(No official-type web-site.) Place: the Art Bistro Location: 2960 Clement Street (on the corner of 31st Avenue); phonicular contact: (415) 379-7119 Hours: open Monday to Friday at 7:00am; open at 8:30am every other day of the week (well, supposably)[1] Meal: All Seeded[ sic ] Bagel with Cream Cheese and Tomatoes; and a small cuppa Organic French Roast Coffee (whichever brand it might have been)[2]
(I just figured that the first Bruddah Iz song would be the perfect EweToobular juxtaselection to welcome a new/old business back to the 'hood. Besides, Bruddah Iz iz always cool to listen to on a placid Sunday morn, anyway, be you haole or native Hawai'ianese.) the Art Bistro (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, July 26th, 2015) just recently reopened on August 19th at their new location on Clement Street. They had closed their old Geary Boulevard location (my guess is that the rent was just too d*rn high) about two months ago now. I was greeted this morning by (whom I can only assume is) the owner/manager-lady that was always at the old location. I had always thought that she was Korean, but she informed me that she and most of the workers are Thai. Not knowing many Thai words or phrases, I had to ask her how to say "Thank you!"; she told me it is "ขอบคุณ!", which sounds something like "Kapoon!" (to my untrained Siamese cat-ears). They have moved only three blocks away into the space that used to house Saltroot Café (insert frowny-face emoji here)[3]. The good news is that the Art Bistro will still now be selling their (very good) Brazilian Cheese Popups (Gorgonzola and Guava are my two favourite flavours, but they are all very tasty) in frozen boxes of ten each. This is a much smaller space than they used to occupy (by about one-third, I would guess) and a bit more off the beaten path (and Geary Boulevard is a well-worn, beaten path) than the previous location. One nice thing about their new location is that I got to sit outside at one of the two small round two-seater tables along the Clement Street sidewalk. The old Geary Boulevard location did not have any space to offer any outside seating. Fortunately, the Sun was out this morning and shining brightly, but it was still a little breezy and I had to keep rescuing my errant napkins. I thought it was kinda funny that they still have the old ★Intelligentsia Coffee sign up on a back wall in the kitchen area. Apparently, when the painters had repainted the walls during the recent renovation, they painted around the sign instead of removing it. So now if the coffeeshop were ever to remove the sign, there will be an off-colour spot on the wall. (Hmmm?! Maybe the Art Bistro could start selling ★Intelligentsia Coffee instead of "Some Guy Coffee"... ) I had gotten there too early this morning and they were all outta eggs. The owner/manager-lady told me that she had sent someone to a nearby grocery store to pick up some for the day, but she had not returned yet. Otherwise, there is not really a whole lotta choices for breakfastary items (or food in general). I was actually planning on getting a bagel or croissant sandwich with eggs (they only prepare the eggs one way: nuked-scrambled), cheese, tomatoes, and onions. Oh, well, maybe next time...
