IHOb®

IHOb®, YOUHOb®, WEALLHOb®... 
for free P®ancakes![1]

https://restaurants.ihop.com/ca/san-francisco/1762/


Place: IHOb®

Location: 200 b®each Street 
(on the corner of P®owell Street)

Hours:  open at 5:00am Sunday through Thursday; open 24 hours Friday & Saturday

Meal: Rooty Tooty Fresh 'n Fruity® ~ four of our (well, their) thick buttermilk pancakes are topped with your choice of fun fruit topping (my choice was the whimsical raspberry topping) and finished with our (again, their) fluffy whipped topping; a side of hashbrowns; and a glassa Tropical Island Twist


I know what many of you are thinking (well, by "many", I mean the one or two persons that actually read this silly little 'blog-thing): "But, Brian, why would you subject yourself to such pedestrian fare?!" 

Well, firstly, I drove over there this morning (and found a free, legal spot just a block away) and did not need to walk all the way. Secondly, "free P®ancakes" (even the type you might find walking along the street) always taste better than the ones that I make at home (which is almost never, anyway). And, lastly, have you seen some of the other cr*p that I have 'blogged about here?!

It is like that line of Woody Allen's at the beginning of "Annie Hall":
“There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, 'Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.' The other one says, 'Yeah, I know; and such small portions.' Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly.” 
(Just replace "life" with "free P®ancakes" in that quote... minus the "full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness", of course.)

It had been (almost exactly ~ give or take a few days) two years since I last had one of these b®irthday freeb®ies at IHOP® (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, June 19th, 2016) and that was when the closest local location was at their restaurant on Lombard Street (which has now been closed since earlier this year, I believe). My newest closet location was already 
HOP®ping (or, possibly, "HOb®bing") even at 7:10am this morning. This is mainly due to their close proximity (Have you ever heard anyone state a "faraway proximity"?) to Fisherman's Wharf. This restaurant is just one block south of Jefferson Street (bka "Main Street Fisherman's Wharf"). However, this newer building has no style to it what-so-ever; I much preferred their older restaurant on Lombard Street, at least it had their iconic A-frame look to it.

What's all the hub®-b®ub® ab®out, b®ub®?

I am sure that many of you are well-aware of the recent (most likely temporary and completely publicity-seeking) name-change that has occurred at this (Inter)national restaurant chain. However, just exactly how "International" is a choice of only seven (ham)b®urgers from which to choose? ( I highly doubt that even J. Wellington himself would bother gladly paying you Tuesday for one of these [ham]b®urgers today.) The only Internationality I could surmise in any of these were "Swiss" cheese on one (ham)b®urger and "jalapeños" on another (ham)b®urger. Plus, they offer just as many different types of crêpes on their menu. Maybe next year they will change their name once again to IHOC® to drum up some business from that snooty French crowd...

No adult should ever have to shamedly utter the words: "I will have the Rooty Tooty Fresh 'n Fruity®, please." with a straight face... so, I ordered this with a crooked smile on my face.

As far as P®ancakes go/went, these were fair-to-decent (and, again, free), but that should be expected from the (old) name of the franchise. I almost asked if I could have half peach topping and half raspberry topping to make these sorta like Peach Melba[2] P®ancakes.

The Tropical Island Twist was made with Le Sirop de Monin® mango syrup and Mist Twist soda (you know, PepsiCo's lemon-lime rip-off version of 
Coca-Cola's lemon-lime rip-off version of 7-up®). 
As expected, it was overly sweet, but so was the rest of the meal mostly, anyway.

