green chile kitchen

No guru, no method, no teacher... 
and no d*mn dead, decaying porcine junk!!!

http://www.greenchilekitchen.com/


Place: green chile kitchen

Location: 1801 McAllister Street
(on the corner of Baker Street)

Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Friday at 9:00am; "Brunch" available Saturday & Sunday at 9:00am

Meal: Savory Breakfast Sopaipillas  ~ eggs, cheese & chile w/ choice of beans (black, pinto, or refried; I went with black beans this morning; I was told that this also came with a side of bacon, but it was not listed on the menu; of course, I ochenta y seis-ed that stuff right away); a side of roasted potatoes; and a large glassa sandia agua fresca

(The first song/video is just my paean to Spring [the Vernal Equinox is only two days away, folks]. Besides, I never need an excuse for a Sir George Ivan song. [Thanks, Skip, for posting this song on defacedbook! I highly recommend listening to the entire 1986 album to everyone if you get the chance.]

There really is no juxtaselection with the second song/video. They were playing a version of this song on the house stereo this morning. This was comida nueva mexicana, not comida cubana, after all. I have been told that the song is a bit "risqué" [o "arriesgado" en español]; just think of it as a Cumbia[2] version of "Brown Sugar".)


It did not take me another year-and-a-half to get back to green chile kitchen (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, June 25th, 2016) this time. After claiming them as my "New Find for 2015", I probably shoulda had gotten back at least two to three times by now. And unlike some other places "way across town", it really does not take much time getting over to that part of the Western Addition/Lower Haight. Hopefully, I will remember this place if I am ever in a pinch for a good breakfast and don't feel like driving too far.

They have changed their breakfast/"Brunch" menu a bit since my last visit and no longer offer Huevos Motuleños or Quelites & Eggs (or, more likely, I think that they may have just changed the name of this one to "Eggs & Greens" so as not to confuse us gringos estúpidos). I was fully planning on opting for the Huevos Motuleños, but, luckily, they still offer many other good options for vegetarians and meatetarians alike; suchas:

Migas ~ eggs, crispy tortilla strips, green chile, tomatillo avocado salsa & cotija. served w/ black beans (I just had a version of this last week or I probably mighta woulda ordered this);

Huevos Rancheros ~ corn tortilla, 2 fried eggs, chile, cheese & crema. served w/ refried beans

or

Breakfast Flat Enchilada Plate ~ housemade corn tortillas, eggs, meat, chile, cheese & crema. served w/ posole & beans (I would have to order that without the dead, decaying animal flesh and possibly no posole, depending on how they prepare their posole).

This was another good breakfast output from green chile kitchen and yet another reason that I will be going back again one of these days. When I ordered my meal, the counter-lady (this doesn't mean that she is related to Caitlyn Jenner or sexually ambiguous, she just works at the cash register at the front counter) person asked if I wanted the green chile to be "Mild", "Medium", or "Hot". (Hmmmm?! Seeing as these are green chillies, I probably shoulda stylistically coulorized that as: "Mild", "Medium", or "Hot".) I wasn't too sure how hot their "Hot" was going to be, but I went with that heat-level, anyway. This ended up being only los gringos picante, if you ask me. It was still pretty tasty, all the same (or "not all the different").

Initially, I was worried that this might all be a little too much food for my appetite with the additional side of potatoes, but I ended up finishing every bite. (Of course, my lunch I did skip, Mr. Way.)

green chile kitchen has Tabasco® Brand Hot Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatio® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce for bottled hot sauce condimentary supplementation. However, I did see that they had several plastic squeeze bottles of M♥nroe's Red Chile Honey. Now that looked too good to pass up. I really didn't have anything to try it on, so I figured I would just squeeze some on top of my potatoes to make them a bit sweet-savoury. BIG mistake. Kids, I would NOT recommend trying this combination at home. It really was pretty 'orrible. I ended up dousing the remains with some of my own Dat'l Do-it® Zesty Chipotle Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!), which I am very glad I had thought to bring with me. ("You brought your own hot sauces to a place called green chile kitchen, Brian?... Do you also bring your own Brown Ale with you when you visit the most populous city of Tyneside conurbation?!") However, even with the additional chipotle flavour, the potatoes were pretty much a lost cause ('cause I am such an idiot); I did finish them all, anyway; they were still potatoes, after all. Later, I asked the counter-lady person what the Red Chile Honey would normally be used with and she said it is good on plain (not savoury-stuffed) sopaipillas.

