http://www.cliffhouse.com/bistro/index.html
My first official breakfast out for 2012 was at the Bistro Restaurant @ Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from September 24th, 2011). My original plan was to go to Dottie's True Blue café, but, as I just recently discovered, they are closed while they move to their new location. And seeing as I had just had the Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro last weekend, I figured that Popovers(!) are as good a way to start the new breakfastary year as any. You know what Robert Burns always said: "The best-laid eggs o' mice an' hens gang aft agley" (but he was a drunk Scotsman and no one ever really understood what he was blathering on about, anyway)[1].
Now I could go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on… (well, you get the idea)… about the virtues of Popovers(!), especially the ones at the Bistro Restaurant. People go there initially for the great ocean views and the food, but they come back again and again and again and again… (well, let's not start that all over)… for the most excellent Popovers(!) that are served with breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
I have tried the gamut[2] of their breakfast dishes and have had to repeat them many times over; today I again went with Sautéed Vegetable Scramble ~ Scrambled Eggs, Red Peppers, Tomatoes, Scallions, Button Mushrooms, & Melted Goat Cheese; with a glass of orange-cranberry juice ('arf-and-'arf); and, of course… Popovers(!).
As always the scramble was very tasty and the Popovers(!) simply sublime (which beats under-par lemon any day). The side of fresh fruits of the day was: pineapple, cantaloupe, honey dew melon, and watermelon.
I came fully prepared with my own condimentary supplementation: Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce (Thanks agains, Amys!) on the scramble and Sylvia's Restaurant® Kickin’ Hot Hot Sauce on the potatoes.
Today's wall of autographed Hollywoodland photos next to my table:
(Picture 1, top to bottom)
???; ???
Paul Muni[3]; Jean Parker
(Picture 2, top to bottom)
Wanda McKay; John Payne
Harry Lillis Crosby (Lillis? No wonder he went by "der Bingle".); Phyllis Diller
(Picture 3, top to bottom)
Sharon Stone; Clinton Eastwood, Jr.
Frank Morgan; Marion Davies
Frances Ethel Gumm; Leslie Townes Hope (Leslie? Again, now we know why he went by "Bob".)
(The juxtaposition of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Dorothy almost escaped me until half-way through my meal.)
Once again I am offering to treat anyone that can fill in any of the "???s" with a correct name to all the free Popovers(!) that you can eat (my treat) or maybe even a breakfast at Dottie’s True blue café (when they finally are reopen, that is).
As always, there was more than enough food to eat and I barely finished it all. They actually had the nerve to try and tempt me with a dessert menu before bringing me the check. Don't you think that if I had room for more food, I would have asked for another basket of Popovers(!)?!
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Sautéed Vegetable Scramble ~ 6.8; Popovers(!) ~ 8.2
[1] Another appropriate eggy quote is:
"It takes a few broken eggs to make a good omelette… or before they finally kick you out of the produce section for poor juggling skills."
[2] They always seem to overcook their gamut, though. I usually prefer my gamut medium-rare.
Here's the stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-etymological pointer of the day:
"Gamut" comes from Late Middle English, from Medieval Latin, which is a contraction of "gamma ut". This is equivalent to the Greek letter "gamma" plus "ut", used to represent the first or lowest note/tone of the Medieval scale: "ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si". Of course, the first note of the scale is now "do" or "doh"; otherwise, Homer Simpson's catchphrase would have been a meaningless: "Ut!". Plus, Julie Andrews could never have come up with a catchy phrase utilizing "ut" in it.
[3] Poor Paul. His career as a leading "man" in Greece was over as soon as he chose this unfortunate sobriquet as his last name when he emigrated from Poland.
(To understand this rather tasteless joke, even for a cunning linguist, you will have to figure out what his last name sounds like in Greek.)
Popovers(!)
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