Lori’s Diner

"It's great to be great, but it's greater to be human." ~ Will Rogers

http://lorisdiner.com/


Place: Lori's Diner
Location: 900 North Point Street (in historic/touristic Ghirardelli Square)
Hours:  open at 8:00am every day of the week (however, both downtown locations are open 24 hours ~ or probably 23:35 hours ~ every day)
Meal: Veggie Omelet ~ Mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, & tomatoes, seasoned with herbs (served with hash brown [noted as two words] potatoes, toast, butter and jam); and a cuppa organic Coffee

(Today's EweToobular juxtaselection is from a relatively newish Electropop group out of North Carolina and the title of the song fits a breakfastary theme. Someone recently showed me this song/group on defacedbook and I liked it/them well enough. Sorry, I don't remember who actually showed it to me, but if you are reading this 'blog-entry: "Thanks!")


Sometimes you just need a nice helping of Americana for breakfast. With that in mind, I headed over to Lori's Diner. They are a local mini-chain of 50's-style diners; they also have two downtown spots (the original one on Mason Street and another one on the corner of Sutter and Powell Streets) and two more at San Francisco International Airport. There used to be three downtown locations, but the third restaurant, which used to be on Powell Street (at O'Farrell Street), closed about two years back; and all were within two blocks of one another ~ kinda overkill if you ask me (even if you don't ask me, it's still a bit overly homicidal). I have eaten lunch or dinner at a few of their locations before, but this was my first breakfast venture there.

Lori's Diner at Ghirardelli Square is supposed to open at 8:00am every morning (or at least that is what is stated on both their official web-site and even on signs in the door); however, when I got there around 8:20am, the doors were closed and the "SORRY… Closed" sign was still in the window. Unlike yesterday, unfortunately, I did not have an official back-up "Plan 9 From Outer Space" (nor even a back-up "Glen or Glenda"), so I was about to go for a little walk around Aquatic Park and Fisherman's Wharf, but one of the workers must have seen me lurking around outside and flipped the "OPEN" neon sign switch on and finally opened around 8:25am. (Now does the silly 23:35 hours joke make any sense in the "Hours:" section above?) It's a good thing, too, as Fisherman's Wharf may cater to large tourista hordes, but it is grossly lacking in the amount of good places to go for breakfast (or "Brunch"). I ended up being the only idiot sitting there for about another fifteen minutes until another tourista family decided to intrude upon "my restaurant" solitude.

As it was a great morning, I had to sit outside in their open-air patio deck, where there are nine tables for four ~ with umbrellas on four of the tables. The main inside dining area probably has seating for twice that and there is another smaller indoor dining room that has at least as many tables, too. There is the front half of a '56-'57(?; sorry, my automobile I.D. is about as acute as my knowledge of how best to prepare a Rib-eye steak) Chevy on the patio deck, too. As far as I could see, it really serves no purpose other than taking up a valuable parking space (well, half a space) that could easily house one of those great little parklets that I have heard so much about lately.

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

Seeing as there is a major pandemonium (or, possibly, several pandemonia) of Wild Parrots that roosts in the tall Eucalyptus trees at the end of Fisherman's Wharf (where it abuts Fort Mason), I was pretty sure that I would run into at least a few of the noisy feathered freaks. As it turned out, I saw three of them right away playing on a lamppost on my way over to Ghirardelli Square from where I had parked.

There really were only a few other items on the breakfast menu that seemed interesting to me: Taco Ole Omelet (Vegetarian chili, avocado, salsa, sour cream & Jack cheese) or maybe Fresh Spinach Omelet (Chopped spinach, sautéed onions, a hint of garlic, fine herbs & cream cheese); otherwise, there were simply pancakes or French toast.

I liked that all the "veggies" (Seriously, is this still the 1980's?! How hard is it to actually call them "vegetables"? Do the extra three letters used to spell it correctly cost that much more in printing the menu?) were grilled first before stuffing them into the omelette. This would not be for those that suffer from Fungiphobia, as there was a good amount of mushrooms in this. My choice of toast was sourdough. 

The organic Coffee was just your typical diner fare stuff ~ hot, black, and basically tasteless. I even found it necessary to break one of my Cardinal rules and added two packets of sugar to it (okay, maybe it is more of a Blue Jay rule, but still). I ended up adding the rinds from the orange slice/garnish into it which really made it half-way passable, and, because of which, I even felt it palatably necessary to get another half-cuppa refilla (sure, it wasn't really that good, but it is still Coffee, after all).

