Dottie's True blue café

How come no one ever complains about Saturday the 14th being unlucky?

http://dottiestruebluesf.com/


Place: Dottie's True blue café

Location: 28 6th Street 
(on the corner of Stevenson Street)

Hours: open 7:30am (welllll... they actually opened a bit later this morning for some reason and did not unchain the front gate doors until about 7:45am) Thursday through Tuesday

Meal: Mushroom, Goat Cheese, Roasted Tomato Tart, cooked in Champagne, eggs any style (where I went with "over-medium" style) + fruit; and a cuppa (and one-and-a-half refillas) Coffee (whatever the house roast/blend might have been)

(In spite of what you may think, Bessie and Lavay are not related in any way.)


As we (sadly) near the end of the Regular Baseball Season (Okay, there are those faithless pundits that say that the Boston RED SOX season was over back in late August, but I say it ain't over until Adele buys her ticket to Logan Airport and sings at the Way of the Fens!), I figured it only fitting to make one last run-through of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation. And what better way to start than returning to Dottie's True blue café (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, May 5th, 2019)?!

I happened to be the first idiot waiting in line around 7:10am, and ended up being the only one standing there until another ten minutes or so. After that, the line started forming a bit more quickly. Even so, they did not fill up immediately (even after having opened up fifteen minutes late) and everyone in the first wave got seated.

I had nothing really in mind to order this morning. I was just planning on ordering something from their specials blackboard menu if there was a decent st*pid vegetarian option. Otherwise, I was gonna create an omelette of my choosing from their list of good omelette filling choices off their standard printed menu. I was very surprised to see that there were no Zucchini Cakes on this morning's/weekend's specials blackboard menu. It has been a staple on the specials blackboard menu for so long now, I just assumed that they would someday be adding it to their everyday printed menu... someday.

"Oh, my!" 
(to be read in your best George Takei voice)

As soon as I saw the tart special that was being offered for this morning/weekend, I knew exactly what I was going to order. This was a brand-new item (confirmed by one of the friendly waitresses/server-ladies) to be offered. At first look, I did not think it was going to be a sufficient amount of food (even for my meager breakfastary appetite), but it was rather deceptive and proved to be very filling after all. I initially thought about asking to substitute some of their excellent homefries for the small bowl of fruit-stuff; luckily, I did not, as that would probably have "exceeded the limit" for me. Now, this dish may not equal their most awesome and original Zucchini Cakes, but it is definitely return-worthy all on its ownsome. However, this one was definitely not for the fungi-faint of heart as it was truly chock-fulla sliced mushrooms. 

Today's side o' fruits: watermelon, green grapes, blueberries, strawberries, and cantaloupe.

As for condimentary supplementation, Dottie's True blue café has their "the usual suspects". I used some of my own Pepper Palace Gator Bite Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on both of the eggs and several grinds of The Spice & Tea Exchange® Pirate's Bite (Thanks, Cindy!) on the eggs and tart-thing.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Mushroom, Goat Cheese, Roasted Tomato Tart ~ 7.3

Surisan

https://www.surisansf.com/


Place: Sursian

Location: 505 Beach Street 
(on the corner of Jones Street)

Hours: open for breakfast weekdays at 8:00am and weekends at 8:30am

Meal: Boosted Jook[1] ~ rice porridge with carrots, spinach, mushroom, bacon (which I, of course, had un-boosted), scallion, cherry pepper, poached egg; and a glassa fresh-squeezed orange juice to drink (which came with the now-ubiquitous California paper straw)

(There is no direct EweToobular juxtaselection between today's meal and the Birds of Chicago. [Well, none of which I am aware.] I just like the song. I may have even posted it once or twice before here.)


To continue on with the Taylor Street Coffee Shop-family mini-chain tour, I revisited Surisan (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, October 14th, 2017; plus, I ate dinner there just a little over a month ago). This restaurant should be the newest (#6 or #7) in the mini-chain; it has only been open since December 2016. I think that there is just one more restaurant left to check out now in their mini-chain ~ Berkeley Social Club, which is in Berkeley, natch', so that will probably need to be made at a later date when I feel like doing another 
mini-roadtrip "all the way" across to the East Bay.

Unfortunately, it was another li'l-bit foggy and chilly morning, so I wimped-out, J. Wellington, and sat inside once again. However, I was not the only one to do so, I was happy to see. The Sun did start to break out (a little) by the time I had finished eating, but it still would not have been very comfortable sitting outdoors.