(I wonder if this little guy knows Chilli Willy.)

http://www.monroeschile.com/


Pre-breakfastary Coffee break interlude

This morning, before even heading out for breakfast, I made me uppa cuppa Bettys Kenyan Karatina ~ Single Origin Ground Coffee. A BIG Thanks once again, Greg & Cindy! (These two are not related in any way to the "Cindy & Greg" that I had to schlep-around town last weekend.) This was another "new" roast/blend for me from Bettys; it was another truly stellar Coffee. They have this listed as a "Medium Roast", but I found it to be more than robust (even if it actually  was made from Arabica beans [Okay, that is just a little Coffee-geek humour; and now I have used that stupid joke three times today already.]).

https://www.bettys.co.uk/kenyan-karatina-single-origin-coffee


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Savory Breakfast Sopaipillas  ~ 6.5;
Bettys Kenyan Karatina ~ 7.5 (for a Britishlander tearoom kinda joint, this place really does offer great Coffees)

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/(but mostly) culinaristic pointer of the day:

American Spanish, equivalent to Spanish sopaip(a) fritter or thick pancake soaked in honey (earlier also xopaipa < Mozarabic, derivative of šúppa, súppa piece of bread soaked in oil, Spanish sopa < Germanic; see sop, soup ) + -illa diminutive suffix

Additional information stolen... er... borrowed from our friends at WikipediA (besides, you know they also "borried" it from someplace else):

"Sopapillas in New Mexican cuisine are distinct from Latin American sopapaillas. New Mexican sopapillas are pillow-shaped fried pastry dough. They are typically served as a bread, and used to mop up sauces, scoop up tidbits, or shredded into stews. They often serve as a quick meal in themselves, filled with savory ingredients such as ground beef. They are sometimes eaten as a dessert, drizzled with honey or anise syrup, but are often eaten this same way during the meal itself as New Mexican cuisine tends to be very spicy and sweet syrups reduce the sensations of heat."

2. ¿Qué?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumbia

Taylor Street Coffee Shop

(Sunday, March 12th, 2017)

(No official web-site.)


Place: Taylor Street Coffee Shop

Location: 375 Taylor Street (between Ellis and O'Farrell Streets); phonicular contact: 415-567-4031

Hours: open daily at 7:00am(-ish)

Meals: (mine) Florentine (Omelet)  ~ spinach, tomato, drizzled with Hollandaise sauce, no cheese, served with hash brown or sliced tomato and toast;
(both Cindy's and Greg's [I think]) Two Eggs Any Style ~ served with hash brown or sliced tomato and toast, Cindy had hers with an upgrade of Millionaire's Bacon ~ thick, free range bacon, baked with brown sugar, cayenne, red and black pepper;
to drink: me ~  a glassa orange juice, Cindy ~ cranberry juice, and Greg ~ a cuppa Coffee (and probably a few refillas)


The last breakfastary stop for the extended weekend was to Taylor Street Coffee Shop (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, June 18th, 2016). The beauty of this restaurant was that it was located directly across the street (which would be "Taylor Street", of course) from the hotel where Greg and Cindy were staying. (Unfortunately, it was a left turn out the front door, when I had been warning them all weekend to make sure to always "turn right" onto O'Farrell Street whenever leaving the hotel. This being borderline Tenderloin area and all.)

This was another very good offering from Taylor Street Coffee Shop. I had asked for my hashbrowns to be "upgraded" with the added habanero-infused pickled onions; however, something must have been lost in translation (How do you say "Ooops!" in Korean?) and the waitress/server-lady person had them add the habanero-infused pickled onions into the omelette batter by mistake. Now, I am not really complaining, as this turned out to be a very interesting addition after all; I just know that the hashbrowns are absolutely stellar with the habanero-infused pickled onions added on top. To complete the whole "Eggs Florentine as an Omelette impression", I probably shoulda went with English muffins as my side toast instead of my choice of sourdough.

