different ingredients that varies by maker. 3. No foolin', this was exactly one year ago today. However, this is not necessarily a coincidence; my optometrist is directly across the street and I had to make my annual eye-appointment, anyway. 4. As I have stated many times before in the past, "my book" is just a 12-page colouring book, but I do try to stay within the lines... well, most of the time.
Place: TJCafe Location: 724 La Playa Street (between Balboa and Cabrillo Streets); phonicular contact: (415) 702-6286 Hours: open Wednesday - Monday at 8:30am Meal: "Veggie" (uggh!) Cheese Omelet ~ served with grilled onion, bell pepper, mushroom, spinach, avocado, & cheese, with toast or potatoes (homefries); and a bottle of some corporate-brand cranberry-grape juice
(Okay, so maybe there was no "A Taste of Honey" in this morning's meal, but ol' Herbie & his Brass-men never recorded a song called "A Taste of 'Veggie' [uggh!] Cheese Omelet".) A few weeks back I stumbled upon TJCafe during lunchtime and noticed that they are also open early for breakfasts most mornings, too. They have only been open since March 2014 in the space that used to house a Burger King®[1] for many years. As best as I can discern, they are a Korean(?) family-owned restaurant. However, there are no dishes on their lunch and dinner menu that would specify it is Korean-owned; I don't know, a nice Kimchi-Burger or Bulgogi-Burger might be a big seller. As can be expected by a strip-mallish oceanside restaurant, the space is rather small with seating of just two tables for two, two booths for four, one booth for five-six people, and an additional two-seater table out front on the sidewalk. For being just a little oceanside café-joint, their breakfast menu is pretty diverse, though. A few of the other ideas that I was looking at that were suitable for stupid vegetarians: The Bountiful Breakfast ~ served with 2 eggs any style (chicken eggs are usually my go-to style) & potatoes; choice of pancake, French toast or toast; choice of bacon, sausage, or ham (I wonder if they would let me substitute another pancake or French toast in place of the dead, decaying animal flesh-stuff); Breakfast Sandwich - B ~ egg and cheese, tomato and avocado on toasted English muffin (you can also order this on a bagel or croissant); or "Veggie" (uggh!) Burrito ~ flour tortilla filled with eggs, cheese, grilled onion, bell pepper, mushroom, spinach, avocado, potatoes, & fresh salsa. I happened to notice that they serve Peerless Coffee & Tea®, but did not feel like having any more Coffee this morning (I had already dripped-me-down a cuppa my own Coffee earlier in the morning at home before heading out). They offer at least two different blends/roasts of Coffee in self-serve Thermos®-canister/dispenser-things up by the front door (and they also had a de-caf, but we need never speak of/drink of such atrocities). http://www.peerlesscoffee.com/
Wow! I hate to sound like that guy who always judges reading material by its outer covering, but this meal was soooooo much better than I was expecting. Do not be fooled by the paper plate and napkins, plastic fork and knife accoutrements, and it being served on a cafeteria-style plastic tray. Not only was the omelette very good on its own merits/making, but they use real Cheddar cheese inside, not that faux, tasteless 'merican "processed cheese product" that you would normally get at a fast food joint. Of course, I went with the potatoey choice as my side (I suppose I could have ordered a side of toast, but it was not needed, anyway). This was a very good choice, as their homefries were pretty decent all on their ownsome. TJCafeoffers Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce, and Huy Fong Foods, Inc.Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce for use as condimentary supplements. I used some of my own Dragon BreathGarlic Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of the omelette and some Emperor's Revenge Teriyaki Hot Sauce (Thanks again, Mom!) judiciously all over the homefries. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: "Veggie" (uggh!) Cheese Omelet ~ 6.5; friendly, neighborhoody, laid-back, oceanside atmosphere ~ 7.6
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1. I really like living in the Richmond. There are only about five to ten (possibly even less than five) National/International fast food chain-type restaurants that are in this entire neighborhood of San Francisco, which is pretty d*rn good for the size of the neighborhood. That is not counting the corporate bastages of St*rbucks, but even they only have one stinkin' location in this whole neighborhood.
