6th & B

What d'yer do when both your Back-up Plan #1 and Back-up Plan #2 fail?

It's scramble-time!

http://www.6thandb.com/


Place: 6th & B

Location: 452 Balboa Street
(on the corner of 6th Avenue)

Hours: open Thursday - Monday at 8:00am

Meal: soft scramble with avocado ~ two eggs, spinach, mushroom, tomatoes, French country bread, house potatoes; and, to drink, a glassa Watermelon Man (which is simply a whole lotta fresh watermelon juiced, man!)

([You can basically skip the first minute or so of the first song, it is just Adele explaining why she wrote the song. And, yes, that is over 100 million views already on this particular live version. You wanna see something amazing, Gracie? Check out Adele's original version of this same song... over one-point-three Billion views... 1,300,000,000 views! Oh, and that second song... it has garnered merely one-point-five Billion views all on its ownsome! Holy cr*poli, Batman!]

There really is/are no EweToobular juxtaselection/s with these songs this morning. The house-stereo [restaurant-stereo, whatever] just happened to be playing the first song while I was eating.

See? Sometimes when the fat lady sings, it ain't always necessarily a foreshadowing of failure... )


Do not get me wrong. I have absolutely no qualms about going back to 6th & B (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, March 10th, 2019) for breakfast. In fact, this great little (and very local) place is even very Breakfastary Starting Rotation-worthy. However, due to the Escape from Alcatraz℠ Triathlon which would be gumming-up the traffic around my neighborhood all morning, I thought it best to keep it as local as possible (accessible by foot or by bus straight down Geary Boulevard). So, my original plan of attack this morning was just to go back to Royal Ground Coffee (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, February 16th, 2019). When I arrived there around 8:20am (they open daily at 6:30am, but I have found that they usually are not prepared to serve any sort of actual cooked breakfasts until well after 7:30am and recently not until after 8:00am), I was informed that their kitchen is now closed (temporarily or for good... immano).

Strike One ~ swing and a miss!

Unfortunately, I was then forced to come up with some sorta viable (and hopefully still local) Back-up Plan. Simples! Knowing that there is a relatively new bagel shop, the Bagel Bakery Cafe[1], just on the other corner a block away, which I have been meaning to check-out one of these days, anyway, I walked back down the block to it. However, for some undogly reason, they are not open on Sunday. Wha'?! Really?!  What kinda bagelry worth its (Kosher) salt is not open on a Sunday?! 

Strike Two ~ right down the middle!

Fine... thusly, on to Back-up Plan #2!  Frena Bakery & Cafe (see initial 'blog-entry from Sunday, February 10th, 2019) which is only two blocks further away. Now I know that these guys are open on Sundays, because they are an official-type Kosher bakery-place and are closed from sundown on Friday nights and all day on Saturdays.... except today... there was a note on the front door saying that they are closed today and Monday. (I did not bother reading what it was ~ possibly some kinda Jewish holiday?) 

Strike Three ~ looking!

Next batter-up!

At this point, I was really running outta early morning local-ish options/ideas and, despite what my brother Sean might have ridiculed me for, I even gave a thought of going right back to Breadbelly. (What the hey?! I was already in the neighborhood and it would have been just a short six block walk back over there from Frena and I am planning on revisiting there again soon, anyway.) 

I bet that even Edward Davis Wood Jr. had a "Plan 10 From Outer Space" in his back pocket.

Finally(?!)... on to Back-up Plan #3! It had been a few months since my last visit to 6th & B. So, I just hopped on the bus, Gus (no need to discuss this much more with myself), and got off five stops away (which, thankfully, drops you off exactly at 6th Avenue).

I like that this dish is offered as either an omelette or soft scramble. I have had it previously as an omelette with cheese instead of with avocado already once before, and I felt that it would work nicely in scramble-form (and would provide me with a st*pid titular joke). I really liked the amount of fresh, sliced avocado (well, if'n an avocado ain't fresh, there ain't no ways-no how that you're gonna be able to slice that bad-boy) that was fanned atop the scramble heap; there had to be at least a whole halfa avocado on it.

I also liked that the French country bread toast was prepared either on the top of the grill or possibly in a salamander.

Plus (and it is exactly pluses like this why I can fully see putting 6th & B into my Breakfastary Starting Rotation if the need ever be some day), they make some rockin'-good homefries! These include not only fried pieces of julienned carrots, but fried bits of kale, too (trust me, this was no plain ol' parsley, Rosemary; I sagely asked in time).

