For the past few years now I have gone with a more adverbial appellation of "My Favourites... " instead of the ubiquitous "Best of... " (which you see everyone using everywhere these days). After all, what is "Best" to me may not truly be "Best" to Randolph Peter and the rest of those fab Liverpudlian lads. Once again, I am keeping with the "Top Ten" format-idea, and the easiest way to rank these was just to go back through all my 'blog-entries from 2018 and see which ones had the highest Glen Bacon Scale Rating (and in the case of any identical GBS ratings, I am simply listing them chronologistically).
(Here's to innocence and now. Cheers!) 1) Surprise, surprise, surprise... not! Le Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro (see 'blog-entries from Samedi 6 janvieret aussiDimanche 2 septembre) tops the list yet once again this year. It is not a coincidence that I usually make this meal one of my first breakfasts of the year. 2) Well, well, well... it seems as though we have a brand new usurper at the "Number 2" spot this year (just edging out the previous, long-running "No. 2" from our long-running friends at Dottie's True blue café) with Savory Reggiano at GriddleGriddle FreshFresh (see 'blog'blog-entryentry from SaturdaySaturday, JuneJune 9th9th). This was such a tasty, great surprise that I am also claiming it as "My Favourite" (New) French Toast Dish Not Named Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro! 3) Even though it has been bumped down a peg, Al, it is still one of "My Favourite" breakfasts in the entire city: Zucchini Cakes at Dottie's True blue café (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, January 13th). 4) Puka French Toast at grindz (see 'blog-entry from Poaono, Feberuari 17). Sadly, I only "discovered" this dish late in the life of this restaurant and this was only my second time ever to order it. Ah, well, maybe I need to make a little road-trip over to Mokupuni Nui to try it again. 5) Dutch Baby Pancake at LaLe (see 'blog-entry from Zondag 22 april). Even though this was only a singular "pancake", it more than deserves this placement due to its wh*pping size and flavour. 6) It really should not be fair for one local restaurant to have two of "My Favourites" in the "Top Ten", but les Œufs Baker Street Bistro at Baker Street Bistro (see 'blog-entry from Samedi 14 avril) rightly deserves this honour every year. Is it their fault that their Pain Perdu est tout simplement extraordinaire aussi? 7) Challah French Toast at the Manor (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, March 31st [which à propos-priately happened to be the first day of Passover]). ("What?! Another d*mn French toast dish on this list, Brian? Maybe you should just call it 'My Favourite' French Toasts of 2018 already." Hmmm?! Ya know, that might not be such a bad idea. Perhaps next year I might just make two separate lists: one for French toast [possibly including pancakes, too] dishes and one for all other dishes.) 8) A great out-of-State (outta-my-mind?) discovery: Green Goddess Frittata at gather (see 'blog-entry from Friday, July 27th). Not only was my main meal extremely tasty (asparagus and Feta in the same dish? You had me at asparagus... ), but they had their own special homemade (well, gather-made) condimentary supplementation: vanilla-butter ~ which was mighty awesome all on its ownsome (well, spread on toast and such). Because of both of these, I am also honorificing (not a real word, but maybe it should be) this restaurant as "My Favourite" Out-of-Towner Breakfast. 9) (yet still another French toast entry) Orange Bread French Toast at Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry (see 'blog-entry from Wednesday, August 15th). Now, if they had some of gather's vanilla-butter to use on it, this dish might have ended up a few numbers higher still. 10) (and not such a bad way of finishing out the list, an olde stalworth "Favourite") Chilaquiles at Chava's Mexican Restaurant (see 'blog-entry from Sábado 13 de octubre).