https://www.monin.com/us/mango-syrup.html

I did not really bother to ask what they may (or may not) have had to offer in the way of any hot sauce condimentary supplementation. Of course they do offer four different types of syrups on all the tables: Old Fashioned, Blueberry, Butter Pecan, and Strawberry. (Maybe now with their new name, they will also start offering four different types of ketchup?) I did use a little of the Old Fashioned (which, as best as I can tell, is just your typical faux maple syrup stuff, but I am sure that it is made with 100% artificial maple syrup flavouring from Vermont... not the State in New England, the city in Lower Slobbovia) and some Butter Pecan on different parts of the stack-o', Mr. Lee. "Why would you put extra syrup on the already sweet pancakes?" Do not mock me for my tastes, Miss Jean Louise Finch! I also used some of my own Hot Licks® Serrano Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the hashbrowns. (I actually used a whole lotta it on the potatoes, but it still did not make much of a dent [or break] in the bottle.)

Do not worry, just because this meal was a freebie, I still tipped on what the full meal would have cost before the freebie-discount (listed at $10.89 on the bill). Even so, I still paid over $10 (which would include the hashbrowns, drink, and tip) in all for breakfast this morning.

This ended up being almost too much food for me to finish. I probably did not really need to order the side of hashbrowns, but, you know what they say, "Man does not live on P®ancakes (or b®urgers, apparently) alone."


Glen b®acon Scale Rating:
Rooty Tooty Fresh 'n Fruity® ~ 6.2 
(and that is giving the meal an extra 0.2 Gb®S points for the freeness of the meal)

___________________

1. Initially, I was thinking about reP®lacing all the of "P®"s in this 'b®log-entry with "b®"s, b®ut I figured that would get P®retty annoying P®retty quickly.

2. In 1892, operatic soprano Nellie Melba was performing in Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin at Covent Garden. The Duke of Orléans gave a dinner party to celebrate her triumph. For the occasion, Auguste Escoffier (French chef at the Savoy Hotel, London) created a new dessert, and to display it, he used an ice sculpture of a swan, which is featured in the opera. The swan carried peaches which rested on a bed of vanilla Ice Cream and which were topped with spun sugar. 

In 1900, Escoffier created a new version of the dessert. For the occasion of the opening of the Carlton Hotel, where he was head chef, Escoffier omitted the ice swan and topped the peaches with raspberry purée.

Dottie’s True blue café

"It is impossible to experience one's own death and still carry a tune." ~ Woody Allen

(No official web-site; there used to be one, but it doesn't seem to be operable any longer… or shorter.)


Place: Dottie's True blue café 
Location: 28 Sixth Street (on the corner of Stevenson Street; about halfway between Market and Mission Streets); phonicular contact: (415) 885-2767
Hours: open for breakfast Thursday through Monday at 7:30am
Meal: Sweet Potato Caramelized Red Onion & Gruyère Tart  ~ served with two eggs any style and fruit; and a cuppa (and a coupla refillas) the house Coffee

(There is no real juxtaselections with today's EweToobular videos. They just happened to be playing a version of "St. James Infirmary" on the house stereo this morning at Dottie's. It may have been Cab Calloway's version. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the Hidey-Ho man; I just happen to prefer ol' Satchmo and George Ivan better.)

("Thanks!" go to Billy D. Taylor for the recent Shoe comic strip pointer.)


New Baseball Season ~ time to break out my Breakfastary Starting Rotation once again. So I headed back on over to Dottie's True blue café (see last 'blog-entry from January 4th, 2015). They were a few minutes late opening up this morning as they seemed to have lost the key to the front gates/door. They ended up herding us all around to the entrance in the alley (Stevenson Street); all the while trying to maintain the correct order of everyone that was already waiting in line (there were about 30 people by then). I happened to be at the front of the line just behind a French family of four (and, with two German touristas directly behind me, it felt like WWII all over again). It was all a bit comical, but they seemed to finally find the key to the front gates a few minutes after seating all of the initial alley-dwellers.

