café Durant

Another breakfastary roadtrip:
Berkeley, CA

¡Feliz día de San Patricio!

https://www.cafedurantberkeley.com/


Place: café Durant

Location: 2517 Durant Avenue 
(between Telegraph Avenue and Bowditch Street)

Hours: open Monday to Sunday at 7:30am

Meal: Chilequiles[ sic ][1] ~ three eggs scrambled w/ (corn tortilla) chips, green tomatillo sauce, cheese & sour cream, served with rice, beans (in this case it was a combination of both frijoles refritos y frijoles negros) & (three) corn tortillas; and, to drink, a large glass-mugga Mexican Hot Chocolate 

(I have it on good authority that after driving all the Danes and snakes outta Ireland, ol' Santa Pádraig sat down to a hearty breakfast of Chilaquiles hisd*mnself! [See, the joke here being that there was probably just about as much Native American maize crops in Ireland in the 5th Century as there were any sorta d*mn snakes.]

Sorry, but I could not locate any songs by Sir George Ivan en español.)


I had never been to café Durant before for breakfast (I had eaten there a few times in the past for lunch and/or dinner) and decided to start una nueva tradicion for Saint Patrick's Day.[2] But why 
Mexican food and not Irish food you may ask? Because as a stupid vegetarian-type, there are just more options with cocina mexicana . 

Thankfully, Señor Sol was kind enough to grace us with his presence again this morning, so I made sure to sit outside on their second-level sun-deck in one of the tables directly overlooking Durant Avenue. It was still cool enough at the time that I kept my jacket on, but was not uncomfortable in the least (comfortable in the most?!). The entire place was pretty empty on this domingo plácido and there was only one other idiot sharing the sun-deck with me.

Not that I will be probably getting back over there any time again soon (I found out the hard way that on early Sunday mornings, the BART station at Powell Street is not even open for operation until 8:00am and that there are less trains going directly to Berkeley and Richmond then, too), but there were several other viable options listed on their breakfast menu, to include:

Huevos Rancheros ~ three fried eggs with rancheros sauce & cheese;

Huevos Divociados[ sic ] ~ eggs on crispy tortilla;

Huevos a la Mexicana  ~ three eggs scrambled with jalapeños, tomatoes, onions;

Sundeck Combo D ~ two Chocolate chip banana pancakes, one strawberry banana crepe, veggie (uggh!) omelet & fruit salad (if I had not already planned on getting the Chilequiles[ sic ], I would have probably ordered this one, just substituting some homefries for the boring ol' fruit salad);

or

Greek Omelet ~ Feta cheese, olives, spinach, tomato, & green onions (this would have been the back-up to my back-up plan; because nuthin' says "Happy Saint Patrick's Day!" like eating at a Mexican restaurant and ordering the Greek egg-dish).

(Ooops! I had already dug-in and messed with the dish a bit before remembering to take the requisite photo of the meal.)


Whenever I eat at a new Mexican place, and they offer Chilaquiles (or even Chilequiles[ sic ]), I make sure to order that dish. It is sorta my touchstone (piedra de toque) with un desayuno mexicano . Now this was a very good rendition and I did like their use of a tomatillo salsa in place of a standard salsa roja (which is still my favourite) for a change of pace. 

The three corn tortillas came out warmed/steamed and wrapped in a red-and-white checkered paper-thing to keep them a bit warm. These may not have been fresh-made like at some other Mexican restaurants, but they were still welcomed and good all the same, and I made sure to make the best use of them.

café Durant had for condimentary supplement use both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. Neither of these were needed (and really seemed un poco superfluo) because they offered two different fresh-made salsas of their own: a very nice salsa roja (which I used on top of the rice and beans after mixing them together) and a tomatillo salsa (which I added to the top of the eggs and chips mess; it already had the same tomatillo salsa in it when they made it, I just added more 'cause I could and I wanted to).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Chilequiles[ sic ] ~ 6.7;
the ♪ music ♫ of Sir George Ivan ~ 8.5

___________________

1. Not that I am un erudito español o un epicúreo mexicano  in any way, but I am pretty sure that after eating this same dish for about thirty years now that it should be spelded kerrectly as "Chilaquiles". It really is not of Spanish origin, anyway; it is actually a Nahuatl word. 

2. "Now... wait... a... minute... Brian! You can not just make up a new tradition whenever you like!"

