https://breadbellysf.com/ Place: Breadbelly Location: 1408 Clement Street (near the corner of 15th Avenue) Hours: open at 8:00am Wednesday to Monday (so, basically, they are closed on Tuesdays) Meal: KayaToast~ griddled Breadbelly milk bread, coconut-pandan jam; Gyeran-Bbang ~ sweet cornbread, Korean chili (by which, I am guessing they mean "Gochujang"[2]), Cheddar cheese, soft jidori egg[3]; and, once again, a cuppa Wrecking BallColombia Cauca El Totoró to drink https://www.wreckingballcoffee.com/collections/all/products/colombia-cauca-el-totoro-12oz
(I am not sure how this Bruce Springfield-guy feels about coconut-pandan jam...but the point is probably moot. Ever since he lost the girl to that Jessie-guy, he has been in kind of a funk, anyway.) I returned to the scene of last Sunday's crime, and ate at Breadbelly (see initial 'blog-entry from Sunday, June 2nd, 2019) again this morning. (Yeah, so, maybe I am running outta new places at which to breakfast.) There are still a few other good ideas that I will probably check-out in the near future: Breakfast Sando ~ fried egg, ham (which I would have substituted with avocado), braised kale, Gruyère, fermented chili (I was told last week that this included more dead, decaying porcine junk in it, so I would also have to 86 that ingredient); Smashed Cucumber & Avocado~ dressed with naam prik nuum[4] (Thai chili-lime vinaigrette), basils[ sics ] (one of the always-patient counter-guys informed me that the dressing has fish-sauce in it, but they could make this with another vinaigrette; I saw this dish on another table this morning and it looked pretty d*rn good; I wonder if they could add a poached egg to it to make it a bit more breakfastary); or possibly Mushroom Barley Broth ~ Maitake & English peas, roasted barley tea, Chinese cabbages. I did not see any "Brass Monkey" listed on the Drinks menu this morning (which is okay, I really was not in the mood for any Beer-orange juice concoction this morning), but there was a Matcha Cappuccino that I had missed last week. I had to ask about that (Re-lax! I pestered the poor counter-guys a lot less than I did last week.) and was informed that it is not a Coffee/Espresso-based drink, but it is made with chrysanthemum tea (or something like that). Which is good, 'cause I would think that Matcha and Coffee would not be a perfect matcha (Get it? Matcha... matcha... whatever!).
So this was basically a "sweet and savoury" pastry-shop combination breakfast for me. (Well, seeing as I had mostly finished the Gyeran-Bbang before they had even brought out the Kaya, more like "savoury and sweet".) I liked the cornbread-egg-thing; it was made with lotsa whole corn kernels in the batter. I did not find it overly spicy, though. I bet some gochuchang drizzled on top of it would really have added to it. Now, the Kaya was really a stand-out for me (even if it was all rather a bit simple in design). This was kinda like an egg-less French toast; however, I would not think that it would be considered Vegan-friendly if their "milk bread" contains actual bovine juice in it. The coconut-pandan jam had a strange and interesting taste... I can not explain it, but it still had a very nice flavour. I liked this enough so much so, that I am calling this "My Favourite New (not necessarily) French Toast of 2019" (well, for now, at least). I have no idea if this dish is actually named after the Bob Marley song, but the fluorescent green colour of the jam is similar to the colour used on the lettering of the album of the same name (this is one of the things that I probably mighta-shoulda asked the poor counter-guys... next time). I and I am sure that Bob would much di fuud im be proud a, man! I still did not ask what condimentary supplementation Breadbelly might have had to offer. For a change, I did not even bother schlepping any of my own bottles of hot sauces with me this morning. Nothing much was really needed this morning, anyway.
