the Manor

♪ "There's nuthin wrong with me lovin'... Challah French Toast...

You know what I'm talkin' about...

You don't have to worry that it's wrong...

Let's get it on!" ♫ 

http://www.manorsf.com/

Place: the Manor ~ An American Bistro Diner[1]

Location: 321a West Portal Avenue
(between 14th and 15th Avenues)

Hours: open Tuesday - Sunday at 8:00am 
(they now open a half-hour later than they did last year, but this is still plenty early enough for me to be called a breakfast-joint)

Meal: (main breakfast) Challah French Toast ~ with warm fruit compote (option); a side of Deviled Eggs with Togarashi[2] (this came as three halves ~ so, even using Common Core Math, basically 1-1/2 eggs); and a large glassa fresh squeezed orange juice

(and afterward for a breakfastary dessert) at Ballast Coffee™ a(n extra LARGE) cuppa their house "Regular" drip Coffee; and a Passionfruit Chocolate doughnut from dynamo donut

https://ballastcoffee.com/

https://dynamodonut.com/

(See below for today's EweToobular juxtaselectionary-ratiocination.)


I went back to the Manor ~ An American Bistro Diner (see last/previous 'blog-entry from Saturday, April 1st, 2017[3]) for breakfast this morning. Once again, I sat at the end of the diner-counter nearest the kitchen-prep area.

This morning they were primarily playing on the house radio/stereo a pandora-channel (I guessed and asked, and was told it was indeed a pandora-channel) featuring cool 60's-70's Motown/Soul/R&B classics ~ suchas: the above-linked Marvin Gaye 1973 mega-hit; the Jackson Five; Aretha (no last name is really needed, is it?); Stevie Wonder; and Sam Cooke.

There really are not that many different items from which to choose on their menu for breakfast, but I could have also made a meal of:

Create Your Own Omelette ~ where I was thinking along the lines of either creating my own artichoke hearts, spinach, and Swiss omelette; or an avocado, roasted bell peppers, and Monterey Jack omelette creation;

or possibly just getting one of their salads ~ Butter Leaf Salad with Roasted Beets, Apples, & Fried Goat Cheese or Green Goddess Salad with Little Gem Lettuce ~ and breakfastising them with either two poached eggs placed on top or (three halves) Deviled Eggs with Togarashi.

I mainly went with the choice of Challah French Toast because Passover started last evening... and this dish really should not be passed-over as it was truly exceptional. (I bet that it would have even made a great Last Supper for some unfortunate Nazarene.) The waitress/server-lady person offered some, but I decided (correctly) to forego any butter or maple syrup on top of the French toast; none was needed at all, as their warm fruit compote was perfect all on its ownsome. While this dish may not be in the same category as Baker Street Bistro's Pain Perdu Extraordinaire, it is definitely worth checking out.

For condimentary supplementation, the Manor had both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce for use on the tables and diner-counter. I did not really need any with my particular choices this morning, though.

My original plan after breakfast was to go back to Greenhouse Cafe (as I had been doing after breakfast for the past few years whenever I was in the West Portal neighborhood ~ and I was really looking forward to two or three of the mini-macarons that were sold there); however, they have closed up (Coffee-)shop and there is a brand-new (I was told by one of the barista-dudes ~ since October 2017) coffeehouse in its place. I actually walked right by Ballast Coffee™ before back-tracking to discover that Greenhouse Cafe had closed; I did not recognize the façade at all with its new paint-job. Luckily, they did retain the backyard garden patio area; however, it was still way too foggy and chilly this morning to enjoy my Coffee and doughnut out there.

Both the Coffee and the doughnut were very good. Happily, Ballast Coffee™'s Coffee is much better than the Coffee that they used to serve at Greenhouse Cafe (which was never bad at all, anyway). I have had dynamo donut many times before (and this particular flavour, too) and knew beforehand that I would enjoy it. One of the barista-dudes told me that they do all their own Coffee-roasting in a facility in South San Francisco. I did not grill (or roast) him on exactly what blend/type of beans that are used in their "Regular" house Coffee (I will probably do so on a future visit, though).