2018 Specific Categories (& Honourable Mentions kinda stuff) "My Favourite" Swiss Rösti outside of Yorkshire (possibly one person that reads this silly li'l 'blog-thing regularly will get that reference) ~ pomelo (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, November 25th). GBS Rating: 7.2 "My Favourite" Huevos Rancheros Dish ~ Buck's of Woodside (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, February 25th). (Well, seeing as I probably only had Huevos Rancheros a few times in 2018, this might not seem like such high praise, but their version ranks up there with any dishes you can find in the Mission.) GBS Rating: 7.2 "My Favourite" "Brunch" with Beer ~ Beach Chalet (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, September 30th). GBS Rating: Roasted Vegetable Frittata ~ 7.1; Sea Serpent Foggy I.P.A. ~ 7.2 "My Favourite" New Find ~ Wooden Spoon (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, November 10th). GBS Rating: Morning Bowl ~ 7.1 "My Favourite" Use of (and correctly spelled) Brussels Sprouts~ Roasted Brussels Sprouts Hash at Town's Endrestaurant & bakery (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, December 9th). GBS Rating: 7.1 "My Favourite" Thai Family Restaurant Back-up Plan (twice) ~ Lapisara Eatery (see 'blog-entries from Saturday, March 24th and Saturday, November 17th). GBS Rating: "Veggie" (uggh!) Omelet ~ 7.0; Savory "Veggie" (uggh!) Frittata~ 6.8 "My Favourite" Scandinavian/Danish Breakfast ("Brunch", whatever)/Bakery kinda-joint ~ Kantine (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, November 24th). GBS Rating: Savory Porridge ~ 7.0 "My Favourite" Ridiculously Disgusting New (for me, at least) Coffeehouse~ home (see 'blog-entries from Saturday, February 3rd and Sunday, February 11th [and several other references/visits throughout the year]). GBS Rating: Lavender Latte ~ 7.5; Rose Latte ~ 7.3; Cookie Monster (Latte) ~ 7.1; Red VelvetLatte ~ 6.9 "My Favourite" New Local (Neighborhood/within walking-distance) Place ~ lokma (see 'blog-entries from Sunday, June 10th and Sunday, August 19th). GBS Rating: Türlü Omelet ~ 7.0; Menemen ~ 6.7
In Memoriam Interlude (aka "Another One Bites the Dust", though the food always tasted much better than nibbling any fine particles of solid matter, Mr. John Richard Deacon) In 2018, we bade a sad farewell to both grindz and heartbaker. This was doubly-sad as both of these restaurants were located within my neighborhood (if not exactly walking-distance, at least only a short three-to-four stops on the bus). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro ~ 8.2 (mais certainement); Savory Reggiano at GriddleGriddle FreshFresh ~ 7.7; Zucchini Cakes at Dottie's True blue café ~ 7.61 (Why the extra 0.01 GBS points there? Just to distinguish it as a little more "Favourite" than the next dish.); Puka French Toast at grindz~ 7.6; Dutch Baby Pancake at LaLe ~ 7.5; Œufs Baker Street Bistro at Baker Street Bistro ~ 7.4; Challah French Toast at the Manor ~ 7.4; Green Goddess Frittataat gather ~ 7.3 (vanilla-butter alone ~ 7.5); Orange Bread French Toast at Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry ~ 7.3; Chilaquiles at Chava's Mexican Restaurant ~ 7.3
(Still no official-type web-site thing.) Place: Beanstalk Cafe Location: 4555 California Street (on the corner of 8th Avenue); phonicular contact: (415) 742-4101
Hours: open Monday - Saturday at 7:30am, Sunday at 8:00am Meal: Mina's Veggie (uggh!) ~ avocado, shiitake mushroom, PJ cheese (as in "Pepper Jack", I asked; I had to make sure they were not sneaking any of that "Peanut-butter & Jelly Cheese" into my sandwich), "the vile white goop" (which I probably coulda had 86-ed, but left in for the h*ck of it), chili sauce (more specifically, the Korean chili sauce ~ gochujang), onion, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, arugula, apple (yes, apple); and to drink, a cuppa pour-over Contraband Coffee- Black Market Blend http://www.contrabandcoffeebar.com/
(As far as I know, there are no EweToobular juxtaselections with this song. I dunno, maybe this Bryan Adams guy or Liam Gallagher's older brother also like the combination of gochujang and apples in a sandwich.) I wanted to keep it simple and local this morning, so I simply and locally went back to Beanstalk Cafe (see previous 'blog-entry from Saturday, August 12th, 2017) for an early breakfast. I arrived there around 8:10am and ended up being the first sit-down customer for the morning. There are really only limited choices for stupid vegetarian-types for any breakfast (or lunch) fare. I could have gone with one of their bagel or cragel sandwich combinations, or possibly RainbowQuinoa Salad (veggie [uggh!] medley w/ avocado, arugula, hard boiled egg, cucumber, mushroom). Unfortunately, I was informed this morning that their Toast Cups are pre-made with bacon already in them (besides, they did not have any ready that early this morning, anyway); I really wanted to try that interesting-sounding dish.