The bacon that Cindy had looked pretty good (if dead, decaying porcine belly strips is your thing). To quote Cindy: "The bacon was good, but I prefer salty". It was made from two extra thick (at least a quarter-inch thick each) long strips of bacon. "Millionaire's" Bacon may be a bit of an exaggeration, but at $7.50 for just two slices, one would probably have to be at least a Hundred Thousandaire to enjoy that side dish every day of the week.

For condimentary supplements, Taylor Street Coffee Shop had Tabasco® Brand Hot Sauce (three ways: Original Red Sauce. Green Pepper [Jalapeño] Sauce, and Habanero Sauce) and Tapatio® Salsa Picante 
Hot Sauce. I thought about using some of the Habanero Sauce on top of the potatoes (to make up for the omission of the habanero-infused pickled 
onions), but the omelette proved to be picante enough for the rest of the meal.

After four days in a row of eating breakfast out, I probably won't be eating another one again... 
until this weekend.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Florentine (Omelet)  ~ 6.8 (factoring in the accidentally [but more than welcomed] inserted habanero-infused pickled onions; probably just a 6.6 otherwise)
(Yet still once again, I did not bother to poll the rest of the table for their Glen Bacon Scale Rating)

the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House

(Saturday, March 11th, 2017)

http://www.cliffhouse.com/bistro/index.html

Place: the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House

Location: 1090 Point Lobos (at the end of the Earth/Ocean Beach, "Where San Francisco Begins")

Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 9:00am, Sunday at 8:30am

Meals: (mine) Sautéed Vegetable Scramble ~ scrambled eggs, red peppers, tomatoes, scallions, button mushrooms, melted goat cheese, served with fresh fruit and roasted potatoes;
(Cindy's) Thick Sliced Sourdough French Toast ~ maple syrup, crisp bacon, powdered sugar, and fresh apple compote;
(Greg's) Farmer’s Breakfast Scramble ~ scrambled eggs, ham, potatoes, green onions, Cheddar cheese, served with fresh fruit;
to drink: me ~  a glassa grapefruit juice, Cindy ~ a glassa milk, and Greg ~ a cuppa Coffee (and a few refillas); 
and, of course, (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!)


While continuing the 50¢ tour of San Francisco with Greg and Cindy this weekend, we made sure to stop at the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from Monday, January 2nd, 2017) before heading into Golden Gate Park (or "Olden Gat Park") for the morning.

We were one of the first groups to arrive there before they had opened and we scored one of the good tables along the window-side that faces out toward Seal Rocks. The fog was still pretty thick in the morning, but luckily it burned off quickly while we were eating and the rest of the day was clear for touristing stuff.

I have had this same meal many, many, many times over. It's always good. Of the three or four dishes that they have to offer that are stupid vegetarian-friendly, I think I like this one best. The creamy goat cheese is a big factor.

Greg seemed to like his scrambled mess, too. I think he was most impressed with the shape of his plate, though.

Now what's with French toast two-out-of-three breakfasts? Cindy must think she's in Par-ee. The apple compote stuff looked pretty good and Cindy didn't even use it all up on the French toast; I bet it would go great with the (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!). I don't think that I have ever had their version of French toast; maybe one of these days.

As always, one of the main reasons that I keep coming back again and again and again... during the meal, there were two baskets of three (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!). That would work out to be the only fair division of the goods as: four for me and one apiece for Greg and Cindy...

the Bistro Restaurant only offers Tabasco® Brand Hot Sauce (Original Red Sauce) for condimentary supplementation. Knowing this, I came prepared with a bottle of my own Palo Alto Fire Fighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!), which I used judiciously all over my potatoes.

Hollywoodland Spotlight of the Day (or not)

Ooops! Once again, I was planning on highlighting one of the photos of a Hollywoodland person from above our table, but the guy whose photo I took turned out to be just some local San Francisco politician that had eaten there in the 40's or 50's. 


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Sautéed Vegetable Scramble ~ 6.7
(Once again, I didn't bother to poll the rest of the table for their Glen Bacon Scale Rating)

Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry

A(nother) breakfastary mini-roadtrip:
South San Francisco, CA

(Friday, March 10th, 2017)

(No official-type web-site.)


