https://cliffhouse.com/bistro/ Place: the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House Location: 1090 Point Lobos (at the end of the Earth/Ocean Beach) Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 9:00am, Sunday at 8:30am Meal: Thick Sliced Sourdough French Toast ~ maple syrup, crisp bacon (once again, they were nice enough to substitute the dead, decaying crispy porky-butt bits with some of their very good breakfast roasted potatoes), powdered sugar, and fresh apple compote; a basket of three (3) (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!); and a glassa Cliff House Classic Bloody Mary ~ Skyy Vodka, house mix of tomato juice/chili sauce/clam juice (much like the dead, decaying crispy porky-butt bits, I made sure to request the drink without this item; besides, just what kinda satanic juicer/blender would be used to make this un-dogly ingredient?!)/horseradish (this came with a neo-retro paper straw; hence, the opening query and the following EweToobular song)
[1] As has been the norm for several years now, to close-out the mid-Spring workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I returned to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, January 27th, 2019).
I had arrived at the Cliff House about twenty minutes before they were scheduled to open, so, to kill some time ("I swear it was in self-defense, your Honour!"), I decided to walk around the building to ward off the (extra) breezy and cold(-ish) weather this morning. I was pleasantly surprised by the sight of several large pods of Pelicans flying in nice Military V-formations (in honour of the Memorial Day weekend, perhaps?). Even with my sojourn around the perimeter of the building, I still ended up being the second "group" in line waiting. Because they were a little late to open this morning, I got to talking to the three people in front of me and one of the nice ladies even invited me to join them this morning for breakfast. I politely declined, but told them to try and get the "The Wizard of Oz" table (where there are autographed photos of both Frances Gumm and Francis Phillip Wuppermann on the wall over a specific table ~ this was also the same table at which I sat on my previous visit), and, as luck would have it, they were seated right at that table, too!
(Ooopsie! Looks like the Cliff House needs to House-train their pets.)
This drink was a veritable meal unto itself. It included the compulsatory celery stalk along with a pimiento-stuffed olive, a small Hungarian chilli (or close enough for varietal purposes), and a wedge of lime. It was already pleasantly spicy enough that I did not need to pep-it-up any with any shots from my own hot sauces.
After twenty-five-plus years of eating at the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House now, this might be only the second time that I have ordered this dish. Trust me, this was a major oversight on my part (perhaps, my breakfastary vision has been a bit myopic). This is a very good version of French toast, and by using thick slices of local sourdough, it not only gives it a distinctive flavour, but does not become over-soggified (it's a real word... look it up!) by the eggy-batter. Unfortunately, I think that this meal may have been a bit of a carboverload; what with the three (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!), French toast, potatoes, and I am sure that there were some superfluous carbohydrates in the Bloody Mary, too. the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House only has Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) for use as a condimentary supplement. I used some of my own Peaks of Otter PeppersInca GoldHot Sauce (Thanks,Cindy & Greg!) on the potatoes and a few grinds of my grains of paradise grinder all over the potatoes... and a bit on top of the French toast, too. (Do not judge me for my taste-quirks! At least I did not use any of the hot sauce on top of the French toast... however, I did give it a thought as mango and pineapple are ingredients in that hot sauce, and might very well have complemented both the maple syrup and the apple compote.)
Hollywoodland Spotlight of the Day Although I did not score "the Wizard of Oz"-table myself, on the wall over the far side of my table was an autographed photograph of George Raft. Of course, George Raft was best known for his portrayal of gangster-toughguys in many movies in the 30's and 40's. He also happened to play a major role in one of my All-Time Favourite Movies of All-Time ~ "Some Like It Hot"[2]. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0706368/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Thick Sliced Sourdough French Toast ~ 7.0; Cliff House Classic Bloody Mary ~ 7.2; (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!) ~ 8.2 ___________________
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
Richmond (District) Coffeehouses; #22 (Why would anyone ever want to say "toy boat" ten times fast, anyway?)
