♪ "All the potatoes are brown(ed) and the sky is grey ... " ♫ (well, it really was more of a light fog and it cleared up much before 8:00am as soon as Mr. Sun crested Telegraph Hill)
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: Mama♥sChildren's Favorite (M♥Omelette) ~ sautéed mushrooms, green onions, roasted tomatoes, and Monterey Jack cheese, served with Mama♥s grilled potatoes and your choice of toast: white, whole grain, rye, English muffin, or sourdough baguette (I wisely went with the sourdough choice); and, to drink with the meal, a large glassa fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice
It turned out to be completely à propos that today is Mother's Day/Mothering Sunday in the United Kingdom, I already had planned on making a return visit (which I try to do at least once a year) to Mama♥s on Washington Square (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, May 13th, 2018, which just happened to be the U.S. version of Mother's Day last year) for breakfast even before I had noticed the holiday on my calendar. Because this popular little (and by "little", I mean that they usually can seat only about forty people at a time) tourista-destination restaurant tends to fill up very quickly on the weekends, I made sure to get over there long before they opened; I think I arrived there around 7:15am. I prefer to spend the forty-five minutes waiting for them to open than to spend an additional forty-five minutes after they had already opened and the waiting line is half-way down the block (trust me, it happens all the time). As it was, I found a great parking spot directly across the street on the corner and ended up being the second "group" waiting in line to get in. And by the time that they did open up at 8:00am, the waiting line was much more than just forty people deep waiting to get inside. (What is that old rhyming saying? "If you sleep in, you do not win!"... or something like that.) As many times as I have eaten at this restaurant, there are still a few other breakfastary menu items that I do want to try (or, possibly, try again if I had already tried them in the past and just do not recall): Scrambled Florentine ~ baby spinach, bacon (nah!), red onions, and Cheddar cheese; S.O.B. (South of the Border) (M♥Omelette) ~ (¿What did you just call me, pendejo?) chorizo, black beans, Spanish rice, pico de gallo, and pepper Jack cheese (where I would, of course, have ochent-y-seis-ed la p*nche salchicha); or Huevos Rancheros ~ two poached eggs, Spanish rice, black beans and avocado topped with Mama♥s ranchero sauce (which, surprisingly, I do not think that I had ever noticed before and will probably order the next time I go there). Additionally, for those of you that do not mind eating any of that dead, decaying porky-stuff, this one would have been the perfect juxtaselection with the above EweToobular song: The Californian (M♥Omelette) ~ crispy bacon, avocado, and Monterey Jack cheese (and, yeah, I suppose that I could have ordered this one myself less the porcine-butt bits, but it is basically the same dish that I had ordered only yesterday). Of course, if I ever did feel like having any "do-overs", their Apple Pan Dore (which I had a few years back) ~ slices of baguette topped with apples simmered in fresh squeezed lemon and butter (I am not sure how they fresh-squeeze their butter, though) ~ is always re-ordering worthy. It is seriously worth a trip "all the way over" to North Beach all on its ownsome.
