Reverie Cafe

♪ "There's a lady who's sure
All that glitters is gold...
... and she's building an omelette to Heaven... " ?!? ♫ 

(No official web-site thing [no matter what it has linked on their defacedbook page].)


Place: Reverie Cafe

Location: 848 Cole Street (between Carl and Frederick Streets ~ the streets in San Francisco, Callie-for-nee-ya, not the back-roads of Chautauqua County, New York[1]); phonicular contact: (415) 242-0200

Hours: open 6:30am Monday-Friday, 7:30am Saturday-Sunday (and apparently at 7:30am also on Monday holidays)

Meal: Wild Mushroom (which I was assured they capture with only humane traps), Gruyere Cheese & Truffle Butter (Omelette) ~ served with house potatoes (that would be "homefries" to you tuber-impaired), toast, & fruit (which were just a superfluous slica orange and a slica watermelon); and a large cuppa (16 oz-er or so) their house-Coffee, which I was informed is Equator Coffees & Teas™ - Mocha Java Fair Trade Organic

https://www.equatorcoffees.com/collections/coffees/products/mocha-java-fair-trade-organic-retail?variant=1759260606473

("Reverie"... "Reverberi"... whatever... close enough for a Holiday Weekend!

There is no real EweToobular juxtaselection with the second song/video. I just like it. So deal with it.)


Not really knowing what time that they might be open for the Monday holiday (I even checked their web-site before heading over, but for some reason it did not state what their hours were this morning... ), I blind-faithly drove over to Reverie Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, August 20th, 2016) and after finding a good (legal) parking spot just around the corner, I arrived there around 7:20am. When I walked up to the front door it was still locked, and I was gestured (two hands with five fingers each, by the lady behind the counter... 
I just hope that she wasn't Greek!) that they would be opening in another ten minutes or so (thankfully they were even opening for breakfast today; I really did not have a good back-up plan planned, otherwise).

There normally would be a few weekend specials listed on the blackboard by the kitchen area, but maybe because I had arrived so early, they did not have anything on it yet. That really did not matter, as their standard breakfast menu still has a few items on it that I want to try one of these days; ferinstance:

Breakfast Porridge ~ warm farro, apples, raisins, cinnamon, toasted almonds, fresh cream, & local honey (this will definitely be my choice next time if I am in a "sweet mood"; of course, I would probably order a side of their homefries with it, too);

Wild Mushroom, Wilted Greens & Leeks Eggs Benedict ~ served with house potatoes (so there would be no need for me to order an extra side of homefries);

Huevos Rancheros ~ tortillas, scrambled eggs, black beans, house salsa, avocado, cotija, crema, & cilantro;

or

Breakfast Burrito ~ scrambled eggs, black beans, Jack cheese, house salsa, cotija cheese, & cilantro (and for those of you that do partake of the dead, decaying swinish products, they also offer this with a pulled pork or Mexican chorizo option).

Once again, I sat outside in their spacious (it actually takes up one-and-a-half backyards) garden patio seating area and had the whole upper deck level to myself the entire time that I was eating (well, seeing as they had just opened when I arrived, there were only two other small families eating out back at the same time, anyway). As you can see in the above (way over-lit, sorry) photo, Mr. Sun was just getting up for the morning himself. Since the last time I ate there, they have upgraded with all new tables and chairs in the garden patio area, too.

"Truffles AND mushrooms, Brian?!"
What can I say? I am just a fun(gi) kinda guy!

This was another decent omelette; I have yet to have a bad breakfastary meal there. Additionally, they serve really good homefries, too ~ made with red and green bell peppers and white onions in them.

For condimentary supplementation, Reverie Cafe had Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and Huy Fong Foods, Inc. Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. I used some of my own Hot Licks® Serrano Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the potatoes and a little Pepper Palace Gator Bite Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of the omelette (I think that it really complemented the earthy tones of the truffle and mushroom flavours).

Strange Coffee Interlude

This was a really nice cuppa Coffee. I have had many of Equator Coffees & Teas™ before. I like that they are very local (as in from San Rafael ~ the one in Marin County, Callie-for-nee-ya, not the much larger city in Chautauqua County, New York). When I was about half-way done (or "half-way undone", if you are of the pessimistic ilk) with the cuppa, I decided to put that slica orange on the side of my plate to good use and plopped it into the mug to make it a sorta Caffè Borgia. However, I did not drop the slica watermelon into it (because I have never heard of a Caffè Stymie).

