Moonlight Cafe & Crepe House

"Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…"
~ John Lennon, "Imagine", 1971

(No official web-site.)


Place: Moonlight Cafe & Crepe House
Location: 634 Cortland Avenue 
(phonicular contact: 415-647-6448)
Hours: Saturday open at 7:00am; Sunday open at 8:00am
Meal: Bernal Hill Omelet (with Feta cheese, black olives, spinach, and pine nuts; served with homefried potatoes and toast); and a large glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice

(Today is the 33rd anniversary of John Lennon's murder. I couldn't think of any related "Moonlight" or "Moon" songs of his, so these two will have to suffice. However, the second EweToob link may have subconsciously been influenced by John's death; even Mike Oldfield doesn't really know for sure.)


A few months ago when I ate at the Liberty Café and Bakery (see 'blog-entry from October 19th, 2013), I noticed a place in the neighborhood that I hadn't eaten at yet and I made a mental note to return again to try it one of these days. Unfortunately it isn't always the easiest trek over to Bernal Heights and I finally got around to trying Moonlight Cafe & Crepe House (just to point out, neither "Café" nor "Crêpe" were spelled with any accent marks) this morning for breakfast. As their name states, they are a small coffeehouse and crêperie, and they also offer many other items on their menu for breakfast.

There are thirteen tables that seat two each inside and two tables for two on the sidewalk out front; however, it was way too chilly to sit outside this morning (this was one of those rare mornings when there was actually frost on my car and I had to scrounge around in my trunk to find an ice-scraper thingy). There looked like there was plenty of space indoors that they could have fit several extra tables if they needed, but this is Bernal Heights, after all, and I doubt any extra seating is really required.

Like most Bay Area crêpe houses, you first order and pay at the counter, get a number to place on your table, and then they bring out your meal when it is done (if they brought it out before it was done, that would kinda suck). Other than several savoury or sweet crêpes, they had a few other interesting breakfastary choices that I thought about getting: Mediterranean Omelet (with Feta cheese, artichokes, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, and onions); Sausalito Scramble (Two scrambled eggs with grilled eggplant, roasted red peppers, pesto, tomatoes, and Mozzarella cheese ~ which was pretty similar to what I had yesterday for "Brunch", just with grilled eggplant instead of sautéed spinach and no mushrooms, and Feta cheese in place of goat cheese, and a scrambled egg dish versus an omelette ~ okay, so maybe they really weren't that similar); or Breakfast in a Pocket (Pita bread pocket stuffed with eggs, cheese, and bacon or sausage).

The omelette was made with lots of fresh spinach (again, like yesterday) and Feta (which is mainly why I ordered it). The pine nuts were a nice addition, too. My only minor complaint would be that there weren't enough black olives and that they were just the canned, sliced variety ~ as always, authentic Kalamata olives would be sooo much better and probably would have added a few GBS Rating points, too.

The homefries were made with red potatoes, which is always a nice, tasty touch. 

I know that the fresh-squeezed orange juice really was fresh-squeezed as it was very frothy and pulpy when they brought it out.

As I had skipped a cuppa coffee with breakfast this morning, I prepared a cuppa Tchibo Gold at home while writing this 'blog-entry. Tchibo is one of the largest brands of coffee (oder Kaffee) in Deutschland; they are not only a coffee retailer, but they have many coffeehouses throughout Europe. When I lived in Berlin, I regularly went to either Tchibo or Eduscho coffeehouses. At one time Eduscho was a major rival company, but has since been bought by Tchibo (maybe Tchibo should be known as Sternbocks). My local russkaya bodega carries a few different roasts/blends of already-ground packs of Tchibo. (Believe me, you do not want to order a pound of this stuff and not understand the German lady behind the counter when she asks whether you want that as whole beans or ground beans. Right, Dave?[1])

http://www.tchibo.de/

For condimentary supplements, Moonlight Cafe has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both the standard red and the green jalapeño) and Tapatío®. I used some of my own Dave's Gourmet® Ginger Peach Hot Sauce (Thanks, Jim!) on the potatoes and Serious Food…Silly Prices Chunky Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the omelette.

