Frjtz

Ut Fiat... Prandium?![1]

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-entry from 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 Jamaica Blue Mountain. Someone tried to convince me yesterday that 
Jamaica was not a country on the African Continent, mon. Ha! Nice try! If Jamaica was 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 Artichoke Ketchup ~ 7.0;
Bettys Jamaica Blue 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