Peanut Butter

"Man cannot live by bread alone; he must have peanut butter." ~ James A. Garfield

(Apparently, peanut butter, like a bullet, will stick to the roof of your pancreas, too.

Here's an interesting historical oddity: Present at the assassination/shooting of President Garfield was Robert Todd Lincoln, the oldest son of Abraham Lincoln. Additionally, Robert Todd Lincoln was at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in September 1901 ~ at the invitation of President McKinley, no less ~ when President William McKinley was also assassinated/shot; although, Robert Todd Lincoln was not directly present in the Temple of Music concert hall. 

However, there is absolutely no truth to the fact that Robert Todd Lincoln was anywhere near the grassy knoll in Dallas, Texas in November 1963.

Unfortunately, I do not know what either Abraham Lincoln's, William McKinley's, or John F. Kennedy's opinions about peanut butter were. Sadly, this is just one more aspect of culinary history that may forever remain a mystery.)

(Really?! Could there be any other EweToobular juxtaselection for this theme? You know you are doing the Snoopy "Happy Dance" in your chair right now!)


Peanuts, Groundnuts, Monkeynuts? 

First off, peanuts are actually a legume and not a botanical "nut", and were originally indigenous (as opposed to unoriginally introduced) to the New World (see 'blog-entries from December 14th, 2012 and March 13th, 2014).

The oldest specimens of peanuts found in Peru have been dated to about 7,600 years ago by archeologists (I think that I have a jar of Skippy® in my cupboard that is almost as old, too). So, this just means that South America and Mesoamerica were enjoying this little legume for over seven thousand years before that upstart Cristoforo Colombo even set foot on the Plimoth Rock. Peanuts were originally domesticated in Paraguay or Bolivia in pre-Colombian times, but cultivation of the plant spread ("spread" ~ "peanut butter", get it?) to Mesoamerica and Mexico where the Spanish conquistadors (locally known as "those invading bastages" in the Nahuatl language) found peanuts being offered for sale in the marketplaces. Peanut butter can be traced back to the Aztecs, who ground roasted groundnuts into a paste. 

For some reason, peanut butter was known as "monkey butter" in WWII slang, but everyone knows that those GI's were just a buncha goobers[1], anyway. However, the Dutch (you know, those people that live in either Holland or the Netherlands[2], but speak neither Hollandese, nor Netherlandese) call peanut butter "pindakaas"[3] (which means "peanut cheese" and is pronounced somewhat like "pinda-CASS" ~ "Pinda cass on da donkey", anyone?).

The Great Chunky vs. Smooth Debate 

Do you prefer chunky/crunchy over smooth/creamy peanut butter? I actually like both. I suppose it all depends on what you are making with the peanut butter. Chunky/crunchy makes for a really nicely textured PB&J sandwich, but the smooth/creamy would be much better if you were preparing some kinda peanut sauce with an Asian-inspired meal. (Okay, so maybe it isn't really that much of a debate after all.) But then, there is always the age-old question of: Skippy® vs. Jif®? (Which I heard was the real reason why Chuckie "Odie" Guiteau shot President Garfield.)

And just to tie this 'blog-entry in with any kind of breakfastary theme, peanut butter goes just as well on toast as it does on bagels in the morning. I like it best on a Pumpernickel bagel (but stay away from any Garlic or Onion bagels with peanut butter, unless you want to make it a Thai-style breakfast).

Lastly, for any of you that celebrate it, January 24th is National Peanut Butter Day in the U.S. of America.




1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number one:

This word was not named after Gomer Pyle's slightly less intelligent cousin. The word "goober (or goober pea)", that is sometimes used in the southern states of 'merica, comes from the Kimbundu* word "nguba", meaning "peanut".

*(Kimbundu is a Bantu language of Northern Angola. I am pretty sure it is not a new Linux-based operating system from Canonical Ltd.)

2. In Dutch, the name of this country is actually "Nederland" (pronounced something like "Nayderlandt"). Strangely enough, they still would pronounce the word "Holland" pretty much like it looks, though.

And, no, contrary to popular belief, the Netherlands was not the place where Peter Pan and his band of Lost Boys robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. However, in keeping with the whole peanut buttery theme, there is a brand of peanut butter put out by ConAgra Foods that is named after the J.M. Barrie character.

3. Apparently, in the Netherlands, the word "butter" is only supposed to be used with products that contain actual butter. I suppose that they don't want to confuse people with products made of peanuts with any other dairy products.