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Bernal Hill Omelet ~ 6.5; Tchibo Gold ~ 6.5

1. Not that I really know anyone named "Dave" that would ever have done that by accident and not noticed this blunder until he had gotten to work and tried to make coffee for the rest of his crew (who we won't call "Dawg Flite" to keep "Dave"s anonymity). "Dave" may have then been forced to try and grind up some of the whole beans as best he could with just a hammer and some paper towels.

I am sure that would never have worked well, but this would never really happen, anyway. 

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem

"To eat well in England you should have breakfast three times a day." 
~ William Somerset Maugham

http://doctorteethsf.com/


Place: Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem
Location: 2323 Mission Street (at 19th Street)
Hours: Saturday and Sunday open at 10AM for “Brunch”
Meal: Fresh Spinach & Mushroom Omelet (with roasted peppers, tomatoes, basil pesto, & goat cheese; served with choice of: Crispy Home Fries or Tater Tots and sourdough toast); and a cuppa Pollard Coffee

(It really isn't easy being green.)


Hey, Ron Suarez, I finally got around to eating breakfast (or any meal for that matter) at Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem (which for time-saving measures will just be referenced as "Dr. Teeth" from here on out). They have been open now for a about two and a half years and are in the space that used to house Baobab (which was a very good Senegalese restaurant in its short time at that location). There is seating for a little over forty, but there were only three customers including myself early this morning after they had just opened.

Dr. Teeth is really more of a Hipster Doofus (Is the plural of "doofus" ~ "doofi"?) nightclub/bar, but they do open on weekend mornings and serve what they call "Brunch". They are more known for their painfully, extra-hot dinner dishes. They specify that most of their dinner appetizers and meals can be made "DEATH ZONE", with this caveat: 

"The Bhut Jolokia or Ghost Pepper is often considered the hottest pepper in the World with a Scoville Rating of over 600,000. We ask that you exercise extreme caution when attempting to eat. All orders must be accompanied by a release waiver signed by all parties who will be tasting. Thank you."

Yeah, they aren't kidding around there. Unfortunately (or probably, most fortunately) for me, I don't think they offer anything on their "Brunch" menu to be made "DEATH ZONE". I would like to give it a try… once, but it will have to wait until (if) I get back there for dinner. They really don't have that extensive of a "Brunch" menu, but (as most good Hipster Doofi bars will do) they do seem to offer a pretty decent choice of Top Shelf Cocktails and there was one item on the Not Feeling Breakfast? portion of their "Brunch" menu that sounds pretty interesting: Tot-chos ~ melted cheese, jalapeños, salsa, Pico de Gallo, guacamole, and sour cream (and this item can be made "DEATH ZONE" it appears); add a fried egg or two on top of that bad boy and I probably would have ordered that this morning.

The omelette was made with lots of fresh sautéed spinach (which is good, as that was the name of the dish) and goat cheese in it, as well as other fresh ingredients. I always like the inclusion of roasted red peppers, and the mushrooms didn't seem to be the tasteless, canned button variety; they might have been shiitake, but I didn't bother to ask. The Tater Tots are served with a small cup of some kind of creamy dip/sauce (possibly Russian dressing).

I did bother to bother the waitress/server-lady to find out what kind of coffee they serve (she had to go back into the kitchen to find out), mainly due to the dynamism[1] of flavour of the coffee and because I am basically a nudzhnik.

http://pollardcoffee.com/

Other than the above-mentioned "DEATH ZONE", the good Doctor offers for condimentary supplementation just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and Cholula® Hot Sauce. I ended up using some of my own El Yucateco® XXXtra Hot Sauce Salsa Kutbil-ik® de Chile Habanero (Thanks, Brian!) on the omelette and Mama Africa's™ Zulu Sauces Chili Mint (Thanks, Kerry!) on the Tater Tots. I don't think it is quite "DEATH ZONE"-worthy, but I also used just one (uno, 1) drop of Blair's Sudden Death Sauce® with Ginseng (Thanks a lot, Mom!) mixed into the creamy dipping-sauce thing.

