the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House

♪ "It's only a paper... straw... ?" ♫ 

https://cliffhouse.com/bistro/


Place: the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House

Location: 1090 Point Lobos
(at the end of the Earth/Ocean Beach)

Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 9:00am, Sunday at 8:30am

Meal: Thick Sliced Sourdough French Toast ~ maple syrup, crisp bacon (once again, they were nice enough to substitute the dead, decaying crispy porky-butt bits with some of their very good breakfast roasted potatoes), powdered sugar, and fresh apple compote; 
a basket of three (3) (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!); and a glassa Cliff House Classic Bloody Mary ~ Skyy Vodka, house mix of tomato juice/chili sauce/clam juice (much like the dead, decaying crispy porky-butt bits, I made sure to request the drink without this item; besides, just what kinda satanic juicer/blender would be used to make this 
un-dogly ingredient?!)/horseradish (this came with a neo-retro paper straw; hence, the opening query and the following EweToobular song)

[1]


As has been the norm for several years now, to close-out the mid-Spring workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I returned to the Bistro Restaurant 
at Cliff House (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, January 27th, 2019).

I had arrived at the Cliff House about twenty minutes before they were scheduled to open, so, to kill some time ("I swear it was in self-defense, your Honour!"), 
I decided to walk around the building to ward off the (extra) breezy and cold(-ish) weather this morning. 
I was pleasantly surprised by the sight of several large pods of Pelicans flying in nice Military V-formations 
(in honour of the Memorial Day weekend, perhaps?).

Even with my sojourn around the perimeter of the building, I still ended up being the second "group" in line waiting. Because they were a little late to open this morning, I got to talking to the three people in front of me and one of the nice ladies even invited me to join them this morning for breakfast. I politely declined, but told them to try and get the "The Wizard of Oz" table (where there are autographed photos of both Frances Gumm and Francis Phillip Wuppermann on the wall over a specific table ~ this was also the same table at which I sat on my previous visit), and, as luck would have it, they were seated right at that table, too!

(Ooopsie! Looks like the Cliff House needs to House-train their pets.)

This drink was a veritable meal unto itself. It included the compulsatory celery stalk along with a pimiento-stuffed olive, a small Hungarian chilli (or close enough for varietal purposes), and a wedge of lime. It was already pleasantly spicy enough that I did not need to pep-it-up any with any shots from my own hot sauces.

After twenty-five-plus years of eating at the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House now, this might be only the second time that I have ordered this dish. Trust me, this was a major oversight on my part (perhaps, my breakfastary vision has been a bit myopic). This is a very good version of French toast, and by using thick slices of local sourdough, it not only gives it a distinctive flavour, but does not become over-soggified (it's a real word... look it up!) by the eggy-batter. Unfortunately, I think that this meal may have been a bit of a carboverload; what with the three (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!), French toast, potatoes, and I am sure that there were some superfluous carbohydrates in the Bloody Mary, too.

the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House only has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) for use as a condimentary supplement. I used some of my own Peaks of Otter Peppers Inca Gold Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the potatoes and a few grinds of my grains of paradise grinder all over the potatoes... and a bit on top of the French toast, too. (Do not judge me for my taste-quirks! At least I did not use any of the hot sauce on top of the French toast... however, I did give it a thought as mango and pineapple are ingredients in that hot sauce, and might very well have complemented both the maple syrup and the apple compote.)

Hollywoodland Spotlight of the Day

Although I did not score "the Wizard of Oz"-table myself, on the wall over the far side of my table was an autographed photograph of George Raft. Of course, George Raft was best known for his portrayal of gangster-toughguys in many movies in the 30's and 40's. He also happened to play a major role in one of my All-Time Favourite Movies of All-Time ~ "Some Like It Hot"[2].

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0706368/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Thick Sliced Sourdough French Toast ~ 7.0;
Cliff House Classic Bloody Mary ~ 7.2;
(World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) ~ 8.2

___________________

1. Yes, that is "Ukelele Ike", the voice of Jiminy Cricket.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0249893/

2. It is just such a shame that this movie was marred by having such an ugly co-starring actress.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053291/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_20