Kitchen Story

http://kitchenstorysf.com/


Place: Kitchen Story

Location:  3499 16th Street 
(on the corner of Sanchez Street)

Hours: open daily from 8 a.m.

Meal: Athenian Omelet ~ tomato, mushroom, arugula, Greek olives, mild goat cheese,[1] served with butter croissant and rainbow potato[2] (they actual have this option on their menu: "Add $4.5 for mixed berries instead of potato"; Say wha'....?! ... four-and-a-half bucks for just a buncha chopped up fruit-junk?! No way, especially when their rainbow potato 
are already so good. I can chop up my own d*mn fruit-junk at home myd*mnself!); and a glassa fresh-squeezed orange juice to drink

(I have posted this song by little Davey Alvin before, just not this particular duet-version with the Texas Whippoorwill.)


Ever-continuing-on with the Taylor Street Coffee Shop-family mini-chain tour, I returned once again to Kitchen Story (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, March 30th, 2019). As best as I can figure out, this was their #4 restaurant to open ~ back in November 2012.

Unfortunately, it was way too cold and foggy yet this morning to even think about sitting outside in their spacious sidewalk-patio seating area along Sanchez Street. (This is a very large seating area all on its ownsome. There may be as many, or more, tables/seats outside as there are inside.)


Strange pseudo-Patriotic Interlude

In honour of Independence Day (and to pretend to be a bit patriotic, Mr. George Michael Cohan), I decided to wear an article of clothing from my old 
Air Force uniform. I am very pleased to say that it even still fits like a glove! (And, no, it was not a "pair of gloves", Johnnie Cochran. It may have been foggy and cold this morning, but it was not that cold. [Come to think of it, I do not think that I have even ever worn gloves in all of my Winters in San Francisco.] Well, maybe the article of clothing is just a "belt", but it does still fit... [Okay, to be totally honest, it is one of those stretchy-kinda belts, and I mighta had it stretched to-the-max, but it does still work.]... the buckle is a bit scratched-up, though, and I doubt it would meet 35-10.)


After eating at all of their other restaurants for the past few weeks, I am running outta new ideas for breakfast. However, even at this location there are still a coulpla more other ideas:

Primavera Omelet ~ egg whites, roasted tomato, arugula, mushroom, served with butter croissant and rainbow potato (this same dish is offered at a few of their other locations, too)

or

Grilled "Veggie" Morning Melt ~ mushroom, asparagus, arugula, red onion, avocado, cherry pepper, made with pain de mie bread (and, yes, I am completely aware of the redundant redundancy of "pain" used with "bread" ~ tell it anyone that uses "shiitake mushrooms" in a sentence), cilantro aioli, served with organic salad (I have no idea how exactly this might come as; I am imagining this to be some kinda open faced sandwich perhaps; if I could get a poached egg or two on top of it, it would make it even more breakfastarily-so).

Additionally (and sadly), I did not notice this Eyeopener Cocktail until after I had already ordered my (plain ol' closed-eyes) orange juice: Castro Michelada[3] ~ Thai Lager, Tapatío®, Worcestershire (which would have to be nixed, most likely), salt, lime, tomatoes juices[ sics ], secret spice. I will definitely have to check that drink out on a future visit.

"But... but... but... why would you go and order a Greeky-style omelette at a California-Asian-fusion-kinda-place on the 4th of July, Brian?!" Funny that you should ask that (well, it is only "funny" 'cause I am picturing hearing it said in an Elmer Fudd-ish voice). On this date ~ July 4th, 1979 (that would be forty 
[4-0] years ago today for those of you that are mathematically-impaired) ~ I had first arrived in the land of Greece! (I know! What kinda fool travels on the 4th of  July [or, worse, travels overnight on a plane starting on the 3rd of July to arrive at their destination on Independence Day ]?) So, I thought it more than fitting to order this dish as a bit of historical reminiscence.

As with every other meal I have already had at all of their other locations, this was another very good breakfast. However, just to pick a nit or two... pluses: they use authentic Kalamata olives (and lots of 'em) and some other kinda green olives (not sure of their Greek city of origin, though) abundantly throughout the omelette; minuses: 1) as much as I like me some good ol' "rocket", Bullwinkle, I think that spinach would have been a better Greek-match, and 2) (and this is the biggest of the minuses) they use (I "kid" you not) goat cheese instead of Feta... I... just... have... no... words... sure, the creamy goat cheese does tend to melt better inside an omelette, but it... just... ain't... Feta... How many times must I point this out: "Everything's mo' betta' with Feta!"? (Idunno, perhaps something is lost in the translation from Greek-to-English-to-Korean, or "goat cheese" and "arugula" are synonymous with "Feta" and "spinach" in Korean.) Now, this was neither a "plus" nor a "minus" with me, but it also had lotsa sliced mushrooms (I have no idea if'n they were actual Greek mushrooms or local ones, though) in it ~ so, this would not be a very good dish for the fungi-faint of heart.

For condimentary supplementation, Kitchen Story offered both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce 
(Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. I went with some of my own H*ll's Kitchen® Chipotle Chocolate Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) thoroughly all over the rainbow potato and a few splashes (maybe seven or eight) of Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on top of the omelette.

One very interesting thing that I saw on the tables was that they have Coffee beans in their salt shakers(?!?). (At first I thought that they were raisins [Hey! The lighting was poor!] and that really had me wondering why a California-Asian fusion restaurant would be pickling/preserving raisins on their tables.) I had never seen that before. I can only assume that rice must be an extremely valued commodity in Asia and they do not want to waste any to absorb excess moisture in salt shakers...

In keeping with their whole "Story"-theme, the check is presented clipped to a paperback book. My check-book today happened to be Danielle Steel's "Courage"[4] and, better still, it was printed en français!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Athenian Omelet ~ 6.6 (now, if this had been made with spinach and Feta, it would easily have been a 
6.8 or 6.9)

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguists pointer(s) of the day:

Greek-speak for the above ingredients:

tomato = ντομάτα (pronounced just like it looks!)
mushroom = μανιτάρι (pronounced "manitARi")
arugula = ρόκα (pronounced "ROEka")*
Greek olives = Ελληνικές ελιές (pronounced "ElliniKESS eliES")
goat cheese = Αυτό δεν είναι Φέτα! (pronounced "This is not Feta!")

*(This same Greek word "ρόκα" can also be used in the sense of a rocket/missile/cylindrical projectile-thing.

Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-horticultural pointer of the day sub-set [and this is borrowed directly outta the funny pages of WikipediA]:

The English common name rocket derives from the French roquette, a diminutive of the Latin word eruca, which once designated a particular plant in the family Brassicaceae (probably a type of cabbage). Arugula (/əˈruːɡələ/), the common name now widespread in the United States and Canada, entered American English from a non-standard dialect of Italian. The standard Italian word is rucola, a diminutive of the Latin "eruca". The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first appearance of "arugula" in American English to a 1960 article in The New York Times by food editor and prolific cookbook writer Craig Claiborne.)

2. rainbow potato consists of Chilean purple, Yukon gold, Gemstone red, Russet, and Sweet yam.

3. ¿Qué?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelada

4. Personally, I have never felt the urge to read any of Ms. Steel's novels, but, then again, both McDonald's and Budweiser seem to appeal aux grandes masses non lavées, aussi.

"Courage" is the Frenchy-working title for the original 'merican-titled "Leap of Faith". 

https://books.google.com/books/about/Leap_of_Faith.html?id=g06NDQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false