Which brings us to… stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number two:

Just for the heckovit, here is/are Peanut Butter in a few other languages:

Arabic ~ زبدة الفول السوداني (pronounced something like "zoobda del fool something or other"; as best as I can figure, the word for "peanut" in Arabic is derived from the same word for "bean", which is "fool")
French ~ le beurre d'arachide (and that just translates as "the butter of the peanut"; please note, as strange as French cuisine may sometimes be, they do not make their peanut butter from "spiders", though)
German/Deutsch ~ Erdnussbutter (This compound word comes from three words and literally translates as "ground nut butter". See, Dutchy? The Germans have no qualms about calling this a "butter" product. I will let you figure out a decent pronunciation of this word, though.)
Greek ~ φυστικοβούτυρο (it also literally translates as "peanut butter", and it is pronounced just like it looks)
Hungarian ~ mogyoróvajat (pronounced somewhat as "moyoROvayat"; again, this compound word simply means "peanut", "mogyoró", and "butter", "vaj")
Italiano ~ burro di arachidi (and, no, the Italians don't have a Mad Scientist crossbreed of a "Donkey-spider")
Russkij ~ арахисовое масло
(transliterated/pronounced somewhat as "arakhisovoe maslo"; again, no actual spiders were injured during the making of this peanut butter)
Spanish ~ manteca de cacahuete ("butter of the peanut", once again) 

homeskillet

"Home is not where the ♥ is, home is where the breakfast is…"

http://www.homeskilletsf.com/


Place: homeskillet[1]
Location: 1001 Market Street (on the corner of 6th Street)
Hours: ??? YGIAGAM ???
(I can only assume that they open at 8:00am as they were just setting up as I got there this morning around that time; however, neither their official web-site nor their take-away menu show when they actually open daily; you'd think that would be a very important piece of information to include, right?)
Meal: #hashtag ~ fresh hashbrowns scrambled w/ Vidalia onions, melted Jack+Cheddar, topped w/ ripe avocado, Clover (Stornetta) sour cream, & parsley, served w/ 2 cage-free eggs (because it is so cruel to cage those poor little eggs for their entire lives) & choice of: toast or bagel; and a cuppa (well, three different cuppas) Equator Coffees & Teas™ 

http://www.equatorcoffees.com/

(Okay, the first EweToob song ain't exactly the Talking Heads, but I like Woody Harrelson's version, too. The second song is just a juxtaselection for Mother's Day.[2])


Despite having to guess at the time that they are actually open, homeskillet still opens up early enough for breakfast for the likes of me, and I like that. They are a relatively new place (only opened within the last two months or so now). They are just down the block from Dottie's True blue café, which could always be a good fall-back if you don't feel like waiting in a long line to eat at Dottie's (however, if I had driven all the way over to that crummy neighborhood on a Sunday morning with the intention of eating at Dottie's, I would just wait to eat at Dottie's, anyway). I think that this place has the same owner/owners as Little Griddle (see 'blog-entry from October 13th, 2013); I can see that, with some similar items on both menus; one of the main differences being that Little Griddle exclusively serves Stumptown Coffee and homeskillet exclusively serves Equator Coffees & Teas™.

homeskillet is a relatively smallish joint with seating for about thirty-four people ~ amidst various sized and shaped tables, and two window-counter seating areas (unfortunately, the windows overlook "lovely and picturesque" 6th Street). You order and pay at the front counter first; they give you a number or letter (I got an "M" as in "Marilyn Monroe" this morning; Cool!); then they bring the food out to you.

They offer many other interesting breakfastary ideas on the menu: green tortilla sunrise (choose a meat: chicken apple sausage, pork chorizo, ground beef, bacon, or organic tofu ~ spinach tortilla wrapped w/ Jack+Cheddar cheese, cage-free eggs, black beans, green bell peppers, sweet onions, Clover sour cream, a fresh salsa, served w/ homeskillet hash or Balsamic greens); several types of omelettes and scrambles; Hotcakes (original; peanut butter[3] chips; milk chocolate chips; candied pecan; seasonal berry; or strawberry granola); three types of French Toast; and four versions of Eggs Benedict.

I knew that I was going to like this dish right off the bat with potatoes being the focal point of the meal, but with the added avocado slices and Vidalia onions it really put it over the top for me. The sweet Vidalia onions really were a stand-out. With two kinds of cheese melted throughout, it was all nice and extra cheesy, too. I had my eggs over-medium (with a side of free cages) and went with the sourdough toast choice.

Like yesterday, today's Coffee entry was from local roastery Equator Coffees & Teas™. However, unlike yesterday, homeskillet offers three different roasts/blends from which to choose, and as many refills as you would like. So I made sure to try all three different Coffees; I may not need another cuppa for a few days now. I had them in this order and this would also be my ranking: Equator Blend > Mocha Java > Papua New Guinea Siherni.

Much like their Coffee offerings, homeskillet has a very decent selection of condimentary supplements: the San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces (Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce ~ both the standard red and the green Jalapeño for a change; Cholula® Hot Sauce; and Tapatio®); Huy Fong Foods Tương Ớt Sriracha; Frank's® RedHot; Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce; and a Chinese-style chilli-garlic hot sauce. If I had known that they offered that many different choices, I probably wouldn't have schlepped some of my own with me. As it was, I ended up using some of my own Nando's® Extra Hot Peri-Peri sauce (Thanks, Kerry-Kerry!) on top of the eggs, and some Hula Girl Chipotle Habanero-Habanero (Thanks, Jim-Jim!) on the mess of hashbrowns, etc. Additionally, once I discovered that they had that Chinese-style chilli-garlic hot sauce, I used a good amount of it with what was left of the potatoes and eggs all mixed together.