Strange Dietary Restrictions of the 21st Century Interlude (While this story may not be actually breakfastarily related, it still involves "food" and that is good enough with me.) It seems that everyone these days has their own set of dietary restrictions, whether those are religion-based, allergy-based, self restricted-based, or morally-based. Last Friday night this came into play because both of my dining companions each possess their own gastro-afflictions. I met with two very old friends ~ I have known Jordan now since the Summer of 1979 (Man, is he old!) and his wife, Pam, since December 1982 (when she was "just" our roommate at the time... uh-huh!) ~ on Fisherman's Wharf to have dinner. Jordan is a bit lactose-intolerant, Pam has wheat/gluten-allergies, and, of course, I am of the st*pid vegetarian ilk. So, to find a restaurant that might be able to cater to all of our needs might prove to be a bit difficult. (Thankfully, there were no Hindu, Muslim, or Jewish friends joining us for dinner that night or we woulda had to really tighten our search.) Luckily, there are many (many, many) different restaurants from which to choose along that particular tourista-haven. A few ideas were either an Italiano seafood joint[5], where I could always get some kinda salad (bo-ring! What am I? Some kinda silly rabbit?!) or at least a basic pasta (non-fishy-based) dish, or Thai or Korean restaurants. We finally decided on Surisan, a Korean restaurant (mainly because I really like the place and it was only a two block walk from where we had met up). I had eaten breakfast there a few times before (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, October 14th, 2017) and have been wanting to check out their dinner fare, anyway. It was pretty funny as we all ended up ordering basically the same dish ~ Dolsot Bibimbap[6]. The only differences were that Jordan went with the "beef" option, Pam had the "seafood" variety (read: those dead, decaying aquaticbugs), and I had the only intelligent choice ~ "tofu". Pam was smart enough to ask them first if they used any soy sauce in the dish, as soy sauce usually has wheat as a main ingredient in it. I had never even thought of Bibimbap as being soy sauce based, though. It was lucky that Pam had asked, because they do use soy sauce in this dish, but they were able to make it for her without any undo gluten-junk affecting her. We all really enjoyed our meals. And afterward, Jordan even partook of a night-cap of a once-in-a-while treat of Ice Cream with Pam and me. (For which, I am sure he suffered a bit on the long drive back to Moffett Field where they were staying the night.) Of course, your nonna italiana or ελληνική γιαγιά would have none of this! Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Gyeran-Bbang ~ 6.8; Kaya ~ 7.0; Wrecking Ball Colombia Cauca El Totoró ~ 7.2 ___________________
1. ¡¿Gott it, señor?! (I am sure that any cunning linguist that is fluent in both Español y/und Deutsch will get these st*pid puns/spoonerism.) 2. https://mykoreankitchen.com/gochujang-korean-chili-paste/ 3. "Say whaaaa', Brian?!" https://www.samuelsseafood.com/products/jidori-eggs/ Just think Japanese "free-range chicken" eggs, d*mmit! 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nam_phrik_num 5. Yeah, sorry, did you really think that you could get away without one st*pid, useless (be it only pseudo-)cunning linguist/culinaristic pointer of the day? The Italiano seafood joint that I was thinking of taking them to is called "Cioppino's" (pronounced "Chip-ee-no's"). http://cioppinos.letseat.at/ Now this is where it gets fun (and is one of my favourite pseudo-cunning linguist pointers). The word "Cioppino" is not an actual Italiano word, nor is it derived from someone's Italiano name. I will just let il restaurante Cioppino's explain it to you (and this comes directly off their web-site): The origin of both the dish and the name came from the Italian fishermen in the early 1900's, when Fisherman's Wharf was still called Meigg's Wharf. Someone would make the rounds of the moored fishing boats, calling out for for contributions to a common, festive stew. One fisherman would toss a nice, fat fish into the bucket, another would drop in a succulent Dungeness crab, another some herbs and vegetables. The cry that prompted each contribution was "Chip In!, Chip In!". But coming from an Italian throat, this American slang had to end in a vowel. And the "in" was, of course "een". So "Chip-een-o" was born. 6. https://mykoreankitchen.com/dolsot-bibimbap/
Kids, be nice to your Mother (Earth)... I am told she is the only one we have (and no one wants to be an interplanetary orphan).
