Dottie's True blue café

"Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. 
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. 
Wouldn't you like to get away? 
Sometimes you want to go 
Where no Juan knows your name..."[1] 

(Still no official web-site any longer. As can be seen in the above photo, sadly, Dottie's True blue café is officially for sale.)


Place: Dottie's True blue café
Location: 28 Sixth Street (on the corner of Stevenson Street, which is a little alley about halfway between Market and Mission Streets); 
phonicular contact: (415) 885-2767
Hours: open for breakfast Thursday through Monday at 7:30am
Meal: Black Bean Cakes and Eggs any style ~ topped with sour cream and pico de gallo, served with grilled chili-cheddar corn bread (which they have as two separate words, but I would normally write as oneword) and home fries (again, they have this as two words; whereas, I will normally stylise it as oneword, too), and jalapeño jelly; and a cuppa Coffee (and one-and-a-half refillas)

(There really is no reason for today's EweToobular song; I just like Rickie Lee Jones. She does mention "September" in the lyrics, so you can take that as a juxtaselection if you like.)


Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get up early and be first in line. I had arrived at Dottie's True blue café (see previous 'blog-entry from June 13th, 2015) about twenty minutes before they were due to open and no one else was waiting in line (if there is no line, I suppose you can't really say "no one else was waiting in line") yet. While I was standing at the closed gates looking over this weekend's fresh-baked goods selection (which they have on a large blackboard inside the entrance-way), one of the indigenous populace decided to start yelling at and berating me (for reasons her own drug-addled mind may have known) and even hit me with her sunglasses. She then threatened to hit me with her 24oz can o' Colt 45 (I knew there was little chance of her doing that and risk spilling her breakfast, though). The commotion brought a few of Dottie's employees to the door and Kurt ended up shooing the poor, crazy lady away. (Well, Kurt didn't refer to her as a "lady", but you get the idea.)

As for that list of fresh-baked goods this weekend, there were several good ideas (as always): Prohibition Whiskey Blueberry Crumb Cake (I think that poor street-lady may have partaken of half of that name already this morning); Miss Dottie's Cinnamon Streusel[2] Coffee Cake; 1919 Rum Runner Coconut Rum Bread Pudding (again, I think my friendly street-lady may have squeezed out some drops of that Rum for herself); 1929 Bronze Goddess-Banana Rum Caramel Sweet Roll; Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffin; Miss Dottie's Peach Blueberry Crumb Cake; Pear Cinnamon Roll; as well as several other choices.

I have had the Black Bean Cakes many times over the years. This is one of my favourites at Dottie's. I like to explain to people that these are something like a vegetarian version of a sausage patty (if the dead, decaying porky stuff were substituted with black beans and rice, I suppose). I styled my two eggs as over-medium. 

As I have stated many times before, Dottie's has a pretty decent condimentary supplementational selection. This always saves me the trouble of having to schlep any of my own bottles with me. I used a good amount of their Tabasco® Brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce on the homefries and a little Frank's® RedHot® Chile 'n Lime™ on top (well, if these were "over"-medium, I suppose this would be "on bottom") of both eggs.

Dottie's. Come for the food, stay for the street-show...


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Black Bean Cakes and Eggs any style ~ 6.9; grilled chili-cheddar corn bread with jalapeño jelly ~ 7.2


___________________

1. Many years ago, when I was stationed in Athens (the one in Greece, not the much more famous one in Ohio) with the Air Force (the U.S. Air Force, not the Greek Air Force ~ they were right next door to us, though), there was a guy doing his yearly Reservist Active Duty tour (I think he was there for two months in the summer) at our squadron. For some reason, he would call me "Scotty". I corrected him the first few times, but after he kept calling me "Scotty", I just let it go. One time a friend of mine (Hey, Jordan!) overheard him calling me "Scotty" and asked me what that was all about. I explained it as, "It's just easier this way, and I knew he was talking to me."