There was nothing special about this meal, but I did not really expect anything more, anyway. I mean, it was just a toasted bagel (all-seeded and such; which, as best as I can tell, include: sesame and poppy [Sorry, Elaine.] seeds, at least) with cream cheese schmeared on it and some sliced tomatoes. As for the Coffee (it is a coffeehouse, after all), it was pretty good. However, I did not discern any l'orange or ส้ม in the French Roast... They change the blend/roast that is offered over the counter as their standard drip Coffee every so often. I think that I liked the Colombian Coffee that I had there last week a little more, though. I have no idea what they might have had to offer in the way of any condimentary supplementation (it is just a coffeehouse, not a restaurant, after all). I had come prepared and used some of my brand-spanking (If it is unbranded, does it not need corporal punishment?) new Sassy Mama Cuisine Fire Roasted Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) and a coupla good twists from my The Spice & Tea Exchange®Italian Street Fair Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!) grinder-thing on the inside of the bagel. This was my first time trying out this hot sauce (on anything other than a spoon when I had first opened it to test it out a few weeks back). I liked it a lot; it was not overly espicy, but had a decent roasted habanero flavour. https://www.sassymamacuisine.com/ https://www.spiceandtea.com/seasonings-blends-rubs/italian-street-fair-spice-blend.html Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Bagel with etc. ~ 6.0; Coffee ~ 6.8; Bruddah Iz ~ 7.9 (on the Glen Bacon Scale... but fuggedaboudit on a standard weight-scale, it just don't go that high; you would need a truck-scale to do that) ___________________ 1. I had stopped by there last Monday (as in Labor Day), and they had not opened yet for the morning at around 8:50am; no biggie, I figured I would just check them out on another day... as it is only three blocks away. "But, Brian, maybe they were closed to observe the labourious 'merican holiday?!" Nah, sorry. I had just stopped by there on the Saturday before and the owner/manager-lady told me they would be open at 8:30am on Sunday and Monday. 2. I asked the owner/manager-lady where they got their Coffee. Her reply: "Some guy." Of course, now knowing that she is Thai, she mighta been saying that they get their Coffee from a roaster named "Orange Chicken"*... *(Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer/joke-explainer of the day: Unfortunately, my "knowledge" of the Thai language is limited to only those few items that I have seen on menus at local restaurants. There is a Thai restaurant in my neighborhood [very good, by the way] that is named "Bai Som" ["ใบ ส้ม" in Thai], which the best that I can figure means "orange leaf"[?]. I was also aware that the Thai word for "chicken" is "gai/kai" ["ไก่"] [this word is very similar in Chinese, Lao, and Vietnamese, too]. So, I jokingly added the two words together which sound somewhat like "Some Guy" in 'merican-speak.) http://www.baisomthaisf.com/ 3. Luckily, I stopped by Saltroot Café (see previous 'blog-entry from Monday, February 20th, 2017) just a few weeks before they had closed-up their retail-storefront operation for good. Thankfully, I was informed by one of the owners that they are not out-of-business, they are now only selling their (very good) Brazilian Cheese Popups at a few local organic markets in town.
"Miss Otis regrets she is unable to lunch (breakfast-bagel, whatever) today, Madame... "
http://wisesonsdeli.com/location/fillmore/ Place: Wise Sons ~ Bagelry Location: 1520 Fillmore Street (between Geary Boulevard and O'Farrell Street) Hours: Monday - Friday 7:00am, Saturday & Sunday 8:00am Meal: (Kinda) Spicy Egg (Toasted Bagel Sandwich) ~ spicy harissa shmear[1], hippie greens, & scrambled egg; three rugelach[2]: Apricot, Chocolate, and Cinnamon Walnut; and a 12 oz cuppa Stumptown Coffee RoastersHouse Blend (Bagelry Blend, whatever) https://www.stumptowncoffee.com/products/house-blend
(Firstly, Mumford & Sons... Wise Sons... close enough for government work [especially with this current musically-challenged administration]. Secondly, I never need an EweToobular juxtaselection justification for Lady Ella, Madame.) Because it had been a few years since I last ate at Wise Sons (see last 'blog entry from Saturday, June 11th, 2016), I thought it time for another visit. This trip I went to their newer Bagelry on Fillmore Street, which has been opened since late-February 2016. There are several other locations that have now opened around the Bay Area (currently, in San Francisco proper there are five shops and one shop in Larkspur); and there is even a location in Tokyo now, but that is too long of a breakfastary roadtrip for me. There is not a lot of available seating (I suppose, like many a New York Jewish deli, they just want you to order your bagel "to take with" and to get you the h*ck-outta their joint in order to serve the next hungry/paying customer) with just eight stools at a counter-table in the middle of the front room, four more stools at a window-counter, and eight more stools wayyyyy in the back (which I did not discover until after I had already noshed my meal, or I woulda probably sat up there) in a second-level mezzanine overlooking the baking area. This location is used as their main bakery/bagelry facility now, which they supply to all of their other locations (well, probably not the one in Japan; even the Japanese would know a stale bagel when they bit into one). It was pretty cool being able to see the bagels being made (and the joke that most of the bagelry bakers were Mexican was not lost on this goyish gringo).