Well, it is my silly li'l 'blog-thing, and I can do whatever I d*mn please! If you have a problem with that, you can write yer own d*mn breakfastary 'blog-thing.

Besides, I think turn-about's fair play:

Wayyyy back in 1986, when I was still living in Omiehaw, Neebraskie, a bunch of us Air Force types stationed at Offutt AFB decided to have lunch at one of the only good Mexican restaurants in town on Cinco de Mayo. Mind you, the restaurant was about a good twenty to thirty minutes drive away from the airbase. Well, when we got there, there was a sign on the door stating that they were closed to observe this 
Mexican holiday. (How do you say "D'oh!" in Spanish?) Rather than settle for any of the cr*mmy food at a local Taco Bell or waste more time driving around trying to locate another decent Mexican restaurant (trust me, back in the 80's, Omiehaw was dearly lacking in any kinda auténticos restaurantes mexicanos), we all decided to simply head over to a nearby Chinese restaurant. For several years after that, I maintained this "tradition" and would normally try to remember to eat Chinese food on May the Fifth.

(Hmmm?! Looks like next year to celebrate Chinese New Year, I might need to find a decent Irish pub for breakfast.)

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

Connecticut Y*nkee

http://www.pourguys.com/connecticut-y*nkee/

(Okay, so maybe you will need to add the bowdlerised "a" back into that Uniform Resource Locator yourself for an uninterrupted hyperlink kinda thing. I refuse to allow any kinda d*mn anti-Red Sox swear-words on this here 'blog-thing!)


Place: Connecticut Y*nkee

Location: 100 Connecticut Street (on the corner of 17th Street)

Hours: open Saturday & Sunday for "Brunch" at 10:00am

Meal: Shakshuka ~ baked eggs, tomatoes, peppers, onion, cilantro, grilled polenta cakes, sunny egg, queso fresco; a side order of Breakfast Potatoes (homefries); and a glassa grapefruit juice

(You were expectin' "Sweet Caroline", maybe?)


I used to work directly across the street from Connecticut Y*nkee for about twelve to thirteen years. I ate many lunches and dinners there over the years (and, yeah, drank many Beers, too), but I never had a breakfast (nor "Brunch") there. This place is under new ownership (for the past two years now); I don't think it used to be open on the weekends for a breakfast (nor "Brunch") meal.

(Sadly, this mural has seen better days. The bottom photo there used to be one Orenthal James Simpson ~ who grew up "on the Hill" ~ but has now since been excised from the good graces of the neighborhood for some reason...)


The previous ownership was a couple of ex-Patriated New Englanders (hence the name of the joint ~ and, what are the odds, it is located on Connecticut Street) and the theme of the menu used to be all-inclusive Boston/New England sports teams. Now, there is an entirely new menu, and it seems to be mostly Patriots-influenced. The "Brunch" menu does not really offer a lot of options for stupid vegetarians. The only other items I might have chosen:

Potato Cakes ~ sour cream, apple sauce, fresh herbs;

or

French Toast ~ brioche, toasted pecans, dried blueberries (why they don't use fresh blueberries, Imano), maple butter.

Do not worry, there are more choices for you meatetarians and/or pescetarians out there:

Biscuit & Brady ~ house made sausage patty (I wonder if the sausage is made from GOAT-meat), buttermilk biscuit, fried egg, country gravy;

Croquette Benedict ~ cod, poached eggs, arugula, gremolata, Hollandaise sauce (yeah, I think that the Hollandaise sauce renders this non-KosherⓊ, too, Karl);

or

Y*nkee Breakfast ~ two eggs, bacon, toast (which basically sounds like it could also be enjoyed by any Johnny Reb, too).

I am not quite sure how authentically New England (or Olde England, even) Shakshuka is as a breakfastary fare (even if you happen to be from Westernmost Connecticut). Maybe if you added some succotash to it or poured some maple syrup over the top of it...

This was a decent enough meal; however, I have had other versions of Shakshuka that I liked a bit more (coincidentally enough, the very last time that I ate breakfast on Potrero Hill [almost two years ago now, see 'blog-entry from Monday, January 16th, 2016], I had a similar dish to Shakshuka). I liked the addition of the queso fresco (again, I am not sure if that was made from GOAT-milk or not) and there was a lot of both red and green bell peppers in it. The major minuses (another "Military Intelligence" kinda oxymoron, Mr. Brandt?) were that this was all a bit on the watery side (the Shakshuka dishes that I have had in the past were always more of a thick tomato stew) and I would liked to have had more of the grilled polenta cakes; this might have made up for the watery sauce a bit and been used to soak it all up more.

