Mel's drive-in

♪ "All I want for breakfast is you..." ♪ ???

http://melsdrive-in.com/vannessavenue


Place: Mel's drive-in

Location: 1050 Van Ness Avenue
(on the corner of Geary Street)

Hours: open at 6:00am every day of the week

Meal: Vegetarian Omelette ~ three eggs, "the vile weed", mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, red & green peppers, served with special grilled potatoes and choice of toast (I chose sourdough); and a glassa Fresh Lemonade

(The reason for today's EweToobular juxtaselections is because when I first sat down to order, they were playing several Johnny Cash songs in a row ["Folsom Prison Blues" was one of them] on the jukebox, which was nice... 

... however, for some unknown/bizarre reason, there was a slew of Christmas songs that were then played, to include: "O Holy Night" by Whitney Houston; "Feliz Navidad" by José Feliciano; "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey [or possibly by Olivia Olson; their versions are way too similar to be able to tell on a jukebox stereo system in a diner-joint early on an August morning]; and finally "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" by Andy Williams. When I good-humouredly questioned the waitress/server-lady about this, she pointed to one guy seated at the diner-counter all by hisloneself and told me that he had been choosing those songs all morning.

I have heard of "Christmas in July", but this was the first I had ever heard of "Christmas in August"... and I hope it is the last time, too.)


It was back to Mel's drive-in (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, May 21st, 2016) once again for a dineristic breakfast; this time it was to their restaurant on Van Ness Avenue (on the western-outer edge of the 'loin). This location happens to be the third Mel's drive-in to (re-)open in San Francisco. It opened back in 1998 in the space that used to house the long-running, local Zim's. I had never eaten at this specific Mel's before, but I had eaten there a few times back when it was still a Zim's (in the late 80's or early 90's).

Disappointingly, they no longer offer Avocado Toast (which I had been planning on getting this morning) or Huevos Rancheros (which would have been my back-up plan otherwise; I just had another version of that dish last weekend, anyway) on their breakfast menu. Pity. There were several other new items being offered on a "Brunch" menu (but available only after 9:00am; maybe next time if I get there two hours later I can check out one of those).

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

As I was crossing Van Ness Avenue (at the Geary Street intersection) on my way to Mel's drive-in, I heard and then looked up and saw a mini-pandemonium (just a pair) of the Wild Parrots flying overhead. Where they were coming from or heading toward, I really couldn't tell.

First off, major kudos[1] to Mel's drive-in for calling this dish "Vegetarian Omelette" and not the odiously- and ubiquitously-named (uggh!) "Veggie Omelette". Now even though "the vile weed" was listed as an ingredient in this omelette, I decided to order it all the same; and, yes, I suppose I could have requested them to omit the offensive item, but I figured that they may have had all the ingredients already mixed up and ready to insert when needed. Miraculously, there was only a meager amount of "the vile weed" in it (just one solitary vile piece!); and, luckily, there were lots of both zucchini and yellow squash to counterbalance it just in case. This was a simple-enough and decent-enough diner-style version of an omelette. Their homefries (which they refer to as "special grilled potatoes") were very good, too.

For condimentary supplementation, Mel's drive-in offers both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce 
(Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante 
Hot Sauce. I used some of my own Dixie Crossroads Hot Habañero[ sic ] Pepper Sauce 
(Thanks, Brian!) on top of the omelette and some 
Hot Licks Serrano Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian! [not to be confused with the previous "Brian" mentioned]) on the special grilled potatoes.

♪ "Breakfast... the most wonderful time of the day...  (without any of "the vile weed", of course)" ♪


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Vegetarian Omelette ~ 6.5;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

___________________

1. He was recently promoted from plain ol' Captain Encomium.

This extra-bonusary information from our friendly friends at Merriam-Webster (since 1828):
Some commentators hold that since kudos is a singular word it cannot be used as a plural and that the word kudo is impossible. But kudo does exist; it is simply one of the most recent words created by back-formation from another word misunderstood as a plural. Kudos was introduced into English in the 19th century; it was used in contexts where a reader unfamiliar with Greek could not be sure whether it was singular or plural. By the 1920s it began to appear as a plural, and about 25 years later kudo began to appear. It may have begun as a misunderstanding, but then so did cherry and pea.