(Here is where I normally would post a photo of the restaurant; however... someone forgot to pack a camera in his backpack this morning! The 555 is on me.) https://www.lapisaraeatery.com/ (Do not bother clicking on that link yet. This is their "Official" website, but apparently they are still way too new to even have it activated.) Place: Lapisara Eatery Location: 698 Post Street (on the corner of Jones Street); phonicular contact: (415) 655-3556 Hours: open every day of the week at 7:30am for "Brunch" (but because this place is just quaint enough and open early enough every day, I did not even mind that snooty-*ss nomenclature) Meal: "Veggie" (uggh!) Omelet ~ mushroom, (red & green) bell pepper, spinach, (white) onion, tomatoes, avocado, and sharp Cheddar - served with breakfast potatoes and sourdough toast; and a glassa Mix Berry Lemonade
(Geez. Can't ya make up yer d*mn mind, Sir Mick?! [There are no EweToobular juxtaselections with today's videos and meal. I just had these two Rollink Stonz songs pop into my head earlier this morning and felt like counter-playing them against themselves.]) While peregrinating around Lower Nob Hill (which is, let's face it, really just "the Upper Tenderloin") a few weeks back after breakfast, I came across a brand spanking-new (as in they had just opened for spanking-business on Tuesday, March 6th) little place ~ Lapisara Eatery. Luckily, this knowledge came in handy as a back-up plan, as, once again this morning, I was planning on returning to cafébean, but they were not open at 7:30am (café bean is supposed to open at 7:00am daily; I waited twenty minutes, but they never opened this morning ~ they may possibly be closed for a vacation or such; however, there were no signs in the door/windows stating that they are not currently open for business). Lapisara Eatery is a really cute little joint. There are just fifteen tables for two's and four tables for four's. Supposably this is a Thai family (or two) owned restaurant that specializes in Thai-fusion, but I could not determine that from any of the dishes on the menu. I am not sure what "Lapisara" means in Thai, but the menu is adorned with a small family of elephants[1] marching along the top. They do not have that extensive a "Brunch" menu for silly vegetarian-types, but there still are a few other decent choices whenever I decide on a return-trip (or if cafébean is still not open): (the ubiquitous) Avocado Toast~ with olive oil and toast, add $2.00 poach egg (which I am sure I would do); French Toast ~ with House Bourbon Maple Syrup (which is intriguing enough all on its ownsome), brown sugar and butter; and they also offer a side called Cheddar & Chive Biscuit that might need checking out ("out which might need checking"?! Nah. That just sounds wrong, too.).
(Again, here is where I would usually input a photo of the meal. It is just a pity that someone forgot his camera this morning; this really was a pretty-looking omelette dish. Oh, well.) Not only was this a pretty-looking dish, it was pretty d*rn tasty, too. The red and green bell peppers were slightly roasted/charred as were the cherry tomatoes in it. I am not sure what they did to the spinach, but it was sautéed and had a very unique flavour to it, too; I was guessing they might have sautéed the spinach in sesame oil or something (I did not think to ask, but enjoyed the flavour all the same). There was a half an avocado sliced and fanned out on top of the omelette (while this may seem like a cheap way outta stuffing that ingredient inside the omelette-shell, I rather liked the simplicity of it). Odious-name aside, I really liked this "Veggie" (uggh!) Omelet. This place was a pleasant "new" discovery for me. Their version of breakfast potatoes were a real winner, too. These were made with lots of red and green bell peppers in them and topped with lots of green onions... as you can see from the above photo... oh, never mind! The only bottles of condimentary supplementation that I saw on all the tables were Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Cholula®Hot Sauce (Original). I just used some of my own Palo AltoFire Fighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the potatoes and some Fan The FlamesSriracha Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of the omelette. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: "Veggie" (uggh!) Omelet ~ 7.0
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1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: I did a quick Google Translate search and while there appears to be several (as in at least ten) different words in Thai for "elephant", none of them when transliterated resembled "Lapisara".
