Wooden Spoon

♪ "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, lemon curd;

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, parsnips or 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. Augustine Datil 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 Bettys Colombian 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 Bettys Coffees, 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;
Bettys Colombian 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.