A few of the other items off their weekly specials blackboard that I know I would have enjoyed (and have many times in the past) were: Avocado, Tomato, Jalapeño, Scallion, Corn, & Feta Frittata (served with toast and potatoes); Spinach-Provolone Strata (served with Italian sausage, roasted tomatoes, and fruit; I would have 86-ed the porky products, of course); Pear-Cranberry French Toast (with pure maple syrup; because that un-pure stuff just ain't right); or my ultimate favourite (which I just had on my last visit) Zucchini Cakes topped with poached eggs and spicy Marinara (served with fruit and potatoes). In addition to their standard menu and weekly specials, Dottie's fresh-baked goods blackboard presents a virtual panoply of possible foci for the tongue. I hoped that I talked the Frenchies into ordering at least one or two pieces of something from there.

The tart was very good as always. I have had this many times before and the ingredients can vary during different times of the year/seasons. This dish used to be called a "galette"[1], but Kurt ended up changing it to the more tourista-friendly, simply-named "tart" after idiots (myself included) would always ask him what the heck a "galette" was. Basically, the difference between a "tart" and a "galette" is whatever you want to make of it. I went with my eggs over medium this morning.

Today's mini-bowl of fruits was pretty extensive once again: blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, white/green grapes, red grapes, pineapple, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and watermelon.[2]

For condimentary supplementation, Dottie's has a pretty decent selection, too. I simply used some (well, a lot) of Tabasco® Brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce on the eggs only. I didn't want to mess with the "galette" flavours in any way.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: SPCRO&G Galette ~ 6.8


1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galette

2. Pop quiz. How many of the nine fruits listed are actually botanical berries?

Answer: just the blueberries, grapes (both the white/green and red), and watermelon (yes, watermelon).

Non-Dairy Milk ~ Part III

"I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose." ~ Woody Allen

This is a really just a quick addition to a couple of prior non-dairy milk 'blog entries (see previous posts from November 6th, 2012 and August 27th, 2010). I have pretty much been drinking almondmilk (with the occasional foray into coconutmilk, or even an almond-coconutmilk[1] blend) for the past several years now. And this has absolutely nothing to do with being either lactose intolerant or adhering to a strict Vegan diet (truth be told, I think that I am starting to become a bit Vegan-intolerant myself ~ I mean what is up with all this nonsense about not consuming either milk or honey? That all sounds rather a bit Muslimist and anti-Semitic if you ask me. However, I really have no problems whatsoever putting up with lactose and all of its snide ways.); I just like having the option to drink alternative milks from that which comes specifically from bovines.

The other day I saw some flaxmilk in the same refrigerated dairy-free section in the store where I normally buy my almondmilk and decided to give it a bit of a go. It was okay, I liked it well enough, and I think it is better than soymilk[2], but just barely. It has a much better texture and flavour than soymilk, but it is made from flaxseed oil (also known as linseed oil ~ you know, the stuff that linoleum is made from) and that just does not seem right to me. I think that the best thing to be said for flaxmilk is that it seems to have matched the colour of real milk the closest of any of the non-dairy products that I have tried; while I love the actual flavour of almondmilk (it is really only faintly almond-tasting, and it tastes just as good in a bowl of cereal for breakfast as it does in a tall glass to drink along with cookies), the off-putting tannish hue really did take some getting used to. Another plus about flaxmilk is that, like all of the other non-dairy milk products, it has an extended "Use By/Enjoy By" date on the carton; this is usually two to three months out (however, once opened, it really should be used up within one to two weeks).

The actual brand that I tried was Good Karma™. I had their "Original" flavour. It is sweetened with cane sugar as one of the main ingredients and it seemed to be a little bit too much on the sweet side for me; it is also available in an "Original Unsweetened" version, but I did not try that one and I probably never will get around to trying it, either. 

http://www.goodkarmafoods.com/products/flaxmilk/original/

Anyone that knows me, knows that I do not cook much and have never actually ever baked a thing in my life (maybe with the exception of those cookies from a tube when I was a kid, but, even then, I do not think I did it all by myself) ~ I honestly only have one decent baking sheet (or is it technically called a "baking pan"?) and the only reason I have that is because I use it as my "Pizza-reheater thingy". So, I have no idea how any of these non-dairy milk products would perform as a substitute ingredient in baking. They all seem that they would be a bit too watery to work well.