This was another very good rendition of a M♥Omelette. The roasted tomatoes really stood out in this one. I think that if there had also been some kinda chilli pepper in the mix (Poblano or Anaheim/Ortega woulda gone very nicely), it would have really put this already very good meal over-the-top! I was very pleasantly surprised by the toast being of the "baguette" variety. I was just expecting plain old sliced sourdough bread. This should truly be everyone's toast choice. And, as always, their homefries were excellent, too. Mama♥s on Washington Square carries the full assortment of the Standard San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces (Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce [Original Red Sauce], Cholula®Hot Sauce [Original], and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce) as condimentary supplements. Once again, I used some more of my own Pepper Palace™Chocolate Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg! ~ I am really getting close to the bottom of that d*mn bottle now) on the potatoes and some Fan the FlamesSriracha Hot Sauce (Thanks,Mom!) on top of the M♥Omelette. Plus, they have their own homemade (well, Mama♥s-made) raspberry jam(!) (Waiter/server-person guy: "Would you like some homemade raspberry jam?"; me: "Would you like a tip after I am done eating this meal?!") which really complemented the toasted sourdough baguette. (another not really a) Strange Coffee Interlude As has become an after-breakfast tradition whenever I eat in North Beach, I stopped by Caffe Trieste and had un doppio Espresso e un cannolo afterward. Their cannoli has bits of Chocolate in the ricotta filling and halved Maraschino cherries at each end of the tube. http://coffee.caffetrieste.com/ the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude As soon as I had parked and exited my car, I looked up and saw a medium-sized pandemonium of fifteen (yeah, I actually bothered to count them all) caterwauling feather-brains flying directly over Washington Square Park. Glen BaconScale Rating: Mama♥sChildren's Favorite ~ 6.8; Mama♥s-made raspberry jam(!) ~ 7.2; uno doppio Espresso e uno cannolo ~ 6.9; the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5
http://kitchenstorysf.com/ Place: Kitchen Story Location: 3499 16th Street (on the corner of Sanchez Street) Hours: open daily from 8 a.m. Meal: Big H*ssOmelet~ bacon (Millionaire's® or not, I still had it 86-ed), mushroom, spinach, avocado, Kimchi Pico de Gallo, mild Cheddar, served with butter croissant and rainbow potato; and, to drink, a large glassa Honey Apple Cider(hot)
(I do not know if Joanna Wang [or even 王若琳] likes big-*ss omelettes or not, but they were playing a few of her songs on the house-stereo this morning. I really liked her mellow [and melodious] sound and had to bother my waiter-server person-guy to find out who it was. I know that I will be listening to more of her stuff all throughout the day now.)[1] "Once upon a time there was a breakfastary hunger throughout the land... " I returned to Kitchen Story (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, October 28th, 2017) once more for breakfast. Like last weekend, it was still a bit too cold again this morning (even with a jacket on) to sit outside in their Sanchez Street-sidewalk seating area (my estimation was that ol' Mr. Sun would not be showing his warm and friendly face 'round those parts for at least two to three more hours). I really like this Korean family-owned local mini-chain of restaurants. At this specific location there are still a few other good ideas left to order: Athenian Omelet~ tomato, mushroom, arugula, Greekolives, mild goat cheese, served with butter croissant and rainbowpotato (now, this really should be made with Feta cheese, but I still want to try it one of these days); Primavera Omelet~ egg whites, roasted tomato, arugula, mushroom, served with butter croissant and rainbowpotato; or Grilled Veggie (uggh!) Morning Melt ~ mushroom, asparagus, arugula, red onion, avocado, cherry pepper.
For those of you that do partake of the dead, decaying porcine butt-bits, they are now offering their Millionaire's Bacon® four different ways. I tried talking the guys sitting at the next table over into trying the Rosemary version; apparently, the suggestion coming from a vegetarian did not sell them on it, though. The Cinnamon one sounded pretty interesting, too.
This was yet another successful dish from this restaurant. The omelette really did turn out to be one big-*ss meal, too. There was an entire half (or half an entire) avocado (which I can only *ssume was actually a H*ss avocado) on top of the mess. I had to ask first if their kimchi was shrimpy/fishy-free or not, after I was assured that it was vegetarian-friendly, I made up my mind that this was the right dish for me this morning. Thankfully, the Kimchi Pico de Gallo turned out to be very tasty, too. Score one for the daring, inquisitive stupid vegetarian! I also made sure to ask if their hot apple cider was made with Honeycrisp apples[2] and was informed that was exactly the case. It made for a very nice hot morning beverage, too. For condimentary supplementation, Kitchen Story had both Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (two ways: Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. I simply used some more of my own Pepper Palace™Chocolate Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy! ~ I am almost finally done with this bottle; maybe two more really generous doses) on the potatoes and some ChelseaFireWicked.Hot.Sauce.® (Thanks, Sha'!) on top of the omelette and big H*ss avocado slices to mingle nicely with the Kimchi Pico de Gallo. I made sure to use a good dosage of grains of paradise all over the top of everything from my portable "grindah"-thing, too. Of course, now I really need to revisit all the other restaurants in this family mini-chain... (another not really) Strange Coffee Interlude I skipped any Coffee with breakfast, because on the way over to the restaurant earlier in the morning I noticed a Ritual Coffee shop just a block around the corner and planned on hitting it afterward for a decent cuppa for my drive home. They did not have any Ethiopian roasts available this morning, but I tried something new from them: Bashitsi[3], Burundi. Now, this was no Ethiopian, but it was a very nice roast/blend. https://www.ritualroasters.com/ "... and everyone ate happilly ever after once again. The END" Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Big H*ssOmelet~ 6.8; Kimchi Pico de Gallo ~ 7.0; rainbow potatoes ~ 7.2; Ritual Coffee - Batusi, Burundi ~ 7.1 ___________________
1. And just because I can, here is 'nother one from Joanna Wang, Mijnheer Van Gogh:
2. https://mnhardy.umn.edu/varieties/fruit/apples/honeycrisp 3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: Supposably (however, I can not really confirm this, as it seems that the jeenyusses at Google Translate do not deem Kirundi [or even Bantu] as a major language), "Bashitsi" means "guests" in the Kirundi language.