This sandwich is simply served on a local and organic Acme rustic roll, which was a ciabatta style roll. The sandwich was made with lotsa fresh "veggies" (uggh!) and the apple slices (I think they were a McIntosh or a similar style of apple) were an extra sweet surprise. Even "the vile white goop" did not ruin this sandwich, as it was over-tempered with the extra-tasty gochujang. The sandwich ended up being prepared and brought out even before the pour-over Coffee was completed. Drinking Coffee out almost seems like cheating with all of the new Coffees I recently received at Christmas (six different bags ~ Thanks, Greg & Cindy, Rick, Christina, and Barry!); this feels kinda like using solar power in Newcastle upon Tyne. But you can not go out to eat at a coffeehouse without drinking some of their Coffee, and, in this case, Contraband Coffeeis always a good option. The only thing I should have done differently was to order a different blend of Coffee this time. They have about four or five different roasts/blends from which to choose as single-cuppa pour-overs. I had previously ordered the Black Market Blend on my first visit there. Not that any additional condimentary supplementation was needed, but Beanstalk Cafe offered both Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce and Huy Fong Foods, Inc.®Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. I had even come packing two of my own brand-new hot sauces (yet more Christmas gifts ~ Thanks, Cindy & Greg!): both from Peaks of Otter Peppers ~ Cremation Drops Hot Sauce and Inca GoldHot Sauce. However, I will have to wait until next weekend now to test those out with any breakfasts out. https://www.peaksofotterpeppers.com/ Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Mina's Veggie (uggh!) ~ 6.4; Contraband Coffee- Black Market Blend ~ 7.3
Airport Breakfastary Food - Part VIII Orlando International Airport (MCO)[1], Orlando, FL (Sunday, 12/23/2018) https://zazacubandiner.com/ Place: zaza™ - Cuban Café Location: Airside 3 (Gates 30-59), Orlando International Airport, One Jeff Fuqua Boulevard, Orlando, FL
Hours: open daily at 5:00am Meal: Egg & Cheese Croissant; a Cuban Guava Pastry-thing (puff pastry filled with guava jelly); and to drink, a Colada[2] (Double Espresso) ~ a double shot zaza™ Cuban Espresso, infused with cremita sugar (which I made sure to have them uninfuse)[3]
(I have been told that the Jive Aces originally all hailed from República de Cuba.) Because I had eaten large homemade breakfasts (everything from gingerbread waffles and gingerbread pancakes, to French toast, to Eggs à la Grêg, to Christmas cookies [do not judge me], to etc.) almost every day during the past week while vacationing in "the City Beautiful"[4], I decided to get a simpler and smaller meal for my early morning repast on my return trip back home. So I simply and smally chose to eat at zaza™ - Cuban Café at the airport. This shop is more of a "grab-and-go" kinda place, but there were a few seats and tables at the back along the runway-side windows. The choices of actual good "sit-down" style restaurants were limited in this part of the terminal, anyway. There were really only a few other viable options off their breakfast menu for those of the stupid vegetarian ilk: Veggie (uggh!) Scrambler ~ prepared with onions, peppers, tomatoes and cheese, served with Cuban toast; Oatmeal al Caribe ~ creamy oatmeal prepared with cinnamon sticks; or Egg & Cheese Cuban Sandwich ~ fluffy scrambled eggs prepared with cheese on our toasted Cuban bread (initially I had asked for this, but the lady at the counter [counteress?] misunderstood me and entered the order incorrectly; I suppose it would have been basically the same meal as I ended up with, but with Cuban bread instead of a croissant).