In a musical-juxtaposition to what was playing earlier at the Manor, Ballast Coffee™ was playing on their house radio/stereo (I did not bother to ask, but I can only assume that it was another pandora-style channel) mostly 70's and 80's Rock-and/or-Roll songs ~ suchas: the above-linked Jimi song (while, little Robbie Zimmerman may have penned this song, Jimi completely owns it with his version); Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Yang; (and even a solo) Noel Yang; the Rollink Stonz; ... and Johnny Cash(?!?).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Challah French Toast ~ 7.4;
Deviled Eggs with Togarashi ~ 6.2;
Ballast Coffee™ "Regular" drip Coffee ~ 7.3;
Passionfruit Chocolate doughnut from dynamo donut ~ 7.2;
Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" ~ 7.5;
Jimi's "Watchtower" ~ 9.5 
(yes, I know, this may be the highest GBS Rating points that I have ever given here, but this song ~ tied with Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry" ~ happens to be my All-Time Favourite Rock-and/or-Roll Song of All-Time and topping it would be very hard to do in my book[4])

___________________

1. They informed me that this was shortened from their original idea of: "An American Bistro Diner Café Coffeehouse Grill Roadhouse Canteen Eatery Dive Restaurant Kinda-thing".

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

Contrary to popular belief, Togarashi is not a Starfleet Academy no-win training exercise. 
Tōgarashi (唐辛子) is simply Japanese for genus Capsicum, or specifically the species Capsicum annuum, and commonly translated as chilli pepper. When the term is used in English, it refers to any number of chilli peppers or chilli pepper-related products from Japan, including Shichimi, or Shichimi tōgarashi, a condiment that is a spice mixture of seven different ingredients that varies by maker.

3. No foolin', this was exactly one year ago today. 

However, this is not necessarily a coincidence; my optometrist is directly across the street and I had to make my annual eye-appointment, anyway.

4. As I have stated many times before in the past, 
"my book" is just a 12-page colouring book, but I do try to stay within the lines... well, most of the time.

Dolce Amore

What's White Chocolate Raspberry 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 White Chocolate 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
Valrhona Chocolate
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.

Dottie's True blue café

http://www.dottiestruebluesf.com/


Place: Dottie's True blue café
Location: 26 6th Street (on the corner of Stevenson Street)
Hours: open Thursday through Monday at 7:30am
Meal: Avocado, Tomato, Jalapeño, Corn, Scallion, & Feta Frittata - toast & potatoes; and a glassa grapefruit juice

(Just a coupla Concrete Blonde songs because Thursday was Johnette Napolitano's birthday. Plus, these are both pretty cool covers.)


While working my way through my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I headed back to the Ace of the Staff: Dottie's True blue café (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, August 13th, 2016). I was the first idiot to arrive this morning (at about 7:05am) ~ it was so early that there were almost no street people milling around on 6th Street even (well, almost none).

Once again, I sat at the table with the Tiki guys salt-and-pepper shakers (which were on Table 22 still).


Otherwise, for some other ideas this morning I was also looking at either: Sweet Potato, Caramelized Red Onion, & Gruyere Tart - eggs any style & fruit; or Spinach Provolone Strata - served with Italian sausage (No grazie, Giuseppe!), roasted tomatoes, & fruit. Both of these were also off their weekend specials Blackboard.

I have had this (or a similar combination) frittata before and knew that I liked it a lot. But what's not to like? Avocado - good; corn - good; jalapeño - good; 
Feta - very, very good! I went with the buttermilk-dill for my choice of toast. Now, this was really a LOT of food again. 

Even though Dottie's True blue café has a very decent selection for condimentary supplementation, I used some of my own Pope's Whiskey River Full Flavor Hot Sauce (Thanks, Amy and Chef Joe!) on the potatoes and just a little Fan The Flames Sriracha Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the frittata.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Frittata ~ 6.8;
buttermilk-dill toast ~ 6.7

Orson's Belly

Richmond (District) Coffeehouses ~ 
Act 1, Scene 29

http://www.orsonsbelly.com/


Place: ORSON'S BELLY
Location: 1737 Balboa Street (between 18th and 19th Avenues)
Hours: open at 8:00am Monday-Saturday, 11:00am Sunday
Meal: turkish breakfast ~ Feta, black olives, cucumber, tomatoes, honey[1], jam, (and) pita bread; (afterward for a breakfastary dessert treat) 
Red Grape Galette; and a cuppa pour-over De La Paz Peel Sessions (Blend)

http://fourbarrelcoffee.com/product-category/delapaz/

(Okay, Brian, we get the first EweToobular juxtaselection ~ everyone knew that Jimi was a big Orson Welles[2] fan, but what gives with the second song?