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: Dutch Baby Pancake (just one, but it was an extra large pancake) ~ w/ caramelized apples & housemade (restaurant-made, whatever) whipped cream; and to drink with the meal a glassa fresh strawberry-lemonade; and afterward a cuppa Snowbird Coffee - Zatara blend (pour-over/drip-method) http://snowbirdcoffee.com/
("Old Man" Noel Yang does one h*ckofa great anthem for our Momma.) To wrap up the early-Season workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I went back to LaLe (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, January 21st, 2018)... which just leaves closing with some (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!) next weekend. LaLe has a brand-new (well, since-January-new) wooden-carved/lathed sign over the front door. Still some other ideas yet to try: Mexico City (Scrambler) ~ chorizo (which would get ochenta-y-seis-ed for me), green onions, mushrooms, guacamole, sour cream, cheese; Napa (Scrambler) ~ goat cheese, mushrooms, bacon (also 86-time), bell peppers; (Scramblers are served with home style potatoes and housemade [restaurant-made, whatever] English muffin) Toronto (Benediction) ~ ham (no way, you hoser!), grilled tomato, spinach (housemade [restaurant-made, whatever] English muffin topped with poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, served w/ potatoes); or maybe FennelCabbage Salad ~ green and purple cabbage, fresh fennel, apples, arugula (and I would probably have a couple of poached eggs placed on top).
Stuff like this is exactly why LaLe is currently in my Breakfastary Staring Rotation! This was very similar (and just as tasty) to the same kinda dish that I had at Outerlands (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, April 29th, 2012) several years ago (which reminds me, I really should plan a return visit there again soon, too). I think the apples that were used in today's meal were either Granny Smith or Golden Delicious (Who am I? John Fr*ggin' Chapman?). The housemade (restaurant-made, whatever) whipped cream was very good, too, and it was served as a very large dollop (more like a wallop). LaLe has bottles of Tapatío®Salsa Picante Hot Sauce on all the tables for use as a condimentary supplement. Of course, none was needed or used again this morning... however... I did use a small dusting/grinding from my rainbowpeppercorn grinder on top of the whipped cream as an extra-added flavour bonus.[1] Strange Literary Interlude (sorry, Greg) As I was expecting this meal to take 15-20 minutes for them to prepare (they even warn you about the wait on the menu), I had brought along my new Christopher Moore novel, "Noir", to read while killing time waiting for the food to arrive. However, as the restaurant was not very busy (and I was the second customer in the door to order breakfast this morning), it came out much sooner than I figured, and I had barely time to read a few pages. It was probably only a five-minute wait or just a bit more (or Moore). https://www.chrismoore.com/ (not so) Strange Coffee Interlude (there-ya-go, Greg) As I have been doing for the past few visits to LaLe, after breakfast, I headed around the corner to Snowbird Coffee for a mighty fine cuppa. Today, I once again went with their Zatara blend. In honour of Mommy Third-Rock-from-the-Sun Day, I enjoyed the cuppa while strolling through San Francisco Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park. (Do not worry, I made sure to throw away the paper cup in the appropriately-marked recycle trash-bin.) Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Dutch Baby Pancake ~ 7.5; Snowbird Coffee - Zatara blend ~ 7.4; Noir ~ 7.1 ___________________
1. Do not judge me! I did not make up this very interesting flavour-combination. When I lived in West Berlin (the one that used to be in the middle of Deutsche Demokratische Republik), I frequented this great Italian restaurant that was nearby Tempelhof Zentral Flughafen. One of the desserts that they had on the menu was a warm figsplit open with a scoop of vaniller Ice Cream on top of it... they would then grind some fresh black peppercorns on top of the dessert. Hey, if it worked for Adolph on Ice Cream, it can (and did) work for me on whipped cream!