"Love me, light me, give me... " ... breakfast!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Equator Coffees & Teas™ - Mocha Java Fair Trade Organic ~ 6.9;
Wild Mushroom, Gruyere Cheese & Truffle Butter (Omelette) ~ 6.5;
Colazione al fresco ~ 7.8

___________________

1. Okay, to even start to get the stupid joking reference to that one, you would need to go onto their defacedbook page and click on the mysterious link to the web-site that they have posted there. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua_County,_New_York

Memorial Day Remembrances ~ 2018

(This makes the tenth straight year that I have been posting these two links together now.)


http://francona.blogspot.com/2018/05/memorial-day-2018_25.html

The article was written by Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona[1], U.S. Air Force (Retired). He originally wrote the article back in 2007 when he was a Military and Middle East analyst with MSNBC. He updates the article each year on his own 'blog and graciously allows me to re-post it here.

The music video/song is sung by the Boston-based Irish Punk Rock band Dropkick Murphys[2]. While the song really isn't a Memorial Day song, it is written about WWI and individuals (sometimes forgotten and unknown) that fought in "the War to end all Wars" and paid the ultimate price of freedom (that would be mine and yours).

Please take a moment and read the article and listen to the song, or read the article while listening to the song, or listen to the song while reading the article. Either way, take a moment to reflect on the meaning of this current three-day weekend; after all, it's not really about an extra day off, the start of Summer, parades, and barbecues.

Have a safe and "rememorable" Memorial Day, everyone.


________________

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Francona

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropkick_Murphys

The song was originally written by Scottish Folk singer-songwriter Eric Bogle under the title "No Man's Land"*, and has been covered by many Rock-and/or-Roll bands, Folk bands, and other Traditional Celtic bands (e.g. Joss Stone with Jeff Beck; Peter, Paul and Mary; the Chieftains; Celtic Tenors; the Clancy Brothers; Donovan; and even some guy from Minnesota named Robert Allen Zimmerman). I just prefer this version by the Boyos from Boston (Quincy, whatever).


*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27s_Land_(Eric_Bogle_song)

STRAW ~ Carnival Fare

https://www.strawsf.com/


Place: STRAW ~ Carnival Fare

Location: 203 Octavia Boulevard 
(near the corner of Page Street)

Hours: "Brunch" is featured under the Big Top Saturday & Sunday at 10:00am 

Meal: Seasonal Salad ~ roasted beets, mixed greens (aka your basic rabbit-food-stuff), goat cheese crumbles, candied pecans, honey dijon-apple cider vinaigrette, with two over-medium eggs laid (well, placed) on top; and a glassa (Mason jara, actually) Strawberry-Basil Lemonade

(Just a coupla "Carney"-related songs for today's breakfast destination, Art. [I am just sad that I could only include one P3 song, though.])


Because this weekend is the 40th Anniversary Carnaval San Francisco, I thought it fitting to head back to STRAW ~ Carnival Fare (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, June 17th, 2017)... nah, actually, I was already planning on going back to this particular restaurant this weekend, anyway, and saw somewhere that San Francisco's Carnaval  just happened to be this weekend also.

I was lucky enough this morning and parked just around the corner (legally, even) on Page Street.

Once again, I sat outside in one of the four two-seater sidewalk tables: 
1) 'cause it was nice enough this morning to do so,
and
b) 'cause I could (I was the second person/group waiting in line).

STRAW does not really have that many items from which to choose on their "Brunch" menu, and by now I have had each at least once. My back-up plan (in case I did not like the sound of the seasonal ingredients for the salad) was going to be a re-do of Hanky Panky ~ cornmeal Belgian waffle, two fried eggs, maple-glazed bacon (which would have been 86-ed again, of course), Cheddar & Jack potato croquettes.