https://www.moz-cafe.com/ Place: Mo'z Cafe Location: 5 Masonic Avenue (on the corner of Geary Boulevard) Hours: open every day at 8:00am (now, apparently; however, they have not updated their web-site to reflect this yet) Meal: Romano Omelete[ sic ][1] ~ spinach, Greekolives and Feta cheese, served with house potatoes, mixed greens or fruit; and, to drink, a large glassa Pineapple Paradise smoothie
(Is there anything more 80's than Nena[2]? Howsabout Nena and little Kimmie Wilde together?! Now, I do not know what Nena [or little Kimmie Wilde even] thinks about Greekomeletes[ sic ] disguised as Italianomeletes[ sic ], but today happens to be Nena's 59th birthday... man, is she old! [And for the record, little Kimmie Wilde also turns 59 later this year.] Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Fräulein Gabriele Susanne Kerner!) Because it is just down the road (in this case Geary Boulevard) a piece (in this case about forty-two blocks or so), I headed back to Mo'z Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, August 4th, 2018) for breakfast. It looks like Mo'z has not only somehow lost a "t" from their "omelettes", but now no longer uses the accented "é" in "Cafe". I had arrived there a little after 7:30am (which I figured would be about a half-hour after they opened) only to find a sign on their door with their new opening hours of 8:00am... no problem, I figured that I would just head across the street over to Target to kill some time before 8:00am... except, Target also does not open until 8:00am... no problem, I figured then that I would just head up the street a half-block and kill some time at Trader Joe's until 8:00am... except, Trader Joe's also does not open until 8:00am... by the time I had walked back and forth to these other places, it was almost 8:00am, anyway, and Mo'z Cafe was just opening up. Unfortunately for me, it was way too cold to sit outside (even with my coat on and in the covered/tarped sidewalk seating area) again this morning. There was some good news this morning, their black bean chiliis vegetarian (I made sure to ask Mo for any future visits), which makes the Amore Omelete[ sic ] a vegetarian-friendly option ~ avocado, black bean chili, salsa, Cheddar cheese, and sour cream. I wonder if Mo would pour some of their excellent ranchero sauce on top of that omelete[ sic ] if I asked nicely (and promised not to make fun of any mispelinks). Do not worry, for you meatetarian-types they offer a couple of other interesting-sounding dishes on the Breakfast Specials part of their menu: Corned Beef Hash ~ corned beef, carrots, green onion and hash brown (noted as two words and singular), topped with two poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce (so, this would kinda be like Eggs O'Benedict, I suppose) and Chorizo Scramble ~ three eggs scrambled with tomato, green onion and Jack cheese, topped with black bean chili, sour cream and salsa, served with fruit or house potatoes.
