Chava's Mexican Restaurant

Would you bring anthracite with you when visiting that Geordie city upon Tyne?

(No hay sitio-web oficial.)


Place: Chava's[1] Mexican Restaurant

Location:  2839 Mission Street (between 24th and 25th Streets); phonicular contact: (415) 282-0283

Hours: open every day of the week at 8:00am

Meal: Chilaquiles[2] ~ 3 (tres) huevos revuellos, cebolla, tomate, chile verde[3], queso, y tortilla chips; a glassa mango agua fresca to drink with the meal; and, beforehand, a cuppa Ritual Coffee - Gicherori AA, Kenya

https://www.ritualroasters.com/


I am glad that I am finally revisiting some places that I have not been to in quite a while. Today's visit is a major oversight (I think that will be Captain Obvious's new name when he gets that well-deserved promotion). I can not believe that it had been over three years since I last ate at Chava's Mexican Restaurant (see previous 'blog-entry from Domingo, 5 de Abril, 2015). 

At one time, Chava's was a mainstay in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation for several years (circa 2002-2007). They also used to open much earlier during the week (at least 6:00am, possibly earlier), as I used to stop by there once in a while for un desayuno abundante before work when I was working nearby (well, a few blocks away at the bottom of Potrero Hill ~ the corner of 17th and Connecticut Streets to be exact) for many years. That was when they were still at their original location on 18th Street (on the corner of Shotwell Street), this is where Gallardo's ~ Mexican Restaurant in presently located. Chava's closed their original location way back in 2002 due to a fire (ironically, just one block down the street [that would be Shotwell] is the San Francisco Fire Department training facility) and moved to their current location along Mission Street later that year.

As always, any meal there starts with being presented with a bowl/basket of corn tortilla chips and salsa. Sometimes they bring out two different types of salsas (e.g. pico de gallo and salsa roja). Today there was just a salsa roja (but it was very tasty all the same), and I ended up using the entire ramekin between the chips and all over my plate of food.

No fooling, Chava's is truly my "Touchstone" for Chilaquiles, as it has been for twenty-five-plus years of going there now and eating their wonderful Chilaquiles for twenty-five-plus years, too. The first time that I ever had the great dish of Chilaquiles was there (possibly as early as 1990 or 1991). I had made a special trip over there once to try it and have not been disappointed since. In my opinion (and that is really the only opinion that matters here), theirs is still one of the best versions in the City.

(Today's meal was very good as always. Please do not let the above fotografía fool you. While this may not be very pretty to look at, unlike them snotty-*ssed "chefs" over on food network, I eat with my "mouth" [and stomach], not with my "eyes"!)

Another great thing about eating weekend breakfasts at Chava's is that they also offer you hot and fresh-off-the-grill corn tortillas. I was asked how many I would like, and knowing the size of their portions, I asked for sólo dos, which turned out to be a very smart decision. (The waitress/server lady-person was doubling today as la tortillarera. Normally, during a busy morning, they will have another person making the hot, fresh tortillas, as it can be a full-time job.)

"Buttered toasts?! We don' need no stinkin' buttered toasts!"

I am not sure what Chava's might have had to offer in the way of bottled hot sauces (normally, most places en la Misión will carry either Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce or Cholula® Hot Sauce - Original or both). However, with their own hecho-en-casa salsa muy sabrosa, do you really need anything else?! I did not even bother packing any from my own collection this morning (hence the titular query above).

(another not so) Strange Coffee Interlude

I purposefully arrived in the Mission about an half-hour before I knew when Chava's would be opening so that I could get a decent cuppa at the Ritual Coffee shop on Valencia Street. I was hoping that they might have an Ethiopian available this morning... but, unfortunately, the barista-lady turned out to only be Eritrean. (hahaha!) Of the three different roasts/blends that they were offering as single-cuppa pour-overs, the Kenya one I went with sounded the best (not that all of their Coffees are not usually top-notch, anyway). While they were doing the pouring-over/dripping down of my single cuppa, I asked to smell it (the aroma-therapy of fresh-brewing Coffee can not be matched). I swear it smelled just like artichokes (but, luckily, it tasted nothing of the sort). The barista-lady even agreed with me about my take on the initial aroma (probably just to amuse a doddering old customer, I assume). I doubt even those b*stages at St*rbucks would ever try and pander off a Coffee tasting of artichokes, Stymie.