(This bagel-artwork was in their bathroom. I honestly was trying to decipher which Hebrew letters/symbols were in the middle of the circles... then it dawned on me that they were just the bagel-holes. How do you say "D'oh!" in Yiddish? [Is that possibly: "D'ough!"?]) While I liked that this location is much closer (by at least fifteen-to-twenty minutes with city-driving) than their original/main delicatessen in the Mission, there are a lot more breakfastary offerings at their Mission location. Otherwise, some of the possible breakfast ideas that I could have ordered today were: Bodega Egg & Cheese (Toasted Bagel Sandwich) ~ melted cheese, aioli, & scrambled egg (this can also be ordered with crispy pastrami ~ think Kosher bacon ~ for those of you that do partake of the dead, decaying bovine flesh, but are trying to maintain a no dead, decaying swine flesh diet); East Coast Veggie (uggelach!) (Toasted Bagel Sandwich) ~ scallion shmear, radish, cucumber, tomato, red onion, & hippie greens; or maybe just one of their (six different types of) bagels with one of their (eight different types of) shmears.
They offer a choice of six kinds of bagels for these sandwiches: Everything, Sesame (which is what I went with this morning; this is your prototypical Jewish deli bagel in my opinion... and if'n you do not like my opinion, why in the h*ck is you reading this 'blog-thing?!), Salt, Poppy, Plain, or Onion Bialy. This was a good bagel-sandwich (much better than you will ever get at any of them McDonaldberg's delicatessen places), but it was still just a bagel-sandwich. As best as I can figure, the "hippie greens" were some kinda micro-greens (including probably arugula, sprouts, etc.). If I had one minor complaint, it was that this was all a bit on the unwieldy side. With the first bite I took, half of the scrambled egg stuff (which they have formed into a roundish patty about the size of a standard burger) spilled out the other side. I ended up putting it all back together and just tried to keep it together as best as possible. I was going to order it with added tomatoes and "smashed avocado", but that would have made it even more messier, Monsieur Mark. Of the three mini-rugelach/rugelachen/rugelachs, I liked the Apricot one the best. These were all very good, though. They all were just one-to-two bites apiece.
Wise Sons offers their own homemade (deli-made, whatever) hot sauce for use as condimentary supplementation. Additionally, I saw bottles of both El Yucateco®EXXXtra Picante Salsa Kutbil-ik® de Chile Habanero and Huy Fong Foods, Inc.Sriracha Hot Chile Sauce in the upstairs mezzanine. Not really having anything else on which to try their hot sauce (and because their shmear was only "(Kinda) Spicy"), I used a good amount of it in my bagel-sandwich. It really has a nice flavour; the dill pickle juice in it really comes through (Sorry, Karl!). They even have bottles of it for sale. If I did not already have... and let's face it... wayyyyy too many bottles of other hot sauces in my refrigerator, I would definitely have pick(l)ed up a bottle for my own collection.