Just relax, dammit, drink your Coffee, and read along.)


Continuing along with my Richmond (District) Coffeehouses series, I went to a brand-new neighborhood café, ORSON'S BELLY. I can call this a "brand-new" café, because they just opened their doors officially earlier this week ~ as in on Monday. I think that they might have had a "soft opening" last weekend; however, I did not seem to get an invitation to that gala-day[3] (d*mn USPS must have lost my invite in the mail again). 

Why "ORSON'S BELLY", you might ask? Well, that is exactly what I did, and the guy I asked happened to be the owner of the place (I had just assumed that the young guy behind the counter was one of the baristas as he was the one preparing all the Coffee-drinks this morning) and he explained to me that he was a recently-graduated film school student and this movie-themed café was a lot easier to open than getting into the film industry. Don't worry, he told me that the "BELLY" part is more of a paean to the great Orson Welles' genius than an insult (to his later girth). (So, lighten-the-heck-up, ya buncha Fatty-Fat-Pantses!)

I don't remember what exactly used to be located in this same location in the past; however, I am pretty sure that it was not a very cool movie-themed café. The walls are now adorned with Hollywoodland movie posters and photos. They even have movies being projected on one wall (I forgot to take note of what was being shown this morning, though).

The seating is pretty open-spacious. It consists of four tables that can seat two to three people (well, as they are four-sided tables, they could seat four persons, but it is much more comfortable with just two or three), four high-stool seats at the café-counter, and one extra large picnic bench deelie that could easily seat eight to ten people (or two to four Orson Welleses).

There really are not that many other ideas from which to choose for breakfast/morning meal, but the few other ideas that I was looking at were: seasonal quiche (served with macerated strawberries) or  house-made bircher muesli[4] (rolled oats, almond milk, pepita, pear, raisins, agave [vegan]). Additionally, they offer four different types of Bagel Sandwiches (served with mixed greens, and, from what I could see, are served open-faced): house-cured salmon, goat cheese yogurt sauce, cucumber, tomato, chives, jalapeño bagel; mashed avocado, hard boiled egg, chives, spinach, drizzle sriracha, fleur de sel; hummus, spinach, cherry tomato, radish, olive oil, fleur de sel; and warm gorgonzola, walnuts, sliced pear (this one would probably have been my choice if I was in a bagel kinda-mood).

Now, this was all very simple, but all very simply good! Sure, I could get all these same ingredients and make this myself at home (Ha! Fat chance!), but half the beauty of this meal was the fun location and great Coffee. I have no idea if the Feta used was Greek, Turkish, or (shudder) French, but I liked the amount and flavour well enough. (Remember, kids: "Everything's betta with Feta!"™) The oil-cured black olives were nice, too. The best surprise of the meal was the HUGE loaf of (fresh-baked?) warmed/heated pita bread; I alternately dipped pieces of it into the honey and jam (either strawberry or raspberry) ramekins. The pita bread was very good and could probably be listed as a separate item on their menu even.

(Hey?! Okay, who took a bite of my galette before I had photoed it yet?!)