(No official web-site.) Place: Toy Boat Dessert Cafe Location: 401 Clement Street (on the corner of 5th Avenue); phonicular contact: (415) 751-7505 Hours: open at 8:30am every day Meal: Breakfast Burrito ~ two eggs with Jack cheese (they actually offered me a choice of cheese, but I figured [correctly, of course] that Monterey Jack would be the most appropriate of cheeses in this meal), tomato, cucumber, sweet red onion, peperonicini [ sic ][1], delicious salsa, wrapped on [ sic, also ] a warm spinach tortilla (where you also have a choice of whole wheat tortilla); a scoop of Double Rainbow®Hazelnut Truffle Latte for breakfastary dessert (hey, I had to get something dessert-like; it is right there in their name, after all); and a (16 oz) cuppa Peerless Coffee & Tea®Hawai'ian Golden Kona http://www.doublerainbow.com/dr/products/ice_cream/hazelnut_truffle_latte http://www.peerlesscoffee.com/product/all-coffee/hawaiian-golden-kona-blend/
Finishing up the last few spots along Clement Street in my Richmond (District) Coffeehousesseries, the next stop was Toy Boat Dessert Cafe this morning. This leaves just Cumaica Coffee remaining on Clement Street to visit now. Their menu states that Toy Boat Dessert Cafe is "Family Owned & Operated Since 1982". I knew that they had been around at least since I moved to the neighborhood in 1986, anyway. I have stopped in many times before for lunch, a quick snack, Ice Cream, or to purchase toys/gifts (more on that later), but this was my first breakfastary visit there. There are just eight small round tables that can seat two to four people and two small booths along the back wall that can seat two to four, too. The best choice for a standard breakfast (well, "standard" if you live in San Francisco or California, I suppose) was the selection with which I went. (I am sorry, but "... the selection I went with." just sounds a little smoother to me. Sometimes, these d*mn grammarians just p*ss me off.) Otherwise, they mainly have bagel dishes from which to choose ("...to choose from", dammit!). Of course, their bagelry options are pretty decent ones. They also offer a number of sandwiches and wraps that could probably be substituted for a breakfast meal. I did like the sound of the Avocado & Veggie Wrap ~ a spinach tortilla, fresh avocado (that would be the first part of the wrap's name, I assume), tomato, cucumber, sweet red onion, organic salad mix, peperocini [ sic, with a different mispelink here even] (these last five ingredients being the "& Veggie" portion of the name, most likely), Jack cheese, and honey mustard dressing. Also available for stupid vegetarian-types, Hummus & Swiss Wrap. Not really one for the stupid vegetarians, but I did like the sound/looks of Chicken Gorgonzola Wrap ~ grilled chicken breast, Gorgonzola cheese, fresh avocado, tomato, sweet red onion, organic salad mix, mayo, on a spinach tortilla (which I could always have ordered without the dead, decaying poultry stuff and also without the vile white goop junk. Who-the-heck puts mayo in with Gorgonzola cheese?! That should be a Capital Offense. I know it offends me capitally). All wraps come with a side of pickle, chips, or potato salad.
I got the burrito with avocado (fresh sliced and plentiful inside) added (to "kick it up a notch" ~ which is how they have it on their menu; I am not sure if Emeril Lagreasee is aware of this blatant usurpage of his catch-phrase or not). Like many little places with no real kitchen of which to speak, they had to nookularise the eggs (not scramble them). I did like the added (sliced and chopped) peperoncini (or "peperonicini" or "peperocini", take your pick... or pickini); I wasn't quite sure how these would pair with the rest of the ingredients, but they went very well with all.
They offer about twenty different flavours of Double Rainbow® from which to choose; of which, there are even a few choices (I think I saw three today) for stupid Vegans. I made sure to try a sample-spoonful of the Sea-Salted Chocolate Caramel Truffle (it was very good and would have been my first choice, but I had already ordered my Ice Cream before seeing that one in the display case/freezer-thing), too. They have three different carafes of Coffee at the front counter/cash register area from which to serve yourself. The other two offerings this morning were: Organic Sumatra and Dark Guatemala. I didn't really need a refilla this morning, but there is only an additional 40¢ charge if you want to try a different roast/blend. I didn't notice (nor bother to ask) what Toy Boat Dessert Cafe might have to offer in the way of condimentary supplements. I had come prepared with the last two bottles of my newest hot sauces in my collection (Thanks again, Mom!) and used some Dancing Dragon Cayene Pepper Sauce on half of the burrito and some Golden Pagoda Jalapeño Hot Sauce on the other half. Neither of these were extremely espicy, so I could go pretty heavily-handed with both of them.