I presented that corn-ball story for a somewhat explanation of the stupid Cheers theme song paraphrase. Here is a recreation of a conversation I had with my waiter-server guy this morning after I had finished breakfast:

Me: Where is Juan this morning?
Waiter-server guy: Who?
M: "Juan". He's worked at Dottie's since it was still back on Jones Street.
W-sg: Oh, you mean "José". He's off until 9:00am today.
M: His name is "José"? I have always greeted him as "Juan" and he's never corrected me. Oops!

I guess José figured, "It's just easier this way, and I knew el gringo estúpido was talking to me."

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

"Streusel" is German meaning "something scattered or sprinkled", it comes from the verb "streuen" ("to scatter/sprinkle/spread"). The English word "strew" is a cognate.

I suppose you could say that my street-companion this morning was a bit "Streuen-Gehirn".

Ella's

"The one with the potato scramble with bluelake[sic][1] beans, roasted beets, grilled carrots, and havarti (and add[ed] eggs)."

http://www.ellassanfrancisco.com/

Place: Ella's Neo Classical American Cooking 

Location: 500 Presidio Avenue (on the corner of California Street)

Hours: open for breakfast Monday through Friday at 7:00am; open for "Brunch" Saturday and Sunday (and apparently on Monday holidays, too) at 8:30am

Meal: potato scramble ~ with Blue Lake beans, roasted beets, grilled carrots, and Havarti, and add(ed) eggs; and a glassa Ginger Orange Juice Punch

(Do I really need to explain today's EweToobular juxtaselection? 

Well, fine. It is a well-known fact that Ms. Fitzgerald was a big fan of potato scrambles and roasted beets.)

In continuing with the September Workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I went back to Ella's Neo Classical American Cooking (see last 'blog-entry from April 12th, 2015) this morning. For some reason, I had it in my mind that they opened at 8:00am (yeah, I have only been going there for fifteen to twenty years now) and I arrived there around 8:15am expecting there to already be a long line around the corner. However, unlike a normal Saturday or Sunday "Brunch" crowd, they weren't that busy when I first got there (read: there were only six other idiots waiting with me when I got there fifteen minutes before they opened).

For stupid vegetarians, there really are only a limited number of other ideas from which to choose. I could have gone with any of the following: open faced omelette (with shredded beef, grilled onion, oven roasted tomatoes, rosemary, and Swiss cheese; of course, skipping the shredded dead, decaying bovine stuff); folded omelette (with grilled prawns, sautéed mushrooms, sun dried tomato, and sharp white Cheddar cheese; again, I would have skipped the grilled dead, decaying marine insects); or possibly, if I felt like going sweet instead of savoury, peach & blueberry oatmeal pancakes (3).

I reckon that I get the weekend special potato scramble about three-out-of-five visits, which is not a bad thing at all. Plus, that they offer a great breakfast ("Brunch", whatever) choice that highlights potatoes is one of the reasons I keep going back all these years, anyway. Because I have had the potato scramble so often, I am pretty sure that I have had a similar (if not the exact) combination of ingredients before. It really didn't matter, though, like Lady Ella, beets are one of my favourite underground fruits, and if it is available in a meal, it will usually be my choice. I thought that grilling the carrots was a nice touch, too.

For a change, as my toast/bread side choice, I went with one of their house baked (restaurant-baked, whatever) buttermilk biscuits. It was very good, too, like all the rest of their fresh-baked goods.

For condimentary supplementation, Ella's only has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green [Jalapeño] Pepper Sauce). I just went with some of my own Lucky Dog Medium Fire-Roasted Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on half of the pile and some Fat Cat Strawberry Serrano Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the other half of the pile. They also have their own homemade (restaurant-made, whatever) jam on all the tables; today's jam was a tasty strawberry one and I put it to good use on both halves of the buttermilk biscuit.