I only noticed that they had Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) inside in the condimentary supplements area, but they probably also have Tapatío® (I had lunch here a few months back and I seem to remember they had it then). I just used some of my own Fat Cat® Surprisingly Mild Guajillo Ghost (Thanks, Cindy & Greg! The really nice thing about this one is that it sounds like it will be demonically spicy, but it really is pretty mild and can be used copiously.) generously all over the omelette and some Born to Hula presents Devon Allman's All Natural Hot Sauce Chipotle Blues (Thanks, Kerry!) on the potatoes ('cause, as I have stated many times before, chipotle and potatoes are a great match).

Even though the food may have only been "just okay", the view from my Patty O'Furniture table-seat (and the subsequent awesome late-Summer sunny weather) was a million $$$ one this morning.

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: "Veggie" Omelet ~ 6.0; Million $$$ views of San Francisco Bay ~ 8.5; the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

Pork Store Cafe

A Breakfastarian[1] "Plan 9 From Outer Space"?

http://www.porkstorecafe.com/


Place: Pork Store Cafe
Location: 1451 Haight Street (between Ashbury and Masonic)
Hours:  open at 7:00am Monday-Friday; open at (right on the nose, too) 8:00am Saturday-Sunday
Meal: Nadia's Vegetarian Scramble ~ Eggs, onions, mushrooms, fresh spinach, Jack cheese, fresh salsa & spices (served with Hash Browned [sic, and noted as two words] Potatoes or Grits, Biscuits or Toast or English Muffin); and a large glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice

My initial plan of attack this morning was to indagate a new/different place for breakfast; however, you know what that poet Robert Frost guy said: "The best-laid eggs o' mice an' Ed Wood gang agley in the afternoons." (or something like that, who could ever understand what the drunken Scotsman was ganging on about). I had originally planned on going to People's Cafe, Chairman Mao, but they do not have their own official web-site (or little red book) to find out what their actual hours of operation are, so I had to determine the hours that they opened from a few different on-line urban guides, and a few different sites had it opening at either 7:00am or 8:00am. I got over there about 7:45am and figured I could just kill some time on Haight Street with the rest of the indigenous streeties if they didn't open up until 8:00am. However, there were no signs on the building as to when they actually open and there were also no signs that they would be actually opening any time soon, either.

Oops! Looks like it was time for a whole 'nuther "Plan B", Bela. I knew that there is a "new" crêpe/breakfast joint, 1428 Haight, right across the street from People's Cafe. I write this as "new" as they are really just the same location that was once part of the whole Squat & Gobble Cafe & Crepery mini-chain of crêperies in San Francisco (see last 'blog-entry from July 26th, 2014; http://breakfastatepiphany.blogspot.com/2014/07/squat-gobble-cafe-crepery.html); apparently there was a little (squat and) squabble amongst the partners, and one of them ended up with this location and changed the name to what it is now. And also three doors down from People's Cafe is Pork Store Cafe (see previous 'blog-entry from September 6th, 2010 ~ coincidentally enough, almost four years ago; http://breakfastatepiphany.blogspot.com/2010/09/pork-store-cafe.html). Both 1428 Haight and
Pork Store Cafe had signs stating that they open for breakfast at 8:00am (and both showed signs of doing so shortly), so I just left it up to whichever opened up first. Consider this a sort of temporal coin toss.

Pork Store Cafe is a rather small place, but it is very popular with the "Brunch" crowd. Their seating is just: two front window/alcove tables for four people; two tables for two; three more tables for four; and twelve to fourteen counter stools (and that is it; because of which, there is usually a long line and extended wait outside on the weekends). Luckily, there were only about six other people waiting to get inside when they first opened up. I ordered quickly and my meal was served in about five minutes; this would not be the case later in the day when they are very busy (after the stupid "Brunch"-sters have rolled out of bed around 10:00am or later).

Pork Store Cafe has a pretty substantial breakfast menu (and I am glad to see they actually call it "breakfast", not "Brunch" on their menus). There were a few other decent ideas that I was looking at: Green Benedict (Scrambled eggs with asparagus over fresh avocado on toasted sourdough bread, topped with Hollandaise, served with grits or hash browned potatoes ~ asparagus and avocado sounded like a winner to me); Pesto Feta Scramble (3 eggs scrambled with homemade pesto sundried tomato sauce [they make a point of noting on their menu: "pesto contains parsley and walnuts"; I think they have to legally state that for any of you with severe parsley allergies], "the vile weed" [it is always a foregone conclusion that I would have foregone this ingredient; and how come they never have a "the vile weed" allergy warning?], and Feta cheese, served with hash browned potatoes or grits, and choice of bread or biscuit); or The '49er (2 eggs any style with potatoes or grits, biscuits & sausage gravy or veggie gravy). There are even three to four Vegan options (I really didn't pay much attention to those specifically; next thing you know those damned Vegans will be requesting their own schools). And, as their name implies, they do offer many different dishes with the dead, decaying porcine flesh in them.