And just to prove that it is never too cold for Ice Cream, after breakfast I walked over to Bi-Rite Creamery & Bakeshop for an after-breakfast (or "Après Brunch") snack. I got a Single (which is actually two scoops) with a scoop of Pumpkin and a scoop of Eggnog w/Brandy, both are seasonal flavours. These were both very good flavours (I have never really had a bad scoop from them). I have had each separately (paired with different flavours each) recently. However, I probably should have gone with a different flavour combination (I knew from past experience that the seasonal Ginger is very good, as well as their everyday Brown Sugar with ginger caramel swirl ~ which seems to pair well with almost all their flavours.) as both of these choices are very strong with nutmeg; not that there's anything wrong with that, Jerry.

http://biritecreamery.com/

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Fresh Spinach & Mushroom Omelet ~ 6.5; Pollard Coffee ~ 6.7; Bi-Rite Creamery Ice Cream ~ 7.0-8.0 (in general)

1. I am currently taking an on-line college course (specifically Constitutional Struggles in the Muslim World) through the University of Copenhagen, and the professor is of Iranian birth, now living in Denmark, by way of Germany, and teaching the course in English. (Can you say "English as a fourth ~ or fifth ~ language"?) In one of the video lectures, he seemed to use the word "Dynamism" at least ten times. 

I wanted to see if I could use it somehow in this 'blog-entry. Sorry, this was the best that I could do.

Which brings us to the stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, یک عدد/nummer et/Nummer eins:

"Dynamism" comes from the Greek word "δύναμη" meaning "power" (see also: "dynamite", Napoleon).

Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous

(No official web-site.)


Place: Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous
Location: 699 22nd Street (at 3rd Street); phonicular contact: (415) 970-0750
Hours: open at 11:30am Wednesday through Sunday 
Ice Cream: Jasmine Calamansi[1] and Candied Orange Peel


Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous happens to be directly across the street from Serpentine, but I had about forty-five minutes to kill before they opened, so I just walked around Dogpatch a bit.

Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous has been open for about three years now, but I have only been there a handful of times (or, seeing as this is Ice Cream we are talking about, a mouthful of times). I only learned of them about a year ago from a friend (Thanks, Lori!), and if they weren't located all the way over in Dogpatch, I probably would go there a lot more often. 

They usually only have ten to twelve flavours at a time available and rotate them weekly, or whenever they run out and make a different flavour. My one complaint is that they don't have a web-site to check which flavours are currently available; so you have to be surprised when you get there. It really is a "mooo"-t point, as they make excellent Ice Cream, and I have yet to try a flavour that I didn't like.

The other flavours for the day/week this morning: Crown Royal, San Miguel Negra, Pumpkin, Earl Grey, Cookies & Cream, French Lavender, Chicory Coffee, Grasshopper, and Chocolate Choc Chip. I sampled both the Crown Royal and the San Miguel Negra. I couldn't really taste any Whisky in the Crown Royal, and probably wouldn't order it. The San Miguel Negra made a decent flavour of Ice Cream and I may have ordered it if I hadn't already ordered the other two flavours. I have tried and really enjoyed their Earl Grey before. I probably should have tried the Chicory Coffee, too, as I bet I would have liked that one a lot.

As for the two flavours that I did get, they were both excellent. I think I liked the Jasmine Calamansi just a little bit more than the Candied Orange Peel, but I would order both of them again.

And there is absolutely nothing that says that you can't have Ice Cream for breakfast (or "Brunch"). After all, it is made with eggs and milk (or cream), both of which scream "Breakfast!" to me, Mr. Cosby!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous Ice Cream (in general) ~ 7.5 to 8.0


1. Calamansi is a sour citrus fruit indigenous to the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It is usually seen in its unripened lime green state. When left to ripen, it turns to a tangerine orange colour.