Well, even if I have no idea when they actually open, I liked this meal a lot and will definitely be back… I am just not sure how soon or at what time, though.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: #hashtag ~ 7.4;  Equator Coffees ~ 6.8-7.1


1. This was all one word and all in minuscule on the menu and on their official web-site. I had to ask if they were Moriarty fans with the whole "Homes Killet" name, but they corrected me and let me know it actually stands for "Hom Eskillet"; it's a Mexican thing apparently.

2. To any of you that are new to the Blues, Bessie Smith was the original Empress of the Blues. Before there was Lady Ella, before there was Billie, and before there was Etta, there was Bessie Smith.

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

3. Dammit! As much as I wanted to slam Wild Bill and his Nazi-boys spellcheckers, I was wrong in my thinking that "peanutbutter" was one word. I will only concede this minor defeat to those verdammt Braunhemden at Microsoft because both Jif® and Skippy® list it as "peanut butter" (two words), too. It really doesn't matter, as I am still going to call it "peanutbutter" whenever I feel like. So, bite me, Billy-boy, and I hope I stick to the roof of your mouth, too!

Caffé DeLucchi

"Coffee, which makes the politician wise,
And see through all things with his half-shut eyes."
~ Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock, Canto iii, Line 117

http://www.caffedelucchi.com/


Place: Caffé DeLucchi (or Caffé Delucchi, or Caffe DeLucchi, or Caffe Delucchi, or Café DeLucchi, or Café Delucchi ~ take your pick; either way it was all very good)
Location: 500 Columbus Avenue (or 500 Corso Cristòforo Colombo; on the corner of Stockton Street)
Hours: Breakfast served Monday through Friday from 10am to 4pm; Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 2pm
Meal: artichoke hash benedict (poached eggs over artichoke hash with sliced tomatoes, hollandaise sauce, polenta[1], and toast); and a cuppa coffee (or caffè, just not caffé or café)

(I couldn't locate any good Veterans Day/Remembrance Day/Armistice Day songs in honour of tomorrow, so this will have to do. I suppose I could have linked the Beatles "Birthday" in honour of the United States Marine Corps 238th Birthday today; I will just say a quick "Oo-rah!" and "Semper Fi!" instead.

Sorry, Mrs. Morin, I couldn't figure out a good way to incorporate "chevron"[2] into today's 'blog-entry. Oops, looks like I just did!)


There aren't really that many good early morning breakfast places in North Beach, but I just discovered another great one (or is it several?): Caffé DeLucchi (or Caffé Delucchi, or Caffe Delucchi, or Café DeLucchi). I am not making fun of the spelling ~ well, not much. It is just that their web-site (or is that "wéb-sité"), their business cards, and the large sign on the corner all have it as "Caffé DeLucchi" (or "Caffe Delucchi"), but a few of the window signs also have it as "Café DeLucchi". For simplicity purposes, I am going with "Caffé DeLucchi" from here on out (or in). This place is a very good alternative breakfastary option if Mama♥s on Washington Square is ever really busy (or just on its own merits from what I found out this morning).

Now this is not really a stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer, but I sometimes wonder why the word "Caffé" (con un accento acuto) ~ or sometimes even the French "Café" (avec un accent aigu aussi) ~ is used by un ristorante italiano. (See also: Caffé Roma four doors down; where there is also a stupid parklet in front of it ~ not in front of Rose Pistola as I had incorrectly mentioned in a past 'blog-entry. Sorry about that, Rose, you are no longer on my list, but Caffé Roma now is!) The correct word in italiano should be "Caffè" (con un accento grave), which is the actual word for both "coffee" (the drink) and "café" (the place to eat small meals and to actually drink caffè). (Don't ask me the Italian words for "bistro" or "tea", though.)

I asked one of the "friendly, knowledgeable and attentive staff" (it says so right on their web-site, but that could mean "friéndly, knowlédgéablé and atténtivé staff" for all I know) members, Ray (or is that "Réy"?), and he explained that the differences in "Caffé" and "Café" on their signage might have something to do with when they first got their web domain, there may have already been a "Café DeLucchi" (or "Café Delucchi") being used. It's all too confusing for me, and they could call themselves "Cafféè DéèLucchi" as long as the food remains as interesting and tasty as the meal I had this morning. (And, for a change, I actually got the name of one of my servers; he introduced himself at the start, but I still had to rememorize[3] it.)

I had eaten at Caffé DeLucchi a few times before for lunch or dinner (the gnocchi[4] piemontese is excellent, by the way), but this was the first time I ever had mia colazione there. I like that they are open at 8:00am on the weekends (and that it is for "breakfast", not "Brunch"). It isn't a very large place (it is triangulated due to the building being right on the corner of a sharp building) with inside seating for about thirty-four people; plus another five stools at the bar/counter. There are also five 4-seater tables along the Columbus Street sidewalk. While it was actually nice enough to eat outside this morning (as long as I kept my coat on), I decided to eat inside all the same. The restaurant was completely empty when I first got there (five to ten minutes after they had opened), but it filled up very quickly and there was a small line out the door by the time I had finished eating. I also liked their copper tabletops; you can see the ghosts of water glasses past all over them.