(not really such another) Strange Coffee Interlude

This morning I made sure to get over to Hayes Valley about an hour before STRAW opened to get me another cuppa at Ritual Coffee (this time at their Quonset hut[1]-kinda shop across the street from Patricia's Green[2]). I just got what they were offering as their standard prepared Coffee, which happened to be La Soledad (another Guatemalan bean). Now,  this was a good cuppa (as are alla their cuppas, and their Ethiopian roasts/blends are usually phenomenal, but they did not have any of those offered this morning), but I did not like it quite as much as yesterday's cuppa. While I was enjoying my cuppa, I saw several pupsters (with their human tag-a-longs) in the park and met one really cute little feisty girl (her humans told me that she was a Cairn Terrier-Schnauzer mix[3]... possibly... ).

https://ritual.myshopify.com/collections/coffee-beans/products/soledad-guatemala

So, this was a salad with a coupla eggs on top. Not much to describe there. I would have rather had my eggs to have been poached, but I was told they do not prepare any poached eggs (no room in their kitchen in which to prepare them or something). The honey dijon-apple cider vinaigrette was really very good. One thing I might have done differently if I were making this salad myself (yeah, right), I think that pistachio seeds[4] in it would have been a much better flavour-combination and a bit more original (everyone always does salads with either beet-walnut or beet-pecan variations).

STRAW only has Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce for use as a condimentary supplement, which they have transferred into cruet-shaker-pourer things on each table (at least that was what they had in them the last time I ate there; I really did not bother to ask which hot sauce it might still be today). I just used some of my own Punch Drunk™ Chocolate Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Sean!) on top of the eggs. Surprisingly, this hot sauce mingled (mangled?) very nicely with their vinaigrette, too.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Ritual Coffee - La Soledad ~ 6.5;
Seasonal Salad ~ 6.4 
(I gave this an additional 0.2 GBS points each for the roasted beets, goat cheese, and very tasty vinaigrette; it was just a salad, after all)

___________________

1. a) How many of you were aware that these prefab-buildings were named after a U.S. Naval Station where they were first designed and built? 

http://varnumcontinentals.org/2016/04/the-quonset-hut-a-rhode-island-original/

b) Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

The place name/word "Quonset" is from a southern New England Algonquian language and perhaps means "small, long place".

2. This smallish local park (only two blocks long and about a quarter-block wide) is named Patricia's Green for Patricia Walkup, a local activist who volunteered her time for many years to fight neighborhood crime, and co-led a campaign to tear down the remaining part of the Central Freeway that once ran through Hayes Valley.

http://sfrecpark.org/destination/patricias-green-in-hayes-valley/patricias-green-in-hayes-valley-picnic-area/

3. Which got me to a-thinkin'... if a Cocker Spaniel-Poodle mix-breed is called a "Cockapoo", a Pekingese-Poodle hybrid is a "Peekapoo", and a Labrador Retriever-Poodle crossbreed is a "Labradoodle", what the heck would the AKC call this little muttster? I threw out "Cairauzer" and "Schnairn" to her human escorts, but they did not seem to cotton to (nor polyester to) any of my intelligent suggestions. (I was gonna say they "poo-poo-ed" my ideas, but that silly joke would have only made sense if this little girl had any Poodle in her.)

4. As I have mentioned many times before, you would have to be nuts to think that pistachios are true botanical nuts. They are actually the seeds of the plant. 

And here is an extra freebie pseudo-horticultural pointer of the day: the pistachio tree is a member of the cashew family (and cashew "nuts" are not botanical nuts none neither).

Boogaloos

When one (restaurant) door closes (insert sad emoji-face here), another opens (insert happy emoji-face here)... ?![1]

https://boogaloossf.com/


Place: Boogaloos

Location: (back to) 3296 22nd Street
(on the corner of Valencia Street once again)

Hours: open daily 8:00am

Meal: Funky Scram (with red onion, Spanish olive, Jack cheese, and Vegan sausage) ~ 2 eggs scrambled with your favorite ingredients, served with homefries and choice of: sourdough, wheat, rye, English muffin, biscuit, corn muffin, OR blueberry Coffee cake; and a cuppa (and one refilla) Peerless Coffee & Tea® (like last weekend, I forgot to ask what their house-blend might be)

http://www.peerlesscoffee.com/

(Yes, I know that should read "Open Every [space] Day". But who would be silly enough to add the extraneous "[space]" to their signage?!)