Place: Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry

Location: 1131 El Camino Real, South San Francisco, CA; phonicular contact: (650) 872-2810

Hours: open Monday-Friday at 7:30am; Saturday & Sunday at 8:00am

Meals: (mine) Spicy Migas ~ two eggs scrambled with yellow onion, green bell pepper, jalapeño pepper, tomatoes, & crispy tortilla strips, topped with Cheddar cheese, & served with black beans, warmed tomato salsa, & corn tortillas;
(Cindy's) Orange Bread French Toast ~ three slices of our (well, their) homemade (well, restaurant-made) bread, dipped in our (again, their) delicious orange batter, topped with butter and sliced oranges, & served with real maple syrup (I think Cindy may have optioned for a side of some dead, decaying grounded-up porcine or fowl links, too);
(Greg's) Denver Omelette ~ 3 eggs with bell peppers, white onions, Cheddar cheese, & ham, served with home fries and your choice of toast, muffin, bagel, tortillas, or scone;
and there were also some drinks drank (however, after four days in a row of breakfasts, the drinks part of the meal all seem to blur together; I might have had a glassa either orange or grapefruit juice; I am pretty sure that Cindy had a glassa milk and Greg had a cuppa Coffee and probably a refilla or two)


With my friends Greg and Cindy (these would be the same two people mentioned above and in the last 'blog-entry) in town for the weekend on their way to Hawai'i, we were going to head down to visit another friend, Dave (who has been my traditional Thanksgiving Day host for the past several years), in Gilroy for the day. I figured that this was as good a time as any to have breakfast somewhere south of the city on our way down to Gilroy, and I remembered to remember that I had not eaten at Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry (see previous 'blog-entry from [Easter] Sunday, April 24th, 2011) for quite a while now (Almost six years ago?! Who is scheduling these breakfasts?). I really should have revisited Jo Ann's Cafe sooner; it is truly good enough to be in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation (if not for the distance there and back).

Their version of "migas" is very similar to a chilaquiles dish, just with strips of crispy corn tortillas in it in place of the standard corn tortilla triangles/bits. I have had this dish of theirs a few times in the past (well, way past six years, at least) and always like it. Needless to say, it was very good on this visit, too. The scrambled eggs mess was topped with a nice chunky tomato salsa (think pico de gallo-style). 

I really liked the looks of Cindy's Orange Bread French Toast and may need to order that the next time I get back to Jo Ann's Cafe (hopefully not in another six years, though). Cindy said that it was good, and I would like to see how it compares to Baker Street Bistro's Pain Perdu.

Greg's dish was just a boring ol' Elw*y-town omelette. I did talk him into getting one of Jo Ann's Cafe fresh-baked muffins instead of boring ol' toast. I even got to try some of it; I just don't remember what kind of muffin it was (three days on now).

Jo Ann's Cafe condimentary supplements offerings are Tabasco® Brand Hot Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Cholula® Hot Sauce (Original). I did bring a few of my own hot sauces with me; the Spicy Migas wasn't all that spicy, but still picante enough where I didn't think I needed to mess with the flavour or heat level by adding any of my own hot sauces.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Spicy Migas ~ 7.0;
Orange Bread French Toast ~ 6.8 (per Cindy's educated rating)
(Apparently, no one cares what Greg's Glen Bacon Scale Rating might be)

Sears Fine Food

(Thursday, March 9th, 2017)

http://www.searsfinefood.com/

(I have absolutely no idea who the two tourist-geeks standing near the entrance are. I was hoping that they would move along so that I could get an uninterrupted shot of the entrance and awning. Apparently the one in the white shorts was running late for an appointment to get his legs waxed. If you ask me, he coulda used a new facial, too.) 

Place: Sears Fine Food

Location: 439 Powell Street (between Post and Sutter Streets, just a half-block up from Union Square)

Hours: open daily at 6:30am 

Meal: (well, mine) Spinach Omelet ~ chopped spinach, sautéed onion (much like the "Food" portion of the name of this restaurant, they have "onion" in the singularity; while I am sure that my omelette did not have more than one whole onion in it, I bet there were several different onions cut up to make up this ingredient), cream cheese and fine herbs, served with hash brown potatoes and buttered toast and jelly; and a cuppa (and one refilla) their house Coffee 
(which I think our waiter/server-guy person said was Farmer Brothers®, but I forget which specific roast/blend)

I wasn't really expecting to get back to Sears Fine Food (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, December 17th, 2016) again as soon as I did (it had been running a few years between visits previously), but I had a few friends (Hi, Greg & Cindy!) that were in town from Florida on their way to Hawai'i over the weekend, and they happened to be staying near Union Square; so this was one of the closer options down there. We mainly went to this particular restaurant because it was suggested by another couple of friends (Hi, Gary & Mary!), who were also stopping in San Francisco, coincidentally enough, on their way to Hawai'i and were also staying nearby Union Square, and they met us there for breakfast on Thursday morning, too.