(Please ignore the quality of this photo. I assure you that the quality of the taste was much better.) What was not to like about this one (other than its geographically confusing moniker)? It included some of my favourite ingredients and in good amounts, too. I was very happy to see that the "Greekolives" inside were actually Kalamata olives (I can only assume that "Greek" means "Kalamata" in Roman-speak). Plus, there was a very decent amount of Feta throughout... Mo' Feta, Mo' betta! (So, Ray forgives you for the [mis]name of this dish, Mo.) And, as always, the side of house potatoes were a really good version of homefries and came in an extremely large portion. For condimentary supplementation, Mo'z Cafe had Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (two ways: Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. I used some (about a normal ketchup-sized portion) of my own H*ll's Kitchen®Chipotle Chocolate Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) all over the potatoes. ♪ "...Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich Von neunundfünfzig Luftballons... ?!?" ♫ Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Romano Omelete[ sic ] ~ 6.8; Pineapple Paradise ~ 6.9 ___________________
1. They have this spelded kerrektly on the large menu over the counter and on their printed menus in the restaurant, but their online menu has it mispelt. I am no(t) sure if (t)hey dropped (t)he penul(t)imate "t" or (t)he las(t) "t", (t)hough. 2. While I was living in (what was still at the time West) Berlin, I actually learned a lot of useful German phrases by translating some of Nena's songs into English. You would be surprised how often "Let me be your pirate... " comes up in normal conversation in den Kneipen.
Forager® Project Organic Cashewmilk ~ Unsweetened Plain https://www.foragerproject.com/cashewmilk While shopping at my local grocery store last week, I came across another new(-ish) non-dairy milk product: Forager® ProjectOrganic Cashewmilk ~ Unsweetened Plain. I really like cashews[1] and figured this might be another good bovine-milk alternative. Well, sometimes ya just plain figures wrong... This was not truly 'orrible in any way, it was just very disappointing. I normally like most anything to do with cashews, so I think that I might have set the bar too high for this cashew-based product. My two major tests for any of these non-dairy milk products are how it works and tastes "in a tall glassa with cookies" and "on cold cereal in the morning". I tried a coupla glassas with a few different cookie types and on at least three different breakfast cereals (two flake-type cereals and one Cheerios™ flavour). Sadly, it really did nothing to enhance either cookies or cereals. It actually tasted both kinda bland and off at the same time.
Additionally, I even gave it a go in a cuppa hot Chocolate (just your boring ol' Nestlé®-brand powdered junk ~ I used this cheap stuff 'cause I did not want to waste a test on any of my superior Bettysproduct [I only have a little left from Christmas]), and it really did not add anything special. I suppose I coulda just used hot water in the mix and it woulda tasted just about as good (or bad). Plus, when heating up this kinda faux-milk, you really have to watch it while it slowly boils. The ingredients in it tend to break down a bit and you have to constantly stir it around. Forager® Project offers their cashewmilk line-up with four different options: (the one I tried) Organic Cashewmilk ~ Unsweetened Plain; Organic Cashewmilk ~ Original; Organic Coconut Cashewmilk ~ Unsweetened Vanilla; and Organic Coconut Cashewmilk ~ Unsweetened Plain. Unfortunately, I did not think enough of the flavour that I did try that I will be bothering to try any of the others. I have had other brands of cashewmilk before and seem to remember liking them much better. On the plus side, Forager® Project also offers a line of cashewmilk-yoghurt, which they are marketing as "Cashewgurt®" (these d*mn companies and their completely madeuppery words!). Now, I have had several of their flavours of Cashewgurt® and have actually liked them a lot. They are very creamy, but not quite as good as αυθεντικό ελληνικό γιαούρτι (and I do not think that anyone would ever try to make a good Τζατζίκι outta this stuff). I did not even put the two products together when I first bought their cashewmilk, and did not realize they were the same company until I checked out their web-site recently while researching this 'blog-episode. (Hmmm?! Could that be a new portmanteau "'blogisode"?) In conclusion, do not let the sound of "cashewmilk" fool you into believing it might actually taste as good as cashews in milk form. I mean, pistachios happen to be one of my favourite "nuts"[2], and I generally love all thing pistachio, too (Ice Cream, Kulfi, plain/roasted, etc.); however, I think that even I would possibly have to draw the line at pistachiomilk... maybe... Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Forager® ProjectOrganic Cashewmilk ~ Unsweetened Plain ~ 5.8; (however,) Cashewgurt® (various flavours) ~ 6.7 (Whereas: 100% organic Bovine juice ~ 8.3; Almondmilk ~ 7.0 - 8.2 [depending on the brand and/or flavour]; Coconutmilk ~ 7.0; Hazelnutmilk ~ 6.9; Cashewmilk ~ 6.8 [other brands]; Flaxmilk ~ 6.7; Ricemilk ~ 6.5; Soymilk ~ 5.8; ripple™ Unsweetened Original Nutritious Pea Milk ~ 5.2; Hempmilk ~ 5.0 [ugggh! and I am only including it here on the list with the rest of these because I did try it... once... never again]) ___________________ 1. Of course, the cashew is not truly a "nut"; it is actually the seed of the cashew apple (fruit). Stupid, useless cunning linguist (etymological) pointer of the day: Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree caju (Portuguese pronunciation: [kaˈʒu]), which itself is derived from the Tupian word acajú, literally meaning "nut that produces itself". The generic name "Anacardium" derived from Greek άνά (aná), meaning "outside", and καρδία (kardía), meaning "heart", refers to the unusual location of the seed (the heart) outside of the fruit. 2. Pistachios are also not another true "nut" botanically, but another tree seed, and, surprisingly, also a member of the cashew family. And just for the h*ck of it, here is another stupid, useless cunning linguist (etymological) pointer of the day: "Pistachio" comes from late Middle English "pistace", from Old French, superseded in the 16th century by forms from Italian "pistacchio", via Latin from Greek "pistakion", from Persian "pesteh".