(yet still another) d*mn p*rklets mini-rant

Every other block along Valencia Street seems to have one (or more) of those st*pid, ubiquitous parking obstructions (which the City has the audacity to euphemistically call "p*rklets"). There was one smack-dab (and I would like to smack-dab some of the City Council members that had ever approved of these) in front of Ritual Coffee. At least this one was a kinda cool-looking, ship-wrecked version d*mn p*rklet, Mr. Gilbert Egan[4].


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Chilaquiles ~ 7.3;
hecho-en-casa salsa ~ 7.0; 
hecho-en-casa corn tortillas ~ 7.5
Ritual Coffee - Gicherori AA, Kenya ~ 7.0

___________________

1. Not really a stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, but more of a stupid, useless etymological pointer of the day:

The name "Chava" is the Spanish nickname for anyone that is named "Salvador". This is not meant to be a feminine slight in any way.

(However, in Hebrew, the word/name "Chava" means "life/to give life", and it is the biblical given-name for that "Eve" lady-person.)

2. ¿Qué? 

Para los desinformados:

http://breakfastatepiphany.blogspot.com/2013/12/chilaquiles.html

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer del día:

They have this listed as "chile verde" on their menus, where they have it translated into inglés as "bell peppers". These were not meant to be espicy jalapeños or serranos. I think a better translation en español might be "pimientos dulces", but I really ain't no espeaker nativo de español.

(Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer del día, la segunda parte:

From many years of ordering it as an agua fresca, I know that the word for "cantaloupe" is "melón" [or "cantalupo"] en español. One time at a local taqueria, I asked the guy behind the counter what is the Spanish word for "honeydew melon". He told me they simply call it "melón verde" ["green melon"]. However, I think the actual Spanish word[s] may be "melón dulce" ["sweet melon"]. That works for me, too.)

4. Let us see how many people can get that perfectly ambiguous joke.

(You do not have to be a professor and/or Mary Ann to decypher it, though.)

Outerlands

Sure, and I still have never learned how to drive a stick...

http://outerlandssf.com/


Place: Outerlands

Location:  4001 Judah Street
(on the corner of 45th Avenue)

Hours: open Monday - Friday 9:00am for breakfast, Saturday & Sunday 9:00am for "Brunch"

Meal: (the simply-enough named) quiche ~ celery root, niçois olive, ricotta salata (they like to print everything in the minuscule on their menu); a side of (again simply-enough named) potatoes ~ filipino adobo[1], aioli, scallion; and to drink with the meal, lemon ginger apple cider


Outerlands (see last 'blog entry from Sunday, March 10th, 2013) is not really that far from where I live, so I have no idea why it has been over five years since my last visit. It may have been that they did not use to open until 10:0am on the weekends (for "Brunch"). However, it was an easy and quick drive over there this morning.

Even with the new (well, it is "new" in the five years since I last ate there) expansion into the space next door (which used to be a little Chinese restaurant), they really did not add too many extra seats because they also extended their kitchen area into the middle of the restaurant ~ and, sadly, there is no more Winnie-the-Pooh hole (which was their office space, I believe) above the kitchen area.

I sat outside this morning ('cause I was the first idiot to arrive early enough this morning and was the first to put my name on the waiting list, and 'cause I could) in one of the tables along 45th Avenue (in front of the stupid, extra-long parklet [uggh!] there). There are three tables for two and two tables for four on the sidewalk. I had the space to myself for almost the entire time that I was eating breakfast ("Brunch", whatever).

There really are not an awful lot of items from which to choose on their "Brunch" menu (be you a dead, decaying animal flesh-eater or a stupid vegetarian). A few of the other possible ideas I saw for breakfast this morning were:

(another simply-enough named) chili ~ summer squash, pinto bean, tomato, scallion, goat yogurt, cornbread (if I had ordered this dish, I would probably have also ordered a sourdough peach fritter as a starter);

eggs-in-jail ~ bacon (which I would have had excised), aioli, spinach, garlic sunflower kernels;

or 

dutch pancake baked in a cast iron pan ~ sweet with strawberry and walnuts or savory with bacon, pickled onion, and parsley (house made ricotta can be added to either; this would have been a repeat of my first meal there).

This was a HUGE slice of quiche. It was extra fluffy and eggy; it had almost a soufflé quality to it. It came with a large side of some silly rabbit-greens (which mostly went uneaten to make sure that I had enough room for all the other good stuff).