(And you thought that Batman only knew how to do the Batusi.)[2]


I am very happy to report (or 'blog-about, even) that Boogaloos (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, September 16th, 2017) has finally reopened in its newly-renovated old-drugstore space that they originally had occupied since 1994. This location had been closed since May(-ish) 2016 due to a fire (and it seems some kinda long, re-negotiating with the owner for a fairer rental price, too) and just reopened early last month. They had been operating solely as a "Pop-up" at Parada 22 Comida Puertorriqueña on Haight Street for the past two years (for breakfasts only, though).

One of the major renovations that I immediately 
noticed was that they now  have a much higher ceiling, with a brand new skylight, and there are also several windows high up along both street-facing walls that had been covered or blocked entirely in the past. This gives the joint a much airier and open feel to it.

(not really such a) Strange Coffee Interlude

Because I had arrived (well, with this specific purpose) about a half-hour before Boogaloos was due to open for breakfast, I headed over to Ritual Coffee (their shop on Valencia Street, which was just a block down the street from breakfast, anyway), where I had a mighty fine cuppa their El Pajal (a Guatemalan bean). This was prepared in the pour-over/single-drip méthode.

https://www.ritualroasters.com/

Now this was a very nice combination of ingredients and flavours (if I do say so myself ~ and I do say so myself!). I like that you can mix-n-match stuff off "the Playlist" for both Scrams and DJ's Omelets. There are lots of good items from which to choose even for stupid vegetarian-types (those smarmy Veganites do not seem to go in much for scrambled eggs for some reason).

I went with a corn muffin as my bread/toast choice (otherwise, I was thinking of either the biscuit or blueberry Coffee cake; I can make plain ol' boring toast myself at home any day).

Thankfully, even after a two-year long hiatus, I am 
ex-tremely ex-tatic that they still serve the same great homefries!

As had become my tradition whenever eating breakfastarily at Boogaloos, I added some maple syrup in my Coffee (mainly because they have maple syrup pourer-jars on all the tables).

For condimentary supplementation, Boogaloos only had Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce now (before the fire, they used to have their own homemade ~ well, Boogaloos-made ~ bottles of a very tasty habanero hot sauce; hopefully, once they are back up and running for a bit, they will reinstate that hot sauce). I used some of my own Dixie Crossroads Hot Habañero[ sic ] Pepper Sauce (Thañks, Briañ!) on the potatoes and some Old St. Augustiñe Sñake Bite 
Datil Pepper Sauce (Thañks, Greg & Ciñdy!) on the scrambled mess.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Ritual Coffee - El Pajal ~ 7.1;
Funky Scram ~ 6.5

___________________

1. Oh-no!* 

Sadly, last weekend while I was walking around along Clement Street, I discovered that grindz (see last 'blog-entry ~ and, by which, I mean "last 'blog-entry ever" now apparently ~ from Saturday, February 17th, 2018) has closed up shop (since April, possibly) and moved to some place called "Hawai'i". That sounds like a completely madeuppery place name to me...

Oh, well. Six years in operation was a pretty decent run for San Francisco restaurant-joint standards.

*(Okay, to get that silly pun, you would have to know that:
1) grindz was originally called "Ono Grindz"
and
2) that "ono" is Hawai'ianese for "very tasty, braddah!" [You can consider that your "stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day"... or not.])

2. ¿Qué es un "bugalú"?

http://www.salsacrazy.com/salsaroots/boogalu.htm

Louis'

♪ "Between the Omelette and 
the Deep Blue Sea... " ♫ ???

http://louissf.com/index.html/


Place: Louis'

Location: 902 Point Lobos Avenue
(somewhere between 48th Avenue and the Great Highway-ish)

Hours: open 6:30am everyday[ sic ]

Meal: "Build Your Own" Omelette (with Feta, spinach, and tomatoes) ~ three cage free eggs served with potatoes and English muffin; and a cuppa (and one refilla) Peerless Coffee & Tea® (I did not ask which blend/roast they serve, though)

http://www.peerlesscoffee.com/

(What's with today's EweToobular juxtaselections? Simples! I have it under good authority [How come you never hear about anyone having it "under bad authority"?] that ol' Satchelmouth himself was a big Feta and spinach fan.)