For condimentary supplementation, Connecticut Y*nkee had both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce 
(Original Red Sauce) and Huy Fong Foods Inc. Sriracha HOT Chili Sauce. Additionally, and most notably, they had bottles of their own homemade (well, restaurant-made) Ol' Man Steve's Hot Sauce on all of the tables; this hot sauce reminded me of Cholula® or Tapatío®, but just fresher tasting. I used some of their tasty (but not too) hot sauce on top of the eggs and some of my own Palo Alto Fire Fighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the potatoes. 

After-Breakfast ("Brunch", whatever) Coffee Interlude

The real find this weekend was during a return visit to Andytown[1] Coffee Roasters after breakfast on my way home. This time I went to their newest shop on Taraval Street (just two blocks from Ocean Beach). I had a single cuppa (pour-over style) of their 
Special Release: Columbia Wush Wush. I liked it so much that I am renaming it Columbia "Woot-Woot!". This was juuuust a bit pricey (as in $12.00 a cuppa, and they charge $40.00 per 8 oz bagga... Ouch!... but it came with a free homemade [roastery/bakery-made, whatever] biscotti [and the biscotti was very good, too]... which was nice... so, I had that going for me), though. I am just calling this an early Christmas gift to myself. Surprisingly enough, as good as this (very expensive) cuppa was, I still think that their 
Ethiopia Natural Banko Fuafuate is even better (and not exactly that cheap itself at $25.00/pound).

http://www.andytownsf.com/purchase/colombia-wush-wush


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Shakshuka ~ 6.4;
Ol' Man Steve's Hot Sauce ~ 6.7;
Andytown Coffee Roasters Special Release: Columbia "Woot-Woot!" ~ 8.0 
(whereas Ethiopia Natural Banko Fuafuate ~ 8.3)

___________________

1. I finally asked what the meaning of the name of the place was. I was told that "Andytown" is the nickname of a town in Northern Ireland where one of the owners hails from. Andersonstown is a suburb in West Belfast.

phoenix bar & Irish Gathering House

http://www.phoenixirishbar.com/


Place: phoenix bar & Irish Gathering House

Location: 811 Valencia Street 
(between 19th and 20th Streets)

Hours: open at 10:00am Saturday & Sunday for "Brunch"

Meal: Huevos Valencianos ~ roasted chiles, avocado, black beans, eggs any style, corn tortillas, choice of grilled Irish bacon or spicy sausage (both of which I ochtó-a-sé-ed, of course); and a large glassa grapefruit juice

(Today's EweToobular juxtaselections? Simples! Sir George Ivan just loves him some Irish soda bread.)


In an attempt to revisit some places that I remembered really liking (and because I am running out of "new" places to try), I returned to phoenix bar & Irish Gathering House (see previous 'blog-entry from Saturday, November 22nd, 2014). Probably one of the reasons that it has taken me this long to make a return trip is that they open at 10:00am and they call the first meal of the day on Saturday and Sunday mornings "Brunch". (Okay, that's two reasons, but they kinda go hand-in-hand.) I find that when I have to "wait that 'late' to eat breakfast" (especially when it is called "Brunch"), it appears as if half the day has been wasted on just one meal.

This morning, they seemed to ostensively be playing one-hit wonder songs from the 80's on the (Irish Gathering) House-stereo. (Seriously. Can anyone really name another hit that the Outfield ever had?!)

There really isn't a lot of things from which to choose on their "Brunch" menu (and even less-so for stupid vegetarian-types); I counted nine entries only. Here are a few selected items:

Irish Bacon Benedict ~ grilled soda bread, Irish bacon, poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce (I liked this idea of substituting the d*mn *nglish muffin with Irish soda bread; I suppose I could always order this gan an flesh ainmhí marbh lobhadh);

Bacon Boxty ~ potato cake, Irish bacon, poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce (again, I would have had to order this gan bagún);

and they did have an off-menu Special this morning:
Fried Chicken & Eggs (I am not sure what that may also have included, but I almost felt like ordering it just to see which of the two they would bring out first...).

Once again, the meal started with them bringing out a small basket with some slices of their very good homemade (well, Irish Gathering House-made) Irish soda bread. I had finished most of the slices before the meal was even brought out. Last time I ate there, they brought out more when asked, but I figured I wouldn't need any extra this morning.