Serpentine

"Who lined himself with hope,
Eating the air on promise of supply."
~ Wild Bill Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part II, Act i, Sc. 2

http://www.serpentinesf.com/


Place: Serpentine
Location: 2495 3rd Street (at 22nd Street)
Hours: Sat & Sun open at 10AM
Meal: baked eggs (two eggs - spiced garbanzo beans - roasted root vegetables - broccolini - hen of the woods mushrooms - tomatillo salsa - with toasted levain); and a cuppa mighty fine Mr. Espresso 

(There is no relationship between "Serpentine" and Sarah Borges. I just like her music and I couldn't think of a decent "snakey" EweToob video, Mr. Plissken.)


I made the long trek over to Dogpatch again this morning for breakfast at Serpentine. This was my first time ever eating there; however, they may possibly have the same ownership as Slow Club (see 'blog-entry from June 4th, 2011) as there is a recommendation on their web-site to try that place, too. Serpentine is located in an old warehouse space, with 20-foot high ceiling and brick walls, etc. There are tables for about forty or more people and they seem to fill up quickly for "Brunch". (Many people actually had reservations ~ Really? For "Brunch"? No, thank you.) They also have a long bar/counter seating area for about fourteen people (which seemed to be where they stuck those of us that couldn't be bothered to make "Brunch" reservations).

There are only about twelve to thirteen items on the seasonal/changing menu. The only other real vegetarian option was buckwheat pancakes (toppings offered: pineapple - bananas - pomegranates - candied walnuts - maple syrup - whipped cream; you can get these as either one or two pancakes). Otherwise, their menu is pretty carnivore-centric, of note: red flannel hash (beef brisket - crispy potatoes - roasted beets - horseradish crème fraîche[1] - arugula - poached eggs - rosemary salt - grilled levain) and savory bread pudding (smoked turkey breast - leeks - eggplant - fennel - cauliflower - carrots - rutabaga & turnips, served with mixed greens). 

One very important thing that I noticed while sitting at the bar/counter: they do not offer any crap Beers in their bar at all! I saw that they do have a few excellent Beers: Unibroue La Fin du Monde (which is one of my current favourites ~ even if it is from Canadialand) and Almanac Beer Co. Farm to Barrel Series, as well as a few other very good Beers. I don't think that I have ever really seen a place that didn't offer at least Budweiser or Miller of some type.

http://www.unibroue.com/en/beers/15

http://www.almanacbeer.com/ourbeer/

Stupid Customer Rant of the Day
I had gotten there about ten minutes before they opened and there was a small line of about ten people ahead of me. While waiting the few minutes before they opened, another five to six people lined up behind me. Just as the restaurant was opening, a small group of three to four arrived and tried to cut into the line and asked the people behind me: "Are you waiting to get in?" WHAT?! Is this your first time ever eating "Brunch" out, bucky? Get a clue!

stupid parklet mini-rant of the day
I am sad to report that there is a brand new one-space wastelet in front of Just For You Cafe. If they weren't already one of my favourite places for breakfast, I would easily place them on my ever-growing Boycott List, too. 

Additional Stupid Pedestrian Rant of the Day
I figure as I was already in a ranting mood, here is one more. What kind of maroon walks down the street on a bright, sunny day with a large mirror (a wardrobe sized one) facing out to traffic so that it reflects into the drivers eyes and blinds people driving their cars?! 

(Okay, that about does it for today's rants.)

This was a simple enough meal; served in a small cast iron skillet. The eggs were probably fried a bit first, then finished/baked on top of a pile of very good ingredients: broccolini (which is not the same thing at all as its cousin the vile weed), mushrooms, roasted root vegetables (which, due to some of the other items on the menu, I figure probably included: fennel, turnips, rutabagas, and sweet potatoes ~ but no beets, unfortunately), garbanzo beans, and a very tasty salsa. The "toasted levain" is just a fancy way of saying sourdough toast.