Another Breakfastary Dessert Sojourn to Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park

http://japaneseteagardensf.com/

Having finished breakfast ("Brunch", whatever) early enough, I decided I wanted to go to Golden Gate Park and walk around San Francisco Botanical Garden for a bit. As it was still early enough before all the weekend/holiday crowds hit the streets, I was able to find an available parking space just a block away along Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. I happened to notice that the Japanese Tea Garden was open already for the morning (and because it was still before 10:00am, it is free to the public, which is always nice), so I headed over there first before going to San Francisco Botanical Garden. I was still a bit peckish (and didn't even need to curtail any of my Walpoing activities), so I figured I would hit the Tea House first for a little breakfastary dessert before walking around. I had me a cuppa their Hojicha[2] ("originated in Kyoto and is distinguished from other Japanese teas because it is roasted in a porcelain pot over charcoal, whereas, others are typically steamed. Bancha, a summer crop tea harvested after sencha, is fired at a high temperature, turning the leaves from green to brown. Hojicha has an earthy, nutty, slightly smoky flavor.") and some Kuzumochi ("House-made sweet rice cakes in assorted flavors"; six pieces, two each of: Green Tea, Strawberry, and Mango).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: potato scramble ~ 6.9; Hojicha ~ 6.8; Kuzumochi (they were all good, but I liked the Mango the best) ~ 6.7; Japanese Tea Garden ~ 8.0


___________________

1. Yeah, I had no idea what the heck they were supposed to be either. Actually they are called "Blue Lake (two words) beans". I was a little disappointed when they came out and they were just ordinary green beans with some fancy name. There really aren't enough blue
foods.

http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Blue_Lake_Beans_606.php

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

Surmising (and correctly, I am happy to state) that the "cha" part of "Hojicha" might mean "tea" in Japanese, I asked one of the server-person guys (after making sure he was actually Japanese) if this was the case. He told me that yes, this was the case. 

Like yesterday's (à propos o' nuthin') stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer about "opera", the word for "tea" is pretty universal and derives from the Chinese word "茶" (which is pronounced as either "cha" or "tey", depending on the dialect/region). Not only is the word the same in Japanese, they use the exact same Chinese character for it: "茶" (the Japanese also have "お茶", which is pronounced "ocha").

I have even made a separate 'blog-entry specifically on tea (see 'blog-entry from June 18th, 2012).

higher grounds coffee house

(No official [or unofficial] web-site available.)


Place: higher grounds coffee house ~ a nice little place to eat (or higher grounds coffeehouse or higher ground ~ a coffeehouse; take your pick)
Location: 691 Chenery Street (on the corner of Diamond Street); phonicular contact: (415) 587-2933
Hours: open daily at 8:00am
Meal: Cannelloni[1] (crêpe) ~ cheese (they don't specify it on the chalkboard menu, but I am guessing that this was Cheddar; I really forgot to check), onion, mushroom, spinach, cottage cheese (which may have actually been Ricotta cheese, as they offer that on a different style crêpe and that would be the standard filling in the pasta dish "Cannelloni"), Marinara (savory crêpes served with potatoes [of the homefries variety] & salad [of the rabbit-food variety]); and a cuppa their own very good (Coffee)house blend/roast

(For today's EweToobular juxtaselection, you will just need to read on a bit further to the end where I make another Strange Interlude, Eugene.)


I went back to higher grounds coffee house ~ a nice little place to eat (or higher grounds
coffeehouse or higher ground ~ a coffeehouse; they have it stylized a few different ways on their signage) (see previous 'blog-entry from November 9th, 2014) this morning to have a nice little bit to eat.

There was the same guy (the owner, I assume) working the counter-register/Espresso machine/grill all by himself again this morning. (Another guy did come in around 8:45am to help out behind the counter; however, by then, everyone had already ordered and had been mostly served, and the owner-guy still finished up all the rest of the cooking that was needed.) The place really filled up pretty quickly on a Sunday morning and all of the tables (inside and outside) were occupied by 8:30am (these people really need to get lives). There was also the same little white poodle in the corner with his group of human friends.

They offer several other interesting-sounding ideas: 

• Puttanesca (tomato, olives, onion, mushroom, garlic, capers, red pepper [I am pretty sure that means of the chilli-er kind and not the bell type], parsley, olive oil, sour cream; I will probably get this one the next time I go back there; and there will definitely be a next time; if this place were a little closer, it would totally be Breakfastary Starting Rotation-worthy); 
• Florentine (cheese, spinach, cottage cheese, onion);
• Alla Milanese (tomato, eggplant, Mozzarella, onion, black pepper, olive oil, spices); 
• Curry (bell pepper, cheese, onion, sour cream, potato; they don't state it on the menu, but I am sure there are some kinda curry-spices involved there, too); 
• Simply Italian (Mozzarella, Parmesan, basil, spices, salt, pepper, olive oil, zucchini); or 
• Apple Cheese (cheese, apple, brown sugar, cinnamon). 