(Just in case anyone was wondering where Bill Belichick was spending this Super Bowl Sunday.) The food is good here (and Ice Cream is always worth a return trip), but the real attraction to this cool little neighborhoody joint is all the cool toys that they have on display (most of which are collectibles and are for sale). There is even a working olde-timey mechanical horse for the kiddies to ride. (Sorry, there is a sign specifically stating that adults shouldn't sit on the horse.)
(Now how did that BSTRONG baseball cap get there?!) For the PEZ®[2] enthusiasts (and Star Wars and Disney geeks alike) out there, there are dispensers of all sorts (Is the plural of PEZ®, PEZ's®?) displayed along the front counter, in the front window, and in a large display case over the Ice Cream area.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Breakfast Burrito ~ 6.4; Hazelnut Truffle Latte ~ 6.6; multitude of way-cool toys ~ 8.5 ___________________ 1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day, Nummer eins: "Peperoni" in German actually means "chillies" or "peperoncini". How do I know this? Just ask my old buddy from (what was still at the time West) Berlin, Doug Depraved. He was very surprised when he figured he was ordering a nice meatatarian-style Pizza with lots of 'merican peperoni on it and it came out covered with peperoncini instead. (How do you say "D'oh!" in German?) 2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day, Nummer zwei: The name PEZ® was derived from the German word for "peppermint" ~ "PfeffErminZ". https://www.pez.com/ There is even a local museum dedicated to PEZ®. I have yet to get down there, but one of these day... http://www.burlingamepezmuseum.com/
Une autre revoir à Baker Street Bistro (s'il vous plaît voir: l'entrée d'avril dix-septième). I sat outside in their very large sidewalk patio seating area ~ which is very dog-friendly by the way ~ as today was the perfect day for it. It is officially Fall now and that means the beginning of the San Francisco Summer (for all of the next week or so); the sun was shining and it was probably 75-80° outside this morning. While sitting there waiting for the breakfast to arrive, I first heard and then saw a few of the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill flying overhead, heading out for the morning again.
Usually when I go here I would normally not even look at their menu and just order the Pain Perdu; however, I had eaten here three times already this year and decided to try one of their Oeufs entries. I went with the Oeufs Baker* Street Bistro: ratatouille**, poached eggs, English muffins (which in French are actually known as "ces stupides anglais porc-chiens muffins"), and tomato sauce. All of their egg dishes come with home fries and a mixed salad. I also ordered a fresh lemonade and cuppa coffee; both of which were very good.
Their version of ratatouille was pretty traditional and (to the best of my knowledge) consisted of aubergine, red and green bell peppers, courgettes, garlic, onions, and herbs de Provence (and surprisingly enough, it contained a minimal amount of actual rat in it). Their tomato*** sauce was a good French version ~ not as good as any home-made gravy Italiana, but still very tasty. Much like their Pain Perdu, this was another "great find"; I love a good ratatouille and this made for a very good alternative to Oeufs Florentine that I would probably have ordered. IF they didn't have the best Pain Perdu I have ever had, this oeuf dish could easily become my standard choice when visiting there; however, I probably would never have discovered it without going there for the Pain Perdu in the first place (would that be known as "une Prise Vingt-deux"?).
I did manage to talk two of the three people sitting at the next table into trying the Pain Perdu ~ the lady also agreed that it was "the best French Toast" that she had ever had; I went on to explain to them (read: bore and interrupt their meal) what exactly "Pain Perdu" meant ~ so, as good as the French Toast is, they may never want to visit this establishment in fear of ever running into me again.
**("Ratatouille" was basically an unknown dish to most average 'mericans before the recent Disney/Pixar movie by the same name came out. The ex-wife of a friend of mine ~ "Hi, Harvey!" ~ used to make a killer ratatouille back in the 80's and it was the first time I had ever tried this excellent Frenchified vegetarian stew myself.)
***(Not-so-boring-for-a-change cunning linguist story of the day:
Sorry, "Greg", this story is just too funny not to retell to the entire World Wild Intro-net.