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

After breakfast, on my way back to my car, I saw about four to five of the little winged noisemakers flying over the Panhandle. I am pretty sure a small pandemonium resides in some of the tall eucalyptus trees there.

This was all a nice cheesy, gooey mess. I liked it. For my breakfastary sides, I went with hashbrowns (natch') and (two) fresh-baked buttermilk biscuits (even I can "cook" toast and English muffins on my own). I ended up just adding the hashbrowns to the rest of the scrambled mess when I was about half-way done (or half-way started?), it was just easier that way (and it was all good).

For condimentary supplementation,
 Pork Store Cafe has a pretty decent selection: Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red); Tapatío®; Frank's® RedHot Original; and El Yucateco® XXX Hot Sauce Salsa Kutbil-ik® de Chile Habanero (I had even brought a bottle of my own of that very same hot sauce with me this morning). Even so, I still used some of my own Hula Girl Chipotle Habanero (Thanks, Jim! And that about killed the last of that bottle now.) on the potatoes and some Florida Gold Premium Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) on the scramble mess.

I did notice that People's Cafe had finally opened by the time I finished eating (a little after 8:30am), so maybe I will give them another chance in a few weeks.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Nadia's Scramble ~ 6.5; homemade buttermilk biscuits ~ 6.6


1. A few years back, I had come up with the completely made-up word "breakfastary". I have even used it as the adverbial "breakfastarily" and a few other variations. I noticed during a recent Google search that not only is "breakfastary" referenced many times, but both "breakfastarian" and "breakfastarianism" are, too. I kind of like the idea of it being seen as not only a movement, but also in a pseudo-religiosity sense. 

Mission Beach Café

"Ours is the age which is proud of machines that think, and suspicious of men who try to." ~ Howard Mumford Jones

http://www.missionbeachcafesf.com/


Place: Mission Beach Café
Location: 198 Guerrero Street (on the corner of  14th Street)
Hours:  Weekday Lunch/"Brunch" open at 9:00am; Weekend "Brunch" also open at 9:00am
Meal: (the simply named) Scramble ~ cherry tomatoes, asparagus, summer squash, oyster mushrooms, goat cheese, field greens, and crispy Yukon Gold potatoes; and a cuppa (and two more refillas) Flying Goat Coffee Mission Beach Café Blend

http://www.flyinggoatcoffee.com/

(Today's EweToobular songs are just a continuation of last weekend's George Ivan Morrison birthday celebration. I had some leftovers and felt like using them up; just consider these a sort of videological frittata. Plus, these are a reminder that Summer is not quite over yet. Nothing's over until I say it is!)


While I was neither in San Diego (the one in California) nor Queensland (the one in Australia ~ please, no "But I thought 'Queensland' was San Francisco" jokes), I decided to go back to Mission Beach Café (see last 'blog-entry from June 16th, 2012; 
http://breakfastatepiphany.blogspot.com/2012/06/mission-beach-cafe.html). There is really no contiguous beach-side property in the Mission; I suppose the "Mission Beach" referenced here would be Mission Dolores Park (which is just four blocks away) where people will hang out on their blankets and soak up some Vitamin D on the sunnier days of Summer.

On this seemingly sleepy Sunday morning, I found that it was easy to find a legal parking spot just a half-block away. The restaurant space seating is: six window-counter seats (along the Guerrero Street-side, and where I sat this morning); eight tables for two; and about ten tables for four. However, it seems that many other idiots had the same idea as I did this morning and it all filled up pretty quickly, even at 9:00am on a Sunday morning. People really need to get a life and sleep-in or go to church… dammit!

Mission Beach Café offers about twelve to thirteen entrées on their "Brunch" menu. Some possible other decent ideas: MBC Pancakes (vanilla crème, market fruit ~ which does not include any zucchini or yellow summer squash, I hope ~ pistachios, and Bourbon syrup; I know from my last visit, that the Bourbon syrup is very tasty); Mission Beach Egg Sandwich (with housemade English muffin, fried egg, mushrooms, caramelized onion, Bravo Farms white Cheddar, potatoes; and for those of you that partake of the dead, decaying porky products, this can also be made with bacon or sausage added); or some kind of Duck Confit[1] meal (I really didn't pay much attention to what it was, though). And there is always their version of French toast that I had last time that I ate there and knew to be most excellent (see above reference to Bourbon syrup).

