http://www.pomelosf.com/ place: pomelo location: 1793 church street (near the corner of 30th street) hours: "brunch" is served saturday and sunday at 10:00am meal: bern (switzerland) ~ swiss rösti – crispy grated potato with bacon (which i made sure to have sechsundachtzig/quatre-vingt six-ed), onion and gruyère cheese, topped with one egg sunny side up, butter lettuce and cherry tomato salad; a freebie pear, caramelized ginger, and almonds muffinette; and a glassa fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice (because they do not offer any pomelo juice) (In case you were wondering why I went all minuscule in the above, pomelo likes to stylize their menus that way.) Ich kehrte zurück/je suis retourné to pomelo (see last 'blog-entry from Samstag, 6. August, 2016/Samedi 6 août, 2016). I can not believe that it has been over two years since my last visit. Well, actually, I can, because they are about as far away from where I live in San Francisco that you can get and still be in the city (and they do not open for "Brunch" until 10:00am). I do really like their globally refreshing menu selections, though. There are many great ideas for both dumme Vegetarier/végétariens stupides and verd*mmte Fleischfresser/carnivores m*udits alike. There are still several other items that I have not tried yet: lop buri (thailand) ~ ไขย่ ดไส kai yat sai - thai style stuffed omelet with minced pork (which would also be แปดสิบหก-ed), tomato, onion, garlic, cilantro, thai basil, thai chilies, served with lime-garlic-chili sauce; masantol (philippines) ~ filipino style spicy sizzling tofu with chili peppers, garlic, onion, soy sauce and lemon (I have no idea what this is, but it sounds pretty interesting to me, and, thankfully, it does not include any monkey-brains); otsu (japan) ~ cold buckwheat noodle salad with cucumber, scallion, cilantro & a spicy soy, ginger & sesame dressing, topped with pan sautéed tofu; or pomelo (they do not designate a specific country of origin for this one) ~ romaine (of course, this would not be the week/month to order this), baby arugula, roasted grape, walnut, gorgonzola, white balsamic mustard vinaigrette. Additionally, they have a weekend special scramble or omelette called noe valley (san francisco) where the ingredients change seasonally. This weekend (month) the ingredients were 3 organic free-range eggs, bacon (nah!), baby spinach, garlic, onion and gorgonzola, served with toasted country (they did not list which country, though) bread and choice of house potatoes or organic greens (bka: rabbit-food).
See?! Stuff like this is exactly why I like to get back and eat at this joint. I have had Swiss röstis several (okay, many) times before at Bettys Café Tea Rooms whenever I visited my Yorkshire hosts over past Christmases. This version may not have been quite as crispy as Bettys made, but it was still very tasty and mention-worthy. I especially liked that the (white) onions seemed to have been pre-caramelized before adding them into the shredded potato mix. I even enjoyed the very simple side of rabbit-food junk; it had a light lemon vinaigrette (I think) on it. Near the end of the meal, I just dumped the remaining butter lettuce and tomatoes on top of the pile o' potatoes. For condimentary supplementation, pomelo had Tabasaco®Brand Pepper Sauce (three ways: Original Red Sauce, Green Jalapeño Sauce, and Chipotle Pepper Sauce), Cholula®Hot Sauce (Original), and El Yucateco®Hot Sauce Salsa Picante de Chile Habanero (the red kind). Even with all of those hot sauces from which to choose, I still used some of my own H*ll's Kitchen®Chipotle Chocolate Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of the egg and several grinds of grains of paradise all over the rösti and the rabbit-food junk. (another not