I didn't ask what the actually roast of Mr. Espresso that they were serving, but it was strong and very good. I have had this local (out of Oakland) brand several times before and it is usually very good.

http://mrespresso.com/

Serpentine only offers for bottled condimentary supplements Cholula® Hot Sauce, but they do have small peppermills on all the tables, which I put to good use. Before adding any of my own hot sauces unnecessarily, I actually tasted their tomatillo salsa and it was pretty tasty on its own, so I really didn't need to add any extra spiciness.

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: baked eggs ~ 6.9; Mr. Espresso Coffee ~ 6.9

1. The correct spelling of this is "crème fraîche"; however, they have it spelled incorrectly as "créme fraiche". It's really just a small point, but if they can use an accent aigu, why can't they use the correct accent grave? Granted, the circumflex (the little hat thingy accent on top of the "i") may not be readily available on some printers.

Luna Park

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

http://lunaparksf.com/


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

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

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

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

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


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Chilaquiles ~ 6.8


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

Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

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

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

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

San Martin Café

A breakfastary roadtrip:
San Martin, CA

http://www.thesanmartincafe.com/


Place: San Martin Café
Location: 13475 Monterey Highway, San Martin[1], CA
Hours: open at 7:00am 7 days a week
Meal: (Me) San Martin Café Special  (2 scrambled eggs with ground beef, spinach, mushrooms, and onions, topped with melted cheese; served with potatoes ~ hashbrowns or country potatoes ~ and toast); (Dave) Huevos Rancheros with 2 eggs (2 eggs over a corn tortilla, topped with a spicy ranchero sauce and cheese; served with potatoes and toast); and we both had cuppas coffee 

(If I have to explain the relationship between this song and today, you really need to get out more often… just not today to shop.)


For the past few years my Thanksgiving Day tradition has been to head due south (about 82 miles worth) to the garlicky city of Gilroy. I am most thankful that I have old friends that will actually put up with me for the holiday (and put me up for the night). (Thanks, Dave, Patryce, Zoey, Nellie, and Comet!) The morning after (that would be today) it is always nice to go out to breakfast (see last 'blog-entry from November 26th, 2010) to work off the big meal from the day before and to give Dave a break from more cooking (Don't worry, I still made him pay for breakfast; I was his "guest" after all). Today's breakfastary destination happened to be to San Martin Café.

San Martin Café is located right along (Old) Monterey Highway, as is  most of San Martin itself, too. San Martin is a small town located between Morgan Hill and Gilroy. Anyone that had traveled from San Francisco to Monterey back in the 70's (before Highway 101 was completed in that long stretch between Gilroy and San Jose) would have passed right through San Martin and probably not even noticed it. 

San Martin Café is a small, local diner-ish place. It seemed to be doing a pretty decent business this Friday morning, filled probably mainly with localites and none of the idiots heading to the Gilroy Outlet Malls to save $2.00 (but waste six hours in line) on that newest iPhone mobular contraption for a Christmas gift. There are also two picnic benches out front for al fresco dining (I don't know how to say that in Spanish, though) on nicer days (Well, it was pretty sunny out this morning, just a bit coolish still). Their breakfast menu is pretty extensive and some of the other choices that looked interesting were: Mexican Omelette (Ortega chilies, avocado, sour cream, Jack and Cheddar cheese, and Spanish salsa); Chile verde with 2 eggs (Our most popular breakfast dish! Tender pork in a zesty green sauce. Served with potatoes and toast); and Breakfast Burritos (Fresh tortillas stuffed with scrambled eggs, potatoes, beans, cheese, Pico de Gallo salsa, and your choice of meat: Sausage, Linguica, Chorizo, Bacon, Ham, Beef, Chicken, or Chili Verde).

Naturally, I skipped the ground-up dead, decaying bovine flesh in my scramble, but I liked all of the other ingredients. I was particularly happy to see that they used fresh, sautéed spinach and not the frozen stuff; this was a nice detail for just a small, local place. I hope the mushrooms were a local product, too. I had hashbrowns and sourdough toast as my side choices.