Conclusion: If a person happens to be lactose intolerant (we shall not speak of those obviously Muhammad- or Vishnu-loving Vegans again) and also allergic to either tree nuts (I have seen non-dairy milks now available made from almonds, hazelnuts, and cashews) or coconuts, I suppose that flaxmilk could be seen as a viable option over either ricemilk (it always seemed a bit chalky for my tastes) or soymilk.

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Flaxmilk ~ 6.7 (whereas: Almondmilk ~ 7.2; Coconutmilk ~ 7.0; Ricemilk ~ 6.5; Soymilk ~ 5.8; and real organic Cow milk ~ 8.0)

1. Almond Breeze® makes a very nice version.

http://almondbreeze.com/?navid=530

I do not know why they do not offer a Chocolate variety of this, too. It seems to me that it would be a natural for anyone that likes Hershey's® Almond Joy® candy bars.

2. Of course, "Better than soymilk" is like saying, "She is the prettiest of the Kardashian sisters.", it is not really that much of a compliment. 

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee

"I'd rather take Coffee than compliments just now." ~ Louisa May Alcott, Little Women[1], Part Two: Chapter Thirty-seven

(Do I actually need to explain the juxta-selection of this particular EweToob video?)

I can't believe that I completely forgot to mention Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee (or Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee) in my previous 'blog-entry on Coffee. I was going to go back and edit it and add in a single paragraph on Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee; however, that is okay, as Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee actually deserves an entire 'blog-entry all unto itself. It is truly "the Marilyn Monroe of Coffees" (and, by that, I mean that both of the Kennedy brothers were crazy about this blend). It is incontrovertibly the Best Coffee Ever; plus, it's my absolute favourite, so that makes it the Second Best Coffee Ever… er, I mean, the Double-Best Coffee Ever.

Coffee was introduced into Jamaica in the early 18th Century by British colonialists. Apparently, the conditions (climate, soil, location, etc.) make the Blue Mountains of Jamaica a perfect environment in which to grow superior Coffee. Like Kona Coffee and Colombian Supremo (and most high-quality gourmet Coffees), Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee is a varietal of Coffea arabica (and discerning this piece of information wasn't exactly as easy as it sounds; it took me a bit of time with Intro-Net searches to determine this simple fact, as it is not mentioned on either the web-site of the official the Coffee Industry Board of Jamaica, nor in the Wikipedia page specifically about this Coffee).

http://web.archive.org/web/20011202151515/http://www.jamaicancoffee.gov.jm/

The Coffee Industry Board of Jamaica has strict Quality Specifications for Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee: 

Blue Mountain No. 1 ~ the largest of the bean size;

Blue Mountain No. 2 ~ the next smaller size;

Blue Mountain No. 3 ~ the next smaller size;

Blue Mountain Pea Berry ~ where only peaberries[2] are allowed, Sherman; and

Blue Mountain Triage ~ where they can mix and match all different classification sizes, while maintaining basically the same quality standards of the other sizes.

"This Coffee has an intense aroma, fairly good body, sweet taste and free of all off-flavours." (Hmmm? Sounds like a girl I used to know…)

I distinctly remember the first time I ever had Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee. A few years ago, friends of mine in England, way up North Yorkshire way (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!), had sent me a small bag of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee that they had purchased at their local fine tea and Coffee purveyor (and, I might also add, a fine food restaurant) Bettys Café Tea Rooms (see last 'blog-entry from December 16th, 2011). When I first saw the small bag (it was a 125g bag, which is about ¼-pound), I thought, "What cheap bastages! Why such a small bag?" However, if we examine the actual cost of this small bag ~ £15.00 per 125g, which currently works out to $90.90 ('merican) per pound ~ we can see why they had "only" sent me a small bag. There is no way I would even spend that kind of money on myself, but if I did, it would be money well spent.