The Red Grape Galette was a "day-old" and, because of which, was only half-price, which is always half-nice. Day-old or not, it was still plenty today-good with me. I was very pleased to hear that they get all their baked-goods stuff from Butter Love Bakeshop (see previous 'blog-entry from March 13th, 2016).

http://www.butterlovebakeshop.com/

They also have De La Paz Graceland (Blend) (Now does the above EweToobular juxtaselection make sense? Of course, everyone knows that Jimi Hendrix was from De La Paz, Washington.) as their standard/house drip Coffee. They offer 12 oz bags of both of these Coffees for sale as well as De La Paz 
Big City (Blend). I was tempted to pick up a bag of Graceland (it smelled very tasty in the bags), but I still have four bags of other Coffees that I need to work/drink my way through before buying any more. I know where to get some if I need more, though. I have had this local brand of Coffee before in the past (because "before in the future" really makes no sense whatsoever; unless, perhaps, your name per-happens to be "Marty McFly", "Doc Brown", or "Biff Tannen"). Apparently, they have now merged with another local (as in locally Mission-based) Coffee roastery, Four Barrel Coffee; I have had their products before (also in the past) and know they make some d*mn fine Coffee, too, Agent Cooper.

Not that I needed any condimentary supplementation with this morning's meal (I would never mess with my Feta like that... Hmmm?! I wonder if that Müesli stuff could use a little spicing-up, though), but ORSON'S BELLY had Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce for use if needed. I had come prepared with a few of my own hot sauces, but didn't even bother breaking them out.

This place is definitley return trip-worthy! If not for another breakfast, at least for lunch or a dinner snack. 

Who knew that Balboa Street (and in the sleepy and foggy Outer Richmond, to boot) would become such a great haven to bakeries, cafés, and coffeehouses? Watch out Pioneer Square, Balboa Street has it's eyes set on you!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
turkish breakfast ~ 6.6 (this is factoring in the awesome pita bread loaf);
(day-old) Red Grape Galette ~ 6.8; 
De La Paz Peel Sessions (Blend) ~ 7.1

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, bir numara/νούμερο ένα:

The word for "honey" in Turkish is "bal" (Do I really need to provide a pronunciation for that word?); and in Greek it is "μέλι (méli)". (This is an additional reference to last week's visit to Mel's drive-in.)

2. For any of you under the age of forty and are not recent film school graduates yourselves, Orson Welles happened to be one of the most influential and innovative Hollywoodland actors, directors, and writers of the mid-20th Century.

http://www.wellesnet.com/

(WellesNet.com? At first, I thought that might have been another one of them thar new-fangled O'Bammie-Care sites.)

3. As Groucho Marx was wont to point out: 

"I don't think I could handle more than a gala-day!"

4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist (and pseudo-culinaristic) pointer of the day, nummer zwei:

Originally known in Swiss German as "Birchermüesli" or simply "Müesli", the word is an Alemannic diminutive of "Mues" which means "puree" or "mash-up."

Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House

Insanity is in the mind of the beholder.

http://www.cliffhouse.com/bistro/index.html


Place: 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 and Sunday at 8:30am
Meal: Farmer's Breakfast Scramble ~ Scrambled Eggs, Ham, Potatoes, Green Onions, Cheddar Cheese (All Egg Entrees Served with Fresh Fruit and Roasted Potatoes); a glass of orange juice; and the act you've known for all these years… so let me introduce to you, the one and only… (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!)

(The first EweToobular song is just because I stumbled across it earlier in the week and thought the combination of Queen [or what remained of them], Elton John, and Axl Rose was completely bizarre. The second song should be self-exploratory with the strange Jehovah's Witness interlude in today's 'blog-entry; not only is this song one of my All-time Favourite Rock-and/or-Roll Songs of All-Time, it might quite possibly be The Ultimate Rock-and/or-Roll Song of Ultimately All-Time, too. Are you an experienced Jehovah's Witness?)


And finally to close out the summer workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I ended up back at Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from April 26th, 2014). In case you have never heard before, they have (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) there! I think that they may also serve other food, too.

Actually, Bistro Restaurant's breakfastary menu is a very limited one for stupid vegetarians. Other than this morning's meal, there really are only: Classic Eggs Benedict (which is a pretty boring choice, and it would have to be ordered without the dead, decaying porky bits); Joe's Special Scramble (which would also have to be ordered without the grounded up dead, decaying bovine flesh); Sautéed Vegetable Scramble (which would not need any subtractions, unless you happen to have a strong aversion to fungi); and Thick Sliced Sourdough French Toast (again, not that exciting, and I don't think I have even ever ordered that one there). Several years ago, they used to offer a Greek Scramble (made with real Kalamata olives and lots of Greek Feta); it was truly one of the better versions in San Francisco, too. The real irony is that the restaurant is owned by a Greek family and I have no idea why they stopped offering it on the menu.