I was told that the side of potatoes usually can be split between two people, but it did not prove to be that big of a side-dish and I was able to finish it all myself. As best as I can figure, the preparation for these potatoes was probably deep-fried and then roasted off. These were whole small(-ish) potatoes that had been smooshed (for lack of a better culinaristic term, Emeril) a bit and allowed for some of the deep-frying to penetrate into the potatoes for maximum crispiocity (which I have been assured by Bobby Flay is an actual culinary term). These were some truly excellent homefries.

The lemon ginger apple cider was also very good and really went well with the meal. It can be served either hot or iced; I went with it iced, which turned out to be the smart choice because mean Mr. Sun was beating down on me. It can also be ordered with a shot of Bourbon, Whiskey, or Gin in it; I just kept it virginal 'cause I still had to drive back home. Even so, it still looked like some kinda faux Bourbon breakfastary cocktail. 

I am not sure what Outerlands may or may not have had to offer in the way of any condimentary supplements; I did not ask nor need any. I used some more of my Hot Licks® Serrano Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the potatoes and some Sunbelt Plantations Vidalia® Onion & Jalapeno Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the quiche.

(another not really so) Strange Coffee Interlude

Knowing that Outerlands did not open until 9:00am (which is an improvement over their old opening time of 10:00am) for "Brunch", I arrived in the neighborhood about forty-five minutes early with the specific intent of walking the four blocks over to Andytown Coffee Roasters on the corner of Lawton Street and 43rd Avenue for a decent cuppa. This location offers Wind & Sea blend as their only drip-style Coffee, and does not do any specific roasts/blends as pour-overs like they do at their other two locations in the Sunset. This was fine by me, as Wind & Sea is still a mighty fine cuppa (but it is just not their single origin Ethiopia Natural Banko Fuafuate, which was one of my favourite Coffees ~ not named Bettys Jamaica Blue Mountain ~ from 2017).

http://www.andytownsf.com/purchase/wind-and-sea-blend


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Andytown Coffee Roasters Wind & Sea ~  7.2;
quiche ~ 6.6;
potatoes ~ 7.2

___________________

1. I was going to do a whole "stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day", but found this explanation already intact from our friendly friends at WikipediA:

Philippine adobo (from Spanish adobar: "marinade," "sauce" or "seasoning") is a popular dish and cooking process in Philippine cuisine that involves meat, seafood, or vegetables marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and black peppercorns, which is browned in oil, and simmered in the marinade. It has sometimes been considered as the unofficial national dish in the Philippines.

Art's Cafe

"Hey, baby... we forgot all about the... 
Bi Bim Bop Veggie Omelete[ sic ]... "

(No official web-site-type-thing.)


Place: Art's Cafe

Location:  747 Irving Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues); phonicular contact: (415) 665-7440

Hours: open at 7:00am Tuesday through Saturday; open at 7:30am on Sunday (??? ~ this is where an official web-site-type-thing would be helpful)

Meal: Bi Bim Bop Veggie (uggh!) Omelete[ sic ] ~ with spinach, zucchini, bean sprout, carrot, and Swiss cheese, served with hashbrowns or rice (you would be surprised how many people go with this choice instead of Art's stellar hashbrowns) and toast; (to drink with the meal) a large glassa orange juice; (afterwards, for a breakfastary dessert) a cuppa Snowbird Coffee Zatarra (via pour-over/drip-method) and a corn-cherry scone at Arizmendi Bakery

http://snowbirdcoffee.com/

https://www.arizmendibakery.com/

(What's the EweToobular juxtaselection here today? Simples! Ol' Davie-boy Alvin [Theodore and Simon were not available for comments] is a big gochujang fan, too.)


I wanted to go to a (somewhat close/accessible) place for breakfast that opened early (or hopefully was even open on the 4th of July) and because it had been a while since I last ate at Art's Cafe (see last 'blog entry from Sunday, November 6th, 2016), anyway, that was where I ended up going this morning. Once again, I simply parked in Golden Gate Park (directly across from the entrance to San Francisco Botanical Garden), where there is normally ample (and free) parking that early in the morning. (The extra-added bonus was that after breakfast I strolled through San Francisco Botanical Garden to work off some of those breakfastary calories.)

