Mel's drive-in

Breakfast on Geary (redux), Part 10b


"I yam what I sweet potato
and that's all what I tuber... "?!?

http://melsdrive-in.com/


Place: Mel's drive-in

Location: 3355 Geary Boulevard 
(on the corner of Beaumont Avenue)

Hours: open 6:00am every day of the week; Weekend "Brunch" served at 9:00am (I am assuming that means on Saturdays and Sundays)

Meal: Avocado Toast ~ avocado massed [ sic, I am pretty sure that they meant "mashed", whatever ] on multi-grain toast, three poached organic eggs and smoked chili flakes; and (from the Juice Bar & Fruit section of their menu) a glassa Popeye's Breakfast ~ spinach, apple, kale, parsley (sorry, it does not look like anyone saved Rosemary in time, though)

(There are no EweToobular juxtaselections [well, that I am aware of; h*ck, ol' Robert Nesta Marley, OM, might have been a big spinach-fan, too] this morning. I just felt like linking some of my favourite Bob songs.)


Because it is the start of a brand-new Baseball Season, my original plan was to head back to Dottie's True blue café to make another run through my Breakfastary Starting Rotation. However, it was still raining a bit and I did not really relish the thought (or mustard or ketchup it even ~ and I would never ever mayonnaise any thoughts what-so-ever) of standing in line/waiting in the rain for a half-hour for them to open up this morning (even Mad Dogs and Englishmen know better than that... well, most Mad Dogs are smart enough). So... I just headed down Geary Boulevard a few blocks (and by a "few blocks", I mean "thirty-five blocks") and went back to Mel's drive-in (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, August 26th, 2017).

I sat at one of the two-seater tables, not at the long diner-counter. The place was basically empty at 7:00am, so it was not as if I was taking up valuable table-space.

A few of the other ideas that I was a-ruminatin'-over (as in the "to go over in the mind repeatedly" definition, not in the "cud-chewing" sense):

El Rancho Breakfast Burrito ~ flour tortilla rolled with three scrambled eggs, chorizo (which I would have ochenta-y-seis-ed, of course), & Cheddar cheese, topped with tomato salsa, tomatillo salsa, & sour cream, served with fruit or grilled potatoes;

Yuppie Joe's Scramble ~ ground turkey (no, thanks ~ yuppie or not), fresh spinach, mushrooms, & green onions scrambled with two large farm fresh eggs;

or possibly off the Weekend "Brunch" insert (it states on the menu that these items are served 9:00am - 3:00pm, but I heard another couple order off it, so I probably coulda done so, too)

Eggs Florentine ~ two poached eggs served over fresh sauteed spinach and toasted English muffin topped with homemade Hollandaise sauce and served with a cup of fruit salad or potatoes (this dish would have paired nicely with the drink I had this morning);

Huevos Rancheros;

or 

Chilaquiles.

"Wait a minute... El Rancho Breakfast Burrito, Eggs Florentine, Chilaquiles, and Avocado Toast?! Just what the h*ck kinda 'diner' is this, Brian?!" Sorry, this ain't your daddy's 1950's-1960's diner, Mr. Lucas (or Mr. Levinson).

Just take a look at this:

(Do not worry, you can still order a Cherry-, Lemon-, or Vaniller-Coke from their soda fountain. I do not think they serve Orange-, Grapefruit-, or Cranberry-Coke, though.)

As disgustingly toxic-neon green coloured as this drink was, it was still pretty d*rn tasty (and hopefully non-nookular). The one little complaint I might have is that the kale ended up overpowering most of the spinach (and I love kale, I was just not aware that Popeye was such a kale-advocate, too). All in all, the sweet green apples were the prominent flavour, anyway.

Not much really to point out here. Poached eggs on top of some avocado toast with some smoked chili flakes sprinkled on top. It was good, but nothing that you can not find now-a-days at every corner coffeehouse. (I did not notice if there was any olive oil on this, though.) 

This was served with a side of some baby arugula and cherry tomatoes. (Now, there may have been some olive oil in the light dressing on these).

Wisely, I did not order a side of potatoes this morning (I was thinking about it, though); it would have been way too much food for me.

For condimentary supplementation, Mel's drive-in offers both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce 
(Original Red Sauce) and Cholula® Hot Sauce (Original). I used some of my own Palo Alto Fire Fighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on top of one of the poached eggs and some Smack My *ss and Call Me Santa (Thanks, Rick!) on top of another of the poached eggs. 

♪ "Old sailors (pirates, whatever), yes, they rob I (eye?),
Sold I (eye?) to the merchant ships... " ♫ 


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Avocado Toast ~ 6.4;
Popeye's Breakfast ~ 6.8;
the music of Bob Marley ~ 7.0-9.5 (Irie! )