With today's running of another Bay-to-Beer "race" (since 1912) gumming-up my neighborhood streets, I thought it best to keep my breakfastary sojourn as local as possible, so I took a 38-Local all the way down the street (it beat walking the seventeen blocks to-and-fro; plus, it was pretty d*rn windy and chilly this morning to boot ~ which is usually the weather-norm for Bay-to-Beer "race"-days) to Louis' (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, October 2nd, 2011).

https://www.baytobreakers.com/

As close as this place is to where I live, I do not think that I have eaten there but a handful of times in the 
30-plus years that I have lived in San Francisco; and, probably, just two or three of those visits have been breakfastarily. This is no fault of the diner/restaurant-joint itself; there really is just not that much from which to choose on the menu for stupid vegetarians is all.

This morning I sat at the mini/three-seater diner-counter area. I was offered any of the empty booths right along the window, but I didn't want to "steal" a booth if a larger group came in and needed/wanted one. However, as it turned out, I was in and out so early this morning there remained three booths still empty the entire time that I was there, so I could have had an entire booth to myself... oh, well. Usually by 9:00am, the (rather smallish) place will be full and there will be a line ~ out the door onto the sidewalk ~ waiting to get in.

Even if I did not have these views from where I was sitting, I only had to turn around or get up and go over to one of the windows to see the views. And there is never an extra charge for these Million Dollar Views. I even saw one whale ~ either a California Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus)[1] or a Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)[2] ~ unfortunatley, it breeched too quickly for me to really see which it might have been (like I could really tell the difference even if they were swimming side-by-each). It was just off the coast (less than a hundred yards really) past Seal Rocks[3]/Lands End[4]/Sutro Baths[5].

Strange Memory/Mind-losing Interlude

This morning when I got up and before I was preparing to go out for breakfast, I could not locate some of my notes that I keep on these silly little breakfast visits. (Yes, I do actually keep notes on actual paper. I still refuse to go back to the future into the 21st Century and get me one of them new-fangled mobular devices with which to keep notes/information.) It took me about an hour (and, sadly, that is not an exaggeration) to finally discover where I had put them yesterday. I found them inside one of the reference books (and, yes, I do still use actual printed materials for reference sources; not everything can be found so quickly on these-here World Wild Webs-things) that I used yesterday to look up the information on "sheriff"[6]. While searching manically, I almost swore that I was the victim of a Little Green Men abduction (it is a well-known fact that those sneaky little bastages love a good omelette or crêpes) or an NSA subversive plot (you would be surprised at just how far our government is willing to go trying to keep us from enjoying our early-morning repasts).

As for the actual omelette-review part of this 'blog-thing, it was a simple-enough rendition and much better'n I could ever manage (luckily this was not a "Make Your Own" Omelette... ). It included lotsa spinach in it, but I felt that it coulda used a bit more Feta (this is my standard complaint with most places, anyway).

Louis' has only Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce ~ Original Red Sauce for use as a condimentary supplement. No biggie, as I finally got to use up the last drops of my Palo Alto Firefighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the potatoes. (Now I am down to only thirty bottles of hot sauces on my refrigerator door shelves.) Additionally, I used a little of my own Great Wall Wasabi Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on half of the omelette.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
"BYO" Omelette ~ 6.0;
Million Dollar Views ~ 8.2 (with tax and tip included)

___________________

1. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/whales/gray-whale.html

2. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/whales/humpback-whale.html

3. https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/historyculture/upload/Seal_Rocks_sr-2014.pdf

4. https://www.nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/landsend.htm

5. https://www.nps.gov/goga/upload/sb-clho-2008.pdf

6. "A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language" by the Rev. Walter W. Skeat Litt.D., LL.D., D.C.L.. Ph.D. (I bet he made up half of those titles, though). My copy is only a paperback version of a book that dates from the 1890's, and I find it very useful when looking up older meanings for English words and stuff.