I arrived at the restaurant around 7:15am and had the entire counter-space to myself for a while. There were two take-away customers ahead of me. But, otherwise, only two other customers came in to eat the entire time that I was having breakfast.

(Again, their entire diner-counter-top is covered with postcards from customers sent from all over the World ~ which are under some Plexiglas to keep the spillage from crudding up the pictures. To my left this morning, I could see London [the one in Englandia, not the much more popular town in Arkansas], Hong Kong, and some far-away place called "Wis-Con-Sin", which I believe used to be a province in that old Czechoslovakia place.)


I have been going to Art's Cafe since some time in 2010 now. Surprisingly enough, there are still a couple of other items on their menu that I need to get back to try:

Hashbrown Melt (Sandwich) ~ served with melted Cheddar cheese on hashbrowns, two eggs, and toast;

or

Four Cheese Omelete[ sic ] ~ American (so, technically, this should be called a "Three Cheese Omelete[ sic ] with some other kinda faux cheese-like product-stuff"), Cheddar, Jack, and Swiss cheese, served with hashbrowns or rice and toast.

Additionally, for you meatetarian types, they offer the interesting sounding Samurai Omelete[ sic ; and if you are getting [ sic ]k of seeing me type "[ sic ]" every time I have to mispel "Omelette", just think of how [ sic ]k I am of typing it, too ] ~ beef teriyaki, onions, and cheese, served with hashbrowns or rice and toast.

Now if they only offered a Hashbrown Bi Bim Bop Veggie (uggh!) (Sandwich)...

(This was exactly how it was presented to me. Really. [Yeah, and today is Cinco de Mayo.])


I have had this same dish once before (I think it was the very first meal that I ever tried there) and knew that I was going to like it (again). Sure, the ingredients may all sound kinda strange for inside an omelete[ sic ], but if you have ever had the Korean dish Bibimbap, you know it has most of the same items in it (well, less the Swiss cheese) and usually includes either a raw egg or fried egg on top.

These guys (well, Art, at least) are truly "Masters of the Hashbrowns". Trust me, I am a Potato Doctor; I even have a PhD to prove it (well, if "PhD" stood for "Potato-h*ckova-Doctor"). Why anyone would choose plain ol' white rice over these crispy golden-brown delights is beyond me. 

For condimentary supplementation, Art's Cafe has both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce 
along the counter-top. In my opinion (trust me, I also minored in Hot Sauce at Doctoring School), both of which are superfluously redundant when they have a great gochujang sauce/paste for use instead. As can be seen in the above photo, that is exactly what I used on both the omelete[ sic ] and hashbrowns.

(not so) Strange Coffee and Pastry Interlude

As has been my habit lately whenever eating breakfast in that area of the Sunset, I headed around the corner after the meal for a mighty fine cuppa at Snowbird Coffee. And because I still had a little room left, I also got a fresh-baked good at Arizmendi Bakery[1], too. The scone was a little bit on the dry side (I am just chalking that up to the use of cornmeal), but it was still very good; it had lots and lots of whole dried cherries in it. I bet a savoury-sweet scone made with cornmeal, cherries, and jalapeños would be excellent, too.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Bi Bim Bop Veggie (uggh!) Omelete[ sic ] ~ 6.5;
hashbrowns (on their ownsome) ~ 7.0;
Snowbird Coffee Zatarra ~ 7.1;
corn-cherry scone ~ 6.8

___________________

1. Normally, I avoid this bakery like the plague because they are supporters of a very large (three car-space-length) p*rklet in front of their building. (Need I point out that this is only a block-and-a-d*mn-half away from Golden Gate Park?!) I decided that because it was the 4th of July today, I would do like George Washington did on this very day in 1776 and emancipate the slaves... that's the Spirit, Brian!

(Besides, when was the last time you heard of a plague outbreak in the Sunset District, anyway?!)