I was expecting this dish to come out as a prototypical Huevos Rancheros dish, with the eggs on top of corn tortillas, on top of the beans, and all smothered with a salsa. Actually, this came out more as a deconstructed Huevos Rancheros where everything was separated. I ended up adding their tasty Salsa Valenciana to the eggs once I had cut them up a bit. I had ordered my eggs "over-medium"; however, they came out "just barely over-medium". They were still edible (just barely); I am not a big fan of runny, under-cooked eggs.

phoenix bar had Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (three ways: Original Red Sauce, Green Jalapeño Sauce, and Chipotle Pepper Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce for use as condimentary supplements... and (because it is also an Irish Gathering House) bottles of HP™ Sauce[1]. I had even brought some of my own hot sauces, but ended up not needing to use any supplemental hot sauces this morning because of their own above-mentioned tasty Salsa Valenciana.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Huevos Valencianos ~ 6.5 (this is factoring in their excellent homemade [well, Irish Gathering House-made] Irish soda bread freebie-starter)

___________________

1. How many people are aware that the "HP™" stands for "Houses of Parliament"?

I was not aware of that myself until I looked it up this morning. I just assumed that it was the initials of the inventor of this most iconic British brown sauce. (Of course, now it makes sense why there is a picture of Big Ben and some other building on the labels.)

phoenix bar

"Laugh and the world laughs with you… snore and you sleep alone." 
~ Anthony Burgess

http://www.phoenixirishbar.com/


Place: phoenix bar
Location: 811 Valencia Street (between 19th and 20th Streets)
Hours: open at 10:00am Saturday & Sunday for "Brunch"
Meal: Vegetable Hash ~ grilled potatoes, mixed vegetables, poached eggs, with goat cheese sauce; and a large glass of ½-orange juice and ½-grapefruit juice

(I know I could have used Glen Campbell's classic version of this song, but I just liked these versions much more.)


Today's breakfastary destination was just a few blocks down the street (if the street happens to be Valencia, that is) from last Sunday's entry. I had "Brunch" (their actual term, and that they don't open until 10:00am for the first meal of the day on the weekends kind of dictates the use of this snooty sobriquet) at phoenix bar. It is mainly an "Irish Pub and Gathering House" (it says so right above the awning in the front), but they have some pretty decent dishes on their food menu. There are several large-screen TeeVees around the joint, and they were showing some Barclays Premier League Football games (aka "English Soccer" to you bloody Y*nks[1]) this morning.

There is plenty of seating throughout the place. There is probably enough for fifty to sixty people at several copper-covered tables (made for two to four people), and many of these tables have benches along the wall side that look like they may have been pews in a church at one time (I made sure to get one of those to get the whole religious effect of the meal). Plus, there are another fifteen to sixteen seats along the bar.

They offer a pretty small "Brunch" menu (I counted only eleven items, which I almost needed to take my shoes off to do so) and there were just a few other good ideas for stupid vegetarians. However, I was also looking at getting either Veggie Omelet (fresh seasonal vegetables, cheese, and breakfast potatoes) or Huevos Valencianos (roasted chiles, guacamole, black beans, eggs any style, corn tortillas with grilled Irish bacon or spicy sausage; which I would have ordered sin carne, of course). For those of you that are huge fans of the dead, decaying porcine products, they also offer the traditional Irish breakfast, coincidentally enough, called Traditional Irish Breakfast (sausage, Irish bacon, pudding [don't let the name fool you, this ain't none of the sweet stuff that Bill Cosby used to shill], baked beans, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, and potatoes); this meal is also known alternatively as "Cardiac Arrest on a Plate".

I really liked that they bring out before each meal slices of homemade Irish soda bread[2]; and they will give you more if you ask for it, too (I asked for it). I bet this would make for a great base for a Celtic version of Eggs O'Benedict, too. (Actually they do offer just this on their "Brunch" menu as Irish Bacon Benedict ~ grilled Irish soda bread, Irish bacon, poached eggs, Hollandaise, and potatoes; I may need to try that one in the future, too.)