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/a-concise-etymological-dictionary-of-the-english-language_walter-w-skeat/18168653/?mkwid=s5F8Qd4T0%7cdc&pcrid=70112885352&pkw=&pmt=&plc=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-5iR2fSU2wIVkVqGCh1-5wzUEAQYASABEgL1AvD_BwE#isbn=0399500499&idiq=4340036

Honey Honey ~ Cafe & Crepery

♪ "I ate the Sheriff[1],
but I did not eat the Deputy... " ♫ 
(that is if Bob's Reggae classic had been sung by either Colin Blunstone or one of Robert Kirkman's characters) 

http://www.honeyhoneycafeandcrepery.com/


Place: Honey Honey ~ Cafe & Crepery

Location: 599 Post Street 
(on the corner of Taylor Street)

Hours: open Monday - Sunday at 7:30am

Meal: Torino (Savory Crepe) ~ Feta cheese, fresh basil, tomato, mushroom, served w/salad (Ha!), fruit (Double-Ha!!), or potatoes (Which was my choice, of course!); and a large glassa fresh-squeezed (well, fresh-machined in one of those the Jetsons-juicer-things) orange juice

(There really is no EweToobular juxtaselection with this song and today's breakfast; I just like the song. And I do not really know how Bob Marley or Sheriff John Brown [or the Deputy, even] felt about either crêpes or Feta.)


Wow. I am very surprised that it has been almost two years since my last visit to Honey Honey ~ Cafe & Crepery (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, July 16th, 2016) as I know that I really liked both of the crêpes that I had there on my first two visits. 

Hopefully it will not take me another two years to get back to try some of their other great breakfastary ideas:

(Savory Crepe) Eggplant ~ Cheddar, tomato, garlic, fresh basil, sundried tomato, eggplant (Eggplant, basil, and two types of tomatoes? Yeah, this is my kinda crêpe.);

(Sweet Crepe) Suzette ~ orange zest, orange juice, sugar, and butter (which I would probably order with a side of their great homefries);

(Omelette) Acapulco ~ Cheddar, salsa, avocado, sour cream, and black bean chili;

(Omelette) Athens ~ Feta, spinach, and olives (this was going to be my back-up choice if I did not feel like crêpes this morning)

or

(Omelette) Milano ~ Mozzarella, tomato, garlic, and fresh basil.

This was another winner of a crêpe and I liked it very much! However, my initial thought on tasting it was, "Man, that is some funny tasting spinach...", because I completely forgot what the ingredients inside it were. Who knew basil and Feta would be a great match? And, thankfully, this bad-boy was chock-fulla Feta.

For condimentary supplementation, Honey Honey 
~ Cafe & Crepery offers the Standard San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces: Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce), Cholula® Hot Sauce Original, and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. And yet still once more again this morning I used some of my own Palo Alto Firefighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the homefries. Finally, I think I am almost to the end of that bottle and probably have about just one dose left in it... finally. (Which will leave me with only 30 bottles [I kid you not] remaining in my refrigerator. Sheesh!)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Torino ~ 6.7;
"I Shot the Sheriff" ~ 7.2

___________________

1. (not really a) Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day (unless you consider ye Olde English a ferren language... which it is to most of us, anyway):

The word "sheriff" is a contraction of the term "shire reeve". The term, from ye Olde English "scīr-gerēfa", designated a royal official responsible for keeping the peace throughout a shire or county on behalf of the King. The term was preserved in England notwithstanding the Norman Conquest. From the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the term spread to several other regions, at an early point to Scotland, latterly to Ireland, and then to the United States.

(The Arabic term "sharif" ["الشريف" (meaning "noble/honourable")], sometimes rendered "sherif", bears no historical or etymological connection... 
no matter how much you are rockin' the Casbah.)

Mama♥s on Washington Square

http://www.mamas-sf.com/


Place: Mama♥s on Washington Square

Location: 1701 Stockton Street
(on the corner of Filbert Street)

Hours: open Tuesday through Sunday at 8:00am

Meal: Vegetarian Benedict ~ 2 poached Petaluma Farms eggs served on a toasted English muffin with homemade (well, Mama♥s-made) Hollandaise sauce and Mama♥s Grilled Potatoes, (with) sautéed mushrooms, avocado, baby spinach, and grilled tomato (I would just like to point out that they actually have an Oxford Comma between "spinach" and "and grilled tomato" on their printed menus; however, for some reason, their on-line menu seems to have it omitted; it is not very often that you see it placed or used correctly on many restaurant menus, anyway); and a large glassa fresh-squeezed orange juice

(I am juxtaselecting this the Beatles song today because I have heard that Paul, John, and Ringo are/were big fans of Eggs Benedict dishes and doppio Espressos. Little Georgie-porgie didn't like them... he hated everything.)