Just For You bakery & cafe

Apparently, white Baseball players lives matter, too...[1]

http://www.justforyoucafe.com/


Place: Just For You bakery & cafe

Location: 732 22nd Street 
(between 3rd and Tennessee Streets [hence the EweToobular juxtaselection of video #2 below])

Hours: open Monday-Friday at 7:30am, 
Saturday-Sunday at 8:00am for "Brunch" 

Meal: Big (and they are not exaggerating none there) Breakfast Burrito ~ 2 scrambled eggs rolled in a flour tortilla with black beans, Cheddar-Jack, green salsa (diced jalapeño & tomatillo), and your choice of bacon, chorizo, carnitas, or "veggie" (uggh!), and (optional) topped with homemade (well, bakery & cafe-made) Vegetarian Red Chili sauce; a side of Home Fries; and a cuppa (and 1-1/2 refillas) good N'Arlins-style Community Coffee® with roasted chicory

https://www.communitycoffee.com/products/coffee/32-oz-ground-coffee-and-chicory

(The first two songs/videos are because today happens to be April 1st, no foolin' [plus, they just don't make Easter Carols like they did when I was a yid... er... I mean... when I was a kid]. I still have that Fools Gold album (as in vinyl, kids), too. I love the line in that first song: "Accept or deny your own existence, 'cause there's no way of living in between..."

The last video is because Baseball has finally started-up again for the year... Yay! Baseball is Life... everything else is filler!)

I felt like making a bit of an Easter morn trek for breakfast this morning, so I headed "all the way over" to Just For You bakery & cafe (see last 'blog-entry from Tuesday, July 4th, 2017 ~ That's the Spirit!).

The first thing that entered my mind as I approached the building this morning was: "Woo-HOO!!! They finally got rid of that st*pid mini-parklet that was wasting space along the street." However, I overheard a few customers ask the waiter-server peoples about it and it has only been temporarily removed due to all the street construction in the neighborhood. Who knew I would actually be happy about street renovations?! It does not really matter, this place is just too good for me to boycott due to any support of a st*pid mini-parklet.

I was verrrry pleased with my choice this morning. Otherwise, some of the other ideas on which I was debating:

Greek Scramble ~ 3 eggs with Feta cheese, onions, spinach, tomato, and Kalamata olives (I have had this a few times before and it is always good, and Πάσχα is one of the biggest Greek religious holidays);

(off the weekend "Brunch" Specials chalkboard) Blueberry Lemon French Toast (which sounded very intriguing, but I just had French toast yesterday and wanted something different this morning);

or there is always their most-excellent

Frittata of the Decade ~ a pan-fried Italian omelette with zucchini, onions, mushrooms, spinach, tomato, garlic, topped with Provolone (I have had this a few times and it is always great; several years ago they used to make this with Cheddar cheese instead of Provolone; however, some idiot Nose-E-Parker customer suggested on his silly li'l 'blog-thing that Provolone or Fontina cheeses would probably be a better match-up with the other ingredients and be more officially Italian frittata-esque; the owner of the restaurant [Hey, Adrienne!] actually read the comment and decided that I... er, I mean... that other idiot Nose-E-Parker 'blogster was right; I can not believe that anyone [other than family and friends] really reads these silly li'l 'blog-things).

The name of this dish this morning was not an understatement in any way. This was an absolutely HUGE burrito. As best as I could tell, the additional "veggies" (uggh!) that were in it were spinach, zucchini, and (white) onions; all ingredients that I love, anyway. In the twenty-plus (possibly more) years that I have been going to Just For You bakery & cafe, I do not think I have ever had this breakfast burrito before. 

Now as good and tasty (and HUGE) as the burrito was this morning, the real "topper" (Get it? I topped the burrito with the sauce... whatever!) was their most awesome Vegetarian (not, "Veggie" [uggh!], thankfully) Red Chili sauce. It came in a medium-sized ramekin so that you could pour a little or a LOT (which is precisely what I ended up doing) all over your burrito. I have had this sauce once before, I believe, with their Huevos Rancheros. On a future visit, I will have to make sure to order something (even if it is just their homefries) that I can order more of the Vegetarian Red Chili sauce to dump all over the top. Heck, I would even dump it all over the top of their fresh-made beignets! See, it is exactly stuff like this that if this joint were not located "all the way over in Dogpatch" (seriously, it is at least a half-hour drive over there on city streets), Just For You bakery & cafe would easily be in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation (and probably at #2, just behind Dottie's True blue café).

I probably shouldn't have ordered the side of potatoes, but they make very good homefries. I did force myself to finish everything. I can always skip lunch today...

I have stated before many times here, Just For You bakery & cafe offers an impressive array of hot sauces; they have almost as many different bottles of hot sauces for use as condimentary supplements as I currently have in my refrigerator. Of course, the restaurant happens to be a lot larger and (unlike my refrigerator normally) has actual food in it. I did not need/use any of their selections this morning, though. I just used some of my own Palo Alto Fire Fighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on top of the homefries. 


