Jane (on Larkin)

"Humor keeps us alive. 
Humor and food. 
Don't forget food. 
You can go a week without laughing." 
~ Joss Whedon

http://www.itsjane.com/


Place: Jane
Location: 925 Larkin Street (between Geary and Post Streets; on the corner of Cedar Street, which is really more of an "Alley" than "Street", though)
Hours: open every day for breakfast at 7:00am; and, on the weekends, they have an additional "Brunch" menu from which to choose (also starting at 7:00am, which is nice, considering the snooty-*ss "Brunch" sobriquet)
Meal: Baked Egg Hash ~ heirloom fingerling potatoes (Who bequeaths their tubers to family members?), bell pepper, spring onion, curried cauliflower, two eggs (baked, presumably, hence the name of the dish); one Citrus Brioche (which ended up being both a starter 
[I ate a little of it while waiting for the hash-stuff to arrive] and dessert [I finished the rest of it while enjoying the last of my Coffee]); and a cuppa their House Coffee, which is called Bread & Butter

http://www.itsjane.com/shop/bread-and-butter

(I know that you must be puzzling as to what exactly the EweToobular juxtaselection is with this song and today's destination. It is a well-known fact that Perry Farrell is a YUGE[1] curried cauliflower fan.

While this really isn't any kinda breakfastary song, it's one of my favourite songs from the 80's and, to me, it epitomizes the late 80's sound. Plus, how many Rock-and/or-Roll songs utilize a steel drum in them as a major component?)


As I have about run out of places to eat breakfast, I am always on the lookout for new places. Jane is one such "new" place for me. There are two other locations in San Francisco: they have their original café-shop on the "good part" of Fillmore Street (which has been open about six years now; I have eaten there a few times for lunch) and a brand new (as in opened only for a few months ~ I think it opened sometime in December 2016) bakery-only on Geary Boulevard (I ride past this spot everyday on my way to work and this was what triggered me checking them out this morning).

The Larkin Street shop is rather unassuming (as can be seen from the storefront photo above, they do not even have any signage out front stating this is the place) and does not really have much of a décor of which to speak, but it fits in fine with the neighborhood (Upper Tenderloin/Lower Nob Hill). Seating-wise there are just seven tables for two, two tables for four, and seven counter stools.

For a small café-joint, they do offer a pretty impressive selection of breakfast (or "Brunch") items. There are still many other good ideas (for stupid vegetarians, even stupider Vegans, and dead, decaying animal-fleshetarians alike) that I can see going back to try, ferinstance:

off the Weekend "Brunch" menu:

Southwest Scramble ~ red and green peppers (well, when seasonably available, I can only assume), black beans, onion, avocado, and salsa, served with fresh fruit or a small salad and a biscuit; 
Spicy Baked Eggs ~ two eggs, spicy tomato and black bean stew, Cheddar cheese, cilantro, toast (this was going to be my initial choice until I saw the "curried cauliflower" in my final choice; I figure that this might be similar to the Middle Eastern/North African dish Shakshouka, and I always like that); 
or
the Un-Smoothie ~ burrito filled with scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon (which I could always have un-ordered), sausage (un-ditto), Cheddar cheese, pico de gallo;

and

off the standard Breakfast menu:

Avocado Mash ~ avocado (nacherly), cracked black pepper, soft boiled egg, pickled shallot and jalapeño on house sourdough;
Jane's Dragonfruit Smoothie Bowl ~ dragonfruit (nacherly, again), pineapple, banana, ginger, coconut water, blueberries, raspberries, hemp seeds, flax seeds, cocoa nibs, goji, mulberries (I saw this on another diner's table and it looked very good; if you are in the mood for something sweet and less eggy, this would be a good choice);
or
Warm Quinoa Bowl ~ quinoa, roasted brussel [ sic ] sprouts (!!!; Brussels sprouts are the anti-"Vile Weed" to me), sweet potatoes, kale (all of which I bet would be great with a poached egg laid ~ well, placed ~ on top).

Plus several other dishes that I am too lazy to mention here.

This was made with lots of curried cauliflower (a big plus + in my book); which I was happy to see, as this was the ingredient that caught my eye and made this dish my deciding one. The fingerling potatoes (whether they were actually passed on from generation to generation or not) consisted of three (maybe four) types: purple, red, and white (possibly some yellow in there, too). It stated on the menu that this had bell peppers in it, but I did not see (nor taste) any in it really. I had completely forgotten that it was supposed to include bell peppers in it, and as I was eating it, I was actually thinking that this dish could use one (or two) more elements (for texture or crunch) in it, like bell peppers or mushrooms (or, better yet, some fresh corn kernels ~ them are "maize colonels" to you Brits). It was all still very good, anyway. I guess they must have been out of bell peppers this morning, because everyone knows that those are a very hard item to find in California.

Their Coffee was a very interesting surprise. I have been to many bakery-joints that don't always have Coffee as good as their baked-goods. In this case, I actually liked their Coffee better than their Citrus Brioche (don't get me wrong, it was very good on its ownsome). I was told by one of the counter-service ladies-persons that they do their own roasting (but I expect that it is actually farmed-out and roasted for them at some other local roastery). Once again, I know that I really shouldn't be wasting time ordering any Coffee with all of my own Coffee that I still need to drink up (and down), but I figured when at a local bakery-coffeehouse, do like they do in Rome...

For condimentary supplements, Jane offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatio® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, Cholula® Hot Sauce (Green Pepper), and Lee Kum Kee Sriracha Chili Ketchup. However, unlike yesterday, I did bring some of my own hot sauces for use and went with some Sunbelt Plantations Vidalia® Onion Picante Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on top of one of the eggs and some Dat'l Do-it® Scorching Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of the other egg.

See, Jane hit the spot, Dick!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Baked Egg Hash ~ 7.1;
Citrus Brioche ~ 6.9;
Bread & Butter Coffee ~ 7.2

___________________

1. Do you think that in five to ten years, this joke will still be understood?

I can only hope that it has long been forgotten, though.