(Pour peas?) As much as I like peas (and don't even get me started on how tasty snow pea shoots/greens/tips[1] are), somehow, I really do not think these should ever be made into a morning breakfast drink... The other day I noticed a new(-ish) product in the non-dairy milk refrigerated section at my local grocery store (ripple™Unsweetened Original Nutritious Pea Milk) and figured it would be interesting to try another, different non-dairy milk product (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, February 13th, 2016) for a change. It was on sale and was just a little cheaper (it normally is priced about twice what actual bovine milk would be for an equivalent size) than the brand of good almondmilk that I have normally been buying (CalifiaFarms®UnsweetenedPure Almondmilk), so I figured it had to be somewhat good. Unfortunately, it failed miserably on both the "on cold cereal in the morning" and the "tall glassa with cookies" tests. (I do not bake, so I really can not say how it would work in those kind of recipes.) The flavour just was not very good. It was not completely horrible, but I just could not get used to the taste. They also offer this in Chocolate and Vanilla flavours; however, I can not see how that would be an improvement, but more of an insult to both Chocolate and Vaniller. I probably should have known better. I have had Pea Ice Cream before (at The Ice Cream Bar[2] in Cole Valley/the Haight) and it was one of the stranger flavours that I was really not that fond of. So, unless you happen to be either lactose-intolerant and/or a Vegan that is also allergic to tree nuts (even though, technically, almonds are not really a nut), coconut, and/or soy products (and are already acutely aware of how truly vile hempmilk is), I do not think that I could honestly recommend this particular non-dairy milk product in good faith (or even in bad faith to those smarmy Veganite-types). And I don't care what that other famous part-time vegetarian, John Lennon, once sang, do not ever "Give Peas a Chance"! Glen Bacon Scale Rating: ripple™Unsweetened Original Nutritious Pea Milk ~ 5.2 (and that is with a verrrry generous GBS Rating there) (Whereas: 100% organic Bovine Milk ~ 8.3; Almondmilk ~ 7.0 - 8.2 [depending on the brand and/or flavour]; Coconutmilk ~ 7.0; Hazelnutmilk ~ 6.9; Cashewmilk ~ 6.8; Flaxmilk ~ 6.7; Ricemilk ~ 6.5; Soymilk ~ 5.8; 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]) ___________________
http://www.thelittlechihuahua.com/ Place: the little chihuahua Location: 292 Divisadero Street (between Haight and Page Streets) Hours: open Saturday & Sunday at 10:00am for "Brunch" Meal: Breakfast (even though it is listed on their "Brunch" menu) Burrito ~ a toasted flour tortilla stuffed with scrambled eggs, Jack cheese, your choice of beans (I chose black beans), fresh chopped cilantro & onions, Mexican potatoes, sautéed poblano chiles and onions (if anyone else is keeping count, that would be the second mention of "onions" in the ingredients) and smoky chile salsa; corn tortilla chips with salsas (of course); a glassa Piña agua fresca with the meal; (beforehand) a medium cuppa Peet's Coffee®Big Bang™ (Medium Roast); and (afterhand) a scoopa Basil Ice Cream and a scoopa Caramel Popcorn Ice Cream from Bi-RiteCreamery http://www.peets.com/coffee/featured-category/coffee-shop-by-category-top-sellers/big-bang.html http://biritecreamery.com/icecream
(Uh-huh! It is a not unknown fact that Lloyd Edward Elwyn Robertson is a big [BANG!?] fan of Basil Ice Cream. However, it is not known whether either Neanderthals or Australopithecuses [Australopitheci?] liked Caramel Popcorn Ice Cream[1].) Because it has been over a year (and because I can), I returned to the little chihuahua (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, July 10th, 2016) for breakfast (well, "Brunch") again this morning. I went back to their original restaurant (taqueria, whatever) in the Lower Haight. the little chihuahua only offers six different items on their "Brunch" menu from which to choose. I have chosen four of them thus far and leaving only: Mexican French Toast (also known as Emperor Maximilian I Pain Perdu) ~ two French toast battered flour tortillas cooked fresh on the grill and served with plantains, applewood smoked bacon (which I would have either ochenta y seis-ed or quatre-vingt six-ed) and topped with warm maple-agave syrup or Breakfast ("Brunch", whatever) Tacos ~ two grilled flour tortillas (I would much rather see these be corn tortillas, though) filled with scrambled eggs, Mexican potatoes, sautéed poblano chiles and onions topped with a smoky chile salsa and fresh cilantro & onions (again with the double dose of "onions"? what's with all the onions at the little chihuahua? I thought onions were deadly to Dogs.), and served with your choice of beans; choose either: chorizo & Jack cheese or spinach & goat cheese (of course, I would have to go with the choice of espinacas y queso de cabra). Having arrived well over an hour before the little chihuahua even opened, I stopped by the nearby Peet's Coffee® (the one that is just a block away from the Panhandle) to get a cuppa to enjoy for a pre-breakfastary perambulation through that area of Golden Gate Park. the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude While I was there doing the perambulatory thing, I saw a mini-pandemonium (just one pair) of the Wild Parrots flying around the tall Eucalyptus trees near the western end of the Panhandle. I also did see several Robins, Crows-and/or-Ravens, and Little Brown Birds in that area of the park.