All of these can be made as either crêpes or omelettes. Of course, the last one would make a rather strange omelette, even for my bizarre tastes (but I am not ruling it out entirely for a future visit).

This crêpe was another big hit with me, and just one more good reason to return again (one of these days). The Marinara sauce was very tasty, too. I think the owner-guy is actually of Arab descent, but he seems to have a very good take on la cucina di Bella Italia.

If I had one little complaint (I didn't, but if i did), it would have been that the homefries weren't cripsy (read: burned) enough for my liking. This can be more than explained by the fact that the lone owner-guy had to prepare three to four servings of homefries from scratch all at the same time (to be honest, I would really rather have had homefries prepared from potatoes instead).

Not that it really matters, but they no longer charge $2.07 for a cuppa Coffee as they did last year. They have raised the price to an even $2.50 (which is more than worth the price here, anyway, as it is a great cuppa and an extra large cuppa, too) now. I noticed that they also offer a Borgia on their Espresso drinks menu.

higher grounds coffee house (or higher grounds coffeehouse or higher ground ~ a coffeehouse) only offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce as a condimentary supplement, but they do have Tellicherry[2] Black Pepper Grinders on most of the tables (which I made sure to put to good use all over the crêpe, potatoes, and rabbit-food stuff). I just used some of my own Fat Cat Chairman Meow's Revenge (Scorpion Pepper Sauce) (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on only half of the crêpe and some Hot Licks® Serrano Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the homefries.

A Strange Operatic Interlude

Just because I thought of it recently (and this is really 
à propos of nuthin' else), have you ever noticed that the word for "opera"[3] is a cognate in almost all languages? They all come from the same Italian word "opera". Ferinstance:

Afrikaans/Croatian/Czech/Danish/Dutch/English/
Filipino/Hungarian/Latvian/Lithuanian/Maori/
Norwegian/Polish/Slovak/Slovenian/Somali/Swedish/Turkish/Uzbek/Welsh/Zulu ~ "opera" (in case you didn't notice it, that would be "opera" from "A" to "Z")
Albanian ~ "operë"
Bulgarian/Macedonian/Russkij/Serbian/Tajik/
Ukrainian ~ "опера"
Catalan ~ "òpera"
Esperanto ~ "opero" (them damn Esperantonians just have to be different from the rest of the Europeans)
Estonian ~ "ooper"
Finnish ~ "ooppera"
French ~ "opéra" (and the damn Frenchies aren't any better than the damn Esperantonians)
German ~ "Oper"
Greek ~ "όπερα"
Icelandic/Portuguese/Spanish ~ "ópera"
Maltese ~ "opra"
Romanian ~ "operă"
Winfrey ~ "Oprah"

Just never get lost in Pest (or Buda, even) and try to find out where their "Opera" is located.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Cannelloni (crêpe) ~ 6.9; higher grounds coffee house (or higher grounds coffeehouse or higher ground ~ a coffeehouse) house Coffee ~ 6.9


___________________

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

"Canneloni" is simply Italian for "large reeds".

2. Apparently, the town of Thalassery (formerly Tellicherry), on the Malabar Coast of India, was well-known for its black pepper trade.

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, dualitas:

The Italian word "opera" comes from the plural of the Latin word "opus", which means "service, work".

Baker Street Bistro

http://www.bakerstreetbistro.com/


Place: Baker Street Bistro 
Location: 2953 Baker Street (between Lombard and Greenwich Streets)
Hours: open for "Brunch" Saturday & Sunday at 9:00am
Meal: Oeufs Baker Street Bistro ~ ratatouille, poached eggs, English muffins, tomato sauce, served with homefries and mixed greens (i.e. rabbit-food stuff); and a cuppa (and one and a half[1] refillas) Coffee

Yeah, it is already September again and that means that there is just one month left of Regular Season Baseball, so it's time for a workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation once again. I am starting with Baker Street Bistro (see last 'blog-entry from April 19th, 2015) mainly because I felt like it (if you have a problem with that, you can take it up with Chantal).