In addition to the grilled potatoes mentioned above, today's mixture of vegetables was: kale, cauliflower, mushrooms, green beans, carrots, (red, green, and yellow) bell peppers, zucchini, and the vile weed. All except for the vile weed were welcomed ingredients, and kale is one of my favourite leafy greens, anyway. Strangely enough, in this hash there really wasn't any discernible garlic or onions; perhaps the owners are Mahāyāna Buddhist Irish. I had completely forgotten that this had a goat cheese sauce on it; I was wondering why the poached eggs seemed extra creamy. It all worked very nicely with the vegetable hash.

I asked the waitress/server/bartender-lady  (there was just one person working the bar and taking food orders when I first got there) what kind of juices they offered and she told me both orange and grapefruit juices. So I asked her for a glass with "half-and-half". She must have misunderstood me and brought me out a pint o' Guinness® and Harp® Lager… (Nah, not really. But that would have been pretty funny at an Irish pub for breakfast.)

For condimentary supplementation, phoenix bar actually had a pretty decent offering: Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (three types, too: the standard red, green jalapeño, and Chipotle); El Yucateco® Salsa Picante Verde de Chile Habanero (the green kind); Tapatío®; and HP™ Sauce (the standard kind, not the Guinness® one, though). I really didn't expect them to have that many salsas from which to choose, so I had brought a few of my own and used some Born to Hula presents Devon Allman's All Natural Hot Sauce Chipotle Blues (Thanks, Kerry!) on top of one of the eggs and a little (just a few drops, as this one goes a long way) Fat Cat® Chairman Meow's Revenge (Scorpion Pepper Sauce) (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of the other egg. I did make sure to use a good amount of the HP™ all around on the potatoes and vegetable hash.

This is another one that is definitely worth a return visit… one of these days, me droogs.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Vegetable Hash ~ 6.5 (I gave this an extra .2 for the inclusion of the kale, but I also took away .1 due to the vile weed); homemade Irish soda bread ~ 6.7


1. But, Brian, aren't you also a "bloody Y*nkee"? Not on yer life, boyo! As a devout Red Sox fan, being called a "Y*nkee" would be as bad as calling an Irishman English!

2. For anyone not familiar with Irish soda bread, here is some information from the friendly people at WikipediA:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_bread

Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

"Soda bread" in Irish is "arán sóide".

Luna Park

"Yeah, babe, I know it gets dark down by Luna Park
But everybody else is squeezing out a spark
That happened in the heat somewhere in the dark… "
~ Graham Parker, "You Can’t Be Too Strong" 

http://lunaparksf.com/


Place: Luna Park
Location: 694 Valencia Street (at 18th Street)
Hours: Saturday and Sunday open at 10:00am
Meal: Chilaquiles (Tortilla Chips, Eggs, Queso Fresco, Salsa Fresca)

Luna Park has been open for about ten years now in the Mission, but this was my first time ever eating there (either breakfastarily or for any other meal). My one minor complaint would be that they don't open up until 10:00am on the weekends and for what they call "Brunch"; otherwise, it seems like a decent enough joint. It is a rather large space with twelve tables for two, ten booths for four (or more), and twelve stools at the bar/counter; plus, there are three sidewalk tables for four. I didn't ask (and they really don't specify on the menu or their web-site) for which "Luna Park" the place is named. I saw postcards from Luna Park, Coney Island[1] (the one in Brooklyn, New York City, not the one in County Down, Northern Ireland, Van), and posters from Luna Park in Palermo, Sicily, Italy and from Lunapark in Łódź[2], Poland.

Their "Weekend Brunch" menu only offers about ten different "Breakfasty[3] Choices" (This was their actual term for it, they also have "Lunchy Choices"). There were a few other interesting looking items on that section of the menu: Trois Popovers! (and they even have it with the explanation mark! already) ~ Apples & Salted Caramel, Fresh Berries & Mascarpone, and Ham, Egg & Cheddar (which I would have skipped and probably doubled-up on another Apples & Salted Caramel instead); and Luna Benedict ~ with Tomatoes, Spinach, Hollandaise, Potatoes.

As I have stated several times before, it's always interesting ordering chilaquiles at different places as you will probably never get the same version twice. Luna Park makes theirs as a huge pile o' sautéed tortilla chips and with scrambled eggs (huevos revueltos) underneath. They have a decent enough tasting chilaquiles salsa. The salsa fresca on top was mostly tomatoes and red onions, but there must have been a lot of lime juice in with them as I tasted a lot of lime flavour throughout (which is a very good thing with me and I wouldn't have minded some extra, fresh-sliced limes to squeeze even more juice on top of the whole mess). They don't mention it on the menu anywhere, but this also had pinto beans and avocado in it, which are always much welcomed ingredients.