Another breakfastary roadtrip: Berkeley, CA ¡Feliz día de San Patricio!
https://www.cafedurantberkeley.com/ Place: café Durant Location: 2517 Durant Avenue (between Telegraph Avenue and Bowditch Street) Hours: open Monday to Sunday at 7:30am Meal: Chilequiles[ sic ][1] ~ three eggs scrambled w/ (corn tortilla) chips, green tomatillo sauce, cheese & sour cream, served with rice, beans (in this case it was a combination of both frijoles refritos y frijoles negros) & (three) corn tortillas; and, to drink, a large glass-mugga Mexican Hot Chocolate
(I have it on good authority that after driving all the Danes and snakes outta Ireland, ol' Santa Pádraig sat down to a hearty breakfast of Chilaquiles hisd*mnself! [See, the joke here being that there was probably just about as much Native American maize crops in Ireland in the 5th Century as there were any sorta d*mn snakes.] Sorry, but I could not locate any songs by Sir George Ivanen español.) I had never been to café Durant before for breakfast (I had eaten there a few times in the past for lunch and/or dinner) and decided to start una nueva tradicion for Saint Patrick's Day.[2] But why Mexican food and not Irish food you may ask? Because as a stupid vegetarian-type, there are just more options with cocina mexicana. Thankfully, Señor Solwas kind enough to grace us with his presence again this morning, so I made sure to sit outside on their second-level sun-deck in one of the tables directly overlooking Durant Avenue. It was still cool enough at the time that I kept my jacket on, but was not uncomfortable in the least (comfortable in the most?!). The entire place was pretty empty on this domingo plácido and there was only one other idiot sharing the sun-deck with me. Not that I will be probably getting back over there any time again soon (I found out the hard way that on early Sunday mornings, the BART station at Powell Street is not even open for operation until 8:00am and that there are less trains going directly to Berkeley and Richmond then, too), but there were several other viable options listed on their breakfast menu, to include: Huevos Rancheros ~ three fried eggs with rancheros sauce & cheese; Huevos Divociados[ sic ] ~ eggs on crispy tortilla; Huevos a la Mexicana~ three eggs scrambled with jalapeños, tomatoes, onions; Sundeck Combo D ~ two Chocolate chipbanana pancakes, one strawberry banana crepe, veggie (uggh!) omelet & fruit salad (if I had not already planned on getting the Chilequiles[ sic ], I would have probably ordered this one, just substituting some homefries for the boring ol' fruit salad); or Greek Omelet ~ Feta cheese, olives, spinach, tomato, & green onions (this would have been the back-up to my back-up plan; because nuthin' says "Happy Saint Patrick's Day!" like eating at a Mexicanrestaurant and ordering the Greekegg-dish).