(not really so) Strange Coffee Interlude I have had Stumptown Coffee Roasters at a few other restaurants throughout town and have always like what they offer. This House Blend was another winner with me. The last time that I ate at their main Mission delicatessen, they were selling Intelligentsia Coffee exclusively (which they may still sell at some of their other locations); both are very good Coffees, anyway. I also bought a 12 oz bagga (Why do so many places now-a-days sell these in 12 oz sizes instead of a full 16 oz-pounda?) as a gift for your 2018 Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award - Linda Miller Award for Fan Artist of the Year, Mr. David G. Hardy[3]. He stated that he would send me a print of my choosing in exchange. I explained to him that because it only came in a 12 oz bagga, he can just send me 3/4 of a picture. "In the clearing stands (lies? lays?) a bagel... and a glorified doughnut by its trade... " (Would I... lie la lie [please provide your own cymbal-crash sound effects here]... lie la la la lie lie... lie la lie [ditto above]... lie la la la la lie la la lie... to you?) Glen Bacon Scale Rating: (Kinda) Spicy Egg (Toasted Bagel Sandwich) ~ 6.4; rugelach/rugelachen/rugelachs ~ 6.9; Wise Sons "Pickle Brine Spiked" Hot Sauce ~ 6.8; Stumptown Coffee RoastersHouse Blend ~ 7.1; the esteemed artwork of Mr. David G. Hardy ~ 8.0 ___________________
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number oy-vay: They have this spelled as "shmear". It can also be spelled as "schmear", or according to my trusty, go-to lexicon for anything Yiddish-related (TheJoysofYiddish by Leo Rosten) as "shmeer": shmeer Pronounced as it is written; rhymes with "shear". From German: Smiere: "grease", or "bribe". 1. To paint. 2. To smear. 3. To spread. "Shmeer it on the bread." 4. A spread or paste. "With drinks, a caviar shmeer on crackers goes well." "Smoked fish, cream cheese, sour cream, and chives make a wonderful cocktail shmeer." 5. To bribe; a bribe. This is the most interesting usage, and has long been part of American slang. It is related to "greasing the palm". "Do the officials expect to be shmeered there?" "Do they take a shmeer?" There is a saying: "Az men shmeert nit, fort men nit." (If you don't bribe, you don't ride" - or, less literally, "Without bribery, you'll get nowhere.") 6. To strike or beat. "He landed a shmeer between the eyes." 2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number two-vay: So... here we go... the word "rugelach" may or may not already be in the plural form. So, to say "I ate three rugelachs." might be incorrect. I initially assumed that the pluralised form in Yiddish might be "rugelachen" (adding a standard German plural ending of "-en"); however, it appears that in Hebrew the "-ach" ending already symbolises the plural. I even discussed this with a couple of the workers at the bagelry (read: bored the h*ck outta these polite workers). One of the guys suggested that maybe like "fish" and "sheep" it is already singular and plural. This sounds like the simplest (and probably closest to the etymological truth) answer, so I am sticking with it until proven otherwise.
Richmond (District) Coffeehouses ~ #35 ♪ "A little ditty 'bout Jack & the Beanstalk..." ♫
(No official-type web-site thing.) Place: Beanstalk Cafe Location: 4555 California Street (on the corner of 8th Avenue); phonicular contact: (415) 742-4101 Hours: (Inner Richmond location) open every day of the week at 7:00am Meal: Bush Street (Sandwich) ~ bacon or sausage (which I 86-ed on both accounts), eggs (scrambled, of the nookular-prepared variety), mayo, Cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onions, and arugula; and a cuppa Contraband CoffeeBlack Market Blend http://www.contrabandcoffeebar.com/
(What's today's EweToobular juxtaselection all about, you ask? Well, it's a well-known fact that little Johnny Cougar[1] is a big fan of cragels.) Welcome to the 'hood, Beanstalk Cafe! I made my very first visit to this newest addition (or edition [probably not audition, though]) to Richmond (District) Coffeehousesthis morning for breakfast (and, of course, for Coffee). Beanstalk Cafe has been open only four weeks now at their new Inner Richmond location. They have an original downtown/Nob Hill/ Union Square coffeeshop on Bush Street (hence the name of this morning's particular breakfastary entry) that has been operating there for a few years now (late 2013 or so, I believe). The new space is a vast improvement and a lot more spacious than was previously available when it was still the coffeehouse known as Village Market (see previous/last 'blog-entry from Sunday, November 15th, 2015) and had to compete with actual grocery shelves. Currently, there is seating of: four tables for two; three tables for four; one large table for six (possibly more); and two other very cool seating areas in the front of the coffeehouse (in the two front window alcoves): one with a comfy-looking sofa and some chairs, and the other has four large comfy-chairs (even if you didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition).