There were a few other interesting-sounding breakfastary items: mushroom spinach pizza (mixed mushrooms, spinach, mozzarella cheese and sunny eggs); polenta gorgonzola (warm soft polenta topped with melted gorgonzola, clover honey, thick cut applewood smoked bacon and poached eggs); or elvis in north beach! (housemade peanut butter, applewood smoked bacon, fig jam and bananas on a toasted ciabatta roll with house potatoes). After Ray had assured me the "artichoke hash" was indeed vegetarian (not Vegan, sorry), I knew that was going to be my choice. I will definitely get back again one of these days to try some of these other dishes. 

This meal is a little hard to explain, but it was simply "Magnifico!" (Sorry, I don't know how to say that in italiano, though). I would have to rate this dish as my "Most Interesting (New) Find of 2013". The hash was made with diced artichoke hearts that are breaded and mixed with tiny bits of carrot and then it is all crisped up (either in the oven or in a pan ~ I didn't want to bother Ray yet again). The two poached eggs are then placed on top of some tomato slices on top of a pile of the hash, and then the Hollandaise sauce is added on top. This was great for originality alone ~ shades of Chayote Benedict at Q Restaurant and Wine Bar (see 'blog-entry from July 21st, 2010) or Dottie's True blue café Zucchini Cakes (see last 'blog-entry from August 25th, 2013); and that it included artichokes ~ one of my favourite fruits ~ was just an extra added bonus. If I were to have one minor quibble (un piccolo cavillo), it would be that maybe the tomato slices might have been just a shade thinner.

And, take note, Mrs. Huneycutt, there was no potato side dish this morning ~ "polenta" is just italiano for "greets".

The toast was either sourdough or Italian bread. 

I am not sure what the brand of coffee (caffè) was, but it was very good; I couldn't find any mention of the brand on their web-site (I just hope it's not from Caffé Roma).

Caffé DeLucchi offers for condimentary supplements a trio (which is, strangely enough, the same word in italiano) of Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauces: the standard red, green jalapeño, and Chipotle (just not Chipotlè or Chipotlé). I used a fair amount of the Chipotle with the polenta (corn and chipotle are always a great combination). I also used some of my own El Yucateco® XXXtra Hot Sauce Salsa Kutbil-ik® de Chile Habanero (Thanks, Brian!) on top of the eggs to mix in with the Hollandaise sauce (just to add a bit of extra flavour).

I was happy as a monkey in a monkey-tree this morning with my meal; however, I didn't notice any sweet watermelon or buckwheat cakes on the menu, Mr. Néwman.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: artichoke hash benedict ~ 7.6


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day, numero uno:

"Polenta" is of Italian origin, derived from the Latin for hulled and crushed grain (especially barley-meal). It comes from the same base as "pollen".

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

"Chevron" comes from Middle English "cheveroun", from Old French (meaning "rafter, chevron"), from Vulgar Latin "caprion-" (stem of "caprio-"), derivative of Latin "caper" ("goat"). The likely connection between goats and rafters being the animal's angular hind legs."

(See also: "chèvre"*, "Capricorn", and "caper".)

*(Mais oui, avec accent grave.)

3. I thought I was making up this word, aber Billy und die Microsoft Spell-Check Nazis actually accept this as a valid word. 

4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day, numero tre:

"Gnocchi" is the plural of "gnocco" and it may derive from the Italian word "nocchio" (meaning a "knot in wood") or from "nocca" (meaning "knuckle").

Duboce Park Café

"No man knows till (sic) he has suffered from the night how sweet and dear to his heart and eye the morning can be."
~ Bram Stoker, Dracula, Chapter 4 (1897)

http://duboceparkcafe.com/

(Just a few Linda Ronstadt[1] songs as a weekend tribute. It's nice to still be able to hear her singing, if not ever again live.)


Breakfast doesn't always have to be at some fancy-shmancy brunchificated joint, sometimes you can get a pretty decent meal at a fancy-shmancy café joint. To prove that point, I simply went to Duboce[2] Park[3] Café this morning. They open at 7:00am Monday-Saturday, and at 8:00am on Sunday, which is perfect for me. They are located on the corner of Duboce and Sanchez Streets (coincidentally enough, in the Duboce Triangle[4] neighborhood). This is the sister café to Dolores Park Café (the original of the three) and Precita Park Café. All three spots have very good locations right across from some fine, prime verdancy[5].

I sat by a large (open) sliding window this morning ~ it was almost like eating outside where they have eight sidewalk tables set up; these seat from two to four people each. I was very happy to see that there were no stupid parklets needed here ("Parklets need not apply."). Of course, due to its location, it is a very dog-friendly place (their humans seem to enjoy it all, too).

Duboce Park Café only offers a few egg-ish dishes for breakfast: bagels (the Thai Bagel ~ peanut butter, red onion, and cucumber ~ which sounded very good), French toast, a few scrambles, and the like. I ended up getting the Breakfast Burrito ~ cage-free scrambled eggs (you just try scrambling your eggs inside a cage), bell peppers, ham, Cheddar, salsa fresca, & sour cream in a flour tortilla (veg. option: sub avocado); served with homefried potatoes.