so) Strange Coffee Interlude Because I had a few hours (okay, about four-and-a-half hours worth) to kill this morning before the restaurant would be open, I dripped me downa (pour-over-style) cuppa Bettys - Jamaica Blue Mountain (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!). As I have mentioned several (okay, many-many) times in the past, this roast/blend of Coffee is easily my All-Time Favourite Coffee of All-Time. If Marilyn Monroe ever came back reincarnated as a cuppa, this is what she would taste like! This choice of Coffee in conjunction with the meal that I ordered today was not exactly as coincidentally à propos as it might seem. I kinda figured that I was gonna order the bern this morning, anyway. Just consider this a premeditated breakfastary juxtaselection (which is the real "pbj"). https://www.bettys.co.uk/jamaica-blue-mountain Glen Bacon Scale Rating: bern ~ 7.2; Bettys - Jamaica Blue Mountain ~ 8.2
http://kantinesf.com/ Place: Kantine[1] Location: 1906 Market Street (near the canto of Laguna Street) Hours: open Tuesday - Friday at 7:30am and Saturday & Sunday at 9:00am Meal: Savory Porridge with Kale, Mushrooms and Housemade (well, restaurant-made) Farmers Cheese with an added "runny" (soft-boiled) egg; a Tebirkes[2] Danish pastry; and a cuppa heart Coffee Roasters - Guatemala El Amate https://www.heartroasters.com/collections/beans/products/guatemala-el-amate
(Ignore the recording quality of this EweToobular video, just groove on the Scandinavian vibes of Robbie Fulkskog.) Kantine was the second of my "new" finds from my Hallowe'en trek along Market Street in the Castro-area. It is also technically "new" as it has only been open since mid-June of this year. Supposably this is an "authentic" Scandinavian bakery/breakfast/"Brunch"/ lunch-joint. However, I have never been to any countries of Scandinavialand (h*ck, I have never even been to an IKEA® store), so I really do not have anything with which to compare it. The restaurant is in a cool open-space with a high ceiling. The seating consists of the standard European-style communal tables, where there were three tables with eight seats, three tables with four seats, one taller counter-table with ten seats, and five window-counter seats. Additionally, there is a large cushioned-bench in the corner (over by their on-site bakery room) that could fit about ten people easily, but probably just for drinks as there are no tables for eating there. Their breakfast/"Brunch" menu is not that extensive, but there were still a few other interesting ideas: "Brunch" Board ~ where you can choose five or seven items from a list, to include: three different (bakery-fresh) breads; two egg sides (both of which are stupid vegetarian-friendly); three fish & meat junk; Havarti cheese; 3-lentil hummus, carrot salad; sweet melon with tarragon and mint; roasted cauliflower, charred corn and hay-smoked fresh cheese; hot rye porridge, lingonberry, cream; housemade yogurt, mashed berries, chamomile granola (I am sure I could find five good items from this list); Sweet Porridge with Pears, Lingonberry, Cream and Pistachios (I was strongly thinking of this as an alternative this morning, but I would have had to order a side of something savoury to go along with it); or Open-faced Creamer Potato Sandwich ~ radish, bacon (which would have been seksogfirs/åttiseks/åttiosex-ed, of course), tarragon mayo (I have absolutely no idea what this sandwich would be like; is it made with mashed potatoes or potato salad?). And because it is a bakery-kinda-joint, there were several other Danish pastries from which to choose. There was one called a Cinnamon Knot that looked very good; I was debating on trying it instead of the one I went with ("with which I went"... nah, that just sounds even awkward more).
