the Art Bistro

Richmond (District) Coffeehouses ~
Part 1b

(No official-type web-site.)


Place: the Art Bistro

Location: 2960 Clement Street (on the corner of 31st Avenue); phonicular contact: (415) 379-7119

Hours: open Monday to Friday at 7:00am; 
open at 8:30am every other day of the week (well, supposably)[1] 

Meal: All Seeded[ sic ] Bagel with Cream Cheese and Tomatoes; and a small cuppa Organic French Roast Coffee (whichever brand it might have been)[2]

(I just figured that the first Bruddah Iz song would be the perfect EweToobular juxtaselection to welcome a new/old business back to the 'hood. Besides, Bruddah Iz iz always cool to listen to on a placid Sunday morn, anyway, be you haole or native Hawai'ianese.)


the Art Bistro (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, July 26th, 2015) just recently reopened on August 19th at their new location on Clement Street. They had closed their old Geary Boulevard location (my guess is that the rent was just too d*rn high) about two months ago now. I was greeted this morning by (whom I can only assume is) the owner/manager-lady that was always at the old location. I had always thought that she was Korean, but she informed me that she and most of the workers are Thai. Not knowing many Thai words or phrases, I had to ask her how to say "Thank you!"; she told me it is "ขอบคุณ!", which sounds something like "Kapoon!" (to my untrained Siamese cat-ears).

They have moved only three blocks away into the space that used to house Saltroot Café (insert frowny-face emoji here)[3]. The good news is that the Art Bistro will still now be selling their (very good) Brazilian 
Cheese Popups (Gorgonzola and Guava are my two favourite flavours, but they are all very tasty) in frozen boxes of ten each. This is a much smaller space than they used to occupy (by about one-third, I would guess) and a bit more off the beaten path (and Geary Boulevard is a well-worn, beaten path) than the previous location.

One nice thing about their new location is that I got to sit outside at one of the two small round two-seater tables along the Clement Street sidewalk. The old Geary Boulevard location did not have any space to offer any outside seating. Fortunately, the Sun was out this morning and shining brightly, but it was still a little breezy and I had to keep rescuing my errant napkins.

I thought it was kinda funny that they still have the old ★ Intelligentsia Coffee sign up on a back wall in the kitchen area. Apparently, when the painters had repainted the walls during the recent renovation, they painted around the sign instead of removing it. So now if the coffeeshop were ever to remove the sign, there will be an off-colour spot on the wall. (Hmmm?! Maybe the Art Bistro could start selling ★ Intelligentsia Coffee instead of "Some Guy Coffee"... )

I had gotten there too early this morning and they were all outta eggs. The owner/manager-lady told me that she had sent someone to a nearby grocery store to pick up some for the day, but she had not returned yet. Otherwise, there is not really a whole lotta choices for breakfastary items (or food in general). I was actually planning on getting a bagel or croissant sandwich with eggs (they only prepare the eggs one way: nuked-scrambled), cheese, tomatoes, and onions. Oh, well, maybe next time... 

There was nothing special about this meal, but I did not really expect anything more, anyway. I mean, it was just a toasted bagel (all-seeded and such; which, as best as I can tell, include: sesame and poppy [Sorry, Elaine.] seeds, at least) with cream cheese schmeared on it and some sliced tomatoes.

As for the Coffee (it is a coffeehouse, after all), it was pretty good. However, I did not discern any l'orange or ส้ม in the French Roast... They change the blend/roast that is offered over the counter as their standard drip Coffee every so often. I think that I liked the Colombian Coffee that I had there last week a little more, though. 

I have no idea what they might have had to offer in the way of any condimentary supplementation (it is just a coffeehouse, not a restaurant, after all).  I had come prepared and used some of my brand-spanking (If it is unbranded, does it not need corporal punishment?) new Sassy Mama Cuisine Fire Roasted Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) and a coupla good twists from my The Spice & Tea Exchange® Italian Street Fair Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!) grinder-thing on the inside of the bagel. This was my first time trying out this hot sauce (on anything other than a spoon when I had first opened it to test it out a few weeks back). I liked it a lot; it was not overly espicy, but had a decent roasted habanero flavour.

https://www.sassymamacuisine.com/

https://www.spiceandtea.com/seasonings-blends-rubs/italian-street-fair-spice-blend.html


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Bagel with etc. ~ 6.0;
Coffee ~ 6.8;
Bruddah Iz ~ 7.9 (on the Glen Bacon Scale... but fuggedaboudit on a standard weight-scale, it just don't go that high; you would need a truck-scale to do that)

___________________

1. I had stopped by there last Monday (as in Labor Day), and they had not opened yet for the morning at around 8:50am; no biggie, I figured I would just check them out on another day... as it is only three blocks away. 

"But, Brian, maybe they were closed to observe the labourious 'merican holiday?!" Nah, sorry. I had just stopped by there on the Saturday before and the owner/manager-lady told me they would be open at 8:30am on Sunday and Monday.

2. I asked the owner/manager-lady where they got their Coffee. Her reply: "Some guy." Of course, now knowing that she is Thai, she mighta been saying that they get their Coffee from a roaster named "Orange Chicken"*...

*(Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer/joke-explainer of the day:

Unfortunately, my "knowledge" of the Thai language is limited to only those few items that I have seen on menus at local restaurants. 

There is a Thai restaurant in my neighborhood [very good, by the way] that is named "Bai Som" ["ใบ ส้ม" in Thai], which the best that I can figure means "orange leaf"[?]. I was also aware that the Thai word for "chicken" is "gai/kai" ["ไก่"] [this word is very similar in Chinese, Lao, and Vietnamese, too]. So, I jokingly added the two words together which sound somewhat like "Some Guy" in 'merican-speak.)

http://www.baisomthaisf.com/

3. Luckily, I stopped by Saltroot Café (see previous 'blog-entry from Monday, February 20th, 2017) just a few weeks before they had closed-up their retail-storefront operation for good. Thankfully, I was informed by one of the owners that they are not out-of-business, they are now only selling their (very good) Brazilian Cheese Popups at a few local organic markets in town.