As it was a very sunny morning for a change, I decided to sit outside. I didn't even need the sweatshirt-jacket thingy that I was wearing. It was actually pretty comfortable (just a bit cool) in the shade of the awning over the sidewalk patio-café area. The extra-added bonus of sitting outside is that you get to eat with any dogs that may have brought their humans out for breakfast ("Brunch", whatever). There was a pretty cool dog the next table over from me that was having a good time guarding the entrance door from any unwanted customers and also protecting his personal area from other mangy canines walking by on the sidewalk.

As always, the Oeufs Baker Street Bistro was an excellent choice. I like this much better than plain ol' Eggs Benedict or Eggs Florentine. I never really noticed before, but they actually grill the English muffins, which was a nice added touch I thought. Again, even if Baker Street Bistro didn't have the Best French Toast (well, Pain Perdu) in San Francisco (and just possibly the entire U.S. of A.), this meal would be worth a return visit in itself.

For condimentary supplementation, Baker Street Bistro only has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce on all the tables. Knowing this full-well (Do you think that people ever know anything "half-cistern"?), I just went with some of my own Florida Gold Premium Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) on top of just one of the poached eggs and some Toad Sweat Chocolate Orange Dessert Hot Sauce (Thanks, Sean!) on the homefries. Yes, I used a "dessert hot sauce" on my potatoes! It was actually pretty tasty on the potatoes, too. And for any of you that may be sneering at the use of this hot sauce on my breakfast potatoes, I would just like to point out that this combination is 100% All-American (well, South or Central American), as chocolate, chillies, and potatoes are all New World foods. (Hey, don't knock it until you have tried it. And I am pretty sure that there is little chance that anyone else will even attempt it, anyway, so you will never know for sure.) This one would probably be pretty good on pancakes or French Toast ~ just not on le Pain Perdu Ultime at Baker Street Bistro, as that would be completely blasphemous. 

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

I was completely shutout this morning from seeing any of my noisy little friends. I had parked over by the Lombard Street entrance to the Presidio again and arrived just a little before nine a.m., but there was neither hide nor feather of them in any of the tall eucalyptus trees there. They must have gotten an early jump on the day. (The early pandemonium catches the worm?)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Oeufs Baker Street Bistro ~ 7.2


___________________

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

I  got to use one of the few Spanish phrases that I know (which I had actually learned at Baker Street Bistro a while back) when I asked for a "half-refilla" from the Mexican server-dude: "La mitad, por favor!"

Royal Ground Coffee

Richmond (District) Coffeehouses 
~ Chapter Six

(and also Breakfast on Geary [redux], 
Part XXIII)

http://www.royalgroundcoffee.net/


Place: Royal Ground Coffee 
Location: 5301 Geary Boulevard (on the corner of 17th Avenue)
Hours: open at 6:30am daily
Meal: Egg & Cheese Bagel; an apricot-raspberry scone; and a medium cuppa Cafe Borgia  

(Same as yesterday: Monday still happens to be the 70th birthday of one Sir George Ivan Morrison, OBE. So, I am sticking with his music for this weekend.

"Sir"? Yes, sir!

I am including the last cover of one of his songs by Marianne as I think she really does it justice… faithfully.)


Continuing along with my Richmond (District) Coffeehouses series, I went to Royal Ground Coffee. They are a local Bay Area mini-chain of "non-corporate" coffeehouses. There are twelve in all thus far, and three of them happen to be located in my general vicinity (and all three of which I have been to at least a few times in the past). To the best of my recollection, today's specific shop has been open now for at least twenty years (or more). This one is also within walking distance of my apartment (that is, if you don't mind walking the fifteen blocks both ways, there and back). 

It is a medium-sized coffeehouse with fifteen tables for two (which can always be combined into tables for four, of course). Additionally, there are two comfortable-looking, large, stuffed sofas and two rattan beach-style chairs (positioned around an indoor water-fountain thing). My table (and several others) had a cool Coffee-cup design painted on it.