I forgot to take a separate photo of the Tebirkes-thing all on its ownsome, but this is the description from their web-site: "This flaky pastry is a delicious classic from Denmark covered in crunchy poppy seeds on top and with a sweet and delicious almond filling inside." However you describe it, it was very velsmagende/velsmakende/välsmakande. Now this meal would not be for any of those "healthy-faint of heart" eaters. It was mainly made with whole oats and quinoa (which I was told was the true grains of the Norse Gods). There were actually no mushrooms in my bowl, but they did add chunks of roasted pumpkin instead, which was even better. I liked this entire combination and will have to make myself a mental note to get back there again (one of these days) to try something else. I have no idea what Scandinavian folks might use in the way of condimentary supplements (probably some kinda lingonberry-infused reindeer salsa) and I really did not ask for any. I had come with a few bottles of my own hot sauces and just used some H*ll's Kitchen®Whiskey Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of the "runny" egg. I also added several grinds of grains of paradise (Thanks, Brian!) all over the bowl. (a not so) Strange Coffee Interlude Before even heading out for breakfast this morning, I made sure to make myself a decent cuppa Bettys - Colombian Fedar (Thanks again, Greg & Cindy!), just in case the restaurant did not offer a good brand choice of Coffee. As it turned out, the cuppa heart - Guatemala El Amate was very good, too. I do not think that I have ever had this particular Portland-based (the one in Oregon, not the much more internationally-known Coffee hot spot in Maine) brand of Coffee. https://www.bettys.co.uk/bettys-colombian-fedar Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Savory Porridge ~ 7.0; heart - Guatemala El Amate~ 7.2; Bettys - Colombian Fedar~ 7.3 ___________________
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist (but really more of an etymological) pointer of the day: The English word "canteen" comes from French "cantine" ("sutler's shop"), from Italian "cantina" ("wine cellar/vault"), from Italian "canto" ("corner"). The Danish word "kantine" (pronounced "kan-TEEN-eh") is a cognate of the French word. The Norwegian word "kantine" (pronounced "kan-TEEN-a") is also a cognate of the French word. Just to be difficult, the d*mn Swedes use the word "kantin" (pronounced "KAN-tin"). 2. Say hvad?! http://danishpastryhouse.ca/Tebirkes.cfm
https://sandyscafe.business.site/ Place: Sandy's Café Location: 6120 Monterey Street, Gilroy, CA Hours: open every day at 6:00am Meal: (me) Sandy'sSkillet Special ~ prepared with country (of unspecified ethnicity) potatoes, onion, ham (which I mad sure to have them excise), Cheddar cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes, and green (bell) peppers, topped with (2) eggs any style (where my "style" was "over-medium" this morning), and a choice of toast (my toasty choice was sourdough); (Dave) Steve's Country Benedict ~ two poached eggs on a buttermilk biscuit and country sausage (I am not sure if the country from which this sausage originated is the same as the potatoes' native land), topped with country gravy, served with hash browns or country potatoes (Dave smartly went with the hashbrown-choice, which I agreed with 100%); to drink: both Dave and I had cuppas the house Coffee (and a refilla or two apiece)
(There are no EweToobular juxtaselections with today's songs. I am just "thankful" for the music of Sir George Ivan. Okay, maybe Shana ain't that Welshman-like-person, Sir Thomas John Woodward, but ol' Tom Jones would not look half as good in that dress.) As has become a (new-ish) tradition for me, after being stuffed with a large Thanksgiving dinner at my friend Dave's house in Gilroy, I will usually spend the night in lieu of the hour-and-a-half drive all the way home back to San Francicopolis (you would be surprised at the amount of tryptophan that is in sweet potatoes). The next morning (for some reason, the morning after Thanksgiving fell on a Friday this year) we will head out to a local breakfast joint in the Greater Gilroy Area (of which there are less choices than you might imagine). We simply headed back to Sandy's Café (see last 'blog-entry from November 24th, 2017) ~ which really ain't a bad choice, no way, anyway. If I lived in the Greater Gilroy Area, I am pretty sure this great little local place would be a fixture in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation. Not only have I never had a bad meal there, they offer a lotta other good choices (even for stupid vegetarian-types) for breakfast. There are twenty (20) different omelettes from which to choose. Their omelettes are absolutely HUGE, too; they are made with four (4) eggs and served with hashbrowns or fruit and choice of toast or one (1) pancake. Additionally, they offer daily/weekendly specials. Today's special was a Banana Waffle. I almost went with this choice, and most definitely would have if they made it with the banana slices in the waffle batter. I asked, and was told that they serve this as a large Belgian waffle with the bananas just on top with whipped cream. That did sound good, but I would have liked my idea better. Strangely enough, they do not list any sort of Huevos Rancheros dish on their menu. If they had, I was definitely gonna go with that as my meal this morning instead.