This restaurant also has several of the same items offered at some of their other locations. A couple of remaining items left might be:

Hemingway Benedict ~ smoked salmon, avocado, fried capers, lemon, pickled onion, Wasabi Hollandaise (where I would have to, in earnest, have them rescind the dead, decaying, nicotine-induced, 
old-man-and-the-sea piscine junk)

or

Blueberry Stuffed Crunch French Toast w/ caramel sauce (this was going to be my back-up choice if the Jook could not have been made st*pid vegetarian-friendly).

I happened to notice on their menu that they specify that they "happily serve Snowbird Coffee" at this restaurant. I asked one of the Thai waiter-server-guys about this, and he told me that they also serve this same local brand of Coffee at Blackwood. (However, when I asked him which specific roast of Snowbird Coffee they serve, he could only tell me that it was a "Dark Roast"... so that narrowed it down... not so much.) Although, I do not think they serve this brand at the original Taylor Street Coffee Shop and did not see it specifically mentioned on some of their other restaurants' menus. I am very familiar with (and a big fan of) Snowbird Coffee; they have a near(enough)by coffeeshop in the Sunset, just on the other side of Golden Gate Park, that I have been to many times. Interestingly enough, I think that Snowbird Coffee is also a Korean-owned establishment; I am not sure if there is any other relationship. Good Coffee knows no jingocity, after all.

https://snowbirdcoffee.com/

Ha! I actually talked the couple at the next table (who happened to be from Oaktown; we talked a bit about the Coffee served at this location and about some of the other restaurants in this mini-chain; they have also eaten at Sweet Maple themselves) into ordering a side of the Rosemary Millionaire's Bacon®. Why would anyone be foolish enough into taking porky-butt bits suggestions from a st*pid vegetarian-type complete stranger?!

(If you can believe it, this overly bokeh-ed photo is actually the best of the three that I took this morning. Eh?! What'r'yagonnadoo?!)


I do not think that I had ever had Jook (or any similar Asian rice porridge dish) before. I liked it. There was plenty of spinach and (possible) shiitake and one other type of mushroom in the mix. (I am pretty sure that Quaker guy that has been serving 'merica with his own brand of oat-porridge for all these years has never thought about adding any spinach, mushroom, or bacon to his breakfast bowls.) This had a strong soy sauce base to it, so I would not recommend this dish for anyone that is gluten-intolerant (or just dislikes soy sauce in general). Thankfully, they served the bowl with a spoon sticking out of it... I was having the dickens of the time trying to eat this with chopsticks. All in all, this was a pretty d*rn healthy meal and easy on the digestion for me.

As far as any condimentary supplements, like most of the other restaurants in the mini-chain, they offer both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. I just used some (well, 
a lot, really) of my own H*ll's Kitchen® Whiskey Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) all over the top 
of the poached egg.


Yesterday I had breakfast at "Yooooouk's!".
This morning I had "Joooook!". 
It all makes perfect RED SOX sense to me.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Boosted Jook ~ 6.5

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day:

"粥" (transliterated/pronounced "Jook"; also transliterated as "Juk" or "Jug") simply means "porridge" in Korean.

This dish is normally a rice-based porridge/gruel dish and it is eaten in many Asian countries either warm for breakfast or as a recuperative "get-well" meal.

Loma Brewing Company/Loma Coffee Bar

A(nother) Breakfastary Roadtrip:
the (Spanish) Kitty-Cats, CA[1]

https://www.lomabrew.com/


Place: Loma Brewing Co. & Loma Coffee Bar[2]

Location:  130 N Santa Cruz Avenue, Los Gatos, CA
(in the ♥ of Los Gatos)

Hours: (brewery/restaurant) open for "Brunch" Tuesday - Sunday at 11:30am (however, they had special hours today and tomorrow and were open at 10:00am);
(Coffee bar) serving breakfast Wednesday - Sunday at 7:30am (well, I had arrived there around 8:30am and was told that they really don't start serving any kinda hot food items until 8:00am usually)

Meal: (me) Breakfast Flatbread ~  bacon (Really, Kevin?! Ain't that kinda non-כַּשְׁרוּת?), spinach, caramelized onion, Mozzarella, mushrooms, garlic, oregano, sunny side egg, salsa roja;
(Dave) McLoma Sandwich ~  chili Beer brined ham, sharp Cheddar, folded eggs, housemade English muffin, tropical fruit cup;
to drink:
(me) two cuppas Ethiopia Guji Heirloom and a 13-ounce glassa Youks Kolsch[3];
(Dave) a Cappuccino (made with Youk! - Loma Espresso Blend) and also a 13-ounce glassa Youks Kolsch

(... 'cause everyone knows that the "[Greek-Jewish] King of Swing" is better'n any ol' "Sultana of Squat" [aka "the Babe-beano"].)