This was a simple enough scrambled egg dish, but I really liked all of the ingredients in it. There was lots of asparagus and oyster mushrooms, which I found to be a very interesting flavour combination (well, if you are like me and like both asparagus and mushrooms, that is). The asparagus was sliced width-wise (in little medallions like) not length-wise, which I also found interesting. The "summer squash" turned out to include both the yellow version and zucchini (and, like all squashes, are originally native to the New World, and are technically botanical fruits).

The side of roasted Yukon Gold potatoes were also very good.

This made two days in a row that I had a "salad" with breakfast ("Brunch", whatever). People may get the wrong idea and think that I am some kinda stupid vegetarian or something.

Mission Beach Café used to exclusively serve Blue Bottle Coffee, but haven't for about two years now. I noticed that it still says they do on their on-line menu; I think that they might need to update their web-site. Currently, they actually have Flying Goat Coffee  and even have a roast/blend made specifically for them. This was a very good Coffee, too. And they even ask if you would like some more Coffee "to go" when you are leaving… extra nice! (I didn't feel it necessary to take them up on this excellent offer, as I had enough Coffee already with the meal and didn't want to be up all day.)

For condimentary supplementation, Mission Beach Café only offers Tapatío®. I used some of my own Fat Cat® Strawberry Serrano Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) liberally all over the potatoes, and Blair's
After Death sauce with liquid fire (Thanks a lot, Sean!) on the scramble mess ~ but just four to five drops of this satanic sauce ~ and it was still almost too much, as the opening of the bottle is normal-sized and does not have a dripper or any way of pouring it out slowly. 


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Scramble ~ 6.7; Flying Goat Coffee Mission Beach Café Blend ~ 7.4


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

"Confit" (pronounced "con-fee") comes from the French verb "confire" (meaning "to prepare"), which in turn comes from the Latin word "conficere" (meaning "to do, to produce, to make, to prepare"). (See also: "confection".)

And, of course, once again, the stupid Spell-check Nazis at Microsoft have no clue as to what this cookery word should actually be.

Café du Soleil

"When everyone is somebody, then no one's anybody." ~ William Schwenk ("Schwenk"?!) Gilbert, The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria (1889)

(No official web-site.)


Place: Café du Soleil
Location: 200 Fillmore Street (on the corner of  Waller Street)
Hours:  Monday-Saturday open at 7:00am; Sunday open at 8:00am
Meal: Tortilla[1] Español with salad; an Orange Morning Bun (for a breakfastary dessert); and a cuppa Equator Coffees & Teas™ French Roast

http://www.equatorcoffees.com/

(Are any explanations really necessary for today's EweToobular juxtaselections?)


Sometimes a good breakfast can be found at a simple little coffeehouse. (One of these days I plan on doing a series on coffeehouses in just the Richmond neighborhood.) This morning (ou matin) I ate at Café du Soleil in the Lower Haight. I had passed by the place many times before and had never even went in for a cuppa, so I figured it was about time to check them out. It turned out to be un joli petit café de quartier. I am particularly pleased that an actual café français used un accent aigu in their spelling of "café" for a change. (Unfortunately, I am sorry to say, Dave Porter, that there was not any Édith Piaf nor Nina Simone playing on the house stereo this morning.)

For a small corner café, they actually have a decent amount of seating: thirteen tables for two people; one large communal table for eight people; eight stools at the counter-bar; en outre, there are nine two-seater tables on the Waller Street-side sidewalk. Even though they refer to the first meal of the day on their menu as "Brunch", I arrived there just a little after 8:00am and it was just a normal crepuscular breakfastary meal for me as the Sun had still to really wake-up itself, because of which, I decided to eat inside.

Strange Breakfast at Epiphany's Interlude

A friend on defacedbook sent me a cartoon this week and suggested that I may want to contact a good lawyer (one such as the steamed J. Cheever Loophole, or perhaps even the law firms of Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel or Dewey, Cheetham & Howe). However, as original as I would like to think the name of my stupid li'l 'blog-thingy was (well, it was "original" to me when I first thought it up years ago), when I first started this, I did a quick Intro-Net search for any uses of "Breakfast at Epiphany's" and actually found a few other references (there is even another 'blog on this same 'blog-spot; however, that one seems to have been defunct for several years now, and it was some kinda stupid religioso 'blog and had nothing to do with breakfast or even "Brunch").