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
(HUGE) Big Breakfast Burrito ~ 6.8;
Vegetarian Red Chili sauce (all on its ownsome) ~ 7.4

___________________

1. Now this was a  very interesting "find" this morning. They were playing Baseball-ese songs on KFOG this morning during my drive over and back to Dogpatch. The song "Ballad of Eddie Klepp" was one of them. I had never heard this story (or ballad) before. It is just one of the myriad of Baseball lore that seems to have been swept under (the back of?) the bus...

http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1998/JSH2503/jsh2503g.pdf

STRAW ~ Carnival Fare

https://www.strawsf.com/


Place: STRAW ~ Carnival Fare

Location: 203 Octavia Boulevard 
(near the corner of Page Street)

Hours:  "Brunch" is featured under the Big Top Saturday & Sunday at 10:00am 

Meal: Rocky Mountain Madame ~ egg-in-the-hole brioche toast, prosciutto (which I ottantasei-ed, beninteso), Swiss, garlic ailoi, Cheddar Béchamel[1], home fries; a glassa STRAWberry-Basil Lemonade; and, aforehand, a cuppa Ritual Coffee - Yukro (Jimma, Ethiopia)

https://ritual.myshopify.com/collections/coffee-beans/products/yukro-ethiopia

(Today's EweToobular juxtaselections are just a coupla new ones from Puddles.)


I was in a carnie kinda mood, so I went back to STRAW ~ Carnival Fare (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, October 29th, 2016). I sat outside for a change (because Monsieur Soleil was out in full force and it was a gorgeous morning, and because I could). There are only four tables for two on the sidewalk area and they all filled up immediately this morning (and because I was the first idiot to get there early, I was assured of one of them at least).

There really aren't an awful lotta items from which to choose on their "Brunch" menu. I counted only six egg dishes and two salads (which, I suppose, I could always have a poached egg or two added on top of). I think I have had five of the six "Eggs With Greg" dishes now (all without any of the dead, decaying animal products whenever they were included in the dishes). (I still think they are missing out on a great [read: stupid] opportunity and should call this section "Eggs with Gregg" [or, worse yet, "Egs with Greg"].)

I have had this dish once before a few years back (it may have been the first dish that I tried when they had first opened) and felt like checking it out again. I liked it then and still liked it today. However, I bet this would have been even better substituting their most excellent Ranchero sauce for the Béchamel sauce (Mornay sauce, whatever). Of course, I didn't think about that until after I had ordered and they had already brought it out to me; I had overheard another couple debating over ordering the Huevos Rancheros and that made me think of this.

STRAW only has Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce for use as a condimentary supplementation (which they have put into cruet-shaker-pourer things on each table). I went with some of my own Pepper Palace Chocolate Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the potatoes only.

Because I had gotten to the neighborhood about an hour before STRAW opened, I purposely walked the three blocks over (and back) to Ritual Coffee to get a cuppa as a direct snubbery to the stupid coffeehouse that is located right next door to STRAW because of their sponsorage of the d*mn parklet out front.

yet still another stupid d*mn parklets mini-rant

even the stupid word "parklet" bugs me (it's just another completely madeuppery word!).


Up next:

A breakfastary roadtrip back to (Historic) Jack London Square, Oakland, CA; The Fat Lady sings again


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Rocky Mountain Madame ~ 6.5;
Ritual Coffee - Yukro ~ 7.1;
stupid d*mn parklets ~ 0.1

___________________

1. Well, technically (or culinarily), a Béchamel sauce with cheese would be a Mornay sauce. I won't tell Emeril if you don't.

¡venga! empanadas

http://www.vengaempanadas.com/


Place: ¡venga! empanadas
Location: 443 Valencia Street (between 15th and 16th Streets)
Hours: open at 8:00am (well, sometimes) Monday - Friday; 8:30am (give or take a few mintues) Saturday & Sunday 
Meal: one Sweet Corn (empanada, of course) ~ corn and red bell pepper, Mozzarella; one California Veggie (also an empanada) ~ baby spinach, Napa cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, raisins, almonds; one Mediterranean (yet still another empanada) ~ zucchini, artichoke, mushrooms in Béchamel sauce; and, to drink, a large glassa agua fresca Hibiscus tea (which is called a "Jamaica" in Mexican restaurants, but, apparently, los Argentinos choose to differ)

(There is no EweToobular juxtaselection between the Band or empanadas [of which I am aware; perhaps, the word "Danko" in Argentinian-Spanish dialect means "little stuffed pastry"].  This is mainly a nod to one of my recent Coffee Christmas presents [Thanks, Greg & Cindy!], Bettys Christmas Blend, which I am enjoying while keyboarding-up today's 'blog-entry. 

https://www.bettys.co.uk/christmas-coffee-pack

¡venga! empanadas actually serves pretty decent Coffee on their own [from what I recall]. However, I need to start using up some of the Coffee that I received for Christmas.