Luna Park has just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce for condimentary supplementation. I used a goodly amount of my own Hula Girl Chipotle Habanero (Thanks, Jim!) all over the heap for some extra added oomph (which I am not sure how to say in Spanish).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Chilaquiles ~ 6.8


1. There are several different Coney Islands in both Ireland and Northern Island. The Coney Island in Brooklyn was probably named after the one in County Sligo, Ireland.

Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

"Coney" is an English word for a rabbit, deriving from the Latin "cuniculus", meaning "rabbit". Similarly, the word for "rabbit" in Spanish is "conejo", in Italiano it is "coniglio", in Portuguese it is "coelho", in Catalan it is "conill", in Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish it is "kanin", in Dutch it is "konijn", in Greek it is "κουνέλι", in Irish it is "coinín", and in Welsh it is "cwningen".

2. Łódź (pronounced "Woodzh", and one of my favourite sounding Polish place names because of it) is the third-largest city in Poland.

3. I posilutely hate it when people make up completely superfluousary words.

O’Reilly’s

"Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper."
~ Francis Bacon (no relation to the inventor of the legendary Glen Bacon Scale)

http://www.sforeillys.com/OReillys_Irish_Pub/Oreillys_Irish_Pub.html

(Just a couple of classic Irish dirges to tide you over while reading this 'blog-entry, boyo… or girlo.)


I went to O'Reilly's this morning for "Brunch" (their term, not mine, even though they open at 8:00am ~ or 9:00am ~ on the weekend; their website says 9:00am, but when I arrived there this morning at 8:30am they were open for business and the weekend "Brunch" menu stated 8:00am; so, take your pick, Mick) on Green (figures) Street in North Beach. I have eaten dinner there a few times in the past, but this was my first breakfastary experience there. Now, I know what you are thinking (and just clean it up right now, buddy!): "An Irish pub in North Beach?" (for you out-of-towners/touristas, North Beach is the well-known quartiere italiano in San Francisco, akin to the North End in Boston and Little Italy in New York City).

There was lots of green inside for some reason; plus, the walls are festooned with photos of Ireland and Celtic paraphernalia (I spotted at least one bodhrán[1] and one shillelagh[2] on the walls or hanging from the ceiling). They have plenty of indoor restaurant seating (and there is a full bar/pub adjoined in the next room); plus, there are a few outdoor/sidewalk picnic tables with which to dine al fresco (sorry, I have no idea how to say that in either Irish or Italian) if you like. I sat at one of the beer-barrel tables. I liked that their condiments holders are Guinness® six-pack cartons.

parklet mini-rant of the day
I parked on Columbus Avenue right behind another stupid, useless parklet (the one in front of Rose Pistola). Also, while walking around this morning, I saw about 2-3 more of these stupid parking obstructions along Columbus and other streets in North Beach. But I am so sure they are absolutely necessary as it is a full ONE BLOCK to have to walk ALL THE WAY to Washington Square Park (and in one case there is one that is directly kitty-cornered from the park). Complete rubbish! End of rant… for now.

Bay-to-Beer Interlude
This morning was the running of the 102nd Bay-to-Beer (officially know as Bay-to-Breakers). I didn't go to watch it in Golden Gate Park as in years past, but I still saw hundreds of costumed runners (sorry, I didn't see any of the "naked-people" this morning) walking to the starting line from North Beach (my most-knowledgeable server-lady told me that they normally gather in Washington Square Park and head to the starting line in large groups). This was one of the better days for it for a change; it was an absolutely beautiful, sunny morning downtown and even clear and warm(ish) over at the ocean/breakers (it's normally a 50-50 shot that it will be overcast and rainy this time of year).

There really aren't that many things that O'Reilly's offers for "Brunch" (I counted fourteen entries). They do offer several omelettes and scrambles, along with some pancakes and waffles choices. It was also interesting to see (not that it does me any good, but you lovers of the dead, decaying porky products might like this) that they do have a Full Irish Breakfast ~ two bacon rashers (and after seeing all of these meat-stuffs, you may break out into a rasher of your own), two Irish link sausages, two black pudding, two white pudding, two eggs, baked beans, mushrooms, grilled tomato, and home fries or French fries. I did see something on the "Brunch Favorites" section of the menu that I knew I had to try: Vegetarian Benedict ~ on a boxty[3] cake, grilled beefsteak tomatoes, spinach, and zucchinis (sic; and while it is perfectly correct as the plural of zucchini, you rarely would see it pluralised in this instance); this comes with a side of home fries. I also had a large glass of grapefruit juice.