As with most coffeehouses, there really aren't that many items from which to choose for a breakfastary meal, but I figured on all that ahead of time. A couple of other ideas (for stupid vegetarians and dead, decaying meat-fleshatarians alike) were: Veggie Bagel (cream cheese, tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, & capers) or perhaps some kinda Croissant'wich (I am not quite sure that name has been legally approved with Burger King®, but that was exactly how they had it listed on the menu).

Like many coffeehouses, there is really no kitchen/stove in/on which to cook stuff, and they have to rely on a microwave or a toaster-oven to prepare everything. I am not a big fan of "nukular" foods (much like them thar new-fangled mobular telephonic devices, I do not own, nor have I ever owned, a microwaving oven), but one must make do with which they have to offer. This was also made with boring, plain ol' 'merican cheese; I probably mighta shoulda asked for either Swiss or Cheddar (both of which I noticed that they offered after I had already started eating it). I went with a basic sesame bagel for the base; they did offer several other choices (but even I wouldn't have liked this made with a cinnamon-raisin bagel… well, maybe not).

Their version of a Cafe Borgia (Eh?! Why-a-no "Caffè Borgia", Lucrezia?) was basically a Mocha made with orange syrup added to it; it was a little (well, a lot) on the sweet side for my liking. The first time I ever had a Cafe Borgia (o Caffè Borgia) at Simple Pleasures Cafe, it was made with a whole fresh orange quarter ("a whole quarter"?) on the bottom of the glass; I much preferred that (less sweet) version; plus, when you did get to the bottom, you got to suck on/eat the orange quarter that had soaked up the Coffee-Chocolate flavours (and, okay, you got to do that orange-smile Godfather thing to scare any nosy
little kids around). I mainly went with the Cafe Borgia 
(o Caffè Borgia) because they offered it on the "Coffee & Espresso Drinks" section of their menu, and, apropos-iatley, I had just mentioned it in yesterday's 'blog-entry. They listed a "Cafe Flore" on the menu; I have no idea what that might entail (a quick Intro-Net search was not to much avail either). And they had also listed one called a "Keith Richard". (Now, just what the heck is that supposed to be, do ya think?! Is there actually a "heroin-flavoured" syrup?) 

Once again, I didn't bother to find out what they may have had to offer in the way of condimentary supplements. I simply went with some (well, about a good ketchup-portion amount) of my own 
Palo Alto Firefighters Pepper Sauce (Thanks agains, Amys and Brian!) all over the nuked-scrambled eggs stuff.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Egg & Cheese Bagel ~ 5.9 (this probably would have been a 6.0 or 6.1 with "real" cheese on it); Cafe Borgia (o Caffè Borgia) ~ 6.3; apricot-raspberry scone ~ 6.4

SOMA Restaurant & Bar

"If you shut yer mouth and keep quiet, you may get what you want." ~ a bit of Zen insight from Sir George Ivan

(No official web-site; however, they have listed a 
web-site of www.somarestaurant.com on their business cards, but it does not actually work.)


Place: SOMA Restaurant & Bar 
Location: 85 Fifth Street (on the corner of Mission Street); phonicular contact: (415) 778-8500
Hours: open at 6:30am daily
Meal: Mediterranean Omelet ~ with spinach, red onion, zucchini, tomato, Kalamata olives, Feta cheese, & house potatoes, served with toast and jelly; and a cuppa (with one refilla) America's Best (this is just their lofty claim; I have had this brand many times before, and I would call it more like "America's Sufficiently Okay") Coffee Roasting Company 

(Monday happens to be the 70th birthday of one Sir George Ivan Morrison, OBE. So, I am sticking with his music for this weekend. 

"Sir"? Yes, sir!

I am pretty sure I have linked both of these songs many times here already in the past, and possibly these exact same videos. If you don't like it, start yer own damn 'blog-thing.)


I went to SOMA Restaurant & Bar for breakfast this morning. This normally wouldn't have been on my radar as a place to check out for breakfast, but I am running out of new places and figured I'd give them a try. I do like that they are open very early every day, and for an early morning meal that they don't call "Brunch". As best as I can figure, they are the house restaurant for the Pickwick Hotel. It's not really that large of a place; there are just six tables for two, seven tables for four, and one large table for six to eight people.