Like most coffeehouses, you order and pay first at the front counter, get a number (mine happened to be "Numéro Dix" this morning), and then they bring out the food to you. There were really only two other choices on the Matin/"Le Brunch" menu: Homemade Granola (with yoghurt or milk & fresh fruit ~ yawn!) or Fantastic French Toast (with fruit and maple syrup ~ this would have been my other option, fantastic or not, Reed Richards).

This was a decent enough tortilla/omelette/frittata/egg pie dish, just nothing to knock your chaussettes off. The tortilla/omelette/frittata/egg pie can also be made with bacon, smoked salmon, or avocado added. I am not sure, but there may have even been a soupçon of cinnamon in the mixture. I was not sure what the orangey-reddish sauce on top was either; possibly just a French Dressing (which, of course, Mr. Vincent Vega, is just called "Le Dressing" in Paris). 

The salad was just a huge pile of greens (you know the standard "Spring Mix" stuff with different types of lettuces and spinach and such) and a few slices of tomato. I probably should have gotten a side order of Homemade Parmesan Potato Chips (not sure if they are available that early, though), as they sounded pretty good and I could have eaten a soupçon more food, too.

Because I was still a wee bit 'ungry-like, the Orange Morning Bun was an afterthought which I decided on getting with a refilla of Coffee. Sorry, there is no photo of the pastry, as I had already scarfed half of it down before I thought of taking one. It was very good; sort of a cinnamon bun with a nice orange filling (not really a marmalade) in between the layers/swirls. What's not to like? Orange + cinnamon + more Coffee = very tasty! (I just love the New Math.)

They also sell bags of Equator Coffees & Teas™, both French Roast and Organic Jaguar Espresso (don't worry, any of you PETA nut-jobs, I asked, and they said that this is only made with 100% Organic Panthera Onca), at the front counter (I never like buying my Coffee in alleyways, anyway). I think they forgot to initially charged me for my Coffee, so I felt it absolutely necessary to be honest with them… and pay for a refilla when it came to it.

I didn't bother to ask what Café du Soleil offered in the way of condimentary supplementation, peut-être seulement Tabascot® Marque Sauce au Poivron (rouge). Il n'a vraiment pas d'importance, I used some of my own Big Papi En Fuego Hot Sauce Off The Wall Triple Hot (Thanks, Kerry! And that finally kills the last of any of my Big Papi hot sauces.) on half of the tortilla/omelette/frittata/egg pie (and salad junk) and some Dave’s Gourmet® Ginger Peach Hot Sauce (Thanks, Jim! And there is probably just another use or two left in that bottle, too; so, I am getting to the point where I only have twelve or thirteen hot sauces left in my refrigerator.) on the other half. 

Breakfast this morning was just like a little corner of Paris… just without any snotty attitude from all the smelly, obnoxious Parigots.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Tortilla Español ~ 6.3; Orange Morning Bun ~ 6.5


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist (and pseudo-epicureanistic) pointer of the day:

"Tortilla" in Spanish actually means "a small cake" (from the diminutive of "torta"). It has nothing whatsoever to do with burritos or tacos. Hence (please pay particular note, any of my sisters-in-law that may be planning on vacationing in Spain or may have already done so), a "tortilla de patatas" is really more of an egg-potato quiche/omelette/frittata dish.

Mo’z Café

"Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive." ~ Elbert Hubbard

http://moz-cafe.com/


Place: Mo'z Café
Location: 36 5th Street (on the corner of  Stevenson Street)
Hours:  open at 6:00am(???) every day of the week (the reason for the series of questionable marks after the time is that the actual opening time is not listed anywhere on their web-site, neither is it listed anywhere on the front of the building, nor inside that I could see; I am just going by the times that are listed on some other on-line urban guides)
Meal: Breakfast Burrito ~ two eggs scrambled with green onions, jalapeños, tomatoes, and Jack cheese in a flour tortilla (served with black bean chili and topped with Ranchero sauce, sour cream, and parsley); a side of hashbrowns; and a cuppa Mo'z Blend Coffee

(In continuation of the celebration of the 69th birthday of George Ivan Morrison, I asked another big fan ["Hey, Steve!"] ~ of Van's, not of my stupid li'l 'blog-thing ~ to tell me what his Top Two Favourite Van Morrison Songs of All-Time are. Well, being also an infernal Y*nkees fan, of course he named three songs, not two. I guess it was better than him going into a diatribe about how there really must be twenty-seven championships… er… songs to call it "of All-Time".)