http://www.bettys.co.uk/product/Jamaica-Blue-Mountain,19028,5.aspx

Even without knowing how much the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee cost (and I didn't actually discover that until several months later while visiting Greg and Cindy), after the first sip, I knew right away that this was a Coffee of Special Import (this is the real CSI, by the way; CBS stole that denomination from me). I am a bit of a Coffee-snob (no, really, I am); however, I doubt that I could tell the difference between an Arabica and Robusta bean. I just knew that after tasting this, it was THE BEST COFFEE THAT I HAD EVER TASTED EVER.[3] As stated above, Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee is already naturally sweet (with a mild flavour and lack of bitterness), so please do not befoul this transcendent beverage with any added sugar (natural or chemical) products. 

And I bet most people thought that the biggest money-making crop to come out of Jamaica was da ganja, mon.

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Bettys Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee ~ 8.5 

1. Despite what many people may think, this book is not the autobiography of Woody Allen.

2. Peaberry is a type of Coffee bean. Where normally Coffee cherries (the fruit) contain two seeds (or beans), sometimes only one of the two seeds is fertilized and a single seed develops. The resulting bean is oval ~ or pea-shaped. Peaberries account for about 5% of all Coffee beans harvested.

3. Please don't point out to me that I used two "Evers" (and no "Tinkers" or "Chances") in that sentence, or you may have to wait an eternity for me to point out to you that "hyperbole" isn't really an outer-space skittles game.

Eats

"Why does man kill? He kills for food, and not only food: frequently there must be a beverage." ~ Allan Stuart Konigsberg

(Still no official web-site)

50 Clement Street (on the corner of 2nd Avenue)

phonicular contact: (415) 751-8000

(In case you are trying to figure out what correlation there is between today's EweToob selections and today's breakfast, well, Colin Hay used to be in the band Men At Work. Get it? Today is "Labor Day" ~ or "Labour Day" up northways in Canadialand. The second song has nothing to do with anything else, I just like it.)


Is it just me, or does it not seem fair that restaurant employees have to work on Labor Day (or Labour Day, eh)?

Continuing with my workout of my Breakfastary Rotation, I went back to Eats (see last 'blog-entry from April 21st, 2013) this morning for breakfast. I sat at the window counter seating overlooking the sidewalk along Clement Street. There are six sidewalk tables (this is new for them in the past year or so) that can seat 2-3 people (and several canine buddies, if you have 'em), so there really is no need for any…

stupid parklet mini-rant of the day
 
"parklets come to (invade) the richmond!" 

noooooooooooooo!!!

The newest of these urban abominations (and a three-parking spaces one at that) is on Clement Street on the corner of 3rd Avenue. This is another example of completely wasted space: 1) parking is always at a premium all along Clement Street (there are no real nearby public parking garages); and 2) if you really want to enjoy your stupid "Double Vente Mochachino Latte with non-fat Soy Milk and a twist" while sitting outdoors, just get off your fat-assed Yves Laurent-suited bottom and use your damn Gucci-shod feet to walk the seven blocks over to Mountain Lake Park or the five blocks "all the way over" to Golden Gate Park ~ that is what they are there for. If you say, "But what if I don't have time to walk all the way over there?” ~ where did you end up parking your stupid Mercedes or Beemer in the neighborhood as it was?!

Hmmm? Maybe I should petition the city to cement over portions of those city parks for parking spaces.

mini-meh! 

(mini-rant over, back to breakfast)

Seeing as I have pretty much exhausted all of the items on their menu that are fit for vegetarian consumption, I once again ordered Farmer's Scrambled Eggs ~ (v) mushrooms, corn, zucchini, spring onions, basil, goat cheese, and parsley; comes w/toast & choice of (Excellent!) Roasted Home Potatoes/mixed greens/or side fruit cup. I also had a cuppa Equator Coffee.