Dave didn't really get a choice of potatoes or toast, but his meal did come with a mess o' frijoles refritos (which actually makes more sense with this dish). However, I thought this really should have come with some warm corn tortillas to sop up all the good salsa ranchera, too. (I tasted some of it while Dave wasn't looking and it was really very good; con sabor mucho gusto y más fuego.) I didn't bother taking a picture of Dave's meal; he can start his own damn 'blog-thingy if he wants to highlight his own food!

For condimentary supplementation San Martin Café has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce on all the tables. But if you ask, they will bring out a fresher concoction of their own in plastic squeeze bottles. I really liked that one and used it generously all over my hashbrowns. It had a pretty decent spice and flavour to it. I asked what was in it and they told me it was simply Tapatío® blended up with some fresh red jalapeños. It fooled ME, Jerry!

Walk Like a Franciscan? 

Anyone that has traveled along Highway 280 and driven past the Crystal Springs Safety Roadside Rest Area (just south of Hillsborough) has probably seen the large monument to Father Junípero Serra:

All that I can think of whenever I see it is that he was either the very first surfer-dude in California history or the song ♪Walk Like an Egyptian ♪.

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: San Martin Café Special ~ 6.4 (particularly due to the addition of their "special" salsa; I forgot to ask Dave for the GBS Rating of his Huevos Rancheros, but based on the salsa ranchera alone, I would give it at least a 6.4 or 6.5)


1. You may ask yourself, who the heck was this "San Martin" guy? You may ask yourself, why the heck does he deserve a town named after him?

Well, here's some information from our friendly friends at Wikipedia (saving me the trouble of typing it all out):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Martin,_CA

Brown Sugar Kitchen

A breakfastary roadtrip:
Oakland, CA

http://brownsugarkitchen.com/


Place: Brown Sugar Kitchen
Location: 2534 Mandela Parkway[1], Oakland, CA
Hours: open at 7:00am Tuesday - Saturday,
8:00am Sunday
Meal: Cornmeal Waffle (with brown sugar butter & apple cider syrup); side of breakfast potatoes; and a cuppa ROASTco Artisanal[2] Coffees Brown Sugar Kitchen Blend

(Did you really expect any other song?)


This morning was my first trip across (and back, too) the new half of the Bay Bridge (Nice job, but what the heck took them so long?) and my destination was Brown Sugar Kitchen. This is a somewhat newish (well, about six years old now) nouveau-soul food-diner kind of place. 

(There is no photo of the Bay Bridge, as I was busy driving and that would have just been foolish and dangerous… and I really only thought about it after already having entered the Yerba Buena Island tunnel on my way home.)

To label them just a "Diner" would be very unfair and far from the truth, but, in addition to many standard tables (about 15-20 two-to-four seaters), they have a long diner-style counter overlooking the kitchen area which seats twelve people. That was where I sat this morning.

For not really knowing where Brown Sugar Kitchen was located, it wasn't that bad a trip over there. It was actually very easy to get to from Interstate 80 and it took me less than half an hour to get over there this morning (compare this to about the same amount of time getting to the Ramp yesterday morning on city streets). Let's face it, most San Franciscans won't travel to Oakland unless it's right along a BART line, and even only then if the destination is no more than two blocks from a station. (Okay, Mrs. Nichols, I will admit that this wasn't exactly the posh Nob Hill area, but it was easy enough to get to, and I could see clearly for blocks if there were any minor skirmishes happening around the corner. As it were, I only got shot at twice, but I blame myself for wearing Crips colours in the wrong neighborhood.)