Several years ago while traveling in southern France on a visit from West Berlin, where we all lived at the time, two friends ~ neither of whom spoke any French ~ were at a restaurant eating and had no idea what the menu said as it was all in French. One of them ~ whom we shall call "Greg" to disguise his true identity ~ actually asked the waiter "Sprechen Sie Englisch?". Now the truly ironic part of this is that "Greg" really spoke little to no German either; why "Greg" didn't just ask the waiter "Do you speak English?" is unknown, or why didn't the other friend ~ whom we shall call "Dave" to protect his identity also, who happened to be a trained Polish Linguist in the United States Air Force and also had a basic knowledge of both Russian and German ~ do all the talking for the both of them?! I am pretty sure that they got the chef's special "la sauce loogie" on their meals at no extra charge.
Now here is the truly funny part of the story:
"Greg" hates raw tomatoes. "Greg" loathes them. "Greg" would never order them knowingly if "Greg" had a choice. "Greg" feels more strongly about raw tomatoes than I do about the vile weed. The only thing on the menu that "Greg" could discern was "Salade de Tomates", which is pretty much what it looks like in English. "Greg" figured: "I can always just pick the tomatoes off the salad and eat the lettuce and other stuff." Little did "Greg" know that when you order a "Tomato Salad" in Europe, that is exactly what you get… and only what you get. I wish I could have been there to see the look on "Greg's" face when the waiter brought out a huge plate of tomatoes with just spices, oil and vinegar, and nothing else. It would have served "Dave" perfectly right if "Dave" had ended up with the "Spéciale du Jour: Veaux Cerveau dans un sauce crème", but I think "Dave" actually lucked out and got something edible and ended up sharing it with "Greg".
Now after relating that story, I will probably have to change my Christmas vacation plans for this year… sorry, "Greg", not all of us can be cunning linguists ~ at least that is what "Cindy" always complains about.)
I revisited The Bistro Restaurant* at the historic Cliff House this morning (see 'blog-date: Saturday, March 20, 2010). The food here is always good (and there is a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean on clear, sunny days), but I can get good food lots of places (and I can simply look out my window for great views); however, as always, I came back for the Popovers(!).
Above my table along the wall there was a really nice collection of autographia of many Hollywoodlanders** (sampling from bottom to top): Claude Rains*** (but I could actually see his picture, Mr. Wells****); Nicholas Cage; Shirley Temple; Tommy Smothers; Humphrey Bogart (and I found this pretty cool to be situated just above the Claude Rains photo, Mr. Blaine); Olivia de Havilland; Huey (Кто вы называете хуй?) Lewis; and the entire cast of "Mad About You"; among several others.
Their best Wall of Fame would have to be this one, though (from bottom to top): The Marx Brothers; Carole Lombard (right next to); Clark Gable; Jimmy Cagney; Barbara Stanwyck; Bette Davis; Charles Laughton; Spring Byington*****; and Joan Crawford (with her original eyebrows!).
I had the Sautéed Vegetable Scramble ~ Scrambled Eggs, Red Peppers, Tomatoes, Button Mushrooms, & Melted Goat Cheese; which comes with fresh fruit and some roasted red potato halves. This was loaded with lots of Goats cheese and a nice mixture of veggies and 'shrooms (for those of you that aren't anti-fungites). To enhance the flavour, I used some Sylvia's Restaurant®~ Kickin' Hot - Hot Sauce (Thanks, Sean!) with the scramble; and with the potatoes:Trees Can't Dance ~ Belizean Habañero Sauce (Thanks again, Greg & Cindy! And, for the record, anyone that would like a shout out on my 'blog, I can easily be bribed with a good bottle o' hot stuff). I rounded off the breakfast with a "large" glass of orange juice (it was actually more like a "tall" glass) and a cuppa coffee.
Now, I am not complaining, as this was easily rectified, but… they actually forgot to bring out my Popovers(!) to start the meal off!!! That would be like going to Disneyland® and getting snubbed by the Mouse at the gates. The good news was that when they finally did bring me my Popovers(!), they brought me four Popovers(!) and not the standard-issue three Popovers(!). I can normally barely finish two Popovers(!), let alone three Popovers(!) with the rest of the food; however, I felt it my duty to polish off all four Popovers(!)… I left some of the fruit and scramble instead.
I am sure that I will be going back again later in the year.
