Tastebuds

“But if you're gonna dine with them cannibals
Sooner or later, darling, you're gonna get eaten... ” 
― Nick Cave

(Pass me some of that hot sauce, bud!)

https://www.sftastebuds.com/


Place: Tastebuds

Location: 600 5th Avenue
(on the corner of Balboa Street)

Hours: open daily 7:00am

Meal: Breakfast Burrito ~ California style (grilled) or Southern (deep fried like a Chimichanga!), chorizo or bacon (neither of which I partook), eggs (which were of the scrambled variety), potatoes, cheese, pico de gallo; to start, a House Honey Cake; and, to drink, a glassa orange juice, and also a cuppa (and one half-refilla) Mr. Espresso® - Chiaroscuro Blend 

https://mrespresso.com/coffee/blends/


I happened to notice a new (well, to me, anyway) place along Balboa Street (well, technically on 5th Avenue, whatever) last weekend after breakfast and decided to give Tastebuds a go. As it turns out, this is a brand-new(-ish) place and had only opened in July 2018. It is located in the same space that once housed Katia's ~ 
a Russian Tea Room (which had been a Richmond District mainstay for many years).

There were a couple of things that I immediately liked about this new restaurant: 1) they open up very early for my liking (7:00am every d*mn day of the d*mn week!), and 2) they were playing some very cool tunes via Spotify® ~ this morning it was "Beach Vibes" (i.e.
New Age Reggae stuff, mon).

One of the things that had initially caught my eye last Sunday morning was the above outside wall mural. It is on the front side (well, the Balboa Street side) of the building.  I was told by the owner/manager-lady person that the two women depicted in the mural are her daughters and that it was (well, is still being) done by a Los Ångeles artist/muralist (whose name I immediately had forgotten). Additionally, there are two other (smaller) framed pieces of artwork by the same artist inside the restaurant.

There are only a few breakfastary fare items on their menu (and less-so for those of the stupid vegetarian ilk). A few mention-worthy dishes are:

Southern Shrimp & Grits (for any of you that do partake of the dead, decaying aquatic insects; of course, if I were to ever order this one it would simply be called 
"& Grits");

Hangover Helper ~ chorizo over roasted potatoes, scrambled eggs,  Cheddar cheese, green onion;

Southern Comfort ~ collard greens with smoked turkey, grits, a sunny side up egg, toast (unfortunately, I think that the collard greens are already prepared with the d*rn COPD-affected gobbler in them and this dish would not be on my list either);

Cinnamon French Toast ~ fresh fruit, whipped cream, maple syrup;

Pancakes ~ fresh fruit, whipped cream, maple syrup;

or 

Fried Chicken and Waffles ~ whipped butter, maple syrup.

There is also one item on their lunch menu that I will probably get back to try soon: Vegetable Po' Boy ~ roasted bell peppers, onions, basil, Mozzarella, dill mayo, French roll, served with fries.

The House Honey Cake was reminiscent of gingerbread to me. I am very glad that I did get the mistaken cuppa (keep reading below for that explanation) to go with the meal after all. It all went very nicely together as a start-off for the meal.

Now, I decided to go with the "Southern (deep fried like a Chimichanga!)" option, which was a very smart move on my part, if I do say so myself (and I did so just there). This may have been only a "(deep fried like a Chimichanga!) breakfast burrito", but it really was a very good "(deep fried like a Chimichanga!) breakfast burrito". It also was one h*ckova HUGE burrito, and, unfortunately, with the baked-goods starter, I could not quite finish all of it. Due to its enormous size and it being "deep fried like a Chimichanga!", I was also forced to eat it p.o.s.h. Britishlander style with a knife and kfork.

Because I had them ochenta-y-seis la carne de cerdo muerta ofensiva y en descomposición, I think that the owner/manager-lady person had them add some roasted bell peppers (red, green, and orange) inside the tortilla wrap. This item was not listed on the menu as an ingredient, so I figured that was just a stupid vegetarian bonus. This turned out to be a really nice flavour-bonus. At first, I thought that the peppers might have been of the chilli-variety (I had already doused the thing in my own hot sauces and really could not tell); however, the owner/manager-lady told me they were just roasted bell peppers.

Not that I often have breakfast burritos (be they "grilled" or "deep fried like a Chimichanga!"), but, as of right now in 2019, I am going to have to call this one "My Favourite (grilled or deep fried like a Chimichanga!) Breakfast Burrito of 2019".

For condimentary supplementation, Tastebuds 
offered the Standard San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces: Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce 
(Original Red Sauce), Cholula® Hot Sauce Original, and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce; plus, Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce. 
Once again, I simply used some more of my own 
Pepper Palace Chocolate Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on one half of the burrito and some Dixie Crossroads Hot Habañero[ sic ] Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the other half.


(not really such a) Strange Coffee Interlude

Originally, I had not planned on ordering a cuppa to go with my meal as I had already had one earlier in the morning before heading out for breakfast. However... while I was waiting for my burrito (to be "deep fried like a Chimichanga!"), Nose E. Parker that I am, I figured I would find out what kinda Coffee they served at the joint. So I went back up to the counter and spoke with the owner/manager-lady for a bit about this and was informed that they served Mr. Espresso®. I went on to mention how I liked that local brand and really wanted to check out their roastery in Jack London Square one of these days. I then went back to my seat in the corner of the restaurant and a few minutes later the owner/manager-lady placed a cuppa in front of me. Apparently she had misunderstood me and thought that I was ordering a cuppa the stuff. So, rather than have her dump out a perfectly good cuppa (What kinda sicko-bastage would ever allow that?! Club all the d*rn baby seals that you want, but please do not harm a poor, defenseless cuppa. That is just wrong.), I just told her to leave it for me and I would try to quaff-it-down... somehow. She was gonna comp me for the cuppa, but I insisted on paying for it all the same. (Even though everyone knows [well, except maybe them Mormon-types] that free good Coffee is always the best kinda Coffee.) 


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
House Honey Cake ~ 6.7;
Breakfast Burrito - Southern (deep fried like a Chimichanga!) ~ 6.7;
Mr. Espresso® - Chiaroscuro Blend  ~ 6.8