Sorry, there are no shots of the Hollywoodland autographed photos on their walls this morning. I think that I may have chronicled their entire display by now. So, in lieu of any pretentious bastages from filmdom, here are a couple of photos of anti-skateboard thingys (that is the actual technical term; really) that are out front on the steps/benches.

I got there about fifteen to twenty minutes before they opened this morning and had just planned on walking around the building and watching the ocean scenery until they opened up. Well, I was completely rewarded by my decision and was pleasantly surprised with a great show put on by about a dozen dolphins (plenty of porpoises?)[1] swimming just offshore around Seal Rocks. At first, I wasn't quite sure if they were actually dolphins or porpoises, until I saw a couple of them do the Flipper thing and jump about five feet out of the water. There were also about twenty to thirty surfers just about 100 yards away along Ocean Beach. Do you think little dolphins get all excited when they see surfers? "Mommy, Mommy, look! There are those silly people that like to dress as sea lions and act as shark bait. Can I go play with them? Can I? Please?" As I was leaving, I made sure to ask my waitress-server lady if there was no extra charge for the aquatic show.

Of course, I ordered the Scramble without the ham. It was pretty decent as always, but nothing extremely awesome. As the potatoes are already an ingredient in this meal, they don't serve a side of potatoes with them. Pity, I can never get enough potatoes. As for the (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!), there were three in the basket, but they always ask if you'd like more, anyway. Have I ever told you how fantastic the (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) are?!

This morning's fresh fruit: cantaloupe, watermelon (a botanical berry), honeydew melon, grapes (another botanical berry), and a strawberry (not a botanical berry, though).[2]

For condimentary supplements, Bistro Restaurant has just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red). I used some of my own Mama Africa's™ Zulu Sauces Chili Mint (Thanks, Kerry! And that successfully killed off another brave soldier. At this rate, I may finally use up all my bottles of hot sauces by sometime in '15 ~ of course, that would be 3015.) on half of the scramble mess and some Big Papi En Fuego Hot Sauce Off The Wall Triple Hot (Thanks, Kerry! ~ no relation to that other "Kerry") on the other half.

Strange Jehovah's Witness Interlude

Now this was very weird (even for San Francisco standards). Yesterday afternoon as I was walking back to my apartment I passed a lady in a car handing out "Watchtower" flyers from the open window, and she asked me If I would like one. Don't these damn Jehovah's Witnesses even have the common decency to come to your door and have it slammed in their faces any more?

Anyway, after breakfast this morning, I took a little stroll up to Sutro Heights Park (I had parked in the little lot just downhill from there). High atop one of the larger Cypress trees, I saw a fledgling Red-tailed Hawk squawking his head off waiting for his mother to come back with his breakfast, too. Sorry, little buddy, I already ate all of the (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!).

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


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Farmer' Breakfast Scramble ~ 6.5; Red-tailed Hawk ~ 7.5; Dozens of Dancing Dolphins ~ 7.8; (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) ~ 8.2



1. Actual Terms of Venery:

"a Pod or School of Dolphins"
"a School of Porpoises" 
"a Gam of Whales"
"a Board of Surfers"

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

Just because I felt like it, here are today's fruits (frutta) in Italian:

Cantaloupe ~ cantalupo (see, sometimes this stuff ain't chirurgia del cervello)
Watermelon ~ anguria
Honeydew melon ~ melone (and it doesn't necessarily have to be scienza missilistica, either)
Grapes ~ uva
Strawberry ~ fragola

Bayside Café

"There are no differences but differences of degree between different degrees of difference and no difference." ~ William James (while high on Nitrous Oxide)

(No official web-site.)


