Pinecrest Diner/Restaurant

Breakfast on Geary, Thirdly



http://www.pinecrestdiner.com/
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2cPzyS5Zzc
 
(I thought this version was a good choice as today is a rather "peaceful Sunday" on its own. Wait… so this tenore italiano grew up in Mexico?!)


In continuing my breakfastary trek ever westward along Geary Street/Boulevard (see last 'blog-entry from February 5th, 2012), I ate at Pinecrest Diner/Restaurant (they have it both as "Diner" and "Restaurant" on the building, but their menu and official web-site state "Diner") this morning. They are a family-owned diner right in the heart of the Theatre District and have been around "Since 1969"; and they are open 24 hours. There is one notorious story in its recent history; back in 1997 there was a murder committed by one of the cooks (shades of Sunrise Cafe in Gilroy; see 'blog-entry from November 26th, 2010 ~ Hey, Dave!), where he killed one of his co-workers over a supposed dispute over poached eggs, of all things:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1997/07/25/MN13283.DTL
 
To this day, they still do not offer poached eggs (or boiled eggs, even), for which they even make sure to make a special note of it on their menu (without giving any reasons; no need to scare off the touristas).

Pinecrest Diner has a pretty extensive Breakfast menu and many of the typical Diner-ish fare. I chose the Greek Omelette ~ Spinach, tomato, and Feta cheese; served with hash browns (and please note, Billy-boy, they have this spelled as two separate words just like you and your grammatical bullies at Microsoft® like to force upon us; however, I will be referring to them as hashbrowns from here on out, thank you very much!) and buttered toast of your choice (and if you really must know, Mr. Gates, I went with the sourdough ~ which seems to be acceptable as one word with you guys). I also had a large glass of orange juice (not orangejuice, of course; that would just be silly, Billy).




This was a good choice (Greek Omelettes usually are) as it had lots of Feta[1] and fresh, sautéed spinach in it; which is what really makes it Greek, after all (Kalamata olives are usually a nice addition, too). Otherwise, there was really nothing extra special about the omelette, but it was still better'n any egg-slop I could attempt to make.

I felt like having a decent cuppa this morning and really didn't expect the diner-coffee to be that great (and didn't feel like finding out ~ no way would I have ever complained if it were terrible!), so I stopped at Peet's® on my way home and grabbed a very good cuppa their Blend 101®[2] (plus, in keeping with today's topicality, this particular Peet's® location happens to be right on Geary Boulevard, too). This is one of my favourite blends of theirs.

http://www.peets.com/shop/coffee_detail.asp?id=48&cid=1005
 
Pinecrest Diner just has as condimentary supplements Tabasco® (the standard red). I had come well prepared in this event and used some (well, a lot) Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce (Thanks agains as evers, Amys!) on the hashbrowns and a small amount of Big Papi En Fuego Hot Sauce Monster Double Medium Hot on the omelette for just a little extra added flavour as Feta and spinach always taste good pretty good on their own.

Next up on Geary Street: David's Delicatessen.

Hmmm? I wonder if it's safe to order the Eggs Benedict there?!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Greek Omelette ~ 6.2; Peet's® Blend 1o1® ~ 7.5


[1] Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:
 
"Feta"/"φέτα" simply means "slice" in Greek; it is interesting to note that the word for "slice" in Italian is also "fetta".
 
[2] Also of note, U.S. Route 101 (where it is runs along part of Van Ness Avenue) actually crosses Geary Street/Boulevard.