I also had a cuppa Equator Coffee. I like that they offer both Equator Coffee and Sightglass Coffee; however, I didn't notice that until after I had already received my coffee. I probably would have gone for the Sightglass Coffee if I had known. They are both pretty decent companies either way. I asked the front counter lady which roast was being used today and she could only tell me that it was a "dark roast"… oh-kay.

http://www.equatorcoffees.com/

https://sightglasscoffee.com/

Needless to say, I opted for the "veg. option" and opted out of the dead, decaying porcine thigh leg meat. This was a decent enough breakfastary burrito, but nothing extremely special. It had lots of chunks of fresh green bell peppers and red onions; I would have liked a bit more avocado in it, though. I bet this would have been much better with some fresh jalapeños or serrano peppers in it.

Duboce Park Café only has Tapatío® for condimentary supplementation. I used some of my own Dave's Gourmet® Ginger Peach Hot Sauce (Thanks, Jim! Hoo-ray for Luray!) on the potatoes and some El Yucateco® XXXtra Hot Sauce Salsa Kutbil-ik® de Chile Habanero (Thanks, Brian! Way to go, San Francisco!) judiciously on the burrito.

Even if dogs could read, do you really think they would be able to discern the direction of the arrows or even pay attention to them if they did? Stupid humans!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Breakfast Burrito ~ 6.2; Equator Coffee (Dark Roast) ~ 6.8; Linda Ronstadt (singing and in general)~ 8.2


1. Wanna hear something interesting? Even though Linda Ronstadt really had her heyday way back in the late 70's (and into the early 80's a bit), if you type in the name "Linda" on Wikipedia, hers is the first one to pop up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_disease

A few other famous people with Parkinson's Disease:

(living) Mohammad Ali, Michael J. Fox, and Bob Hoskins

(deceased) Jim Backus (that would be "Mr. Magoo" or "Thurston Howell, III" to you younger punks), Salvador Dalí, James Doohan ("Mister Scott" on the original Star Trek series), Adolph Hitler (yes, THAT guy; however, I can't be sure if it was the Parkinson's Disease that did him in or not), and Charles Schultz

2. You are probably asking yourself, "Just who was this Duboce guy, and why did he like dogs so much?" (well, even if you aren't, you are going to find out, anyway).

Victor D. Duboce was a Colonel in command of the First California Regiment during the Spanish-American War (And why does Spain always get top billing there? They got their butts kicked by us!). He served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors after the war.

3. AKA locally and affectionately as "Dog Sh*t Park" (for obvious reasons). This is located near the East Portal of the N-Judah streetcar line.

http://friendsofdubocepark.org/

4. Duboce Triangle is a small neighborhood between the Lower Haight and Castro.

http://www.dtna.org/

5. Really?! Stupid Bill Gates and his Microsoft Spell-check Nazis did not seem to know this word. Youse guys needs to learn you some gooder English!

We all scream…

… for the horror of the 32nd Flavour and beyond.

 

It is well known that Ice Cream is one of the Five Major Food Groups, along with Pizza, Beer, Coffee, Chocolate, and Potato Chips. To maintain a healthy diet, nutrition experts all agree that it is very important to get two full servings a day of each. As stated in an older post (see 'blog-entry from March 21st, 2010), Ice Cream can even be eaten for breakfast as it includes eggs (and keep reading, as there is even a bacon ice cream entry), milk, and sugar. Now just tell me that isn't breakfast!

Ice Cream has been made as a dessert as early as the 10th Century in the Arab world from frozen milk sweetened with sugar. Earlier (as far back as the Persian Empire), snow or ice had been used and sweetened with grape juice and then saffron[1], fruits, and various other flavours. Ice Cream was first introduced to the United States by Quaker colonists who brought the recipe with them from Ye Olde Country. Ben Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson were known to have regularly eaten (and from the looks of him, Benny-boy probably more so than Georgie or Tommy) and served ice cream.

Ice Cream is known by many other names and incarnations around the World. Gelato[2] is Italian Ice Cream (not to be confused with Italian Ices) that is a softer version and has lower milk fat content than standard 'merican Ice Cream. Frozen Custard is Ice Cream that is made with at least 10% milk fat and at least 1.4% egg yolk. Kulfi is a frozen dairy dessert in India. Sherbet is a fruit flavoured dairy product which contains 1-2% milk fat and is sweeter than Ice Cream. And Frozen Yoghurt is a low-fat or fat-free alternative made with yoghurt instead of milk.

Here are some of my favourite local Ice Cream joints (in no particular order):

Smitten™ Ice Cream  is highly original in that they make each and every order of ice cream fresh right in front of you in about 60 seconds. They have developed a really cool Ice Cream machine that looks like something straight out of a Science Fiction movie in the 50's, complete with liquid nitrogen as the freezing agent. They only offer four flavours daily. They always have Classic Vanilla and TCHO 60.5% Dark Chocolate. However, they offer two alternating flavours with what is seasonally available (and tasty); yesterday's two additional flavours were Salted Caramel and Meyer Lemon Gingersnap.

http://smittenicecream.com/

Humphry Slocombe has to be one of the more inventive Ice Cream parlours in San Francisco. They only offer twelve flavours daily, but have a list of always changing flavours that includes: Ancho Chocolate (yes, that's chilli peppers and chocolate); Boccalone Prosciutto (see, I told ya, bacon in Ice Cream); Candied Chestnut; Old Hebrew Ale; Peanut Butter Curry; Pink Grapepfruit Tarragon; Salt and Pepper; and my favourite of the strangest, Secret Breakfast (which is made with Bourbon and corn flakes ~ don't ask, but it really works). They also make all the "normal" flavours, but I can get those anywhere.