(I particularly liked this transom[2] to nowhere. It was directly over my head this morning. I asked the owner/manager-sorta guy-person, Collin[3], about it and he said that it was brand new and not a part of the original store. Way cool idea!) I also really like that they are open at 7:00am (and every morning). I will never understand why so many coffeehouses/cafés do not open until 9:00am (or later). Isn't the whole point of a "Coffee"-joint to be able to provide the public with a good cuppa early in the morning before they get to work?! There are only a few breakfast choices on their menu, but they do have another item called a Toast Cup that I would like to try one of these days. From pictures that I have seen on yelp*, etc., it looks pretty intriguing. The only way I can describe it is that it is a cup made out of some toast slices with an egg, bacon, and cheese in it.
This sandwich is normally served on an organic Acme rustic roll, but they were nice enough to substitute (and at no extra cost, I might add [or subtract, I suppose ~ with my 86-ation of the dead, decaying porcine products, they charged me $3.00 less for the sandwich, anyway; so the Coffee ended up basically being a freebie; don't worry, so that it would all work out in the wash, I made sure to leave a $3.00 tip for the baristo/counter-person guy (whose name I think was "Snow"[?], I only asked him just before I was leaving and can not be sure)])[4] this on a "cragel" (which is a portmanteau of "croissant" and "bagel") for me. (Hmmmm?! Maybe they will now make a new vegetarian sandwich entry on their menu and call it the "California Street"...) I really enjoyed the cragel (and just because I abhor the portmanteaued word "Brunch" [it's not so much the word that I dislike, it's the entire "Brunchified" attitude that I hate], does not mean that I am averse to all forms of portmanteauery) and highly-recommend it; not just as a sandwich basis, but also for the idea/conception of it all. I was informed by Collin that they get all their bagels from House of Bagels™ and their baked goods/breads from the Acme Bread Company in an effort to keep everything locally produced and sourced (and seeing as House of Bagels™ is located just ten blocks or less away, that is a pretty d*rn local production and source, if you ask me). http://houseofbagels.com/site/ I love when a coffeehouse serves a d*rn good cuppa (it is in their name, after all). And from previous experiences, I knew that Contraband Coffee was/is a d*rn good cuppa. I was told by the friendly and knowledgeable baristo/counter-person guy (Snow or not?) that this is sorta their Mocha-Javanese blend/roast. They usually offer two ready to go/already-brewed blends; this morning's other roast/blend was a Colombia roast/blend. They also offer the one cuppa/pour-over versions of both of these roasts/blends as well as an Ethiopia Yirgacheffe (which I think I had before at Contraband Coffee's own coffeehouse on Nob Hill and seemed to remember really liking). They have bags of all three types of Coffee for sale (which I will keep in mind for the next time I am outta Coffee ~ I am currently still working through four different bags in my refrigerator), too. Beanstalk Cafe offers just Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce and Huy Fong Foods, Inc.®Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (Collin stated that this was his wife's hot sauce input) for condimentary supplementation. Not really knowing what to expect in the way of food, I only came prepared with a couple of my own hot sauces and used some Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on one half of the sandwich only. I am not quite sure when I might get back there again for breakfast, but I do hope to return for Coffee and/or lunch again sometime soon. ♪ "Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of Coffee is gone... " ♫ Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Bush Street ~ 6.4 (and I would give the cragel a 6.7 all on its ownsome); Contraband CoffeeBlack Market Blend ~ 7.3 ___________________
1. I have an old Greek import (well, seeing as I bought it in Greece when I was living there, it's not really an "import", but it was pressed there) album (as in vinyl) that has the artist's name printed as "Johnny Cougar - A Biography" on the cover. I kid you not. http://www.allmusic.com/album/a-biography-mw0000254953 2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: The word for "transom" in Korean is "트랜 섬 창" ("teulaen seom chang")*. I only mention this because I think Collin is of Korean dissent himself. *(I wonder if all of that translates to "What is that?" in German.) 3. During the course of breakfast, I found time to bore stiff... er... discourse with Collin on several coffeehouse-related (and some not-related) topics. I grilled... er... asked him about why he went with the Coffee roastery choice that he did, etc. From past experiences, I knew Contraband Coffeeto be a very good (and very locally produced/roasted) Coffee already. We also talked about hot sauces (of which I emphasized how great [and also local... well, Palo Alto-local] Palo AltoFirefighters Pepper Sauce is and that he should maybe look into getting some for the restaurants). And because they have a Beer & Wine license, I suggested they might want to carry some Founders Brewing Co. (which, while not really being San Francisco-local, is still a small-ish 'merican-local brewery... at least for now until they are eaten up by the likes of those bastages at AB InBev or Heineken N.V.). Collin also informed me of a another good, local small roastery in the Sunset called Andytown Coffee Roasters. I may need to make a specific breakfastary trip there in the future. 4. I think I may have gotten all that obfuscatory paranthetical punctuation correct there, but possibly not.