It really did not matter if I waffled on them not having any Mexican egg dishes, as my choice turned out to be extremely tasty, all the same. It was pretty simple in construction, but I felt that they did a great job of the ratio of potatoes (as the base of the dish) to mushrooms/tomatoes/green (bell) peppers/ onions. Our waitress/server-lady person forgot my side of sourdough toast; however, this was not missed (or needed) in any way due to the large portion of the meal. I think that Dave's meal was basically the same one that he had ordered last year. It looks like they have just renamed it the much more cool-sounding "Steve's Country Benedict" now. This was the first dish that caught my eye and I told Dave that he had to get it. (Hey, I might be a long-time stupid vegetarian, but that does not mean that I can not live vicariously through my carnivorous friends). It really did not matter, as Dave had also seen it right away and was already planning on ordering it, too. I really liked that they had the buttermilk biscuit (halved) as the base for the dish (fresh buttermilk biscuits beat crummy ol' Mr. Thomas' faux crumpets any day). The only thing that I saw available on the tables as condimentary supplementation was Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce, and A.1.OriginalSauce®. I initially used some Tapatío® on top of both of the eggs. After eating about half of the pile of food, I added some A.1.® to it for extra measure. When we were paying for the meal at the front counter, I noticed two other hot sauces in their display case under the cash register: The Pepper Plant®Original California Style Hot Pepper Sauce and one other u/i hot sauce. I wish I had know that those were also available, as I would probably have tried one or both on my meal. I have never cried while eating any humble pie at Thanksgiving, but I have found that, when necessary, humble pie tastes best with a large dollop of self-righteous whipped cream on top. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Sandy'sSkillet Special ~ 6.5; Steve's Country Benedict ~ 6.8 (even though I did not actually bother quizzing Dave for his GBS Rating input, from the way that he seemed to enjoy his meal, I am going with this rating; besides, I am always impressed with any different take on boring ol' Eggs Benedict dishes)
Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, shame on me!! Fool me three times, shame on you and me!!! Fool me four times... 555!!!![1]... Nice try, I had a back-up plan this time, Mr. Laurence Tureaud!
https://www.lapisaraeatery.com/ Place: Lapisara (Eatery)[2] Location: 698 Post Street (on the corner of Jones Street) Hours: open for "Brunch" (exactly) at 7:30am Sunday through Saturday Meal: Savory "Veggie" (uggh!) Frittata ~ tomato, mushroom, red onion, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sesame oil & egg served with breakfast potatoes & sourdough toast; and to drink a glassa Big Mama ~ peach syrup, soda water, orange juice, lime juice, blackberry
(So what is the EweToobular juxtaselection here today? I have heard that Matt Ruff also likes a Savory "Veggie" [uggh!] Frittata.[3]) Well, cafebean was not open (yet once more again) this morning when I stopped by just after 7:00am (which is supposably their opening time daily; I even waited around for about twenty minutes, but there was no sign of anyone inside and it did not look like they would be opening any time soon). Luckily, I did have a good, viable back-up plan planned, Sam. No need to jump on a bus, Gus, I simply headed downhill one block on Jones Street and went back to Lapisara (Eatery) (see previous 'blog-entry from Saturday, March 24th, 2018)... and, guess what, they were already opening when I arrived there at 7:29am. Since the first/last time that I ate there, it looks like they have added a few (well, several fews) more items to their "Brunch" menu. They are still a relatively new restaurant and probably have made the final updates to their menus now. A few other items that I was eyeing were: French Toast ~ thick-cut brioche battered, coated in crushed cashew and Reese's Puffs® (contains nut), House Bourbon Maple Syrup, powder sugar and butter (the House Bourbon Maple Syrup sounds interesting all on its ownsome; this was going to be my initial choice this morning until I decided to go savoury over sweet instead); Huevos Rancheros ~ grilled corn tortillas, with black beans, topped with Feta cheese, 2 fried eggs, pico de gallo, avocado, green onions (you know what they say, when in กรุงเทพมหานคร, do as the Mexicans do); five different Eggs Benedict dishes (of which, only the Florentine is suitable for stupid vegetarians, though); three versions of Frittatas (only the one I ordered this morning was stupid-vegetarian-friendly); etceterata...