meh! I suppose this was better'n most of the breakfastary cr*p you might be able to order at your local King Wendy in the McDonald's Box fast-food joints, but it really was all still rather sadly torpid in taste. The guava pastry was okay, though. The double-shot of Espresso seemed a tad bit on the short side; I wonder if they gave me a single-shot also accidentally. In the way of condimentary supplementation, all that I saw available were those plastic one-serving packets of Texas Pete®Original Hot Sauce. Unfortunately, I did not see those until after I had already finished my meal; this banal breakfast really coulda used an extra flavour boost. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Egg & Cheese Croissant ~ 5.5; Cuban Guava Pastry-thing ~ 6.2 ___________________
1. The airport code "MCO" stands for the airport's former name, McCoy Air Force Base, a Strategic Air Command (SAC) installation, that was closed in 1975 as part of a general military drawdown following the end of the Vietnam War. 2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: The Spanish word "colada" translates as "strained" (or "wash/laundry"). I had always (mis-)assumed that it was just the Spanish word for "coconut" ~ as in "piña colada", because I knew "piña" meant "pineapple". However, it refers to the "straining" process to extract the fresh pineapple juice used in that drink. For what it is worth, the Spanish word for "coconut" is simply "coco" (see, sometimes this cunning linguistics stuff ain't cirugía de cohetes) and another Spanish word for "pineapple" is "ananás". 3. Café Cubano (also known as Cuban Espresso, Cuban Coffee, Cafecito, Cuban pull, and Cuban shot) is a type of Espresso that originated in Cuba. Specifically, it refers to an Espresso shot which is sweetened with demerara sugar which has been whipped with the first and strongest drops of Espresso. (So, technically, I just had a plain ol' Double Espresso.)
4. Yes, this is the actual chosen nickname of Orlando, Florida, USA. I do not want to insult any of the 280,000+ residents of "the City Beautiful", but I have been to downtown Oakland, California and Council Bluffs, Iowa and even they could claim that silly moniker if they really wanted.
Hours: open daily at 4:30am Meal: Mediterranean Scramble ~ spinach, tomato, Feta cheese, & Kalamata olives, served with home fries & toast; and to drink, a cuppa (and one refilla) Mr. Espresso®House Roast https://mrespresso.com/coffee/blends/
(I am pretty sure that I have juxtaselectioned this particular song before [and probably more than once], but how often is it that you get two Britishlander Kaniggets chanting about Cholula®?) One should never travel on an empty stomach; it is always much easier and safer to travel on an airplane. So, before heading eastward to the Wonderful World of Disneylandia (Florida-chapter) for a pre-Christmas vacation last week, I made sure to fill up my stomach at Mission Bar & Grill prior to boarding the aircraft. It was even more convenient as the restaurant was located directly across from my boarding gate that morning. Unlike many restaurants at airports now-a-days, this particular establishment is specific to SFO only and does not have a corresponding in-city location from which it was borne. Even though "Good Airport Food" is usually an oxymoron filed just under "French Politesse" and "British Cuisine" (and, as added by several of my English friends, "American Humour"), sometimes you can get lucky and find a decent breakfastary repast at airports. At this particular establishment, I could also have ordered California Scramble (Cheddar cheese, mushrooms, tomato, & avocado). Additionally, while wandering around before my flight, I saw a few good other choices at a different restaurant (Y*nkee Pier) that was located in another boarding area in this same terminal.