(Sorry, you try finding decent garlic-studded songs. Besides, you know you all wanna give "garlic gumbo gravy guava" a go-go.) garlic[2] noun | gar-lic | \ˈgär-lik\ 1 : a European allium (Allium sativum) widely cultivated for its pungent compound bulbs much used in cookery; broadly : ALLIUM 2 : a bulb of garlic — garlicky \ˈgär-li-kē\ adjective This is just a quick follow-up on garlic (see previous 'blog-entry from Wednesday, February 11th, 2015). This is the kinda thing that pops into my head late at night (well, 3:00am early in the morning) when I can not sleep. While garlic may not necessarily be a mandatory ingredient for the first meal of the day (and just how come those smarmy bastages at the Pancake Home of Internationality [better known as "PHOI®", of course] have never come up with a decent "Garlic Pancake"?), it really does enhance most breakfastary dishes. Any decent homefries/country potatoes worth its merits should include at least a little (or, like the truly Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes at Eats, a lot) of this tasty underground fruit. ("But... Brian... garlic is not really a 'fruit' is it?" Seriously?! This is a silly li'l 'blog-post about "garlic", fercryinoutloud, and you are actually questioning my botanical authentification. Besides, if you don't believe me, you can check with those monkey-experts at Scopes.com [see, they don't just fight smelly bad-breath now-a-days, they fight smelly bad-breathtaking rumours, too].) Most of the great cuisines of the World utilize garlic to some extent in their dishes (with the exception of certain sects of Buddhism[3]): Chinese, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Thai, Indian (the Hindu-type, I am not sure about the Native American take on garlic, but I bet it would be great with fry-bread), Burmese (Myanmarese, too), Vietnamese, French, German, Korean, Japanese, Turkish, Arab, Israeli (and also European/American Jewish), Ethiopian and Eritrean, Russian, Afghani, Cuban, Jamaican, and Irish[4]. Garlic always goes great in/with some of my favourite foods: Pizza (and, yes, in my family Pizza is a traditional breakfast dish, d*mmit!), potatoes (in the chips form and most all forms), etc. I have even had Garlic Ice Cream (once) and it wasn't that bad (of course, it was late in the afternoon at the Gilroy Garlic Festival[5] and by that time everything tasted like garlic anyway). Not to mention... Τζατζίκι! (and do not try and tell me that Tzatziki is not a true breakfast dish; it has yoghurt in it, right?) However, I do draw the line at garlic-Coffee and garlic-Beer. And just another good reason that garlic is a great breakfast addition ~ not that I expect people will run out to their local Garlic Julius® tomorrow to start drinking up this stuff ~ but a 3.5 oz/100g serving of garlic has 38% of your Daily Value of Vitamin C (okay, sure, the equivalent serving of oranges pack a 64% of Vitamin C, but when was the last time you asked for extra oranges on your Pizza Margherita?). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Garlic (plain) ~ 6.8; Garlic (roasted) ~ 7.2; Τζατζίκι ~ 7.2-8.2
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1. http://www.garlic-central.com/stinking-rose.html First off, I am impressed that there is an actual web-site dedicated to garlic. Secondly, while garlic is not actually a member of the Rose-family, it is interesting to point out that apples (as well as pears, quinces, apricots, plums, cherries, peaches, raspberries, loquats, strawberries, and almonds) are. How do you like them roses?! 2. Definitionary results courtesy of little Miss Mary-Anne Webster. 3. Do you really wanna know the complete arbitrariness of that particular dietary restriction? You can read my somewhat explanation in my initial garlic 'blog-entry. The ban also includes not using onions, leeks, and a few other good-tasting stuff. H*ck, different Buddhist sects can not even agree as to exactly why this is. Trust me, this Buddha guy would not last a week on the food network. 4. No, "Irish Cuisine" is not a culinaristic oxymoron. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: For any of you wise-a-guy pun-dits wondering just what the word for "garlic" in Gaelic might be, it is "gairleog". 5. https://gilroygarlicfestival.com/
Madness takes its toll... please have exact change!