This was another great breakfast from the little chihuahua. It was a HUGE burrito and a lot of food. At first, I thought that it might not be enough food and I was going to order an additional side of Mexican potatoes, but with the size of the burrito and the chips and salsas, it was more than enough food for me (plus, I knew that I wanted to save room for Ice Cream after breakfast). I particularly liked that this was served in a grilled flour tortilla; that beats the steamed kind any day. I always love it when potatoes are already added into the main meal, too. So far, I would have to rank their breakfast ("Brunch", whatever) entries as: (1) Stacked Enchiladas (which was not only my favourite dish of theirs, it was a Top Ten Favourite from the year that I had it, too); (2) Chile Relleno (while not quite as "stacked" as the enchiladas dish; it was pretty "buxom" all on its ownsome); (3) Breakfast ("Brunch", whatever) Burrito; and (4) Chilaquiles (which was okay, but I have had many better chilaquiles dishes elsewhere). For condimentary supplementation, the little chihuahua truly exceeds the limit, Mr. Federation. They have six different fresh, homemade (taqueria-made, whatever) salsas in their salsa bar. I only used three ramekins this morning and had (in order of heat-level going from hottest to mildest): (a) Habanero ~ not as espicy as you might think (well, not as spicy as I have become accustomed), but this is their hottest salsa; this also has a great flavour of fresh limes; (b) Chipotle ~ with a great smoky chipotle flavour; also not really that picante; this is my favourite of the six that they offer; and (c) Roasted Tomato ~ very mild, but also very good; this one may be gringo picante, but, at this point in my chilli career, I could barely taste or feel any heat. For what it is worth (or for what it is worthless), they also have bottles of the completely superfluous Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce on all the tables. Burritos, Ice Cream, and Coffee?! If I could have only figured out some way to incorporate Pizza and Beer into this breakfastary sojourn, it would have been the perfect meal! Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Breakfast (even though it is listed on their "Brunch" menu) Burrito ~ 6.7; chips & salsas ~ 7.3; Peet's Coffee®Big Bang™ ~ 7.1; Bi-RiteCreamery Ice Creams ~ 7.1 (Caramel Popcorn) & 7.5 (Basil); the Wild Parrotsof San Francisco ~ 8.5 ___________________
1. Many prominent anthro-apologists (and Dr. Sheldon Cooper) have claimed that Ice Cream and Caramel Popcorn fossils can be found as far back as the Miocene Epoch. If you don't believe me, then why do they call it Chocolate Chimps Ice Cream?!
(Still no official-type web-site again.) Place: Dottie's True blue café Location: 26 6th Street (on the corner of Stevenson Street); phonicular contact: (415) 885-2767 Hours: open Thursday through Monday at 7:30am Meal: Banana Raspberry Rice Flour Pancakes ~ (self-explanatory, I would hope) with pure maple syrup; and a glassa milk Sticking to my self-prescribed Rhadamanthine schedule of going to Dottie's True blue café (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, June 11th, 2017) at least once a month for 2017, I made yet still another return visit there this morning. Once again I sat at "Seat #1" at the front counter. This was very easy to do as I was the fourth person in line this morning.[1] I had gone there with the specific idea of having either French toast or pancakes (something on the sweet side), depending on what was specialized on the weekend Blackboard. I liked the sound of this pancake choice better than the French toast option this weekend, so I went with that. I may have even had these in the past before, but after so many meals at Dottie's True blue café, I really can't be too sure. Otherwise, my back-up choices would have been: Fried Egg Sandwich ~ with prosciutto (which I would have ottantasei-ed), avocado, + Provolone on a biscuit, with fruit + potatoes; some kinda omelette combination ~ possibly roasted garlic, spinach, tomato, and goat cheese; or Spinach Provolone Strata ~ served with Italian sausage (No grazie.), roasted tomatoes, + fruit (which I just had back during my January visit, but wouldn't mind having again).