I made a return-visit to Mama♥s on Washington Square (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, April 2nd, 2017). A long time ago (c. 2001-2003), this restaurant was included in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation. The food is still (and has always been) excellent there, I just tired of "the long trek" over to-and-back from North Beach. Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know, it is still located in San Francisco, but it takes at least a half-hour to drive over there and then the parking in North Beach totally s*cks (which is why I usually try to schedule my breakfastary visits in North Beach on Sundays only now).

As I had arrived plenty early this morning (about 7:05am), I was able to get a primo parking space just across the street (i.e. right on Washington Square) for a change. However, even at that stupidly-early hour, I was still only group #5 in line. I did not even think about it being Mother♥s Day today and apparently a whole lotta other "m♥thers" had the bright idea to eat breakfast there, too. By the time they had finally opened the doors, I estimated that the wait would be easily two-and-a-half to three hours for the people near the end of the line. Now, the food is good there, but nothing is worth that kinda wait (yeah, I did wait in line for fifty-five minutes myself... but still... ). It had to have been one of the longest lines that I have ever seen waiting to get in there.

Here are a few other good ideas that I was debating on this morning:

Mama♥s Children♥s Favorite (M♥Omelette) ~ sautéed mushrooms, green onions, roasted tomatoes, and Monterey Jack cheese (hmmm?! Mama♥s kids sound like stupid vegetarians to me);

South of the Border (M♥Omelette) ~ Spanish chorizo (which I would have ochenta-y-seis-ed), black beans, homemade ((well, Mama♥s-made, again) salsa, and pepper Jack cheese;

or

(off their weekendly specials board)
Mama♥s French Toast Sampler ~ Banana Walnut, Lemon Berry, & Swedish Cinnamon, topped w/ berries & bananas (of which we all are well-aware, are botanically a "berry", anyway).

Since my last visit there, it looks like they no longer offer either Papa♥s Favorite (M♥Omelette) or Vegetarian (M♥Omelettes) ~ both of which I had had in recent previous visits. These are both still listed in their on-line menu, but not on the printed menu at the front door, nor on the large menu on the wall behind the cash register that everyone orders from. (Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know that should be "... from which everyone orders.", but at least I know an Oxford Comma from a Liverpudlian Semicolon when I see one.)

First off, I would like to state that (thankfully) they have this dish listed as "Vegetarian Benedict" and not that ubiquitously obnoxious name "Veggie (uggh!) Benedict". Nextly, the grilled tomatoes turned out to be a very interesting taste-addition and added a nice "depth of flavour" (as they are always keen to state on food network) to this dish. Needless to say, I enjoyed it all (spinach, avocado, mushrooms, and tomatoes [grilled or plain] ~ all favourites of mine).

Mama♥s on Washington Square only offers for condimentary supplements Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. Being well-aware of this, I came well-prepared this morning and used some of my own Palo Alto Firefighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce on the potatoes (Thanks, Brian!), some 
Chili in Hawaii Habanero Garlic Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of one poached egg, and some Dat'l Do-it® Classic Cayenne Hot Sauce (Thanks, M♥m!) on top of the other poached egg.

(not really so) Strange Coffee Interlude

As has become a (new-ish) tradition for me whenever I have breakfast in North Beach, I (try to) save room for a Coffee and pastry at Caffe Trieste afterward. This morning's meal was not that large and left me plenty of room for un doppio Espresso e some kinda pastry-ring-thing (what the h*ck, I figured I can always skip lunch). This had an almond paste in it and was very good. I had to ask the barista-lady behind the counter what it was, as I thought it might probably have been cinnamon (which I would have liked, too).

http://coffee.caffetrieste.com/


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Vegetarian Benedict ~ 6.9 (I am giving this an extra 0.1 GBS points for their sensible name and another 0.1 GBS points for the very nice grilled tomatoes addition);
doppio Espresso e almond pastry-ring-thing ~ 6.7