http://www.humphryslocombe.com/Home.html

Mitchell's Ice Cream is probably the granddaddy of all abby-normal Ice Cream places in San Francisco. They have been located in the Mission since 1953. They are known for their more exotic flavours like: Avocado; Cantaloupe (which is my favourite of theirs, but only available in the summer); Langka (jackfruit); Lucuma (a subtropical fruit grown in various regions of South America; it tastes similar to maple); Lychee; Mais y Queso (that is "Corn and Cheese" in Spanish); Mango; and Ube (a purple yam from the Philippines). They even have three to four different Ice Creams using coconut as the basis.

http://www.mitchellsicecream.com/

Bi-Rite Creamery is also located in the Mission District and they are known for their eclectic flavours, too, some of their signature flavours: Earl Grey; Orange Cardamom; Honey Lavender; Ricanelas (cinnamon with snickerdoodles); and Roasted Banana.

http://biritecreamery.com/

Joe's Ice Cream has been a fixture on Geary Boulevard in the Richmond since 1959. Now this is the closest on the list to your mom's Baskin-Robbins, but even they offer some alternative flavours: Ginger; Green Tea; Mango; Black Walnut; along with a monthly/seasonal flavour (this month it is Egg Nog).

http://www.joesicecream.com/

Marco Polo Italian Ice Cream (which is actually owned by an Asian family from what I can tell) offers more of the exotic flavours of the Orient: Durian (not for the faint of heart; durian is an unbelievably stinky fruit; it smells worse than a rotten piece of Gorgonzola, but really isn't that bad; definitely an acquired taste); Lychee; Sesame; Jackfruit; Soursop; Taro; Red Bean; and my favourite of theirs, Guava.

(No official website. 1447 Taraval Street; phonicular contact: (415) 731-2833)

Polly Ann Ice Cream is another long time favourite in the Outer Sunset that has many exotic Asian flavours: Alligator Pear (that's "avocado" to you and me); Durian (see above for warning); Lychee; Sesame; Jasmine; Red Bean; and many others. What I like most about this place is that they usually have about 50 different flavours available at all times. If you can't decide which flavour of Ice Cream you want, you can always take a spin of their big carnival wheel that is behind the counter and see what fate has in store for you.

(No official website. 3138 Noriega Street; phonicular contact: (415) 664-2472)

Bombay Icecream (yes, they have "Ice Cream" as one word, Billy-boy, so deal with it) is an Indian (by that, I mean the Hindis, not the Native Americans; I am sure that no one wants Ice Cream made from bison milk and includes flavours like Acorn or Succotash) take on the Ice Cream World. However, their interesting flavours do include: Chai (Indian tea); Chiku (a tropical fruit); Fig; Kesar Pista (saffron/pistachio); Cardamom (my favourite of theirs); and Rose. They also offer a few different versions of Kulfi: Pistachio, Saffron, and Cardamom (that I can remember).

http://www.bombayicecream.com/ 

Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous is one of the newest (and best) entries into the Ice Cream World of San Francisco, and, like Humphry Slocombe, is probably one of the more eclectic Ice Cream places in the city. They usually only offer 8-10 different flavours and keep alternating them with fun and fresh ideas. Ferinstance: Sloe Gin; Caramel with sea salt; Chicory Coffee; Bananas Foster; Ginger Cookie; Candied Violet; White Sesame; Earl Grey; Brown Butter; Salted Mango; and the not to be missed Ballpark (a mix of Anchor Steam Beer, roasted peanuts, and chocolate-covered pretzels; they are located straight down 3rd Street from AT&T Park, Home of your 2012 World Series Champions San Francisco Giants).

(No official website. 699 22nd Street; phonicular contact: (415) 970-0750)

The Ice Cream Bar is another new-ish entry in the Ice Cream foray (open for just about one year now); they are located over on Cole Street in Cole Valley/the Haight. They are set up like an old-fashioned apothecary of yore. All of their Ice Cream is made on-site daily, using local organic cream, milk, egg, and organic evaporated cane sugar. They normally will have between 12-15 flavours available, to include: Banana Puddin' (complete with vanilla wafer chunks and all); Basil; Sweet Corn; and Peanut Butter (they offer many more interesting flavours, but these were the ones that I have tried and could remember; however, for some reason, they don't list the selections on their website). The Ice Cream Bar not only has great Ice Cream, they have an authentic soda fountain (manned by actual "jerks") that they can make all kinds of old-fashioned phosphates, elixirs, frappes, milk shakes, and sodas.

http://theicecreambarsf.com/

Last but not least, here is a little Cliff Clavinism of the day:

Did you know that all three "normal" flavours of Ice Cream, Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry (which is not really a berry, by the way), are all New World flavours?! This means that back in 1491 Neapolitan Ice Cream didn't exist.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: (Sorry, there are just too many places and varieties to rate; let's just say that these all range from 7.0 to 8.5; well, except maybe for Durian, but that is up to you)


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer du jour, numéro un:

"Saffron" comes from Old French "safran", from Medieval Latin "safranum", and ultimately from Arabic "za'faran" (of unknown origin, Ms. Burrows).