¡¿Hmmmm?! I suppose this song might have seemed a much better connection if I were drinking a cuppa Bettys Jamaica Blue Mountain.

The music is by the Band and the video is by a friend of mine, Skip Way. If you enjoy the music and video, please check out Skip's EweToob channel for more great songs and stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqa4xa_2Bxa9K3NZfBJQMKA )


Unlike on Monday, I did get to revisit my "originally planned plan" for breakfast, ¡venga! empanadas (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, November 16th, 2014). I actually got there a little after 8:30am this morning and they were just setting up for the morning still. Just in case, unlike last week when I had to "scramble" (as in "Papas con huevo"... ¡¿Get it?!) for a quick back-up plan, I had a great back-up restaurant all lined up this morning. Pork Store Cafe is just around the corner on 16th Street and they were already open this morning (I made sure to walk by beforehand to confirm this, too).

stupid parklets mini-rant of the day

There is a brand new (well, new since I last ate there two years ago) stupid parklet in front of (and sponsored by) ¡venga! empanadas. Normally I would boycott a place that supports any of these urban blights, but I had driven all the way over there (twice this week now) specifically to get some more of their empanadas. At least this particular blockadette is only a one-car obstruction and it is kinda cool looking, because of which I will boycott them later (or for the next two years until I remember to get back that way again, anyway).

(mini-rant over for now. Back to the good stuff.)

Otherwise, there are still a few other "Veggie" (¡ugh!) empanadas left to choose from: Spinach (baby spinach, ricotta cheese, roasted pine nuts); Mushroom (mushroom mélange with zucchini, onions and fresh herbs); or Caprese (sun-dried tomato, Mozzarella, basil; this was going to be my third choice, but they were out of this one this morning, so I substituted the Mediterranean for it instead).

I liked all three of these empanadas, but my favourite had to be the Sweet Corn. It was pretty simple, but it was stuffed fulla crunchy corn (hence the name) and Mozzarella cheese. I really thought that I was going to like the Mediterranean more than the California Veggie (¡ugh! again), but the sweet Napa cabbage added a really nice flavour and tipped the scales in favour of that one. "Gross! Raisins and cabbage, Brian?" Hey, it worked for me. I also liked that they had a cool "VENGA!" (noted in the majuscule here) stamped/crimped on each empanada crust; you might be able to see the logo in the above photo. Plus, it's always a fun breakfast when it can be eaten hand-held. 

For condimentary supplementation, ¡venga! empanadas has two very good homemade (well, empanadería-made) salsas of their own. One was a very tasty traditional chimichurri[1] verde, served in an open glass jar serving-thing with a spoon (Don't you just love my technical culinary knowledge?); I made sure to use a good amount of that on half of each of the empanadas. The other was a chipotle salsa, which came in a squeeze bottle; I used some of that on half of the Sweet Corn empanada. I also had a hot sauce back-up plan just in case I had to go to a back-up plan restaurant. Like the amount of Coffee (seven different types... seriously) that I had received for Christmas, I have so many new bottles of hot sauces (I had only received nine of those, though) that need to get used up sometime this Millennium.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Sweet Corn ~ 6.7;
California Veggie ~ 6.6 (no GBS points are ever taken off for any odious nomenclature; flavour is all that matters here);
Mediterranean ~ 6.5;
Bettys Christmas Blend ~ 7.5 (for a classic Britishlander tea room kinda place, these people really have some most excellent Coffees to offer)

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1. Just in case you have never heard of this style of salsa:

http://dle.rae.es/?id=8mzcVXB

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

The name of the sauce probably comes from Basque "tximitxurri" (approximately "chee-mee-choo-ree"), loosely translated as "a mixture of several things in no particular order"; many Basques settled in Argentina in the 19th century.