An old Air Force buddy of mine (Thanks, Karl! [Even if he is one of "those" D*dgers fans.]) had sent me a recent news-article[4] last week on defacedbook that former RED SOX star-player Kevin ("Youk's on First? Idunno's on Third!") Youkilis had opened a local brewery/restaurant in near(enough)by Los Gatos. 
I figured I would have to check it out sometime in the future... well, apparently today is the future, Doc Brown.

Just so as to not make it a totally solitary trip "all the way down there", I invited another old Air Force buddy Dave (who lives about thirty-five minutes south of Los Gatos and was closer to it than me, anyway) to join me there for breakfast. As it turned out, the new brewery is in the same location as the old Los Gatos Brewing Company, which, coincidentally enough, Dave used to work at way back in 1994-1995 (Dave is very old!). I think that the last time that I was actually down Los Gatos-way was to meet Dave there for lunch, too. I think it was probably back in 1998 or 1999 (Dave is very old!).

Any true red-blooded RED SOX fan of the past twenty years worth his salt, is well-aware of exactly who this Yoooooouk! guy is. Quick bio: After playing nine quality seasons with the GOOD GUYS (and winning two World Series Championships with them in that span ~ which is one more World Series Championship than the D*mn Y*nkees have won in the entire Millennium so far!), Kevin played one more season of MLB with the Chicago South-siders in 2012. Of course, as all faithful and knowledgeable RED SOX fans know, Youk took the entire 2013 Season off... He is a 3-Time All-Star (2008, 2009, & 2011); Gold Glove Award (2007) recipient; and a member of both the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame and the Boston RED SOX Hall of Fame. (I think that I read somewhere that Youk's brother-in-law is also some kinda sports-player; I think he plays Soccer in Massachusetts or sumpthin'... )

Just in case the Big Guy was there this morning hisd*mnself, I made sure to arrive at the restaurant clad head-to-toe (literally) in RED SOX items of clothing: (head-) RED SOX baseball cap (natch') (I went with an old one of mine that is exactly twenty years old this week/month; I bought it back in 1999 during the All-Star festivities in Boston in a sports-shop across the street from Fenway Park; which is one of four 
RED SOX caps that I own); (to-) RED SOX long-sleeve t-shirt (I have way too many different RED SOX t-shirts to really count); and (toe) RED SOX socks 
(I own three different pairs). I do own two different RED SOX jackets/windbreakers, but I did not want to "over-do" it, so I was just wearing a nondenominational red-and-blue sweatshirt. (I do not own a pair of 
RED SOX skivvies, or I mighta also been wearing those this morning... I would just not have been able to show them off to anyone at the brew pub/Coffee bar.)

As Dave and I were the first idiots to walk in just as they were opening (right on the nose, Mr. Durante!) at 10:00am, we had our choice of seats. It is a fairly large restaurant and there are many tables that can seat two-to-eight people. The place filled up pretty quickly, too.

As for the food, I have never met a Breakfast Pizza (Flatbread, whatever) that I did not like. Of course, in honour of Kevin Youkilis' Jewish heritage, I made sure to have them 86 the dead, decaying porky-butt bits from my meal. It was a single-serving Pizza (Flatbread, whatever), but it was just about all that I could do to finish it. (Actually, I "forced" Dave to try a slice of it.)

The McLoma Sandwich looked much tastier than (and was easily twice the size of) whatever that clown Ronald McJ*ter could ever come up with ("... up with could come... "? Nah! That just don't sound right.). The "folded eggs" sounded confusing in the menu, but it was just flattened scrambled eggs ("folded" in between the slices of English muffin). Plus, they make their own (over-sized) English muffins fresh daily. When I had first arrived this morning, they had just finished baking up a batch of these English muffins. I was even thinking of ordering this one myself (again, just making it kosher-likeⓊ).