https://www.matchinghalfcafe.com/ Place: Matching Half (Café) Location: 1799 McAllister Street (on the corner of Baker Street... no sh*t, Sherlock!) Hours: open Monday-Friday at 7:00am, Saturday & Sunday at 7:30am Meal: Breakfast Sandwich ~ scrambled eggs & Cheddar on brioche (bun), bagel, or bed of greens (which would be a silly choice and not even a "Sandwich" ~ "Breakfast" or "otherwise") w/ avocado; a homemade (well, bakery-made) Blackberry "Pop-tart" from Black Jet Baking Company; and another mighty-fine cuppa (pour-over style) Andytown Coffee RoastersEthiopia Bedhatu Jibicho https://www.blackjetbakingco.com/ http://www.andytownsf.com/purchase/ethiopia-bedhatu-jibicho
(Luckily, we will not have to do any unnecessarily imposed time-warping again until Sunday, November 4th.) I came across Matching Half (Café) last weekend after breakfast as this little corner neighborhood coffeehouse is located just across the street from green chile kitchen. I suppose you could say "... it's just a jump to the left... and then a step to the riiiiiiight!"... (Well, you could say that if you happened upon a creepy Frankenstein-place late one night.) Because of the evil "time-warp" inflicted upon us this morning, I was able to find a decent parking spot right in front of the joint. There really wasn't much customer-activity the entire time I was there (from 7:45am-ish to 8:30am-ish), anyway. (Conclusion: Just because our time-pieces [both wall-adorned and wrist-wearing] state "7:30am", our bodies are still clinging hopelessly to the fact that it is actually "6:30am".) My main reason for heading back that-a-way so soon again is that I noticed that Matching Half served Andytown Coffee Roasters as their house Coffee! Any food-stuff that they might provide thereafter would just be icing on the cake (or "Pop-tart"). Not only did I like that they offer Andytown Coffee Roasters, but they also give you several of their Coffee options (blends/roasts) from which to choose, too. Me (to barista-dude handing me my cuppa): "So, what does 'Matching Half' mean/stand for?" Barista-dude: "I think it is some kinda Greek mythology reference." (Okay. Whatever that means. I left it at that.) I really have to give kudos to both the barista-dude and the counter person-lady that took my order, they put up with a lot of inane questions (and by "a lot", I mean I bored the h*ck outta them with A LOT of stupid questions) from me about everything Coffee-related (from my unbridled exuberance for Andytown Coffee Roasters [in my opinion (and my opinion is all I care about, anyway), these guys are easily the Best Local Coffee Roasters ~ and I do not mean just "local" as in "San Francisco-local", but "local" as in "Northern California-local", and quite possibly the entire "Golden State-local"]... to Ethiopian Coffee [especially Andytown Coffee RoastersEthiopia Natural Banko Fuafuate ~ which is truly exceptional, and currently my favourite local blend/roast]... to Snowbird Coffee [the barista-dude told me that one of their other workers also works at ★ the ★ Richfield part-time]... to Contraband Coffee... etcoffee) and baked goods-related (from Bakers of Paris for most of their bread/sandwich items... to House of Bagels™, which is where they get all their bagels [it truly is one of the better New York-style bagelries in town; even though I have actually only been to New York City just a handful of times, to me, this is what a New York bagel should taste like]).
For my sandwich, I went with the brioche bun choice (a wise choice, as it turned out to be ~ why the h-*-c-k would I choose the d*mn rabbit-food option?). This was a very nice bun, too. Aside from the fact that these scrambled eggs were made nookular-style in a microwavable cooking unit, this was a pretty decent sandwich (and those clowns at Mickey-D's could take a pointer or two here). It included an entire half (because the term "a whole half" is as confusing as trying to "save an hour" of sunlight) of an avocado in the sandwich. The Blackberry "Pop-tart" was made with puff pastry from what I could discern. They offered several other flavours: Brown Sugar (which would have been a very good choice with today's meal, too), Jalapeño (let's just see Kellogg's® try and market that flavour to kids), Strawberry, nutella®, and even a PB&J one. Now the cuppa was another truly fine output from Andytown Coffee Roasters. While this might not have been as stellar a find as their Ethiopia Natural Banko Fuafuate, it was definitely recommendation-worthy and better'n a lotta the tasteless brown-swill that is being served now-a-days at many purveyors of Coffee-joints. For being just a neighborhood corner coffeehouse, Matching Half actually had a decent array of condimentary supplements. They had bottles of Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce, Huy Fong Foods, Inc.Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, Valentina® Salsa Picante, and the Pepper Plant® (Original California Style Hot Pepper Sauce). I did not notice all of those hot sauces until after I had finished eating and had bused my plates, though. So, I just used some more of my own Palo AltoFire Fighters XXX GhostPepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on half of the sandwich and some Dancing DragonCayenne Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the other half. You don't have to be a sweet Transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania to know that any place that serves Andytown Coffee Roasters is andy with me, Jake! Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Breakfast Sandwich ~ 6.4; Blackberry "Pop-tart" ~ 6.6; Andytown Coffee RoastersEthiopia Bedhatu Jibicho ~ 7.3 (keeping in mind that Andytown Coffee RoastersEthiopia Natural Banko Fuafuate comes in rocking the GBS at about 8.0-8.2)