They don't offer that many items (only about a dozen or so) from which to choose on their breakfast menu, but I saw a couple of other good ideas if I ever get back there. Those would be: Good Morning Omelet (with mushrooms, spinach, tomato, & house potatoes); Italian Frittata (Italian mild sausage, mushrooms, Mozzarella cheese, & house potatoes; without the sausage for me, of course); Blueberry Pancakes; or Huevos Rancheros (eggs with tortillas, black beans, tomato, Mozzarella cheese, & house potatoes).

There was nothing really special about this one. This was just a basic, good omelette really. I did like the fact that it had lots of sliced Kalamata olives in it (and a good amount of Feta, too; as I always state: "Everything's betta with Feta!"). The leaves of spinach were incorporated into the egg mixture, not sautéed and added as an ingredient inside. They made decent enough homefries, too.

When I had finished eating all the food on my plate, I decided to eat the orange slice-garnish that was there. I then added the rinds to the last of my Coffee ~ à la Caffè Borgia.

http://www.food.com/recipe/cafe-borgia-320970

I have no idea what SOMA Restaurant & Bar had in the way of condimentary supplementation; none were offered and I really didn't bother asking for none, neither. I also skipped schlepping any of my own hot sauces with me this morning, as I just started reading a new book and it more than took up space and added weight in my backpack. I figured I could eat one breakfast without any hot sauce for a change.

the Author-Guy Strange Interlude

On Monday night, I went to a book-signing/book-launching (well, it ended up being more of a joke-telling) event for one of my current favourite living authors. This was the second-in-a-row of his book-launchings that I have been to in as many years. If you have never read any of Christopher Moore's books, I suggest starting with Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. 

http://www.chrismoore.com/


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Mediterranean Omelet ~ 6.5; Secondhand Souls ~ 7.5

MyMy CoffeeCoffee ShopShop

"Life, within doors, has few pleasanter prospects than a neatly arranged and 
well-provisioned breakfast table." 
~ Big Nate Hawthorne 

(No official web-site thing.)


Place: MyMy CoffeeCoffee ShopShop
Location: 15001500 CaliforniaCalifornia StreetStreet (on the corner of LarkinLarkin StreetStreet)
Hours: open at 8:00am8:00am dailydaily; 
phonicular contact: (415) 800-7466
Meal: peasant lorraine flat omelette ~ bacon (which I of course skipped, Mr. Way), leeks, shallot, asparagus, Gruyère, Lorraine Swiss, topped w/ grilled tomatoes (which they have in the plural, but this really was just one slice/quarter-tomato), served with toast and hash brown [ sic ] (which they have in the singular, but I am pretty sure there were actually several hashbrowns); a glassa Fresh Squeezed Lemonade; and, for a breakfastary dessert afterward, a cuppa Contraband Coffee Black Market Blend and a dynamo donut (?)Lemon Buttermilk(?) doughnut 

http://www.contrabandcoffeebar.com/

http://dynamodonut.com/

(I am just continuing with the International Linda Ronstadt Weekend here. It is just too bad that I could not find a EweToobular video of Linda singing Noel Yang's classic "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)", or, alternatively acoustically, "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)", as that would have been the perfect juxtaselection for this morning.)


I felt that it was highhigh timetime to gogo backback to MyMy CoffeeCoffee ShopShop (see lastlast 'blog'blog-entryentry from NovemberNovember 30th30th, 20142014) ~ mainly because I am running out of new places and ideas at which to breakfast. I probably shoulda sat outside this morning; it would have been comfortable enough with a sweatshirt on. There are now eight tables for two on the Larkin Street sidewalk side (or four tables for four, or two tables for four and four tables for two, or one table for four and three tables for two; well, you get the idea).