I liked my omelette well enough. I would have preferred a different cheese other than cream cheese in it, though. Swiss cheese pairs much better with spinach (and we won't even state just how much betta Feta is a naturally perfect fit with spinach); I am not such a big fan of cream cheese in omelettes, anyway. I went with sourdough for my toast choice.

Cindy had the World Famous 18 Swedish Pancakes and went with the lingonberries jam option; she seemed to have liked the pancakes enough to finish them all, but she did leave a good amount of the lingonberries jam in the small ramekin portion (this was the exact opposite of what I found from when I had them on my last visit; I could have used a lot more). Gary and Mary split an order of Southern Corned Beef Hash and Eggs between themselves. They have eaten at Sears Fine Food several times before and liked this dish so much that they talked Greg into ordering the same.

For condimentary supplementation, Sears Fine Food only had Tabasco® Brand Hot Sauce 
(Original Red Sauce). I had come well-prepared and used some of my own Florida Gold Premium Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) on top of the omelette and some ★ Pope's ★ Whiskey River Hot Sauce (Thanks, Amy and Chef Joe!) on the potatoes.

Even though they call their restaurant just "Fine Food", singularly, I think we all enjoyed some pretty "Fine Foods".


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Spinach Omelet ~ 6.5 
(Sorry, I didn't poll the rest of the table for their Glen Bacon Scale Rating)

La Boulangerie de San Francisco

Another Mr. XV Pay-It-Forward 
Memorial Weekend ~ a continué

http://www.laboulangeriesf.com/


Place: La Boulangerie de San Francisco
Location: 500 Hayes Street (on the corner of Octavia Street)
Hours: open daily at 7:00am (peut-être; there are no times listed on their "official" web-site, so I am forced to go with what information is available from the Intro-Net, and we all know how reliable that might be)
Meal: Arugula & Egg Sandwich ~ sunny side up egg, arugula pesto, aioli, on pain de mie, served with choice of Pommes Tots or (boring!) seasonal greens; a Lemon-Ginger Kouign-amann (for starters and also finished as a breakfast dessert); and a large bowla Equator Coffees & Teas™ Equator Blend 

https://www.equatorcoffees.com/


My original plan of breakfastary attack this morning was going to be to head back to Mama♥s on Washington Square (in North Beach), but it was raining pretty hard (again) when I went out to my car and I figured I really didn't feel like standing in a line for an half-hour (or, more likely, longer) in the rain until they opened. So I quickly came up with "Breakfastary Attack ~ Plan B (not necessarily from Outer Space, though)" and decided to finally check out a new/old French-style bakery/café-joint, 
La Boulangerie de San Francisco. There are currently six locations[1] throughout town and I figured the easiest one to get to (and to find close/accessible parking) was the one in Hayes Valley.

Of course, by the time I arrived in Hayes Valley, the rain had slowed down almost completely, but still...

While I was at the front-counter paying for my meal, I made sure to "Pay-It-Forward" to the next person in line behind me. As fate would have it, the next person in line behind me happened to be a homeless-looking guy and I got him both a large Coffee and a pastry. (Later on, I asked the counter-server guy person if he would have gotten the Coffee and pastry for free normally anyway [some local places do this for their "regular irregulars"], and he said that the guy always pays.)