These came as three large pancakes and they were deceptively filling; I could only finish two-and-a half of them (barely). Because the pancakes were made with rice flour and not wheat flour, they weren't as fluffy or airy as "normal" pancakes might have been, but I actually liked how they made a nice crunchy shell/crust on the outsides. Kurt told me that it took him a while to come up with the correct formula (recipe, whatever) for using rice flour instead of wheat flour, specifically as a gluten-free option for those kinda cheapo people that don't like to pay for any extra gluten. I liked the flavour combination of banana and raspberry a lot, too. (And, once again, students, how many botanical berries were in these pancakes? Yes, there was just one... banana; because we all know that raspberries are not real berries.) I did not need to use any of Dottie's supplied bottled hot sauces, but I did use up all of the pure maple syrup (Duh!). Strange Ice Cream Interlude
Because of a conversation I had with complete strangers while standing in line[1, again], I decided that I had to make another stop at ShakeDown this afternoon. I had a small scoop (which is actually two scoops-size) of Satisfaction ~ peanut nougat, Chocolate ganache, citrus zest, and caramel swirls. The owner-scooper guy told me this was mostly inspired by and meant to be à la mode deSnickers® candybar. I actually liked it much better than any ol' Martian Chocolate bar and the peanut nougat crunchies in it really stood out. http://www.shakedownsf.com/ Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Banana RaspberryRice Flour Pancakes ~ 6.8; Satisfaction ~ 7.4 (Don't ever tell me that I can't get no... no, no, no!) ___________________
1. I actually got there right around 7:00am and figured that I would be the only idiot waiting in line for a half-hour for them to open. However, it was a nice enough morning (read: no fog for a change), and there were already three other idiots (one group of two and one single guy) ahead of me that must have had the exact same idea. Because we had a half-hour to kill (and because I am basically a Nose E. Parker), I started talking with them while waiting there. The guy just ahead of me was wearing a Y*nkees cap, but, even so, he seemed like a nice enough guy (just a bit misguided in his Baseball fandom). The conversation between the four of us ranged from breakfast ideas at Dottie's True blue café and to everything from the Boston Red Sox[a] v. Y*nkees rivalry (and why there really isn't the same kind of animosity between Celtics and Knicks fans) to Joe Montana's and Tom Brady's love-lives to where is a good place for Ice Cream (hence the above Strange Interlude this afternoon) in San Francisco[b]. [a](As luck would have it, I happened to be wearing my 2013 World Series Champions t-shirt this morning, too. Come to think of it, luck really didn't have much to do with it. I was planning on wearing something Red Sox-y today to help with the mojo over the current Y*nkees series; plus, I figure about one-fifth of my t-shirts are either Red Sox-related or San Francisco Giants-related, anyway.) [b](I made sure to point out that Humphry Slocombe is probably one of the best local Ice Cream joints in the city [and probably my favourite, too]. I also recommended ShakeDown, Bi-Rite Creamery, and the Ice Cream Bar. They all had been to Salt & Straw earlier this week already.) http://www.humphryslocombe.com/ http://biritecreamery.com/icecream http://theicecreambarsf.com/ https://saltandstraw.com/sf-locations/
What's WhiteChocolateRaspberry gelato[1] got to do with it?! (or) 'scuse me while I kiss the French toast...