I really like the diversity of stuff that they have to offer on their menu. There are still several other good ideas that I have to try one of these days, such as: 

mambo italiano scramble (Italian sausage, oyster mushroom, basil, sun dried tomato, Roma tomato, Kalamata olive, smoked Mozzarella, tomato garlic relish; of course, I would have ottantasei-ed the maiale morto e decadimento stuff); 

tex-mex scramble (chorizo, garlic, roasted jalapeño, onion, Roma tomato, pepper Jack, chipotle aioli, pico de gallo, avocado, corn tortilla; I would have also ochenta y seis-ed the cerdo muerto y en en descomposición junk); 

chive pancake with crispy crumbled bacon & gorgonzola dolce (house made ricotta cheese pancake, served w/ two eggs sunny side up; once again, the crispy crumbled dead, decaying porky bits would have had to go); 

or

banana blueberry soufflé pancake (house made mascarpone cheese pancake w/ vanilla curd and candied walnut; of course, there would be no need to curtail any of my Walpoling activities for any dead, decaying porcine junk with this one). 

The first two choices are from their eggs & relatives section of the menu; the last two selections are from their sweet & savory griddle section of the menu. They also have a benediction section on the menu (with six different versions of Eggs Benedict) and a house favori 
[ sic ] section with six more choices (but really only one of which could be made suitable for stupid vegetarians).

Much like I expected, this simply turned out that 
"flat omelette" = "frittata". This had lots of asparagus (which is a very good thing in my book); and with two types of cheese(s), it was all nice and extra cheesy-gooey. I liked the slice (quarter) of grilled Roma tomato; it added a nice bit of flavour. 

The hashbrowns (or "hash brown" even) were (was) excellent and prepared exceptionally thin for maximum crispiocity. I was asked if I would like to substitute the hashbrowns (or "hash brown") for a side of fruit instead for an extra $2.00. Who would really pay an extra $2.00 for a side of "fruit"? Once again, even I can cut fruit and throw it in a bowl.

I went with sourdough as my toast choice. I liked that they actually grill the bread, too.

For some reason, they like to list all of their main dishes in minuscule, but the drinks are all listed in majuscule. go Figger! I was warned ahead of time by the waitress-server lady-person that they made their lemonade on the sweet side. It really was, too. I ended up taking the thick lemon slice garnish-thing and squeezed it into the glass; it helped some, but it was still a bit too sweet for my liking. I did like that the lemonade came with a bendy straw.

MyMy CoffeeCoffee ShopShop has the entire San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces (Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce [Original Red Sauce], Cholula® Hot Sauce [Original], and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce) for use as condimentary supplements. I used some (well, a lot) of my own Fat Cat Strawberry Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the hashbrowns (or "hash brown") and just a skosh (no more than eight drops ~ which was about five drops too many) Blair's 
After Death sauce with Liquid Fire (Thanks a lot, Sean! [See, this is where a sarcasm-emoji would really come in handy.]) on top of the omelette-frittata-thing.

Contraband Coffeebar is a cool little neighborhoody coffeehouse (well, if your neighborhood happens to be Nob Hill, that is). They were playing Gillian Welch on the house stereo the entire time I was there. I had to ask if it was a CD or some kinda Pandora®-thing; the barista-lady (baristata? la donna barista?) pointed out that it was actually a Gillian Welch EweToobular 
play-list that they had going through the house stereo. I also like that they offer a choice of several different blends/roasts to be made as a single-cuppa drip-style Coffee. My choice this morning was a nice dark roast, which they list as "deep, dark, rich, & toasty, subdued brightness, faint berry, excellent for drip or Espresso". 

I am not quite sure which specific doughnut I had. I asked the barista-lady which kinds of doughnuts they offered today and she could only say the one I was pointing at was "some kinda citrus doughnut"; so I am going with Lemon Buttermilk doughnut, as it's the only one I could see on the dynamo donut web-site that may match it.

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

Earlier in the morning, when I had first arrived, I saw a small pandemonium (of five) of the Wild Parrots heading westward (Ho!) along California Street. Later on, after breakfast and Coffee, I saw a larger pandemonium (of thirteen) of the chatter-heads heading a-southward.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
peasant lorraine flat omelette ~ 6.8; 
Contraband Coffee Black Market Blend ~ 6.9; 
dynamo donut (?)Lemon Buttermilk(?) doughnut ~ 6.7; 
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5