Brown Sugar Kitchen opens up at 8:00am on Sundays. I got there probably at 8:10 and they were already three-quarters full (or one-quarter empty, if you are rather pessimistic). They had three waffle-makers going constantly the entire time I was there. The Kitchen specials seemed to be: Buttermilk Fried Chicken & Cornmeal Waffles, Organic Cheddar Cheese Grits (with or without two poached eggs), and (to start) Beignets (three very large, oblong ones from what I saw, but it looked like they dusted them with wayyyyy too much powdered sugar ~ which was just the plain ol' white variety, not brown ~ on top for my liking) served with BSK seasonal jam (I am not quite sure what this "BSK" stands for, but I am sure that it is something quite tasty).

The cornmeal waffle was excellent and definitely worth the early morning roadtrip over to Oak-town! My one minor (well, major, due to their actual name) complaint would be that they didn't give me enough brown sugar butter on my waffle; there was just one small dab (about enough to fill one grid) on just one quarter of the waffle only. From what I could tell, it was pretty good, but I really would have liked just a little bit more. However, that omission was all made up for (and major-ly eclipsed by) as the real find here is their extremely awesome apple cider syrup! It was absolutely fabulous and extremely tasty! They do offer plain ol' regular maple syrup (and for an additional $2.00 charge at that), too, but I don't know why anyone would not want to try the completely original apple cider syrup. I used my entire little pourer thingy on my waffle and probably could have used more still. I won't say that I was caught trying to lick the last few drops out of the bottom (well, I think the only one to notice was the guy sitting next to me).

The side of breakfast potatoes (which would be "homefries" to those of you named Mrs. Huneycutt) was very good, too. These are made with lots of spices and herbs. It had large chunks of potatoes, but also had lots of potato crumblies, like hash, in it.

The coffee was also very good this morning (well, good enough for at least two refills). ROASTco Artisanal Coffees is a local Oakland coffee roastery and they make an originally crafted blend specifically for Brown Sugar Kitchen. There are also bags of this coffee available for sale at the front. I tried to get the last few drops of the apple cider syrup into one of my refills to see how that would work, but to no avail.

http://www.roastco.com/products/brown-sugar-kitchen-blend

Brown Sugar Kitchen has for condimentary supplements both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce and Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce. I had come prepared with a few of my own bottles, but only used some Palo Alto Firefighters Pepper Sauce ~ XX Habanero (Thanks agains, Amys & Brian!) on the potatoes.

"I said yeah, yeah, yeah, woo!
How come you… how come you taste so good?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, woo!
Just like a… just like a waffle should
Yeah, yeah, yeah, woo!"


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Cornmeal Waffle ~ 7.2; Apple Cider Syrup ~ 7.4; ROASTco Brown Sugar Kitchen Blend ~ 6.9


1. Mandela Parkway is a relatively new street/boulevard. It basically runs along the area where the Cyprus Freeway used to cut through the neighborhood overhead prior to the Loma Prieta Earthquake on October 17th, 1989 which mostly leveled all of that freeway extension. 

I am not really sure of the parkway's nomenclature, but I think it has something to do with an Italian large, fretted, stringed instrument.

(This is a mural across the street from Brown Sugar Kitchen on a building which is probably a survivor of the demolition.)

2. I swear that Billy-boy and his brownshirt staff of spell-checkers really need to eat out more often. They did not even recognize this as a valid word.

the Ramp

Is a semaphore equal to a pair of flags? 

http://www.theramprestaurant.com/


Place: the Ramp
Location: 855 Terry Francois Street (at the end of Mariposa Street)
Hours: open for "Brunch" on Saturdays & Sundays at 9:30am
Meal: Sam's Scram (a vegetarian scramble; served w/ homefries and a hearty slice of 9-grain toast); and a cuppa (well, and two refillas) America's Best Coffee 

(The first EweToob link is just a cover of the second classic. I like the backup singers in the first video, but that lead singer really needs some work.)


This was the perfect November Saturday morning to go to the Ramp for a breakfastary (well, "Brunchiary") repast; the Sun was out and shining brightly, and there was just a slight breeze off the Bay. The Ramp is technically right on the border of the Mission Bay and Dogpatch neighborhoods (Mariposa Street being the bordering decision); however, less than twenty years ago, this would just have been called Potrero Hill or Central Basin. I got there a few minutes before they opened this morning, so I walked along the public shore to get the best out of the day.