I decided to try a new place (new for me, I am not sure how long they have been in business) and went to Mo'z Café. It is just a half-block down from Market Street and right across the street from the Westfield San Francisco Centre. Actually if you walk one block due west along Stevenson Street (which is really an alley), you end up at Dottie's True blue café. I do like that they open up very early every day (whatever time that may be); I probably arrived around 7:30am this morning (because 7:30pm would be "this evening", of course).

It is a large uncrowded, open space. The seating situation seemed to be: four two-seat tables along the alley window side; six four-seat tables interspersed throughout the joint; two more two-seat tables; and one six-seater. So, it was another decent-sized coffeehouse like yesterday.

The large blackboard-style menu along one wall listed several sections of breakfast dishes in these categories: Breakfast Specials, Benedicts, and South of the Border (and for any of you Canadianlanders, that would be cocina mexicana, not 'merican junk-food). Some other ideas that I was looking at were Huevos Rancheros, Eggs Florentine, or maybe even a crêpe (they offer several savoury or sweet choices).

This was an absolutely HUGE burrito. The real find of the breakfast this morning was the exceptionally tasty salsa ranchera ~ smoky flavour with a bit of heat (possibly made with chipotle chillies; I asked two different people that worked there, but they did not know). I was actually expecting some salsa lama straight out of a jar. This was a very good breakfastary version of the Mexican classic; however, I think it could have been improved just a bit by adding some hashbrowns inside (everything is better with potatoes), fresh diced jalapeños (instead of the pickled/canned type that were used), slices of fresh avocado, and maybe some queso fresco in place of the Jack cheese. I think all of that would really have put it over the top (well, over 7.0 on the GBS, at least). 

The cuppa Coffee was very robust (but more than likely made with Arabica, not Robusta beans) and had a good strong flavour. I have no idea what actual blend/roast it was or who provides the Coffee to them (again, their web-site is lacking in any information there), but they do sell 1-lb bags of it at the front counter, too. And unlike most coffeehouses in the city, they actually offer refillas of Coffee, which is always a plus.

Mo'z Café has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red), Tabasco® Brand Green Pepper Sauce (that would be the jalapeño version), and Tapatío® for condimentary supplements. I actually like the Tabasco® jalapeño sauce (well, better than the standard red), but I still used some of my own Fat Cat® Chairman Meow's Revenge (Scorpion Pepper Sauce) (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) and some Pickapeppa Sauce (Thanks, Amy!) on different halves of the hashbrowns (which I ended up just mixing all together after a bit, anyway).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Burrito de Desayuno ~ 6.6; Mo'z Blend ~ 6.8

the Grind Cafe

"To err is human, but when the eraser wears out ahead of the <pencil, you're overdoing it.” ~ Josh Jenkins

http://www.thegrindcafe.com/


Place: the Grind Cafe
Location: 783 Haight Street (at Scott Street)
Hours:  open at 7:00am every day of the week (and twice on Sundays)
Meal: Sicilian Omelet(te) ~ spinach, sun-dried tomato, fresh tomato, pesto, onion, & Feta (all Scramblers & Omelet[te]s served with hashbrowns or homefries & choice of toast); and a 16 oz. cuppa the Grind Cafe SoMa Blend

(There is no connection between today's EweToobular videos and the Grind Cafe. Tomorrow just happens to be the 69th birthday of one George Ivan Morrison. [Ivan?!] So, in honour of that, I am making this an all "Van the Man" [or "George Ivan the Man", even] music weekend.

The reason for both of these specific selections is because I asked a friend of mine ["Hey, Skip!"], who is probably one of the biggest Van Morrison fans ever, what were his Top Two Favourite Van Morrison Songs of All-Time. He stated unequivocally that #1 had to be "Into the Mystic". He then said that everything else by Van would be #2; however, if he really had to choose another song, make it "Brown Eyed Girl". 

I am pretty sure that I have linked both of these songs before here in the past… but tough! If'n you don't like it, you can start your own 'damn 'blog-thing and post all the 'damn videos of 'damn 'Jason Mraz or 'damn 'John Mayer that you 'damn-well please!

In that first video, I bet you never knew that Bob Ross could also play the keyboards, huh?!)


I finally got around to going back to the Grind Cafe (see previous blog-entry from November 11th, 2012: http://breakfastatepiphany.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-grind-cafe.html) for breakfast. They were closed for several months last year for renovations(?) and recently (as in February of this year) re-opened. They were pretty busy and full even at 8:30am on a Saturday morning (don't any of these idiots sleep-in any more?!). 