I suppose this meal could also easily have been called "Greek Scramble"; it included everything you would normally get from a dish of that nomenclature. Surprisingly, for a meal that was found in an airport restaurant-joint, this turned out to be a very good breakfast. It was made with lots of Feta (chunks and crumbles) and Kalamata olives (sliced, not crumbled), which was good because those two ingredients were my deciding factors in ordering it. It was also made with fresh sautéed baby spinach. I went with sourdough for my toast choice. After the first cuppa, I decided to make my Coffee drink into a pseudo-Caffè Borgia[1] by adding the slice of orange garnish off my plate into the mug (you can just see it peaking its ugly head over the rim in the photo above). I simply considered this my daily dose of Vitamin C(offee?). For condimentary supplementation, Mission Bar & Grill offers both Cholula®Hot Sauce (Original) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. I went with a little (well, a lot ~ to those of you that would consider several splashes more than just "a little") Cholula® on the potatoes. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Mediterranean Scramble ~ 6.5 ___________________
1. A "Caffè Borgia" is a Mocha with orange rind or zest and sometimes orange flavouring added. It is often served with whipped cream and topped with cinnamon. Supposably, according to legend, the Borgia family used poisoned orange zest to murder their enemies, thus resulting in everyone nicknaming this the "Caffè Borgia". https://www.thecoffeebump.com/blog/cafe-borgia-recipe.html#.XCFYV1VKiM8
http://www.townsendrb.com/ Place: Town's Endrestaurant & bakery Location: 2 Townsend Street (on the Embarcadero across from Pier 38) Hours: open Tuesday-Friday at 7:30am for breakfast; open Saturday-Sunday at 8:00am for "Brunch" Meal: Roasted Brussels Sprouts Hash ~ with butternut squash, coarsely diced potatoes, red onion, red peppers, two poached eggs, mustard sauce; to drink with the meal, a glassa Blood OrangeMimosa ~ organic blood orange juice & Brut Cava sparkling wine; and, afterward, at Crossroads Café a Single Pumpkin SpiceLatte http://www.delanceystreetfoundation.org/entercafe.php
(What is the EweToobular juxtaselection here today? Well, like any good Britishlander lad, Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend always eats his Brussels sprouts this time of the year, too.) Driving "all the way cross-town" over to Town's Endrestaurant & bakery (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, December 3rd, 2017) always takes a bit of time, so I will generally only head over there on Sunday mornings (plus, there will usually be plenty of free, legal parking then, too). Because I had arrived there about ten minutes before the restaurant was due to open, I went for a brisk little stroll along the Embarcadero. (Of course, I was also able to find a great parking space right across the street from the restaurant at that early hour.) AT&T Park, Home of your San Francisco Giants, is only two blocks down the road.
As soon as I saw this weekend's (seasonal) "Brunch" menu, I immediately knew which meal I was going to order. Otherwise, there were still a few other good ideas: Mary's Special ~ two Swedish oatmeal pancakes (organic pears & almonds in the pancakes), two eggs scrambled with mushrooms, green onions, garlic & sharp White Cheddar; Almond Cornmeal French Toast ~ ricotta-blueberry cornbread, orange cinnamon batter, served with lemon cream (it's gluten free! [they added that explanation point!]); Red pepperscrambledeggs ~ with fire roasted red peppers, green onions & Laura Chenel goat cheese; eggs & omelettes are served with a choice of potato-carrot pancakes (with apple compote & sour cream), grilled polenta, or fresh fruit; or 3 Chile Scramble~ Anaheim chiles, roasted red peppers & chipotles, grilled red onions, scrambled with 3 eggs, queso fresco, handmade corn tortilla, red & green salsas & guacamole (I had ordered this dish just two visits ago, but it is always a good back-up if needed).