There were several other good ideas from which to choose: 

Egg & Cheese Sandwich ~ scrambled eggs, Swiss cheese, tomato croissant(???), on honey whole wheat or pain de mie;

Marina Egg White Sandwich ~ scrambled egg whites, turkey (which I would have quatre-vingt six-ed, bien sûr), avocado, Provolone cheese, tomato, on honey whole wheat or whole wheat croissant;

Egg Scramble ~ w/ toasted organic peasant bread, Choose 1 ingredient from each category: 1. Swiss, Cheddar, Jack or Provolone, 2. spinach, tomato or mushroom, 3. bacon or turkey bacon, pork or chicken sausage, ham, turkey or avocado (I probably would have gone with: spinach, Swiss, and avocado);

Hummus Tartine ~ avocado, cucumber, tomato, sprouts, organic peasant bread;

or maybe even

Baby Kale Salad ~ red rice, farro, toasted almonds, carrots, purple cabbage, dried cranberries, lemon vinaigrette (which I probably would have ordered with a sunny-side up egg placed on top).

Because it is a French-style bakery-joint, they have many other great-looking pastries on display at the front counter. They also had a Pear-Almond Kouign-amann that looked very tempting, too.

Lately I would not usually be ordering any Coffee with breakfast because I have so much Coffee at home that I really need to drink-through, but I was soooooo happy that they no longer serve any of that St*rbucks cr*p, that I celebrated with what they did have to offer. It turned out to be a very large bowla Coffee, too. You can't really tell from the above photo, but it was easily 20-24 oz of Coffee.

After the first bite (attempt) while eating the sandwich, it proved to be a bit messy to pick up and eat hand-held, so I had to revert to the Pommy (not to be confused with the "pomme-y") tradition and eat the rest of it with a knife and fork (or a fork and knife, depending on how you like to hold your implements of eating-destruction).

Of course, I opted for the potato side-dish over the boring old rabbit-food. The "Early Apples"[2] were very good, too, but I would have liked a bit more of them.

In the way of hot sauce condimentary supplements, La Boulangerie de San Francisco 
only had Tabasco® Brand Hot Sauce (Original Red Sauce); however, they did have a large glass canister of nutella® that could be used on toast, which I found to be a very cool idea. I ended up using some of my own Dixie Crossroads Hot Habañero[ sic ] Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the sandwich and some Lucky Dog Medium Fire-Roasted Pepper Sauce (Thanks again, Brian!) on the potatoes.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Arugula & Egg Sandwich ~ 6.5 (this is factoring in the "Early Apples");
Lemon-Ginger Kouign-amann ~ 7.1;
Equator Coffees & Teas™ Equator Blend ~ 6.8;
not having to patronise those smarmy, smug, greedy, corporate bastages at St*rbucks ~ priceless

___________________

1. The reason I say "new/old" is because the owner of these six locations had previously owned a bakery/café-business, under the name of La Boulange, at most of the same locations. However, back in 2012, the owner sold all of his bakery shops to the greedy corporate bastages of St*rbucks. Of course, like every other local business that those smarmy, smug, corporate bastages at St*rbucks get their greedy bastages hands on, they drained all they could from the business, took what they liked, and closed up all of the shops for good by 2015. (Yeah, they are such a great socially-conscious 
company!) Sometime last year, the old owner decided to re-open several shops that he used to run and bought back six of the locations from St*rbucks. 

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

(partie a)
In French, the word for "potato" is "(la) pomme de terre" (literally "apple of the earth"), and can be shortened to just "pommes" (in the plural).

(partie b)
In French, the word "tôt" means "early".

Even Napoleon Dynamite would be smart enough to know that a much better translation for "Tater Tots" should have been "Mme Petits Enfants"...

Chloe♥s Cafe

"¡Hoy tú, tamales yo!"[1]

or 

Another Mr. XV Pay-It-Forward 
Memorial Weekend

(No official web-site.)


Place: Chloe♥s Cafe
Location: 1399 Church Street (on the corner of 26th Street); phonicular contact: (415) 648-4116
Hours: open 8:00am every day of the week
Meal: "Garden Scramble" (they added the inverted commas, Mr. Marx) ~ two scrambled eggs (which would be the "Scramble" part of the name) with "the vile weed", dill, tomato, red onion, carrot, ~ (all of which would make up the "Garden" part of the name, I suppose) ~ and a choice of cheese (Jarlsberg, Cheddar, cream cheese [which should never be chosen for any "Scramble" or omelette dish, if you ask me], or Feta), served with a cup of fruit or home fries and toast; and a large glassa grapefruit juice

(The first of today's EweToobular juxtaselections should be very obvious from the title and one of the ingredients in today's "Garden Scramble". It is a well know fact that Marcus Mumford really hates tomatoes...