(Ooops! I had already dug-in and messed with the dish a bit before remembering to take the requisite photo of the meal.) Whenever I eat at a new Mexicanplace, and they offer Chilaquiles (or even Chilequiles[ sic ]), I make sure to order that dish. It is sorta my touchstone (piedra de toque) with un desayuno mexicano. Now this was a very good rendition and I did like their use of a tomatillo salsa in place of a standard salsa roja (which is still my favourite) for a change of pace. The three corn tortillas came out warmed/steamed and wrapped in a red-and-white checkered paper-thing to keep them a bit warm. These may not have been fresh-made like at some other Mexican restaurants, but they were still welcomed and good all the same, and I made sure to make the best use of them. café Durant had for condimentary supplement use both Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. Neither of these were needed (and really seemed un poco superfluo) because they offered two different fresh-made salsas of their own: a very nice salsa roja (which I used on top of the rice and beans after mixing them together) and a tomatillo salsa (which I added to the top of the eggs and chips mess; it already had the same tomatillo salsa in it when they made it, I just added more 'cause I could and I wanted to). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Chilequiles[ sic ] ~ 6.7; the ♪ music ♫ of Sir George Ivan ~ 8.5 ___________________
1. Not that I am un erudito español o un epicúreo mexicano in any way, but I am pretty sure that after eating this same dish for about thirty years now that it should be spelded kerrectly as "Chilaquiles". It really is not of Spanish origin, anyway; it is actually a Nahuatl word. 2. "Now... wait... a... minute... Brian! You can not just make up a new tradition whenever you like!" Well, it is my silly li'l 'blog-thing, and I can do whatever I d*mn please! If you have a problem with that, you can write yer own d*mn breakfastary 'blog-thing. Besides, I think turn-about's fair play: Wayyyy back in 1986, when I was still living in Omiehaw, Neebraskie, a bunch of us Air Force types stationed at Offutt AFB decided to have lunch at one of the only good Mexican restaurants in town on Cinco de Mayo. Mind you, the restaurant was about a good twenty to thirty minutes drive away from the airbase. Well, when we got there, there was a sign on the door stating that they were closed to observe this Mexican holiday. (How do you say "D'oh!" in Spanish?) Rather than settle for any of the cr*mmy food at a local Taco Bell or waste more time driving around trying to locate another decent Mexican restaurant (trust me, back in the 80's, Omiehaw was dearly lacking in any kinda auténticos restaurantes mexicanos), we all decided to simply head over to a nearby Chinese restaurant. For several years after that, I maintained this "tradition" and would normally try to remember to eat Chinese food on May the Fifth. (Hmmm?! Looks like next year to celebrate Chinese New Year, I might need to find a decent Irish pub for breakfast.)
“But if you're gonna dine with them cannibals Sooner or later, darling, you're gonna get eaten... ” ― Nick Cave (Pass me some of that hot sauce, bud!)
https://www.sftastebuds.com/ Place: Tastebuds Location: 600 5th Avenue (on the corner of Balboa Street) Hours: open daily 7:00am Meal: Breakfast Burrito ~ California style (grilled) or Southern (deep fried like a Chimichanga!), chorizo or bacon (neither of which I partook), eggs (which were of the scrambled variety), potatoes, cheese, pico de gallo; to start, a House Honey Cake; and, to drink, a glassa orange juice, and also a cuppa (and one half-refilla) Mr. Espresso® - ChiaroscuroBlend https://mrespresso.com/coffee/blends/ I happened to notice a new (well, to me, anyway) place along Balboa Street (well, technically on 5th Avenue, whatever) last weekend after breakfast and decided to give Tastebuds a go. As it turns out, this is a brand-new(-ish) place and had only opened in July 2018. It is located in the same space that once housed Katia's ~ a Russian Tea Room (which had been a Richmond District mainstay for many years). There were a couple of things that I immediately liked about this new restaurant: 1) they open up very early for my liking (7:00am every d*mn day of the d*mn week!), and 2) they were playing some very cool tunes via Spotify® ~ this morning it was "Beach Vibes" (i.e. New Age Reggae stuff, mon).