This morning, I sat outside in the sidewalk-patio area where there are three tables for four people and three tables for two people (and probably enough space for several dogs, too, if need be ~ when I first arrived, there was one old, three-legged guy waiting patiently out front for his stupid humans that were being selfish and eating inside). There are probably three to four times that amount of tables inside the large space, too.

Like most coffeehouses, you order and pay first, get a random number (mine was "17" this morning), and then they bring the food out to you when it is ready. They offer a large and varied selection of food in several breakfastary categories: Scramblers, Omelet(te)s, House Favorites, Buttermilk Pancakes, French Toast, and Belgian Waffles. There were a few other good ideas that caught my eye (well, both of them): Breakfast Burrito (flour tortilla filled with scrambled eggs, Cheddar, avocado, salsa, sour cream, & choice of bacon, sausage, ham or chorizo, substitute for vegetarian sausage ~ which is what I probably would have done did); Acropolis Omelet(te) (artichoke, tomato, olives, spinach, & Feta ~ this was basically an omelette version of the Mediterranean Scram that I had there two years ago, so I wanted to try something a bit different); or Hash Brown Hill (a mound of homefries or hashbrowns covered with melted Cheddar & topped with sour cream, black olives, avocado, & green onion ~ of course, I would probably have had to order a side of potatoes to go with it).

Sundried tomatoes + spinach + Feta = Siciliano? Chi sapeva? The omelette included both sundried (or sun-dried or sun dried, take your pick) and fresh tomatoes in it; I am a huge tomato-fan (just never throw tomatoes at a huge fan unless you are looking to make a nice red gravy), but I think the fresh tomatoes were a bit of an overkill, and that the sundried would have been more than sufficient. Luckily, there was a lot of the sundried variety in it for my liking, as well as lots of Feta (and these were in chunks/cubes ~ not those crummy crumbles). It was all tied together nicely with a pesto-ey base, too; they weren't heavy-handed with the pesto, but just the right amount.

I love a place that offers a choice of potato sides. I went with hashbrowns today. It is stated on the menu that you can "substitute fruit for hash brown add $1.50". What kind of complete (or incomplete) knucklehead would ever do that?! Even I can make a "fruit salad" at home… well, if I ever had any fresh fruit, that is. I did discover that sundried tomatoes, spinach, and Feta go very well with hashbrowns, too, as I added some of the excess filling of the omelette to the last of my potatoes.

For my toast choice, I simply chose sourdough.

The Coffee came served in a 16 oz. pint-glass with one of those cardboard zarfs. (Hey! It is a real word. Look it up your own 'damn self! I can't be supplying all of your stupid, useless cunning linguist pointers for you.) They do not roast their own Coffee blends, but the Coffees are specially produced for them by a local Berkeley roastery. They do sell bags of the SoMa Blend in half-pound and pound quantities at the front counter.

For condimentary supplementation, the Grind Cafe offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red), Tapatío®, and Huy Fong Foods Inc.® 
Sriracha[1] Hot Chili Sauce, which is a pretty fair selection for just a coffeehouse. Once again, I used some of my own Hula Girl Chipotle Habanero (Thanks, Jim!) on the hashbrowns and some Nando's® Extra Hot Peri-Peri Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) on the omelette.

Maybe I shoulda gotten a Van-illa Latte with my meal this morning…


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Sicilian Omelet(te) ~ 6.6 (without the superfluously redundant fresh tomatoes, I may have rated this at 6.7); SoMa Blend ~ 6.8; Van Morrison ~ 8.5


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist and pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day:

"Sriracha sauce" is actually named after the coastal town in Thailand where it purportedly was first concocted. The actual name of the city is Si Racha (pronounced "See Ra-cha"). 

(Thanks for that titbit go to a brother of mine that once lived in Thailand in the early 80's. I won't specify whom. And Bijay doesn't count. 555!)

However, there is no truth to the fact that "Si Racha/Sri Racha" means "How hot you like it now, Joe?"

Breakers

A breakfastary roadtrip (part the second):
Rockaway Beach, Pacifica, CA

http://ilovebreakers.com/


Place: Breakers
Location: 145 Rockaway Beach Avenue, Pacifica
Hours:  Open 7:00am every day!
Meal: Greek Omelet(te) ~ spinach, tomatoes, red onions, black olives, & a blend of Mozzarella & Feta cheese, served with potatoes & choice of bread; and a cuppa (well, actually a pitchera) Peerless Coffee® (I didn't get the actual roast/blend)

(Three EweToobular videos today? What gives?! 

Well, I am just continuing my International Linda Ronstadt Weekend. Plus, the first song can double as today's earthquakey theme. And, besides, Mick never looked anywhere as good singing this song when he was wearing nothing but a bandana, a black vest, blue jeans, and knee-high cowboy boots.