(No official web-site.) Place: Han's Coffee Shop Location: 900 Sutter Street (on the corner of Leavenworth Street); phonicular contact: (415) 800-8792 Hours: open for breakfast every day of the week at 7:00am Meal: Popeye's Omelette ~ 3 eggs, spinach, tomato, onion, mushroom, & cheese (it did not state if this was made with Olive Oyl or not, though), served with hash-brown[ sic ; hyphenated-and-singular ] and toast; and a large glassa orange juice to drink
(I am not exactly sure when Popeye became a corporate shill for the Spinach Growers of America, but this EweToobular video states that it is from 1934.)[1] I was originally planning on going back to cafébean this morning for another decent ontbijt, but when I arrived there just a little after 7:00am, they were not open yet. So I just walked around the immediate neighborhood to kill some time until they may finally open up about fifteen minutes later. Well, just a block west, I came across an interesting little corner diner/café-looking joint and made a mental note (I think it was an insane C-flat) to check it out some day in the future. When I arrived back to cafébean about 7:15am, they were still not open and it did not look like they would be opening any time soon... so... the future is here(!) and I walked back up the block to Han's Coffee Shop. (Just as a point, when I had finished breakfast about a half-hour later, I walked back by cafébean, but they still did not look like they would be opening any time soon.) Han's Coffee Shop turned out to be a great, friendly, little neighborhoody place. The whole time I was there I saw shiny, happy people (but neither Michael Stipe nor Peter Buck was among them) coming and going and many seemed to be return-regulars as the two workers there (one griller/cook-guy and one waiter/server person-guy) greeted them as if they knew them well. It is located in that DMZ area bordering the southern end of Snob Hill's upscalety (which some feel fit to classify as "Lower Nob Hill") and the scary, run-down part of the Tenderloin (so, maybe they can classify this area as "Upper Tenderloin", too). There are only eleven tables (which seat from two to four people) and two diner/counter-stools overlooking the kitchen-grill (but those seemed to be mostly used by people ordering "to-go" food and sitting there chatting while waiting for their pick-up orders).
(This cool-looking mural takes up the entire back wall, so you can picture just how small the place really is.)
I am not sure when I might get back there again (if cafébeanis again closed on my next attempt perhaps), but I did see a few other interesting ideas for breakfast: Kimchi Omelette ~ kimchi, bell pepper, onion, cheese, ham (which I was planning on 여든 여섯-ing), & rice (this was actually my first choice, but, unfortunately for me, I was informed that their kimchi is made with fish-sauce in it); Vegetarian (and they get extra points for not calling this a "Veggie" [uggh!]) Omelette ~ avocado, bell pepper, mushroom, onion, tomato, & cheese; or maybe even Bi-Bim-Bob[ sic ][2] ~ mixed vegetables, beef (아니요 괜찮습니다!) over rice & hot sauce (they have this dish listed under their "Korean Special Menu"; I am not sure if it is available for breakfast, but I bet it would be great as it normally is served with either a raw egg [which will get "cooked" from the heat of the hot rice] or an over-medium egg on top).
This was your basic "no frills-but nicely made" corner-diner omelette. It was much better than I can ever make and still pretty tasty. It was made with lots of fresh ~ not frozen or canned ~ (and, yes, this really does make a difference) sautéed spinach. I was not aware of Popeye being such a fungophile, though. If I were to quibble about one minor point, the "cheese" that they used in and on top of it was that tasteless, faux, processed-sliced junk (which is best used for caulking an old kitchen sink in a condemned building and not for human consumption). From what I saw on the tables, Han's Coffee Shop offered for condimentary supplementation both Frank's®RedHot® (Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. I did see a large bottle of Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) back on a shelf in the kitchen area, though. Once again, I just used some of my own Palo AltoFire FightersXXX GhostPepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) all over the hashbrowns and some Hot Licks®SerranoHot Sauce (Thanks again, Brian!) on top of the omelette. Strange Gochujang Interlude I asked my friendly waiter/server-guy if they had any gochujang, because I would probably have used some of that on my hashbrowns instead. He told me they didn't have any. What?! No gochujang?! This made no sense as I am sure that they must have some that they serve with most of their Korean specialty dishes (it just ain't bibimbap, Bob, without some d*rn gochujang!). I didn't push the issue and I am putting it down to him probably not understanding my dawg-awful pronunciation of "gochujang". Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Popeye's Omelette ~ 6.1 (now if this had been made with real Swiss cheese, I probably would have given it another 0.2-0.3 GBS points); the whole friendly atmosphere-vibe ~ 7.5 ___________________
1. Hmmm?! I wonder if Popeye had been a big br*ccoli fan instead if I might actually like "the vile weed" myself today. 2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day: As best as I can tell, the Korean dish "bibimbap" (a more standard spelling) translates simply as "mixed rice". The word for "(cooked) rice" in Korean is "밥" (pronounced/transliterated as either "bab" or "bap"; however, I am not sure if Robert's nickname is ever invoked).