Richmond (District) Coffeehouses ~ Part 28 and Bay-to-Beer! #104
(No official web-site.) Place: Simple Pleasures Cafe Location: 3434 Balboa Street (between 35th and 36th Avenues); phonicular contact: (415) 387-4022 Hours: open 6:00am every day of the week Meal: (pre-Bay-to-Beer!) some kinda Linzertorte[1]-bar thing and a small cuppa their House Blend; (post-Bay-to-Beer!) Hummus & Veggies Bagel and a medium cuppa their House Blend
(These EweToobular songs are just a continuation from yesterday's Tom Russell mini-concert. The second one is a triet done with Dave Alvin and Katie Moffat; it was co-written with Dave Alvin, too.) As it was right along my way to watch the start of this year's Bay-to-Beer!, I stopped by Simple Pleasures Cafe (see previous 'blog-entry from March 15th, 2010) for a quick snack, and then on my way back home I stopped by again and finished up my breakfast there. And I would just like to point out that no one working there this morning was drinking from an outside cuppa that St*rbucks cr*p. Gone now are the really cool table lamps that they used to have on all the tables in the back part of the café. I guess they couldn't afford them any longer with the upkeep on the stupid parklet out front now...
stupid, useless parklet mini-rant There is a HUGE stupid parklet in front of the place. It has been there for about two years now. I did a small boycott (for about a year straight) of the place, but it's been one of my favourite go-to neighborhood joints since I first moved to San Francisco, so I could only stay away so long (besides, their Coffee is really good and the Hummus & Veggies Bagel is also a good, quick meal ~ convictions only matter for other people). This stupid parklet takes up a spot along Balboa Street that makes for at least 3-4 car parking spaces being wasted. Oh, well, at least it's a nice enough looking space (even if it is still a stupid wastelet). I even decided to eat the Linzertorte-bar thing while sitting in the stupid parklet. (End of mini-rant, for now.) They really only offer a few other ideas for a breakfastary repast. I could have ordered Scrambled Egg & Cheese Bagel (which I probably would have ordered with an Asiago[2] cheese bagel) or one of those pre-packaged burritos (you know, the kind that many coffeehouses sell now-a-days ~ there was a Potato, Black Bean, Egg, & Cheese one that didn't sound half-bad) in the front refrigerated case. (not necessarily a stupid, useless) Bay-to-Beer! Interlude http://www.zapposbaytobreakers.com/ I stationed myself in front of the Bison Paddock at first, but made my way to the corner of John F Kennedy Drive and Chain of Lakes Drive East[3], where there was a live band just starting to warm-up.
(Dammit! And me without any PURINA®Buffalo Chow.)
(These are photos of the lead pack of runners.) After about the first 100 runners had gone past, I decided to head out and get breakfast. I figured as long as I was already in the area, I would swing by Raccoon Island and see if Rocky and any of his buddies were around to watch the race. Unfortunately, it was way too early in the morning for any of them to still be awake or up yet. I did run into several of those fuzzy-tailed rats, Steller's Jays, and Red-WingedBlackbirds, though. (Dammit! And me without any PURINA®Raccoon Chow... or any PURINA®Squirrel Chow... or any PURINA®Steller's Jay Chow... or any PURINA®Red-WingedBlackbird Chow...)