Loma Brewing Co. had just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Huy Fong Foods Inc. Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce for use as condimentary supplementation. I did not really feel like schlepping any of my own hot sauces "all the way down there" this morning, but, as it turned out, their salsa roja was flavourful (and picante) enough, anyway.

Why the two cuppas of Ethiopia Guji Heirloom? I bought one cuppa when I first got into town. I purposefully got to the place an hour before I was planning on meeting Dave there so that I could walk around Los Gatos for a bit and the second cuppa was for-with breakfast. Plus, 'cause I decided to buy a bagga (it is either a 12 oz or 1-pounder) the Ethiopia Guji Heirloom to take-with-home, I got the second cuppa as a freebie! (They were not being extra nice to me, that is just what they do for anyone buying a bagga.) The Coffee was very good. Ethiopian Coffee is one of my favourites.

I would really have liked to have tried several of their Beers, but, sadly, I did have to drive the hour-or-so back home in the afternoon and thought it best to just try the eponymous brew that I did. It was also very good. I have been a fan of Kölsch-style Beers since living in Deutschland. Dave and I were both stationed together in Berlin-town back in 1983-1985 (Man, that Dave is really old!).

Before breakfast, while waiting for Dave to finally show up, I walked around the area a bit and happened across a local gelato-joint a few blocks down the street from the brewery. I was amazed that they were open for business before 9:00am. Of course, I had to sample a few of their flavours... Well, after breakfast ("Brunch", whatever), I went back over there and got a small cup with two flavours: half-cuppa Sambuca and half-cuppa Horchata. 

http://www.dolcespazio.com/

All in all, this morning turned out to be a very good one breakfastarily for me:

Coffee! Beer!! Pizza!!! Ice Cream!!!!

The only two items missing from the Five Major Food Groups this morning were Potatoes and Chocolate. 

(Hmmmm?! I wonder if'n I should try some Chocolate-dipped French Fries for dinner?!)

Glen Bacon Scale Rating:

Breakfast Flatbread ~  6.7;

(I did not bother asking Dave what he might rate his McLoma Sandwich; he seemed to have liked it well enough to clean his plate; so I would guess it was upwards of a 6.5, too);

Ethiopia Guji Heirloom ~ 7.4;

Youks Kolsch ~ 6.9;

Ice Cream ~ 7.0 (cumulative; the Sambuca-one was probably a 7.2 all on its ownsome)

Kevin Edmund Youkilis ~ .281

(I would just like to point out that Glen Bacon ~ 

he of the above named "Scale" ~ is also a long-time RED SOX fan.)

___________________

1. https://www.losgatosca.gov/

The "town" of Los Gatos is about fifty miles (well, according to Google Map, it is 54.1 miles) south of my apartment in San Francisco and about one hour travel time down there (almost 'zackly ~ I left my apartment at 7:30am and arrived at 8:30am [well, I would have arrived then if I had not missed my exit off Highway 17 and then had to back-track for about five minutes... 

but still... )

I found this titbit of information pretty interesting. Both Olivia de Havilland and her kid sister went to Los Gatos High School.

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, número uno:

I do not know why the joint is called "Loma" (I asked one of the baristarettes, but she did not know either), but the word "Loma" en español simply means "hill" or "knoll", Chuck.

(Perhaps, "Loma" has an entirely different meaning in Romanian or Greek.)*

*(Ha! This cunning linguistic stuff kills me.

Just on a lark [there were no Wild Parrots of San Francisco nearby], I Google Translate-d "Loma" under "Detect Language" and it came up that "Loma" in Finnish also means "holiday" and "Λόμαξ" [pronounced "LOmax"] in Greek-speak actually means "hilltop". It did not list anything under Romanian, though.)

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-brewista pointer of the day, Nummer zwei:

Kölsch is a style of Beer originating in Cologne, Germany. "Kölsch" simply means "from Cologne" auf Deutsch.

4. https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/06/25/kevin-youkilis-boston-red-sox-loma-brewing-company

Taylor Street Coffee Shop

http://taylor-street-coffee-shop.cafes-city.com/

(Sorry. This is the best that they have to offer in the way of an "official"-type web-site. The "Menu" link is not even operable... yet?)