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer del giorno, numero due:
 
"Gelato" comes from the Italian noun use of the past participle of "gelare", meaning "to freeze" (see: gelatine).

Zazie

http://www.zaziesf.com

(I have no idea who or what "Zazie" is. There was a poster on the restaurant wall of an old 1960 Louis Malle movie called "Zazie dans le métro", so this is my EweToob retro reference to that.)


This morning for petit déjuener, I went back to Zazie (see last 'blog-entry from December 31st, 2011), a little French bistro in the heart of Cole Valley. (Well, they call their early morning meal "Brunch" on the weekends, but the French word for "Brunch" is just "brunch", so what is the fun in that. You can consider that a cunning linguist pointer of the day if you'd like, or not.) The restaurant filled up pretty quickly this morning as soon as they opened, as their garden patio was closed due to dew. Half the fun eating out is "eating out". They did open it up a little later while I was still eating, as they were getting backed-up outside and probably gave the customers the wetter option.

Zazie has a decent enough "Brunch" menu from which to choose, but I felt like something different other than an egg dish for a change and ordered the Gingerbread Pancakes (2) ~ with Bosc pears (in season) and lemon curd. (They offer this as one, two, or three pancakes.) I also ordered a side of home-fries and a large glass of Zazie Spritzer[1] ~ sparkling blend of cranberry juice, fresh squeezed orange juice, and Perrier water.

I am pretty sure that I have had these for breakfast many years ago at this restaurant. These were two large, extra thick pancakes (easily equal to four regular pancakes). Three would have been way too much for me to finish. As it was, I barely finished what I had (well, there may have been a few bites left.) These had a good gingerbready flavour. They even have bags of their pancake mix for sale if you want to buy some and make your own. And apparently Bosc pears are in season, which is nice. This was served as two halves on top of the pancakes; I would have preferred it already sliced and fanned out, though. The homefries are very good (probably roasted not pan-fried); however, there were only two (large) cloves of roasted garlic in with them.

Upon request, Zazie offers as condimentary supplements just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red). I used some of my own Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce, Habanero version (Thanks agains, Amys and Brian!) liberally on the potatoes.

I didn't go there again this morning after "Brunch", but I discovered a new ice cream joint a few weeks ago (Thanks, Lori!) called The Ice Cream Bar. It is just on the next block of Cole Street down from Zazie (toward Haight Street). This is made to resemble an old soda fountain from the 30's. The jerk[2] behind the counter (no, I am not being my normal condescending self, that is what they are called ~ he was actually very nice) even had the olde-style uniform, dressed all in white and wearing one of those caps (you know the ones that resemble white Air Force flight caps; I won't repeat what we used to call them in the Air Force, though).

The Ice Cream Bar makes all of their own ice cream on the premises and usually has between 15-20 different (and eclectic) flavours available daily. I tried both a scoop of Basil ice cream and a scoop of Sweet Corn ice cream the day I was there. I also tried a taste of Banana Puddin', complete with vanilla wafer chunks in it. The son-of-a-bitch… er, I mean, jerk also told me that they will be doing a Concord Grape ice cream (which would pair very nicely with a scoop of Peanut Butter ice cream) in the coming future; I really would like to try that one.

The Ice Cream Bar not only serves ice cream, but they have a small lunch/dinner menu. Additionally (and this is where they are probably hoping to make their money and creating their own niche), the have an extensive soda fountain where they can mix up all sorts of phosphates, elixirs, frappes, milk shakes, and sodas. I had a Basil-Bergamot soda before I ordered any ice cream, and the nice jerk (Military Intelligence?) didn't even charge me for it, as he said he is still new and would consider that a training soda. I chose my own flavours from a long list of choices; the knowledgeable jerk (jumbo shrimp?) even knew that bergamot is the secret flavour in Earl Grey tea.

http://theicecreambarsf.com/


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  Gingerbread Pancakes ~ 7.0; The Ice Cream Bar ice creams and soda ~ 7.2


[1] Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

You know what a "spritzer" is; I know what a "spritzer" is; but apparently the idiots at Microsoft do not have a clue what a "spritzer" is, as their spell-check function does not recognize this word.

"Spritzer" comes from German "Gespritzter", a noun derived from the past participle of "spritzen", a verb meaning "to squirt, spray, sprinkle, splash".

[2] Stupid, useless etymological pointer of the day:

The name "soda jerk" comes from the "jerking" action that the server would use to swing the soda fountain handle back and forth when adding the soda water.

Grub

http://www.grubsf.com/


I met up with a few friends and old co-workers (Marta, Lori, and Juan) and had breakfast this morning at Grub on Valencia Street, between 18th and 19th Streets. Marta's sister-in-law (and her husband) are part owners of Grub. Sheesh, you woulda thunk we would have gotten at least a few freebies with the meal! (Marta did not tell them we were coming and only after we had eaten and paid did Marta go up and introduce herself to the hostess and our waitress. I think Marta owes us all at least free coffees.) Grub is located right in the heart of the new Mission District eatery row. It seems like a new and shiny restaurant opens every other weekend around there (we walked around after eating to work off the meal and noticed several new and interesting restaurants). Grub is still pretty "new"-ish itself and has been open only for about two years now. This was my first visit there for breakfast (well, they call it "Brunch") or dinner.