"Hummus on a bagel?! Oy vay[4]! Are you meshugge, Brian?!" I was a bit skeptical the first time that I ever ordered this, but now I know that it is way better than any of that soft Philly-cheese stuff. They make their own hummus and it is generally very good. Today it was just good (a bit on thick side), but still much better than anything I would ever attempt to make at home. (Yeah, fat chance!) I went with a sesame bagel for the basis of this meal; that always seems to pair very well with hummus. Today's "Veggies" were tomato slices (Sorry, Greg!), cucumber slices, sliced pepperoncinis, sliced black olives (the plain ol' boring, canned variety; this would be so much more awesomer if they ever used authentic Kalamata olives), red onions, and a few leaves of romaine lettuce. Sometimes this plate will also include alfalfa sprouts. I didn't bother to check out what Simple Pleasures Cafe might have to offer in the way of any condimentary supplements, nor did I bother bringing any of my own hot sauces with me this morning. I knew in advance that I was going to get the Hummus & Veggies Bagel and knew it didn't need any spicing up. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Linzertorte-bar thing ~ 6.2; Hummus & Veggies Bagel ~ 6.3 ___________________ 1. Was? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linzer_torte 2. http://www.cheese.com/asiago/ 3. There really is no longer a "Chain of Lakes Drive West", so I do not know why they still need to use the "East" designator here. The old Chain of Lakes Drive West used to be the transverse around the other side (that would have been the "west side", of course) of North Lake (aka Raccoon Island Lake), but that road had already been turned into just a pedestrian walkway for many years now. 4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: The Yiddish word "vay" comes from the German word "Weh" (which is pronounced somewhat like "vay", nu?). "Weh" in German simply means "woe" or "ache/pain".
Please make sure that your anti-virus software is enabled before clicking on the above business hyperlink! I am providing their official web-site link here mainly for informational purposes only. This morning when I first attempted to bring up their web-site, my Kaspersky Anti-Virus popped up with the highlighted warning "ACCESS DENIED" and another pop-up stating that there was a "Phishing Link Blocked". I am not sure if it was from the above hyperlink or from the way in which I was trying to enter the web-site [which was via a GaggleChromium search and link]. I did another search and entered their web-site from a link on yerp* and no such warning popped up. However, better safe than sorry. Thus, you have been duly [or dully] warned, Will Robinson.) Place: cumaica® ~ Artesanos Del Café Location: 200 Clement Street (on the corner of 3rd Avenue) Hours: open daily at 6:00am Meal: Breakfast Bagel ~ egg and cheese on a bagel of your choice, with added avocado (which was a smart move); a slice/piece of Morning Glory (which is from City Baking Co; this is a bread/cake thing made with raisins, coconut, sunflower seeds, carrot, zucchini, and walnuts[?]); and a small (12 oz) cuppa Cumaica Coffee®House Blend (This blend is a combination of Indonesian and Central American beans, separately roasted for a perfect balance of flavor.) http://citybaking.com/ (Just, FYI: No similar anti-virus caveats popped up when I brought up and linked this web-site.)