The second of the two songs/videos is just a progression (well, live version) following the first song from the album it is on. Consider it a "palate-cleanser" for the nasty taste left by "the vile weed". If you ask me, I would much rather have thistles in my "Garden Scramble" than "the vile weed", anyway... any day!)


I used to have Chloe♥s Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, May 8th, 2016) in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, but DFA'd them a few years back due to the distance getting over there (and back, naturally); plus, there are really not that many choices available for stupid vegetarians. What they do offer is always good, though.

I was originally thinking of sitting outside for a change this morning. As I was the first idiot to arrive (about twenty minutes before they had opened), I would have had my choice of seats inside or outside. However, after standing around in the Sun for about five minutes, the d*mn-ol' clouds came in and there was a very light rain coming down ("Here's another fine mist you've gotten me into, Stanley!") and I decided that it was best just to eat inside. This turned out to be a very good decision, as about fifteen minutes into eating my breakfast, the rain started coming down much harder ~ not exactly a downpour, but definitely too much wetness to be sitting outside comfortably.

Unlike most other times that I had eaten there, 
Chloe♥s Cafe only completely filled up after about one half-hour and there was no line waiting outside for a change. If you have ever seen how small the inside restaurant seating-space is, you would know this was very unusual.

For my cheesy comestibles choice, I went with the Feta, of course, Mr. Wensleydale. (Now, if I had really wanted to ruin this "Scramble", I would have opted for the awful choice of cream cheese; which is probably the "cheese of choice" for those kind of people that actually like "the vile weed".) I know I shoulda-mighta-coulda ordered this without "the vile weed", but I figured (correctly) that the Feta, dill, etc. (plus any hot sauce I would use on top) would counter-balance the "the vile weed" vileness. I suppose it could still have been considered a "Garden Scramble" with just dill, tomato, red onion, and carrot in it, but who am I to question which seasonal vegetables might be available from Chloe♥s "Garden"? Luckily, there was not an inordinate (or "there was an ordinate"?) amount of "the vile weed" in the "Scramble" mess; and those which were in it, were small enough pieces, at least. This turned out to be not that different from the "Special (Garden) Scramble" that I had on my last visit there (just substitute the d*mn "the vile weed" with spinach [Please!] and the dill with cilantro).

I optioned for the homefries as my side-choice, not only because their version are very good, but because any fool (even this fool) knows that homefries >>>>>>  a cuppa fruit any day!

Chloe♥s Cafe has just Tapatío® Salsa Picante 
Hot Sauce on the tables for condimentary supplementation. I used some of my own 
Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of the "Scramble" (and especially in those places where I could see any of "the vile weed" peeking out its ugly green mug) and some Palo Alto Fire Fighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on top of the pile o' potatoes.

I had skipped any Coffee with the breakfast meal because I know that I have a lot of Coffee at home that I am trying to make a dent in. (Have you ever tried denting a bag of Coffee?) To enjoy while typing (keyboarding, whatever) up today's 'blog-entry, I brewed me uppa (or, more correctly, dripped me downa) a cuppa Bettys Java Kalibaru Single Origin Coffee (Thanks, Greg & Cindy! [these two are in no way related to the above hot sauce-gifters]). I do not think that I have ever had this particular blend from Bettys before. Needless to say, it was another very good Coffee output from a truly great British Tea Room joint. (See, when it comes to boiling anything, 
the British are masters at it.)

https://www.bettys.co.uk/java-kalibaru-single-origin-coffee


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
"Garden Scramble" ~ 6.5 (no GBS Rating points were deducted for the inclusion of "the vile weed"; I would probably have deducted 0.1 points, but then added 0.2 points for the Feta choice, so I figured it was not really necessary);
Bettys Java Kalibaru Single Origin Coffee ~ 7.3

___________________

1. ¿Qué?

(Interestingly enough, this article was from exactly six years ago today.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/magazine/06lives-t.html?_r=1

I absolutely love that story. It gets me every time. 

So, don't be a tire iron, be a tamale... and this weekend (or whenever the feeling takes you) pay-it-forward... 
or bugger off!