Grub has a pretty decent "Brunch" menu from which to choose. I was debating on getting either one of their frittatas (topped with grana padana[1] Parmesan cheese, and you get to pick and choose your own ingredients to add in; I was thinking about sun dried tomatoes, arugula, and shaved fennel) or the Maple Caramelized French Toast. Marta happened to point out their pancake selection at the bottom of the menu, which I had skimmed over quickly without really even looking at. I wouldn't usually get pancakes when there is a choice of egg dishes or French toast. However, I just had Pain Perdu yesterday, and I liked the look of one of the pancake dishes. So I opted for the Sweet and Savory pancake duo ~ fluffy buttermilk pancakes, one savory & topped with a sunnyside egg & greens, the other sweet with seasonal compote and apricot butter. I also ordered a side of Shoestring pomme frites with truffle salt, just because it sounded good and I wasn't getting enough carbohydrates with the rest of my meal.

Luckily everyone at the table ordered different dishes so we could sample a nice cross-section of what they have. Marta had the Breakfast Burger ~ Brandon's beef ground patty, aged white Cheddar, fried egg, sliced tomato and crispy bacon, served on a pain de mie[2] bun with pomme frites or grub potatoes (she went with the grub potatoes). Lori ordered the Peanut Butter French Toast & Fried Chicken ~ rice crispy breaded chicken breast, sunny side up egg, cole slaw (Lori substituted some grub potatoes for the coleslaw; because coleslaw would have been too strange to go with peanut butter, French toast, and fried chicken, of course). Luckily, Juan is a French toast fan, too, and he got what I was planning on getting, the Maple Caramelized French Toast ~ vanilla[3] batter sour batard bread, star anise infused maple syrup, caramelized bananas or apples, applewood smoked bacon (Juan chose the bananas, I probably would have gone with the apples).

I was happy to see that I was not the only idiot at the table taking photos of the meal. Both Lori and Marta are iPhone photogs and I expect some pictures will make their way to defacedbook later today, too.

I really liked my pancake combo. The seasonal (fresh) compote on the sweet pancake was blueberry, and the apricot butter was very good, too. It also comes with heated maple syrup to use. The savoury pancake was interesting with the egg right on top. The greens were to the side of the savoury pancake and I just ended up eating them with some of the savoury pancake or just by themselves. The pomme frites were very good, too; however, I really couldn't tell what the truffle salt tasted like, but they were served with a decent garlic aioli to dip them in.

Marta liked her burger a lot (she had never had a burger with an egg on top before) after she figured the only way to eat it successfully, due to its girth, was to use a knife and fork; but she didn't like the grub potatoes (which are just home fries) as much, mainly because they were made with lots of red, yellow, and green bell peppers. Juan said the French toast was okay (but not as good as the Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro; I had pointed out that particular establishment to Juan and Lori several months ago and he agrees with me that it is the BEST FRENCH TOAST in San Francisco), but he didn't like something that was either in the batter or the bread itself; I wonder if it might have just been the star anise (which we had forgotten was an ingredient in the infused maple syrup). Lori said that she really couldn't tell that there was any peanut butter in her dish and mentioned that the chicken seemed a bit under-seasoned. All in all, everyone seemed to like their meals (most of the plates were cleaned and empty), and I would like to go back and try the Maple Caramelized French Toast on my own.

For condimentary supplements Grub offers both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and Cholula® Hot Sauce. I brought a few of my own hot sauces to use just in case, but there really wasn't much that any of us had ordered that needed extra heat. Just because I had brought it and it's one of my favourite hot sauces, I used a little Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce (the regular one; Thanks, Amys and Brian!) on top of the egg on the savoury pancake.

And just like when eating at Tangerine and Pomelo, I noticed that Grub doesn't really have anything on their menu which highlights their eponymous ingredient in it. Thankfully.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  Sweet and Savory pancake duo ~ 6.7; Shoestring pomme frites with truffle salt ~ 6.5

(I really didn't poll the rest of the table for their Glen Bacon Scale ratings, but they are always free to either let me know their input, or to start their own stupid breakfastary 'blogs.)


[1] Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer del giorno, numero uno:

"Grana padana" directly translated simply means "grain valley" in Italiano. There is an Italian cheese with the specific denomination of Grana Padano which is similar to Parmigiano Reggiano. I think that the menu may be incorrect and that they meant that they use one or the other of the two cheeses.

[2] Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo culinaristic pointer du jour, numéro deux:

"Pain de mie" is a type of bread in French. "Pain" means "bread" and "de mie" means "cougar that once was married to Bruce Willis".

Actually, you can read more about pain de mie here:

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

[3] Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day, numero trium:

"Vanilla" comes from the Spanish word "vainilla", meaning "little pod"; this is the equivalent of "vain(a)" ("a sheath", from Latin "vagina", meaning "sheath"), plus "-illa" a diminutive suffix.

So, if you really are a vanilla fanatic, you can truly can say you would make love to it if you could.