♪ "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!" ♫
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 Ballast Coffee™ a(n extra LARGE) cuppa their house "Regular" drip Coffee; and a Passionfruit Chocolate doughnut from dynamo donut
https://ballastcoffee.com/
https://dynamodonut.com/
(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 Picante Hot 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 Ballast Coffee™ 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, Ballast Coffee™'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, Ballast Coffee™ 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;
Ballast Coffee™ "Regular" drip Coffee ~ 7.3;
Passionfruit Chocolate doughnut 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])
___________________
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.
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