I had pretty much decided on this meal or the Spicy Tomato Skillet (which is really good and has a lot of kale in it), but I had just had that one a little more recently. The "v" must stand for "very verdant" as it was all pretty green with most of the ingredients. I noticed that it also included some summer squash (which was not listed, but is still a good addition); this just added to the crunch and freshness from the corn and all. The ingredients tend to change from season-to-season: with kale and cauliflower being in the mix in the past also. I chose multigrain bread for the toast. There was a big chunk/slice of watermelon[1] garnish on the plate that I made sure didn't go to waste either. My only minor complaint (mini-complaint) was that there were just/only two cloves of garlic in with the Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes this morning. But it is all good ~ luck (or lucklessness) of the draw or such.

Eats offers the San Francisco Triumvirate of Condimentary Supplementation: Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red); Cholula® Hot Sauce; and Tapatío®. But as Stevie Nicks' dad, Maxell, would say: it really didn't matter as I used some from my own collection that I had brought with me. I used some Hula Girl Chipotle Habanero (Thanks, Jim! I really am enjoying this one; it has lots of flavour and just about the right amount o' heat for me) on the Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes, and some CaJohns Fiery Foods Oaxacan Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian! Using up the last of that bottle, too; that makes two down in two days ~ at this rate I should be able to use up the rest of the bottles by early 2034 at least) in with the scramble junk.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Farmer's Scrambled Eggs ~ 6.9; Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes ~ 7.475 (I normally rate these at 7.5 GBS Rating, but I docked them .025 points for only two cloves of garlic)


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

Just because I haven't spammed everyone with one of these in the past few 'blog-entries, here is "watermelon" in a few ferren languages:

Afrikaans ~ waatlemoen (pronounced: "WATTLEmoon" or close enough; I only included this one as historically watermelon is thought to have originated in southern Africa ~ consider that a "stupid, useless horticultural pointer of the day" at no extra charge)
Deutsch ~ Wassermelone (pronounced: "VASSERmelona")
Español ~ sandía
Français ~ pastèque
Greek ~ καρπούζι (pronounced: "karpOOzi")
Hungarian ~ görögdinnye (I will leave that one to Greg Kipe to pronounce for you)
Italiano ~ anguria (pronounced: "ANgooriya")
Russki ~ арбуз (pronounced: "ARbooz")

Slow Club

Ellas Otha Bates* knows breakfast?



http://www.slowclub.com/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3-rf4EgAm8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U5HpeA_WSo

(There is really no correlation between Slow Club and Bo Diddley. On my way over to breakfast this morning, my local old-fogies station KFOG was re-running one of their "10-at-10" shows from earlier this week and one of them happened to be a show of "Bo Diddley Beats" songs. I never even would have guessed that the the** Smiths song was of that ilk; but, after they played it and I heard it for probably the the*** ten thousandth time, I actually caught it.)


Slow Club is a pretty decent "industrial cocktail" joint in the area between Potrero Hill and the Mission (right across the street from the Potrero MUNI yard); I am not sure what the neighborhood is really designated. They offer some pretty good things for "Brunch". The place filled up fast early on a Saturday morning, even in spite of the nasty precipitation we had. Rain in Junuary? (I stole that term from Billy Equality Bradford on defacedbook. And everyone knows that inclement weather and "Brunch" are the real threats to traditional 'merican marriage!)

I like how they have their bathrooms marked as "Man" and "Woman" (both singular); so, ladies, no doubling up in there and talking about your cheapo dates behind their backs. I really liked their two very hot servers this morning: a red-head and a "burnette", T-Bone. This brings to mind the whole Ginger or Mary Ann debate (however, at my age even Mrs. Howell is starting to look good).