Place: Bayside Café  
Location: 2011 Bayshore Boulevard (at Hester Avenue[1])
Hours: Monday through Saturday open at 5:00am and Sunday open at 6:30am;
phonicular contact: (415) 467-2023
Meal: Nopales Plate ~ onions, bell peppers scrambled with eggs, served with rice & (refried) beans (arroz y frijoles refritos) and tortillas (choice of corn or flour/maíz o harina); and a cuppa Café Mexicano

(Today happens to be Robert Allen Zimmerman's 73rd birthday. And as much as I would like to honour him with actual versions of his own songs, who the heck can really understand a word when he is singing ~ other than Keith Richards or Tom Petty, perhaps? So, I am just going with these EweToobular covers of his tunes.

And I know I could have linked the quintessential Dylan cover, "All Along the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix, but everyone knows that ~ even though Bob may have penned the song ~ Jimi really owns that one.

Don't worry, if Bob were asked about all this, I am sure he would reply with an agreeable: "Heeminna hummina hominna…" or something else equally as unintelligible.)


My breakfastary peregrination this morning took me all the way 'cross town to Bayside Café. They are located right where the Bayshore Boulevard/3rd Street flyover to Highway 101 is in Visitacion Valley[2]. However, they are not really "bayside", as the San Francisco Bay is about another half mile south-eastward still; you can easily see Candlestick Cove from the street, though. "Highwayside Café" just didn't have the same cachet, I suppose.

Bayside Café is an old 50's family diner-style place. They have fourteen diner-counter seats; eight booths for up to four people (all along the window-sides of the joint); one extra large corner booth for about six people (there was actually one family of eight squeezed in there this morning, but four of the eight were little kids); and one solitary (because two really isn't such a solitary number, is it?) table for four by the entryway. 

The breakfast menu (and, believe me, there ain't no fancy-shmancy "Brunch"-ified menu to order off of here) was pretty diverse with many 'merican breakfastary standards and several desayunary mexicano dishes, too. Some other decent suggestions: Popeye Omelette (zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, bell peppers, and onions); Creamed Spinach & Mushroom Omelette (garlic butter and mushrooms in a rich, creamy sauce ~ this was going to be my fallback decision, because I was really interested in seeing how creamed spinach worked in an omelette); (and for those dead, decaying animal flesh fans) Fajita Omelette (choice of beef or chicken, onion, bell peppers, mushrooms & Jack cheese, topped with salsa & sour cream); or maybe even Huevos Rancheros. 

I really liked my scramble. It made the trip all the way over there this morning worth it. All of the vegetables were grilled/charred first before adding them to the mix ~ this was all extra good to me! There was a good amount of nopalitos (hence the name of the dish) diced up into small bite-sized pieces all throughout. I went with corn tortillas (of which there were three, tres); I always feel these are a much better choice with a desayuno típico mexicano. The cuppa Coffee really wasn't called Café Mexicano, I just call it that whenever I add three to four creams (leche) and two to three sugars (azúcar) to it.

For condimentary supplementation, Bayside Café only offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (just the standard red) and Tapatío®. This was kind of disappointing, seeing as they looked to be mostly a Mexican-owned-and-operated place, I was expecting some fresh, homemade salsa around. Or, if it was available, I would probably have gone with some Cholula® Hot Sauce all over the scramble mess. As it was, I ended up using some of my own Mama Africa's™ Zulu Sauces Chilli Mint (Thanks, Kerry!) on the scramble. 

A Breakfastary Update

There was a guy and his young teenage son sitting next to me at the diner-counter and they both used to be big fans of Breakfast at Tiffany's (see last 'blog-entry from February 12th, 2012) also; we all agreed that their hashbrowns were truly "Stella". He told me that they still haven't reopened yet, but there is a lot of construction going on (they basically gutted the entire place). So, hopefully, they will be reopening up later in the year.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Nopales Plate ~ 6.2


1. For any of you geeky Superman fans, it should be noted that Hester Avenue circles around to cross (and the very next street along Bayshore Boulevard is) Lois Lane. I looked on a map and did not see a Lex Luthor Way in the neighborhood, though. Interestingly enough, there are a Clark Street and a Kent Street in San Francisco, but they are both in the northern part of town.

2. If you want a little more information on Visitacion Valley, here is a link from those friendly folks at Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visitacion_Valley,_San_Francisco