http://www.dolceamore.co/ Place: Dolce Amore Location: 1477 Van Ness Avenue (on the corner of Pine Street) Hours: open at 9:00am Tuesday through Sunday for "Brunch" Meal: Signature French Toast ~ croissant French toast served with chef's choice of gelato (the chef chose WhiteChocolate Raspberry this morning), whipped cream, fresh berries, cinnamon, dried freeze [ sic ] raspberries, & caramel sea salt with a hint of Grand Marnier®; and a cuppa Valrhona[2] Hot Chocolate ~ silky 64% Manjari[3]Chocolate ganache & whipped cream
(These EweToobular links are mainly due to the fact that yesterday was the 77th birthday of Anna Mae Bullock and today would have been the 74th birthday of Johnny Allen Hendrix. Additionally, I suppose the first song can be considered a juxtaselection of "Love"/"Amore". I tried to locate a decent version of Jimi's "Bold as Love", but there really wasn't a good one to be found on EweToob; and, for some reason, he has not uploaded any new versions lately.) Because I have had some extra large, savoury breakfasts for the past two days in a row (those "past two days non-consecutively" are the worst), I decided that it was time for another sweet take on breakfast. With that in mind, I headed back to Dolce Amore (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, December 19th, 2015) where I knew that I could be assured of getting a very nice, sweet breakfastary meal. Once again, I sat at the cool jewelry case-counter dining area (or, more accurately, the manager/maître d' guy-person seated me there out of harms way of other customers, even though I was the first customer of the day). There are still a few other good ideas for which to make more return trips:
On the Sweet Side Tahitian Vanilla Crepe (please note, there was no circumflexed "ê" in "Crêpe") ~ French crepe filled with vanilla bean crème anglaise (but they did gravely accent the "è" in "crème"; vêrý śtřåñgë) & fresh berries served with lavender maple syrup, whipped cream & candied pistachio (add scoop of gelato 3) or Brussels Belgian Waffle ~ your choice of house made waffle: Caramel Sea Salt ValrhonaChocolate Seasonal Flavor or Plain Brussels Waffle Topped with your choice of gelato & whipped cream (Sorry, Sean. I checked. They do not offer a savoury choice of Brussels sprouts Belgian Waffle. There was a Brussels sprouts gelato, though.) On the Savory Side Baked Egg Benedict ~ three eggs baked in our (well, their) home made puff pastry served with Béchamel sauce (also noted that they have the ability to acutely accent some words, tóó) & your choice of topping: hot link sausage, turkey bacon, or mixed vegetables or (the most intriguing-sounding... or "îñtřïgůíńg-šøůñđîńg") Crepe Omelette ~ savory crepe filled with Gruyere (but not "Gruyère", apparently) & eggs topped with sautéed (See? They can use the correct accent if they try.) spinach, roasted tomatoes, bell peppers, & onions
Waitress/server lady-person: "Do you want whipped cream on your Hot Chocolate?" Me: "Is there any other way?!" (and just a few moments later) Manager/maître d' guy-person: "Do you want whipped cream on your Hot Chocolate?" Me: "Is there any other way?! With that option, who would order it without whipped cream?" This was a very good rendition of hot Chocolate. I liked it. It was not so sweet, and more on the bittersweet side. Of course, I half-expected there to be two helpings of whipped cream on top.
Once again, what was not to like about this dish? Very good croissant French toast, a tasty caramel sauce, gelato (which I especially liked; I would put a small amount on top of a piece of the warm French toast and let it act as its own cream sauce when melting), fresh fruits (strawberries, blueberries, kiwifruit, and orange slices)[4], and (not listed on the menu ingredient list) some home made crispy puffed rice dealies. The only thing missing (and they really were not necessary, anyway) were the whipped cream and "dried freeze [ sic ] raspberries" (whatever the heck that is supposed to be). Perhaps, with my insistence of the whipped cream on top of my hot Chocolate, I might have scared them from using any additional whipped cream on the French toast. I liked this meal so much so that I am calling it the "Best French Toast Dish of 2016... not named Baker Street Bistro Pain Perdu - a brunch favorite!". I really have no idea what Dolce Amore might offer in the way of condimentary supplementation. I was pretty sure that I was going to go for something "On the Sweet Side" this morning, anyway, so I did not bother to ask what they might have or to bring any of my own hot sauces with me for a change. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Signature French Toast ~ 7.4 (due to all the cool toppings/sidings, especially the gelato idea); Valrhona Hot Chocolate ~ 6.7 ___________________
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: "Gelato" is the Italian word for "Ice Cream". Literally it means "frozen"; it is the noun use of the past participle of "gelare" (to freeze). See gelatine. 2. http://www.valrhona.com/accueil.aspx 3. http://www.valrhonaprofessionals.com/manjari.html 4. Stupid, useless botanical pointer of the day: They stated "fresh berries" in the menu ingredient list. Of these four fruits, only two were technically berries ~ that would be the blueberries and kiwifruit, of course.