One of the things that had initially caught my eye last Sunday morning was the above outside wall mural. It is on the front side (well, the Balboa Street side) of the building. I was told by the owner/manager-lady person that the two women depicted in the mural are her daughters and that it was (well, is still being) done by a Los Ångeles artist/muralist (whose name I immediately had forgotten). Additionally, there are two other (smaller) framed pieces of artwork by the same artist inside the restaurant. There are only a few breakfastary fare items on their menu (and less-so for those of the stupid vegetarian ilk). A few mention-worthy dishes are: Southern Shrimp & Grits (for any of you that do partake of the dead, decaying aquatic insects; of course, if I were to ever order this one it would simply be called "& Grits"); Hangover Helper ~ chorizo over roasted potatoes, scrambled eggs, Cheddar cheese, green onion; Southern Comfort ~ collard greens with smoked turkey, grits, a sunny side up egg, toast (unfortunately, I think that the collard greens are already prepared with the d*rn COPD-affected gobbler in them and this dish would not be on my list either); Cinnamon French Toast ~ fresh fruit, whipped cream, maple syrup; Pancakes ~ fresh fruit, whipped cream, maple syrup; or Fried Chicken and Waffles ~ whipped butter, maple syrup. There is also one item on their lunch menu that I will probably get back to try soon: Vegetable Po' Boy ~ roasted bell peppers, onions, basil, Mozzarella, dill mayo, French roll, served with fries.
The House Honey Cake was reminiscent of gingerbread to me. I am very glad that I did get the mistaken cuppa (keep reading below for that explanation) to go with the meal after all. It all went very nicely together as a start-off for the meal.
Now, I decided to go with the "Southern (deep fried like a Chimichanga!)" option, which was a very smart move on my part, if I do say so myself (and I did so just there). This may have been only a "(deep fried like a Chimichanga!) breakfast burrito", but it really was a very good "(deep fried like a Chimichanga!) breakfast burrito". It also was one h*ckova HUGE burrito, and, unfortunately, with the baked-goods starter, I could not quite finish all of it. Due to its enormous size and it being "deep fried like a Chimichanga!", I was also forced to eat it p.o.s.h. Britishlander style with a knife and kfork. Because I had them ochenta-y-seis la carne de cerdo muerta ofensiva y en descomposición, I think that the owner/manager-lady person had them add some roasted bell peppers (red, green, and orange) inside the tortilla wrap. This item was not listed on the menu as an ingredient, so I figured that was just a stupid vegetarian bonus. This turned out to be a really nice flavour-bonus. At first, I thought that the peppers might have been of the chilli-variety (I had already doused the thing in my own hot sauces and really could not tell); however, the owner/manager-lady told me they were just roasted bell peppers. Not that I often have breakfast burritos (be they "grilled" or "deep fried like a Chimichanga!"), but, as of right now in 2019, I am going to have to call this one "My Favourite (grilled or deep fried like a Chimichanga!) Breakfast Burrito of 2019". For condimentary supplementation, Tastebuds offered the Standard San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces: Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Cholula®Hot SauceOriginal, and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce; plus, Crystal®Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce. Once again, I simply used some more of my own Pepper PalaceChocolate Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on one half of the burrito and some Dixie CrossroadsHot Habañero[ sic ] Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the other half. (not really such a) Strange Coffee Interlude Originally, I had not planned on ordering a cuppa to go with my meal as I had already had one earlier in the morning before heading out for breakfast. However... while I was waiting for my burrito (to be "deep fried like a Chimichanga!"), Nose E. Parker that I am, I figured I would find out what kinda Coffee they served at the joint. So I went back up to the counter and spoke with the owner/manager-lady for a bit about this and was informed that they served Mr. Espresso®. I went on to mention how I liked that local brand and really wanted to check out their roastery in Jack London Square one of these days. I then went back to my seat in the corner of the restaurant and a few minutes later the owner/manager-lady placed a cuppa in front of me. Apparently she had misunderstood me and thought that I was ordering a cuppa the stuff. So, rather than have her dump out a perfectly good cuppa (What kinda sicko-bastage would ever allow that?! Club all the d*rn baby seals that you want, but please do not harm a poor, defenseless cuppa. That is just wrong.), I just told her to leave it for me and I would try to quaff-it-down... somehow. She was gonna comp me for the cuppa, but I insisted on paying for it all the same. (Even though everyone knows [well, except maybe them Mormon-types] that free good Coffee is always the best kinda Coffee.) Glen Bacon Scale Rating: House Honey Cake ~ 6.7; Breakfast Burrito - Southern (deep fried like a Chimichanga!) ~ 6.7; Mr. Espresso® - ChiaroscuroBlend ~ 6.8