Place: Taylor Street Coffee Shop

Location: 375 Taylor Street 
(between Ellis and O'Farrell Streets)

Hours: open daily at 7:00am(-ish)

Meal: Morning Salad Combo ~ spring mix (aka "rabbit-food"... I wonder if they will change it to "summer mix" in a few days), (2) poached eggs, 
bacon (Yeah, no! Sorry, Glen.), tomato, (red) grapes, strawberry, Feta cheese, balsamic vinaigrette, served with English muffin, fresh fruit mix, small fresh squeezed OJ and a Coffee or hot tea

(The first EweToobular song is mainly because James was always one of my favourite of the Taylor Brothers [right after Billy D., of course]... and...

Go RED SOX!!!

The second video is just because while I was eating my breakfast this morning the origin of the word [and fabric] "Denim" popped into my head.[1] 
[Ya know, this Derek guy sounds an awful lot like the guy that did those lesser-known covers of J.J. Cale's songs "Cocaine" and "After Midnight" back in the 70's.])


Poifect timing! 

I arrived at Taylor Street Coffee Shop (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, April 21st, 2018) this morning juuuuust a little after 7:00am (let's say 7:02am or 7:03am) mistakingly thinking that the place did not open up until 7:30am and was planning on waiting outside for an half-hour or so until they did open up. However, there were probably nine or ten people already waiting in line ahead of me. With barely time to get my camera out to take the prerequisite 'blog-entry opening photo-shot of the restaurant-of-the-day, they were opening their doors for business for the morning.

Luckily I had arrived when I did, because it filled up very quickly ~ even on a foggy San Francisco kinda late-Spring morn ~ by 7:10am. By the time I was done eating, there was a small line (ten to fifteen people?) of diners waiting to be seated whenever a table became empty.

Having eaten there already several many times, I think that there is just one more item on their menu now that I need to check out ("... out which I need to check"... ?):

Primavera (which they will probably be changing to Estate in a few more days, too) Omelet Combo ~ spinach, roasted tomato and mushroom egg white omelet. Fresh housemade (well... Coffee Shop-made) salsa. Served with English muffin, fresh fruit mix, small fresh squeezed OJ and a Coffee or hot tea.

I was not sure exactly (or even inexactly) what to expect from this dish, but the balsamic vinaigrette seemed to really tie it all together breakfastarily for me... plus, everything's just mo' betta with Feta! At first impression, I was thinking it looked like a lotta d*mn rabbit-food... well, if rabbits ate unhatched poultry ovi, too. All in all (and all for one! [well, all for me!]), this was a very simple, but nice and filling, meal for silly rabbit-types.

I was initially thinking of also ordering a side of their hashbrowns upgraded with habanero infused onions, but I am glad that I did not. I would not have been able to finish everything if I had.

I had opted for a large fresh-squeezed orange juice to drink and skipped the Coffee or tea (however, they did feel the need to charge me extra for the difference between the "small" to "large" orange juice, but did not feel the need to comp me for the no-Coffee/tea).

Today's fresh fruit mix included: kiwi (botanically a berry, of course); cantaloupe (also botanically a berry); honeydew melon (ditto on the "also botanically a berry"); strawberries (however, not-a-botanical berry); (red) grapes (another botanical berry); blackberries (sorry, but if you thought this one was also a "botanical berry"... you lose!); blueberries (okay, this one is a botanical berry); orange slices (guess what?! this is also a botanical berry); banana slices (ha! another botanical berry); and apple slices (neither a berry botanically, nor even an aggregate fruit or an accessory fruit).

As far as condimentary supplementation goes, 
Taylor Street Coffee Shop had Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce and Green Pepper Sauce) and  Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. 
I went with some of my own H*ll's Kitchen Smoky Bourbon Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of both poached eggs ~ it actually complemented nicely both the egg yolks and the balsamic vinaigrette.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Morning Salad Combo ~ 6.5

___________________

1. Many years ago (and by "many", I mean over thirty years ago now) I dated a woman that had once lived in Nîmes, France. (Man, she must be old now!) She told me that the local men had nicknamed her "Balcon" ~ a reference to her rather nicely protruding pectoral area. (Now, this was not the reason I dated her... well... not the only reason I dated her.) Anyway, she told me where the word "denim" had originated. It comes from the French phrase "serge de Nîmes", simply meaning "serge of Nîmes". (See, sometimes this cunning linguistic stuff ain't always chirurgie de roquette.)