The second song serves both for the Linda Ronstadt tribute and sort of a juxtaselection with the name of today's restaurant.

And the third song is just because how awesome is a duet with Linda and Bonnie Raitt? Man, I would have loved to have been made into a "Brian Sandwich" with those two back then. I may even have allowed some of that vile white goop, mayonnaise, on it, but just none of the vile weed.

I suppose I coulda linked "Santa Monica" by Everclear ~ just listen to the lyrics ~ but, again, Linda was much cuter than Art Alexakis, even with his awesome bleach-blonde hair.)


Just for the heckovit, I made another breakfastary roadtrip all the way down to Rockaway Beach (the one in Pacifica, CA, not the one in Queens, New York City, NY). It is exactly fourteen miles due south (I odometered it), which is only about thirty minutes driving along the Great Highway and Highway 1 (and equal to a simple trip across town even, if not quicker). (I have discovered that all the lights along the Great Highway are timed at 35mph… and, surprisingly enough, also at 70mph.) Breakers is right across the street from yesterday's breakfastary destination, NICK'S (or NICKS). (However, I am pretty sure that the name of today's restaurant is the plural noun, and not in the Genitive case ~ unless the owner happens to actually be named "Nick Breaker".)

There was a great view of the Pacific Ocean/Rockaway Beach from my window seat this morning. Breakers is a decent sized place and seating is (approximately): six tables for two; four tables for four; and ten to twelve booths for two to four people. It is definitely a family/kid-friendly place as there was a table next to me with two families and three kids between them. They give every kid a complimentary (or maybe even a "complementary") box of crayons and a placemat to colour. The 4-pack of crayons is probably ~ Black, Red, Yellow, and Blue. I don't really know for sure, though, as NO ONE offered ME any of the fun stuff (I was sure to point out this major disappointing omission to one of the waitress-server ladies; I also let her know that it would not affect the amount of the tip in any way, though).

In addition to a good selection of 3 Egg Omelets, Breakers also offers several Three Egg Scrambles (and this area of the menu actually had "Three" spelled out, whereas the omelettes section had the Arabic numeral "3"), Frittatas (they don't specify if these are "3 Egg" or "Three Egg"), Pancakes, French Toast, Belgian Waffles, and several Crepes (which they have spelled sans un accent circonflexe). From the Frittatas section I liked the sound of the Veggie (diced vegetables, salsa, sour cream & chives). From the Crepes section: Roasted Eggplant (red peppers, glazed onions, portabella mushrooms, garlic, Jack cheese, marinara sauce & sour cream) and Garden (avocado, spinach, mushrooms, bell peppers, Jack cheese, tomatoes, sour cream & chives) would have been good options for stupid vegetarians.

This was a pretty good omelette. It was made with lots of Feta and spinach (inside and even with more Feta sprinkled on top), both major plusses in my book (which is of the colouring type and here is where I coulda used some of those damned crayons); however, they just use those sliced, canned black olives; this would have been soooo much better with real Kalamata olives, of course. My choice of bread was sourdough; and I liked how they make it: they actually toast it a bit first and then finish it on the grill! (I happened to mention this to the owner, Mr. Breaker, when I was paying and he said they do it that way specifically because that is how he likes the toast to be made). The side of potatoes were of the hashbrown variety.

I enjoyed the idea of them leaving the pitcher/pot (in a plastic thermos thingy, à la IHOP®) of Coffee right on the table, that way you could make your own refillas whenever you felt like. I made sure to utilize it at least two to three times, too.

Breakers has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and also Tabasco® Brand Habanero Sauce for use as condimentary supplements. They may possibly offer Cholula® Hot Sauce, too, as I saw it on one other table, but it could easily have belonged to the guy sitting there as it was gone the next time I looked over at his table right after he had left. What kinda complete idiot brings their own hot sauces to a public restaurant? For a change, I actually used some of their Habanero Sauce on the omelette. This is one of the better flavours that Tabasco® has to offer (my favourite of theirs being Chipotle), and it has more flavour and heat than the standard red stuff. I also used some of my own Hula Girl Chipotle Habanero (Thanks, Jim!) liberally (as in "feel free to use as much as you like") all over the potatoes.

I took some of the extra Feta and red onions that were on top of the omelette and mixed them into the hashbrowns, because, of course: "Everything is betta with Feta!"


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Greek Omelet(te) ~ 6.5 (which would probably have been a 6.7 or 6.8 with real Kalamata olives)