(Just to let you know that the eponymous name of the restaurant isn't superfluous, here is an actual photo of the boat ramp that runs next to the place.)

The majority of the seating is outside in the fresh air on the huge patio (probably 30-40 tables for two to four people) with a great view of Oakland, Alameda, and the Bay. The Ramp has live music on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons/evenings. They even have an outdoor "Tiki Bar" with a corrugated tin roof (but I don't know if the drinks are all free or not).

(This was the view from my table.)

They really don't have that extensive of a "Brunch" menu, but there were a few other items that sounded interesting: Daniela's Scram (Chorizo, Jack cheese, green chillies, & green onions) or Molly's Brioche French Toast (topped with nutella® and strawberries).

My scramble was okay, but nothing really special. It was just tomatoes and mushrooms (the standard button/small crimini/immature Portobello ~ take your pick ~ variety). I really would liked to have seen a few other vegetables in it at least; maybe some bell peppers, zucchini, eggplant, or something (anything) else. I know they have green chillies and green onions as they are available in the Daniela's Scram ~ vegetarianism doesn't mean tastelessness. Luckily the homefries were very good ~ made with lots of caramelized (white) onions, which I ended up mixing into the scramble to subsidize the lack of items in it.

For condimentary supplementation the Ramp offers both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce and Cholula® Hot Sauce (two-thirds of the San Francisco Restaurant Hot Sauce Triumvirate). I ended up using some of my own Nando's® Extra Hot Peri-Peri Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) with the Scram and some Serious Food… Silly Prices Mango Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cynthia Ann and Gregory Alan!) on the potatoes.

I wonder if Mr. Redding ever ate breakfast (or "Brunch") while watching the ships roll in and then watch 'em roll away again, yeah…

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Sam's Scram ~ 5.9 (this is figuring in the homefries); Million $$$ Views & Atmosphere ~ 8.5 (Mother Nature had something to do with today's beautiful weather, so I will begrudge her a few GBS points)

Coffeeshouses

"A morning without coffee is like sleep." ~ Author Unknown

Coffeehouses, coffee shops, XM Channel 31, etc. ~ whatever you like to call them. These are generally establishments where fresh-roasted coffee can be purchased in either whole bean or ground form. Additionally, there are usually small bites of food that can be purchased to eat along with a fresh-brewed cuppa: sandwiches, bagels, pastries, etc. There does not always have to be a full breakfast menu involved. These are not to be confused with "Café" (or "Caffè" ~ but just never "Caffé", or "Cafè") when it is used as a hoity-toity name for a place to eat (see also: "Bistro", "Brasserie"[1], "Cafeteria", "Etc."). 

There have been examples of local coffeehouses that serve a decent enough variety of food in some of my past 'blog-entries: 

• Simple Pleasures Cafe (see 'blog-entry from March 15th, 2010)
• Java Beach Cafe at the Zoo (see ‘blog-entry from June 14th, 2010)
• Garden House Cafe (see 'blog-entry from March 17th, 2012)
• Velo Rouge Cafe (see 'blog-entry from June 2, 2012)
• The Blue Fig (see 'blog-entry from September 16th, 2012)

I am surprised that I have never made a specific label with "Coffeehouse" or "Coffee Shop" already. However, it's too far gone now to go back and amend all of the older 'blog-entries (not that there were that many as it is). I suppose, that going forward now, I will use the label and maybe just add it to those older 'blog-entries when I come across them again.

And if these places are usually purveyors of more than one kind of coffee, shouldn't they technically be called "Coffeeshouses" or "Coffees Shops”?

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

"Brasserie" in French literally means "brewery", from Middle French "brasser" (the verb "to brew"), from Old French "bracier", from Vulgar Latin "braciāre", of Celtic origin; compare Welsh "brag" ("malt").

(Also not to be confused with "brassiere", which is the place where babies dine.)