Plus, here is an extra-added little-known Cliff Clavinistic fact: 
The word "blue jeans" came from Levi Strauss' younger brother, who was named "Eugene". Originally, the term was known as "blue Genes". Levi wanted to throw the poor guy a bone after cashing in on the textile and clothing trade himself.*

*(Nah! That second paragraph was just a joke to see if you are paying attention... or are even still reading this far down into the 'blog-thing.

Actually, the contemporary use of the word "jeans" probably comes from the French word for Genoa, Italy: Gênes. Even David Robert Jones and Mr. Peterson [Norm!] would agree with this etymology.)

LaLe

No actual racists or chickens were harmed during the writing of today's 'blog-entry...
(however, there may be some bigoted fowl-language included)[1]

http://www.lalesf.com/


Place: LaLe

Location: 731 Irving Street 
(between 8th and 9th Avenues)

Hours: breakfast and/or "Brunch" are served daily at 8:00am

Meal: Toronto (Benediction) ~ ham (where I, of course, went sans le m*udit jambon, ya hoser!), grilled tomato, spinach, housemade (well, restaurant-made) English muffin topped with poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, served with potatoes; and, to drink, a glassa Homemade (again, restaurant-made) Strawberry Lemonade

(Yeah, neither one of these EweToobular videos really has anything to do with Toronto[2], or Turkey, or tulips [or racist chickens, even]; they just happened to be playing both of these songs [and back-to-back, too] on the house-stereo [restaurant-stereo, whatever] this morning.)


In rounding out (diamonding off?) the late springtime workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I once again went back to LaLe (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, January 20th, 2019) for breakfast this morning.

One thing that I noticed right away before entering the restaurant this morning was "Wha' happen'd to their sign?!". They had just put up a newer(-ish) sign the last time that I ate there and, as can be seen in the above photo (or, actually can not be seen), it is now missing. I meant to ask one of the workers while I was there what happened to it, but I completely forgot while I was busy enjoying my meal. I am sure that it will reappear on my next visit (and, by which time, I will have completely forgotten that it was missing right now).

After several many visits to this restaurant, there are not several many items left on their menu that I have not already had, but a few last items that I might want to try are: 

Fennel Cabbage Salad ~ with green and purple cabbage, fresh fennel, apples, arugula (if possible, I would see if they might be able to add a poached egg atop the pile o' rabbit-food to standardise it breakfastarily)

or

I just happened to notice this morning (and it is only showing on their printed menu and not their online menu for some reason) that they are now offering four or five different Frittatas; I will probably check one of those out on my next visit (and try to remember to take a photo of the list on their menu, too).

Additionally, I could have also re-went with either Dutch Baby Pancake (however, as they say in Latin, empty cavities: these can take 20-25 minutes to prepare, seriously; this dish is really worth re-ordering; and I had the time to kill, but felt like "savoury" over "sweet" this morning) or Creamy Breakfast Polenta. Both of these were written on the weekend specials chalkboard outside by the front door. 

My main reason for going with the "Toronto" locale (but probably not lo-cal) Benediction this morning was that earlier in the week Your 2018 World Championship Boston RED SOX just finished a successful (if not rather dubious) Four-Game Series in the Northern Exposure town of the same name. (If only they offered a Benediction named "Hous-town".)

So, this was basically your standard "Eggs Florentine" just with the addition of grilled tomatoes. However, a few of the standouts here were that they used sautéed fresh baby spinach and their own housemade (restaurant-made, whatever) English muffin, which really makes a World of difference (Sorry, Mr. Thomas, these are just much better'n your faux-crumpets things.).

For condimentary supplementation, LaLe had both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. Once more, I just used some of my own Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the potatoes and some Tijuana Flats Tex-Mex Smack My *ss and Call Me Santa (Thanks, Rick!) on top of both eggs (Hollandaise sauce is generally okay, but it can always use a notch or two kicked up its *ss). Plus (and this is a very note-worthy "plus"), they offer two homemade (... whatever-made... ) jams/jellies (usually an orange marmalade and a strawberry jam) for use on all the tables. Unfortunately for me, there was nothing on which to use them this morning. So, for good (future) measure, I bought one jarra strawberry jam to take-with (I had bought a jarra orange marmalade during my previous visit and it is just about used-up, anyway).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Toronto (Benediction) ~ 6.4;
Strawberry Lemonade ~ 6.8;
(Your 2018 World Championship) Boston RED SOX ~ 139-24 
(well, that is my prediction for the 2019 Season and I am stickin' with it... until it changes again)

___________________

1. There might be one defacedbook friend that gets that opening joke-statement.

2. Well, Feist is from Canadialand, but she is from a-whole-nuther Province up there.

the Blarney Stone

Breakfast on Geary (redux) ~ Part 33

(No official-type web-site. It is just a neighborhood pub, what der'ya expect?!)