I knew right away that I was going to like this one from the menu description. I always like a good frittata, anyway. This was the perfect size for my appetite, too. The garlic-ginger-soy sauce-sesame oil-aoli-thing (as can be seen swirled over the top of the frittata) was definitely Thai in flavour. The only thing I might have liked to have had added in the egg-base was some Thai sweet basil; that is always a great combination with tomato and mushroom. Once again, I also really enjoyed their version of homefries, which came with large chunks of white onion and green and red bell peppers in it. For use in condimentary supplementation, Lapisara (Eatery) had the San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces (Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce [Original Red Sauce], Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce, and Cholula®Hot Sauce (Original)) plus Frank's RedHot® (Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce). Even with all of those hot sauces from which to choose, I went with some of my own H*ll's Kitchen®Smoky Bourbon Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) all over the potatoes. Additionally (and this is a very good "additionally"), they have jars of their own homemade ((Eatery)-made, whatever) chunky strawberry jam/preserves. I made sure to try some of that on the sourdough toast. the WildParrots of San Francisco Interlude As I was crossing the intersection of Post and Jones Streets on my way to the restaurant, I heard, then looked up and saw a solo pair (solo pair?!) of the chattering featherbrains flying directly overhead. I heard more in the neighborhood, but only saw this mini-pandemonium, though. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Savory "Veggie" (uggh!) Frittata ~ 6.8; Big Mama ~ 6.7; the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5 ___________________
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: The number "5" in Thai is written as "ห้า" and pronounced (somewhat like) "Ha"! Get it? 555 = hahaha Wห้าtever... 2. I asked my brother Kerry what "Lapisara" might mean in Thailandese (as he had lived there for about ห้า-and-a-half years). I was wondering if it was some regional slang for "Elephant", because that is what is pictured in their signage. He told me that "Lapisara" is just a Thai family name. Mystery solved. 3. I think that one of my brothers (not named "Nick" or "Kerry") may be the only person to get that silly reference.
https://www.frjtzfries.com/ Place: Frjtz Location: 3412 17th Street (near the corner of Valencia Street) Hours: "Brunch" is served everyday[ sic ] from 9:00am Meal: Louise (Belgian Waffle) ~ Bananas Foster (contains Rum) with nutella®, caramel, whipped cream; a side order of "Small" Frjtz with two dips/sauces ~ Ginger Orange Mayo ('cause it is breakfast and you need your Vitamin C) and White Truffle Artichoke Ketchup; and to drink (keeping with the whole Belgian theme [Belgisch thema/Thème belge/Belgisches Thema]) a 0,33L glassa Hoegaarden®Witbier (which I christened as a "Belgian Mimosa", the waitress/server-lady person seemed to like that one) https://hoegaarden.com/beer/hoegaarden/ Also in keeping with this whole Eleventh Hour/Day/Month-theme, I figured what better way to celebrate Veterans Day 2018 than to eat at a Belgian eatery kinda place, so I headed back to Frjtz (see last 'blog-entryfrom Saturday,August 3rd, 2013). (I bet not many people were aware that right next to Flanders Field is Simpsons Field... I read it on the World Wild Webs, so it has to be true.) So, Belgian Waffles, Belgian Fries, and Belgian Beer[2] it was to be this morning. Since my last visit there, they have moved around the corner from their old Valencia Street location. This new space is much smaller (by half, at least) than the former location. It only has eight tables for two and eight seats at the counter-area by the kitchen. Luckily, I was the only idiot there that early in the morning and had the entire joint to myself. Their original location on Hayes Street (well, the second original location on Hayes Street ~ they seem to like to move next-doors) and their restaurant in Ghirardelli Square (which was my favourite location of the three; it had great views overlooking Aquatic Park/Aquatic Cove) have both been closed now for several years. I wish they had other (closer) locations in the city. One thing I really like about their "Brunch" and standard menu items is that there are so many good things from which to choose: scrambled eggs dishes, poached eggs dishes, omelettes, pancakes, French (well, Belgian-French) toast, savoury crêpes, several French fries-based dishes (which they have labelled as "Stoner Frjtz"), and, of course, Belgian waffles. There are simply way too many to list all of them, but a few other choices that I was eyeing were: the Guggenheim ~ three egg scrambled with mushrooms, spinach, veggie (uggh!) salami, Feta cheese, and cilantro pesto served with home-fried potatoes (this was going to be my original order until I decided to go all-Belgium); L'accademia ~ two poached eggs with spinach, tomato-basil sauces and Hollandaise sauce on English muffins, served with home-fried potatoes; the Benaki ~ three egg omelet with Feta cheese, tomato, green onion, Kalamata olives and spinach served with home-fried potatoes; Belvedere ~ Bananas Foster Rum French toast, topped with whipped cream, caramel, and bacon (less the dead, decaying pork-belly stuff, this is basically what I had today in waffle-form, anyway); (off the Stoner Frjtz portion of the menu) Greek ~ extra virgin olive oil, Meyer lemon brine, oregano, Feta cheese; or Vegetarian Poutine (which they have mispelded on their on-line menu as "Putine", but I did see it spelt kerrektly on their printed menus; this was also a viable back-up option this morning if I had not already gone and waffled).