The boxties (I have no idea if the correct plural is "boxties" or "boxtys") served as a perfect and unique base for the Benedict; plus, as an Irish establishment, they shouldn't be caught dead using none of them crummy "English"-type muffins, Mr. O'Thomas. My friendly and ever-informative server-lady told me that they used to make these with Irish brown bread instead of the boxtys (what the heck, one of them has to be correct), which would also be a nice substitution. (I should point out here that I really wasn't tying up the poor woman with all of my inane/insane questions, as there was just myself and one other table of people there the whole time I was eating, so she had more than enough time to answer me.) The only thing I might have done differently if I were making these (and there is a much better chance that the Republic of Ireland will go back to being part of the United Kingdom than me ever making these) would have been to slice the tomatoes and zucchinis (see, here it makes sense in the plural) a little thinner, as the entire thing was a bit too thick and unwieldy. The home fried potatoes were very good, too, and made with lots of julienned onions and (red and green) bell peppers.

O'Reilly's only has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) for condimentary supplements. I was very surprised to see that there weren't even any bottles of HP™ Brown Sauce on any of the tables; my friendly and informative server-lady explained to me that they do put some out once in a while, but people tend to steal them (because it's not as if you can't get these at most local grocery stores in San Francisco or anything; the idiots that steal these probably think that parklets are actually a "cute idea" and serve a good purpose). I had come prepared (with the same bottles of hot sauces that I didn't need to use yesterday morning) and used some Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce ~ XX Habanero (Thanks agains, Amys and Brian!) on the potatoes and a little Nando's Extra Hot Peri-Peri Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) on top of the two eggs.

What do you call dessert after breakfast? As I had skipped a cuppa coffee this morning with breakfast, afterward I stopped at Caffe Trieste for a Doppio Esspresso and a cannoli[4] (Really?! Herr Gates and his Microsoft Spell-Checker Nazis do not recognize, or offer a valid alternative, to this word. Must be a buncha tiramisù fans.); this one was a chocolate chip one, but I prefer the ones with the candied fruits in them instead.

http://www.caffetrieste.com/

Here's hoping your supper is as good as my breakfast was.

And the craic[5] was good…


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Vegetarian Benedict ~ 7.0; Caffe Trieste Doppio Espresso ~ 7.6


1.* Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, uimhir amháin:

"Bodhrán" is not a small "Arabian" island country. It is an Irish frame drum. It is suggested that the name means "skin tray" and a link with the Irish word "bodhor", meaning "a drum" or "dull sound" (the word "bodhra" also means "deaf").

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, uimhir dhá:

"Shillelagh" is an Anglophone (which is not another mobular company in Great Britain) corruption of the Irish "sail éille", the two words meaning "cudgel" and "leash, thong".

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-epicurean pointer of the day, uimhir trí:

"Boxty" is a traditional Irish potato pancake. The word "bacstaí" or "arán bocht tí" means "poor-house bread" in Irish.

4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numero quattro:

"Cannoli" comes from Italian and the Sicilian language. The singular is "cannolo" (or "cannolu") and means "little tube" and is derivative of the Latin "canna", meaning "reed" or "cane".

5. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, uimhir a cúig:

Just so you know, this is not an illegal drug being sold on the streets of Dublin or Belfast.

Instead of me trying to explain exactly what "Craic" means, I will let the idiots at Wikipedia do it for me, seeing as they have already gone to all the trouble:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craic


*(Note: I would normally put these footnotes in one size smaller font than the rest of the 'blog-entry, but I have been informed by some of the elderly readers here that it is very hard to read them at that size.

I blame it all on the 'blog-spot that provides this ~ free ~ service to me. When I first started posting here, there was a much easier to read and just a tad bit larger font to be used with the Georgia text, but about a year ago they changed the format and now the Georgia text is smaller that it was previously. I am sure it has absolutely nothing to do with people trying to read this on their stupid mobular devises or electronic tablets.

So for now I will just leave the footnotes at the same size as the rest of the 'blog-post.

Of course, I am putting this parenthetical explanation in the smaller font and it will probably go unnoticed by the same people/person.)