Place: the Blarney Stone

Location:  5625 Geary Boulevard (between 20th and 21st Avenues); phonicular contact: (415) 386-9914

Hours: open for "Brunch" Saturday and Sunday at 10:00am(-ish; just like yesterday morning, I had arrived there just a little after their "official" opening time, and I was informed by the beer-keep that the kitchen staff [or in this case, the one cook for the kitchen/pub-grub] had just arrived and the stove would take about fifteen minutes to warm up/prepare; however, unlike yesterday morning, I had already had a cuppa Coffee earlier, so I just ordered a Beer to sip on while waiting to place my order)

Meal: "Veggie" (uggh!) Omelet ~ (I am not exactly sure as there is no official-type web-site to check with, but it included) mushrooms, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, and Cheddar cheese (at least; there may have been another "veggie" [uggh!] or two involved, but I do not remember now), served with either steak fries (which is what I went with) or tater tots and choice of toast (I had sourdough); to drink with (and before) the meal a pinta Guinness® Stout; and prior to heading to breakfast, a cuppa (well, more like a small bowla, really) Rose Latte at home (which was just two blocks from where I had breakfast, anyway)

http://homecoffeesf.com/menu/

(I do not know if Sir George Ivan is a fan of 'merican Baseball or not, but I am sure that if he were, he would support the Boston Red Sox.)


I felt like keeping it very local for breakfast (well, "Brunch") this morning and headed over to 
the Blarney Stone (which is within walking distance of my apartment ~ just twelve blocks straight down Geary Boulevard [and it was all downhill on the way there, too]). I am sure that I had eaten there before for breakfast ("Brunch", whatever), but it had been several years ago (at least before 2010, when I started keeping tabs with this silly little 'blog-thing).

They do not really offer a lot of items from which to choose on their "Brunch" menu. I think there was only one or two other choices available for stupid vegetarian-types. It is really just a pub with a small kitchen, after all.

(This is the real Caife na hÉireann, boyos!)


I overheard the publican say to another customer that there were "free refills" on his diet cola-drink. Unfortunately, when I asked if I got "free refills" with my Beer, I was shot down immediately (buncha cheap bastages!).

This omelette was okay, and much better than I could ever make, but that is not really much of a compliment. It was good enough for pub/bar standards, but I highly doubt that it will ever make me add the pub to my Breakfastary Starting Rotation. Vegans and stupid vegetarian alike, do not worry, the "steak" fries were actually made outta potatoes (aka "chips"/"chippers"). There was a good portion of them, too. I had almost thought about ordering a side of fried pickles, but it probably woulda been overkill for my appetite.

(Again, I am blaming the poor lighting on this blurry photo.)


I liked how their salt and pepper shakers were made out of little (airline-size) bottles of Bushmills™ (salt shakers) and Jameson® (pepper shakers). Otherwise, I only saw Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce on the tables for use as a condimentary supplement. I used some of my own Punch Drunk™ Chocolate Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Sean!) on the chips and some Charlie's Chili Stuff (Thanks, Sha!) sprinkled all over the top of the omelette. Strangely enough, I did not see any malt vinegar for use with the chips anywhere; I would assume that the Irish used that, too.

(not really another) Strange Coffee Interlude

To give the Boston Red Sox some more mojo-aucity for tonight's World Series Game, I wanted to order some kinda Coffee drink with some variation of "Red" in its name (I looked, but, thankfully, did not see any "Dirty Sox Latte" on their menu). I suppose I mighta coulda went with their Red Velvet Latte, which I have had before and liked, but the Rose Latte is just so much better and more unique.


Go Red Sox!!!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
"Veggie" (uggh!) Omelet ~ 5.9 (and this is being generous because I liked the chips and the amount given);
Guinness® Stout ~ 7.6 (there was a time when I would rate this as high as 8.0; however, I think their quality has gone down immensely in the past twenty years since becoming part of a HUGE International Beer conglomerate);
Rose Latte ~ 7.3