This turned out to be a very sweet dish (with the Bananas Foster sauce, caramel, nutella®, and whipped cream, it was to be expected). I really did not need to add (but I did, anyway) the small plastic ramekin of maple syrup that came on the side (and, yes, I did have to try a French fry... or two... dipped into this amalgam of sweet sauces; it really wasn't half-bad). I do not think they really even needed the additional nutella® in this; it probably would have been better without it. The waffle was a bit over-cooked and that made it extra crunchy, which also made it harder to eat; I am not really complaining, just pointing it out.
Whatever I was going to order for the main breakfast, I was going to make sure to get a side order of their French fries. It is a main reason to eat there. Due to the Ice Cream sundae glass/cone shape, the amount of fries looked way more than I could finish. However, there were really less than it looks there. They were piled pretty high, but I did manage to finish all of them (of course, I did end up leaving two bites of the waffle untouched). The Belgian Mimosa actually paired very nicely with all the food; it is a bit citrusy, anyway. I think the first time that I ever had a Hoegaarden®Witbier was on Tenerife (the one in the Canary Islands, not the much more famous suburb of Boise, Idaho) during Christmas vacation 2003. The waitress/server-lady person told me that they no longer offer Stella Artois®. This really doesn't matter, as both of these breweries are now owned by the same Mega-corporation, Anheuser–Busch InBev, and the quality is not what it once was. From what I could see, Frjtz only had Tapatío® Salsa Picante®Hot Sauce in the form of pre-bottled condimentary supplements, but this did not really matter as none was needed/none was used. Now I would not know a "white truffle" from a "brown Portobello", but I liked the flavour of the ketchup choice I made. They have about twenty different types of ketchups and mayonnaises from which to choose. "But, Brian, you ordered a 'vile white goop' dip, too? I thought you hated all things related to the Mayo Clinic." First off, this is not your everyday (see, that is the correct usage of this adjective) refrigerator-quality plain ol' Hellman's gunk; it is a fresh-made aioli/mayonnaise gunk. Secondly, when in Brussels, do as the Antwerpians do... (another not so) Strange Coffee Interlude Once again this morning, before heading out into the cold, cruel (and, this weekend, "very smoky") Sunday climes, I made me another cuppa gifted Coffee from Bettys (Thanks again, Greg & Cindy!). This time it was a cuppa the simply sublime JamaicaBlue Mountain. Someone tried to convince me yesterday that Jamaica was not a country on the African Continent, mon. Ha! Nice try! If Jamaicawas not actually in Africa, why was Bob Marley always singing about that Hayley Selassie woman? Plus, do you expect me to believe that Coffee beans somehow magically floated across the Atlantic Ocean and planted themselves in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. Some people! https://www.bettys.co.uk/jamaica-blue-mountain Happy Veterinarians Day to all! Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Louise ~ 6.4; Ginger Orange Mayo ~ 6.9; White Truffle ArtichokeKetchup ~ 7.0; BettysJamaicaBlue Mountain ~ 8.2 ___________________
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist (and a bit U.S. Air Force historical) pointer of the day, numerus unus/pars una: The Latin phrase "Ut Fiat Libertas" used to be the motto of my old Air Force Squadron when I was stationed in Greece, 6916th Electronic Security Squadron (despite the electrocutionary moniker, we were not union members of IBEW... unless IBEW were actually a buncha spies, too) ~ "Home of the Proud Professionals". I think the best translation of this phrase would be: "That There Might Be Freedom." (Google Translate is giving me the direct translation: "so that it becomes the liberty of". Doesn't Mr. George Google know that you are not supposed to end a sentence a preposition with?) Of course, the old joke at our squadron was that it meant: "One Free Fiat." Because today is the day that we honour past members of the Armed Forces (especially if they were animal doctors), I paraphrased the motto to make it a bit more breakfastarily sound. Hence, my titular phrase kinda means: "That there might be Breakfast."
Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, deel twee/deuxième partie/Zweiter Teil: Just for the h*ck of it, here are the Dutch/French/German (respectively) translations of "Ut Fiat Libertas" (well, as best as I can come up with from the likes of Google Translate again): Dat er vrijheid kan zijn. Qu'il pourrait y avoir la liberté. Dass dort Freiheit sein könnte. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, deel drie/partie trois/Teil drei: "Breakfast" might be a universal language, but they say it three different ways even in one small country in Europaland: Ontbijt Petit Déjeuner Frühstück 2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, nummer twee/numéro deux/Nummer zwei: Waffles Wafels Gaufres Waffeln French Fries Frietjes Frites Pommes Frittes Beer Bier Bière Bier
♪ "Hot town, Autumn in the Castro, Back of my neck getting dirty and... gastro?!?" ♫
https://www.woodenspoonsf.com/ Place: Wooden Spoon Location: 2172 Market Street (between Church and Sanchez Streets) Hours: open daily at 8:00am (whereas their web-site states "'Brunch' With Us", this is actually a pretty decent place for an unsnobbish, plain ol' breakfast and they open up plenty early enough for me, too) Meal: Morning Bowl (gf) (v) ~ quinoa, cauliflower rice, pickled vegetables, kabocha squash, spinach, sesame tahini & tomatillo salsa; and a cuppa (and two half-refillas ["'Two half-refillas'? But ain't that just 'one refilla', Brian?" Yeah, so, maybe I just prefer Common Core Math. Okay?!]) Sightglass Coffee - (possibly) Banner Dark https://sightglasscoffee.com/
(There are absolutely no reasons for today's EweToobular juxtaselections. Idunno, perhaps that guy that sang the theme-song to "Welcome Back, Kotter" also likes Swedish pancakes with lingonberry jam.) I seldom get over to the Castro; however, last week I was visiting friends for Hallowe'en (Hey, Amy and Chef Joe!) over near the Duboce Triangle, and because I had gotten there about two hours earlier than the festivities were to commence, I decided to walk up and down Market Street in the Castro District. As luck would have it, I discovered a couple "new" (for me, anyway) places that looked like they might be good choices for future breakfastary fares. The first one I decided to hit (mainly because it opened an hour before the other restaurant) was Wooden Spoon. And when I say "new", in the case of Wooden Spoon, it has only been open since mid-May of this year (which would be the year 2018 for any of you anti-Semite b*stards keeping count). The restaurant space is surrounded by the entrance-ways to Cafe Du Nord and the Swedish American Hall. Seating-wise, there are two large counter seating-areas ~ one by the front door/bar-area (which is where I chose to sit this morning) that has eleven seats, and another in the back (near/overlooking the kitchen-area) with twelve more seats. Additionally, there are several real tables in the larger, main dining area (if you are that kinda person that has to pretend to be all kulcherd and stuff and feel the need to sit at a fancy-shmancy-*ss table-thing [you probably also expect to be provided with hoity-toity cloth napkins and sterling silver straws... well, the joke is on you! They use both paper napkins and paper straws.]). I really liked that there are several stupid vegetarian-friendly (and even some stupider Vegan-friendly) dishes from which to choose. A few other ideas that caught my eye (well, both of my eyes): Huevos Divorciados ~ eggs, house made Vegan chorizo, avocado, crema, queso fresco, black beans (this would probably have been my back-up choice); Swedish Society Pancakes ~ lingonberry jam, powdered sugar, lemoncurd; Buttermilk Pancakes ~ spiced apples, maple syrup (the guy two seat over from me at the counter ordered these; they came as three extra thick and HUGE pancakes; I would never have been able to finish all three myself); Granola Crunch French Toast (v) (say whaaaa'?!) ~ brioche, whipped cream, raspberries, maple syrup; or House Hash (gf) ~ poached egg, short ribs (which I woulda made sure were not only "short", but "nonexistent ribs"), kabocha squash, spinach, pickled vegetables, coconut creamed corn.