(If you liked the first EweToobular juxtaselection, I suggest checking out more of Tanita Tikaram's music on EweToob. She is very good. Some suggestions [favourites] of mine: "Twist In My Sobriety", "I Might Be Crying", and "Dust On My Shoes". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanita_Tikaram The second video juxtaselection is from some guy that had some minor success doing movie soundtrack music. If you ask me, he'll never amount to much as a real musician and should just stick to the commercial stuff.) With this morning's visit to cumaica® ~ Artesanos Del Café, this concludes all of the coffeehouses on Clement Street for my Richmond (District) Coffeehousesseries. Next up: westward (Ho!) along Geary Boulevard from Arguello Avenue to Ocean Beach (however, I am pretty sure that there are only one or two left to check out, so it will be on to Balboa Street pretty quickly, too). cumaica® is a local (mini-)chain of coffeehouses; there are four shops throughout San Francisco right now. This place was a-hoppin' this morning with many locals and others (mainly due to the Sunday farmers market[1] getting started just outside on Clement Street). It is a standard-sized coffeehouse, with seating inside for about twenty; they also have a few small tables outside along 3rd Avenue that seat two to four people. cumaica® does not really have too much that they offer in the way of food (breakfastarily or otherwisary), but I could have gone with a bagel with hummus and cucumbers (which did sound good if you want a simpler, lighter breakfast). They do have four different pre-packaged commercially-made burritos (like many coffeehouses offer these-a-days) in the front refrigerated case (but just two that would be suitable for stupid vegetarian-types: Spinach & Onion or Green Chile). Seeing as this is first-and-foremost a Coffee joint, the main focus should be on their Coffee, anyway. They only offer one freshly-brewed roast/blend (House Roast) for standard Coffee drinks, but they do have bags of other blends/roasts of Coffee available for sale over the counter (never buy Coffee from under the counter, trust me on this one). If I hadn't already four (or five?) bags of Coffee in my refrigerator currently, I would probably have picked up a pound-bag of their San Francisco Blend ~ "This blend is made with Guatemala and Espresso blends to yield a flavorful and strong cup of Coffee. Perfectly suited for Espresso drinks." They do also offer many Espresso drink varieties, which are made with their House Espresso (Cappuccino) Blend ~ "A wonderful combination of light roasted Indonesian beans and dark roasted Central American beans. This four-bean blend is separately roasted and blended for a rich morning brew or a strong-creamy Espresso drink." I only mention the Espresso drinks because one of the drinks listed on their (hand-printed) menu on the back wall caught my eye and my fancy (or maybe just my fanciful eye... or an eyeful of fancy): Macciato [ sic (no points are ever taken off for a Tori[2])] de Caramelo. yet still another stupid parklet mini-rant (and this doesn't even rate another photo of the stupid thing) This is no fault of cumaica® (I think I had asked them once before and they stated that they didn't sponsor the stupid obstruction), but there is an obnoxiously large parklet just a door down on Clement Street that easily takes up five or six parking spaces now. I would just like to point out that this area of Clement Street is only three (3, tres, trois, tre, drei) blocks away from a very large public park (Mountain Lake Park in the Presidio) or five (5, cinco, cinq, cinque, fünf) blocks from Golden Gate Park. If you really want people to utilize public parks, just stop with all of these stupid, useless parklets for any of these bastages that are too lazy to get off of their fat-arses while juggling their mobular devices and Decaf-Double-Latte-Macchiatos (which is the correct spelink, by the way) made with low-fat soymilk to amble a simple three or five blocks away! (okay, mini-rant over... for now)
My choice of bagel this morning was sesame. I am glad I went with the added avocado as it would have been a little too basic otherwise. As with most coffeehouses (with no real kitchen area), the scrambled eggs were of the nukularized version once again. I was happy to see that the cheese was real cheese (Monterey Jack probably) and not that fake cardboard stuff that is usually foisted upon stupid 'mericans. For a change, I had to wait about five minutes for my cuppa while they were preparing a fresh batcha. The bagel actually came out before the Coffee was even done. This was fine with me, as I was assured of a nice, fresh, hot cuppa. It was worth the wait, too, as it was an extremely nice blend/roast. I am not sure what cumaica® may have to offer in the way of condimentary supplements; I didn't see any and didn't feel the need to ask for any. I used some of my own Fat Cat Strawberry Serrano Hot Sauce® (Thanks again, Cindy & Greg! I think that there may be just one more dose left in that bottle now.) on half of the bagel-sandwich and some Dragon BreathGarlic Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the other half-bagel. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Breakfast Bagel (with added avocado) ~ 6.2; House Blend ~ 6.9; Morning Glory ~ 6.4 ___________________ 1. http://www.agriculturalinstitute.org/clement-st/ 2. That would be as in "Miss Spelling".