Today's complimentary fresh-baked mini-muffins/mini-scone were a blueberry, a banana-walnut (How come no one ever makes plantain-pecan muffins?), and a raisin scone. They were gone long before the meal was brought out. Of course, I loved this dish. (It's a Brussels sprouts-thing with me.) There were definitely a lot of Brussels sprouts (and I was very happy to see it correctly spelled as "Brussels" for a change, Monsieur/Meneer Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg) in this and they were all charred/roasted very nicely. The waiter-server person explained to me that the mustard sauce (which was a sort of mustard aioli) was made with maple syrup in it to give it a sweet (but oddly tasty) flavour. It was served in a small ramekin on the side so that you could use as little or as much as you liked. This was a good idea. I liked using the entire ramekin myself, anyway. (This got me to wondering if a Coffee-maple syrup-mustard aioli might be an interesting combination... not that I am ever gonna make it for myself, though.) I really did not bother to ask what Town's End restaurant & bakery might have to offer in the way of hot sauces for condimentary supplementation. I used some of my own Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of one of the poached eggs and H*lls KithchenGhost Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of the other poached egg. When mixed with the soft egg yolks and their mustard sauce, this all made for a flavourful addition. (Another not so) Strange Coffee Interlude Like I had done after my last visit there, I walked across the street to Crossroads Café for an after-breakfast dessert Coffee. (I had planned on doing this all along and did not order another cuppa with my meal for that reason.) This morning I ordered a personal seasonal favourite, Pumpkin SpiceLatte. Both Crossroads Café and Town's End restaurant & bakery serve the (Oakland) local Mr. Espresso®, anyway. Glen BaconScale Rating: Roasted Brussels Sprouts Hash ~ 7.1; freebie mini-muffins/mini-scone ~ 6.9; Pumpkin SpiceLatte ~ 6.6
Because कर्म[1] is such a b*tch, you have to try to fool her once in a while...
http://www.cafemasonsf.com/ Place: Cafe Mason Location: 320 Mason Street (between Geary and O'Farrell Streets) Hours: your guess is as good as mine... possibly open 24 hours(???) every day of the week(???); they call their early morning meal "Brunch" on their menu, but I have eaten there as early as 6:30 (that would be of the ante meridiem mode), so they can be forgiven for that snootified moniker Meal: California Omelette ~ tomato, Jack cheese, cilantro & fresh herbs, where I Deluxe-d it and had avocado added (for an additional $1.50 extra), all omelettes and open face omelettes (frittatas) come with a choice of: hashbrowns, fresh fruit, or roasted tomato with herbs, and a choice of toast (nine grain, white, rye, English muffin, or sour dough); and to drink, a cuppa (with one-and-a-halfa refillas) Sunrise Coffee Company, Ltd - House Blend https://www.sunrisecoffee.net/
(For the record[vinyl only, of course], I would never be one to call Boy George "a 'man' with-or-without conviction"... ) Okay, so, I made a poor homeless guy (whose name is Andrew) cry this morning... and I am not gonna apologize for it in the least! Mainly because it was not out of any direct effrontery or abject meanness on my part, but due to simple human-kindness. (I like to perform random acts of kindness every once in a while to offset my normal bastagery. It always keeps 'em guessing.) And all I did was simply ask Andrew (and, by doing so, simply acknowledge his existence, which seemed to him to be the most important thing): "So, how are you doin' today?" After enjoying breakfast, while wandering around Union Square area, I had stopped in front of Bartlett Hall to check out the breakfastary menu in their front window to see if it would be worth-my-while to visit them for breakfast some other morning. (It turns out that there are not a lot of items from which to choose, and less-so for stupid vegetarians. However, they do offer Chilaquiles ~ with a tomatillo salsa ~ and that might merit a visit.) I was trying to mind my own business, but I overheard Andrew asking for some money from a couple of tourista-types that were passing by. They ignored his request and brusquely brushed past him. At that point, Andrew went all Joseph Merrick on them for completely ignoring him as if he did not even exist. So, I just turned around and asked him how he was doing. After the silent rebuke of them d*mn touristas, he seemed flabbergasted at any other human-bean recognizing him as one, too. He was literally so choked up that it took him a good minute or so just to get out his name after I introduced myself. I felt so bad for making him break-down on the street that I offered to buy him a sandwich at a nearby Subway® shop. (Andrew suggested the Subway® shop himself, because he told me that he ate there often.) After