I knew immediately that I was gonna love this one from its list of ingredients: quinoa (♥), cauliflower (♥♥), AND kabocha squash (♥♥♥)! (Of course, with the small-grained quinoa and riced cauliflower, this dish oughta shoulda come with a side of toothpicks... [the only thing missing was some whole sesame seeds and flax seeds to perform the Anti-Dentite Perfecta, Jerry].) It came all compartmentalised and the idea was to mix up all the stuff after dumping the tomatillo salsa and sesame tahini all over the mess. I also liked their pickled vegetables (of the Anti-Brandtite variety): of which, there were at least carrots and red onions that I knew for sure, and, possibly, parsnipsor turnips, sweet potatoes, and white radishes. I asked one of the waitress/server lady-persons and she was not exactly sure herself; she said that the vegetables change seasonally. Whatever they might have been, they were verrrry tasty. If you go there and if these do not come as a part of your meal, I highly suggest getting a side of them (even if you order one of their pancake dishes... no... especially even if you order one of their pancake dishes). When I first saw the description of the meal that I ordered on the menu (What am I some kinda stupid rabbit with a light appetite?!), I almost thought about ordering a side of potatoes. Luckily, I did not, as this was just the right amount of food (with the added poached egg on top [let's see some d*mn rabbit try to eat a poultry zygote]) for me. Wooden Spoon offers for condimentary supplementation Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Cholula®Hot Sauce (Original). I used some of my own Old St. AugustineDatil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of the poached egg. Actually, their tomatillo salsa was pretty d*rn tasty all on its ownsome and I probably coulda foregone any extraneous espiciness. (not so) Strange Coffee Interlude I was only going to order a cuppa with breakfast if they offered a good or interesting brand of Coffee. The Mexican bartender/waiter/server-guy told me that they served Sightglass Coffee. However, when I asked him what specific roast/blend it was, all he could tell me was that it was a "Dark Roast". Which was good enough for me. And the Coffee also ended up being good enough for me to get a couple of half-refillas, too. "Fill'er-up!"[1] (part b) Before even heading out for breakfast this morning, I made myself a cuppa BettysColombian Fedar (Thanks, Greg & Cindy! [who are no relation to the above "Cindy & Greg" hot sauce-gifters]; I had just received a care-package from them this week that included several different bags of Bettys). As with all of BettysCoffees, this was exceptionally good. It was just not as good as any of those true African Coffees like those from Ethiopia (Ethiopian Mocha Limu and Rare Blossom Ethiopia), Kenya (Kenyan Karatina), or Jamaica (Jamaica Blue Mountain)... https://www.bettys.co.uk/bettys-colombian-fedar Wooden Spoon is gonna be a strong contender for "My Favourite 'New' Place of 2018" (along with lokma ~ see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, August 19th, 2018).
♪ "All around, people looking half dead Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a hatch-med[2]... " ♫ Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Morning Bowl ~ 7.1; Sightglass Coffee - (possibly) Banner Dark ~ 7.0; BettysColombian Fedar ~ 7.3 ___________________
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: From asking (pestering... potato-tomato) in the past, I knew that to order just a half-cuppa/warm-uppa in Spanish you say "la mitad", which simply means "half/middle". I had to ask what was the Spanish for "Fill'er-up!" and was told it was "¡Llénala!" (pronounced something like "YENala", but the bartender-guy-person pronounced it more like "GENala" [with a hard "G" as in "guarantee"], which just might be more of a Mexican dialectal thing). 2. Okay, let us see who can figure out just why I "murposefully paid" that particular metathesis in that phrase.