They don't have that many vegetarian dishes on their menu. Though, I liked the looks of the Frittata**** ~ baby spinach, king trumpet mushrooms, red onion, provolone, asparagus, & roasted red pepper relish, with home fries and greens. From their "Cocktails" menu, I ordered a Bicyclette ~ st. germain elderflower liqueur & sparkling wine, served with an orange twist. To make it a compleat breakfast, I also had a cuppa good, strong coffee; they serve Mr. Espresso coffee, which I have had before and knew to be a decent local roastery.

http://mrespresso.com/




The "Frittata" is simply enough named, but it was very good with some great, fresh ingredients: lots of asparagus and spinach, baby. It was a correctly-made frittata: prepared on the stove, then finished in the oven (I asked my server who confirmed this ~ it was done in a standard oven, not with a "Salamander", the broiler thingy above the stove in some professional kitchens). Now, I am not sure what a "king trumpet mushroom"***** is, Satchmo, but I liked them, too. The roasted red pepper relish was very good, just not enough of it, in my opinion ("a little dab'll do ya", Mr. Bryl, but not me). The only thing I could think of that might have been a nice addition to the frittata would have been some fresh finocchio, Signore Geppetto.

I liked the cocktail well enough. I am not quite sure what St. Germain Elderflower liqueur is, but there didn't seem to be enough of it in my drink; the orange rind strip ~ simple as it sounds ~ really helped, though.

They offer as complimentary supplements Cholula® and Heinz® ketchup******. Once again, I went with some Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Amy!) on the home fries and just a little Trees Can't Dance ~ Belizean Habanero Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the frittata.

You have to love a place that uses a Master Allen Stuart Konigsberg saying at the entrance window:




Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Frittata (o Fritatta) ~ 7.2; Bicyclette ~ 6.5


*(That would be "Bo Diddley" to you, Mr. Squat.

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

How many other legendary Rhythm & Blues and Rock-and/or-Roll icons have a style of music/beat named after them?)

**(This is not a typo ~ or even a type AB-Negative ~ I just didn't know what the correct grammatical modifier would be when referencing a song by "the Smiths".)

***(That was an intentional typo, of "coarse".)

****(They have this spelled correctly as "Frittata" on both their printed menus and on their on-line menu; however, when the bill came, I noticed that they had it "mispeled" as "Fritatta". No big deal, I just wasn't sure that I was spelling it correctly to begin with.)

*****(For your edification or eating education:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_trumpet_mushroom )

******(Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

The word "ketchup" ~ or the less frequently used spelling "catsup" ~ comes from Chinese or Malay and means "fish sauce". In 'merica, ketchup/catsup is generally made from tomatoes; however, there are mushroom-, walnut-, and even banana-based versions, too.

Interestingly enough, as many 'blog-entries as I have done here, I think this may be my first reference to "ketchup". When it comes to 'merican condimentary supplementation, ketchup is okay; however, I think that salsas/hot sauces are mucho bettero. And don't even get me started on the highly superior τζατζίκι with French fries, Don!)

What Are YOU Lookin' At?!

This is my first post on my first (personal) 'blog.

This 'blog will basically be dedicated to cool breakfast dives in San Francisco (or wherever my travels bring me). I specify "dives" as they are normally the best places to eat breakfast ~ no fancy-schmancy "Brunch Restaurants", thank you; plus, dives are generally cheaper and open earlier.

I am sure that this 'blog will deviate (as in the noun: 
"a person whose sexual behavior departs from the norm in a way that is considered socially or morally unacceptable") every so often into my other main interests or whatever pops into my "wee li'l haid". As that great bard, Woody Allen, once said: "The only things I take seriously are Comedy and Baseball!" There are few things that I enjoy more in life than live Baseball games, pretty women, and a good breakfast... at least I can usually afford the breakfast and it never rejects me.

Read along, comment, enjoy the breakfast places!

На ваше здоровье!