buying Andrew the 12" sandwich combo (of course, it was Andrew himself that had graciously decided to throw that in for me... ) which comes with chips and a drink, I also left him with another fiver for later in the day. Anyway, back to the breakfast portion of this silly li'l 'blog-thing (it is called "Breakfast at Epiphany's", not "Stupid Heartfelt Charities at Epiphany's", after all)... I went back to Cafe Mason (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, February 10th, 2018) for breakfast again this morning. This is why it is always important to have a viable back-up plan up your sleeve. One of these days, cafebean may very well be open again when I stop by (however, they were not at 7:46 this particular a.m.), but until that day I am making sure to always be prepared just like the Girl Scouts motto says. As it was still a little before eight o'clock when I arrived there, I was able to score the cool two-seater mini-booth again this morning. (See? Instant Karma's gonna get you... just add water.) One of the things that I really like about this joint (other than always getting a decent meal) is that they seem a bit on the international side. Not only are most of the waiters/waitresses-server persons normally from other countries, but the restaurant always seem to attract customers from all over the World. There were vier deutsche Frauen at the booth on one side of me and two Arab(-ish?) guys in the booth on the other side of me. Having eaten there several times now, I am running out of new ideas to eat. However, I still want to try theSpinach Crépes[ sic ] ~ homemade (restaurant-made, whatever) cream spinach soufflé topped with cheese and Mornay sauce. Additionally, they list Fresh Homemade Pumpkin Pancakes (3pc) on the on-line "Brunch" menu, but I did not see it listed anywhere on the printed menu; I will have to ask if it is still available on a future visit.
This was another very well prepared omelette dish, where the eggy-stuff was nice and fluffy (which I can never seem to get right at home). The added avocado was definitely the way to go and worth the Deluxe-ification option. My Mexican waiter-server person-guy (named Pily) pointing out the two slices of avocado displayed on top of the omelette: "There is more avocado inside... ". He was not lying. I peaked inside and there had to be a whole 'nother halfa avocado sliced/fanned-out inside. I went with the side options of hashbrowns and sourdough toast. After ordering and receiving the meal, I think what I probably shoulda done was get the side of fruits and ordered an additional side of hashbrowns. It might have been a bit of an overkill for my appetite, but they usually do a good job on the fresh fruit junk. I really do miss their version of homefries, though; they were excellent and one of my favourites in the city. Looking around, I saw that Cafe Mason now has the Standard San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces (Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce [Original Red Sauce], Cholula®Hot Sauce [Original], and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce); however, Pily only offered me a bottle of the plain ol' Tabasco® stuff) for condimentary supplementation. None of which would really have mattered, as I had come fully prepared with a few from my own collection and used some Sunbelt Plantations Vidalia®Onion & Jalapeno Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy! [There is maybe one dosage left in that bottle now.]) on top of the omelette and some Dragon's LairExtra HotCayenne & HabaneroHot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the potatoes. (Another not so) Strange Coffee Interlude After three years-plus of eating there, I finally asked which brand of Coffee they serve at Cafe Mason. Pily informed me that they serve Sunrise Coffee Company, Ltd - House Blend. I was not familiar with this Washington- (the State, not the D.C.) based Coffee company. I know that I have enjoyed several cuppas over the years, though. Even if I hadn't enjoyed the flavour of the Coffee, free refillas are still free Coffee! the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude On my way over to Cafe Mason from yet still another denied return-visit to cafebean, when I was crossing Post Street at the corner of Mason Street, I heard a few of the cackling feather-brains, but when I looked up, I actually saw none. They must have been too high up atop one of the surrounding hotels. ... and, trust me, our Ms. कर्म ain't no tiny little Chameleon, she is a full-blown Tyrannosaurus Rex (or Regina, I suppose). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: California Omelette ~ 6.7; Sunrise Coffee Company, Ltd - House Blend ~ 6.9; the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5 ___________________
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: For those of you that still can not read Sanskrit, "कर्म" is transliterated into English-speak as "Karma".