As far as condimentary supplements go, 6th & B has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and Frank's® RedHot (Original). I used some of my own Thyme Farm Vinegars Charlie's Chili Stuff (aka Old Narragansett® Bay Seasoning?!) (Thanks, Sha'!) generously dusted all over the homefries (about two forkfuls) and even a pinch on top of my Watermelon Man[2], and several shakes of 
Peaks of Otter Peppers Cremation Drops Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of the avocado and scrambled mess. Additionally, I used up the last few grinds from my grains of paradise grinder... looks like I need to make a trip "all the way over" to Fisherman's Wharf to get me some more grains of paradise (and, just relax, I was not st*pid enough to grind any of it into my Watermelon Man, man... Hmmmm?! Next time?).

I had always presumed (and, yes, I am well-aware of the old saying: "When you 'presume' something, it makes a 'pres' out of 'u' and 'me'... ") that the manager/owner-lady was Korean. I asked her as I was leaving today (fully expecting to say "고맙습니다!" ["Gomabseubnida!"] to her on my way out), but she told me that she was actually Chinese/Taiwanese. Luckily, I asked first, at least then I could correctly say "謝謝 !" ("Xièxiè!") to her as I was leaving.

This morning's meal ended up being the case where unexpected Back-up Plan #3 turned out to be even better'n the originally scheduled Plan.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
soft scramble with avocado ~ 6.6 (this was really a 6.5, but I am giving it an additional 0.1 Glen Bacon Scale points for being open and for the awesome homefries);
Watermelon Man ~ 7.0

___________________

1. I am not sure how this bagel shop is related to a bagelry with the exact same name and logo-design based out of Monterey, California. I used to go to their shops all the time back when I was living in Monterey and Pacific Grove.

http://www.thebagelbakery.com/

The above web-site does not list any official locations in San Francisco, though.

2. If nothing else than to prove a "heated" argument over the virtues and good flavouring of Old Bay® Seasoning from earlier this morning on defacedbook.

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

6th & B

I do not always eat "healthy", but when I do, this is the kinda "healthy" junk I like to eat...

http://www.6thandb.com/


Place: 6th & B

Location: 452 Balboa Street
(on the corner of 6th Avenue)

Hours: open Thursday - Monday at 8:00am

Meal: quinoa bowl ~ gold and red quinoa, market vegetables (they did not specify from which market; however, in today's bowl they musta purchased their vegetables from some "vile" market like W*lmart, because there were a few pieces of "the vile weed" thrown into the mix), poached egg + avocado; and, to drink, a glassa fresh-squeezed sweet green ~ spinach + pear + lemon + apple (thankfully, none of the "green" was due to "the vile weed")

(Today's EweToobular juxtaselections are mainly based upon this semi-annual st*pid Daylight Savings Time imposed upon those of us that are temporally-challenged. Plus, the Bob video is because they were playing his music exclusively  this morning the entire time that I was eating at the restaurant. I may have lost [or gained, I never know with this foolishness] an hour this morning, but at least I could enjoy my breakfastary repast with a little Bob to make up for the time.)


I did not want to waste any more "time" this morning, so I kept it all pretty local and headed back over to 6th & B (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, February 4th, 2018).

This was only my third visit there for breakfast (I had also eaten there once before for lunch). There are still a few other viable breakfast options for stupid vegetarian-types:

egg[ sic ] benedict ~ two poached eggs[ sics ], spinach, Hollandaise (while they prefer to stylize everything in the minuscule, I am majusculing this Frenchy mother sauce name), house potatoes (their version of homefries are first-rate, too);

lemon ricotta pancakes ~ seasonal fruit (I just hope it is not more of "the vile weed" season), organic maple syrup;

french toast ~ brioche bread, coconut milk batter (interesting), seasonal fruit (see above comment), organic maple syrup;

or

b toast ~ 2 eggs, cheese, avocado, baked on vienna (again, minusculed) white bread, mini salad (if I were to order this one ~ and I might just be doing that on my next visit ~ I would definitely force myself into ordering a side of their house potatoes [minuscule or not]).

Not to worry, for any of you dead, decaying meatetarians, they offer several interesting dishes for your ilk, too:

b mix-up ~ scrambled egg, potato, crumbled bread, bacon, pulled pork, sweet onion, fried tomato (I have no idea what this dish would even look like, but it does sound intriguing);

tonkatsu sandwich ~ panko-crusted pork cutlet, aioli, house worcestershire (again, mini-schooled) sauce, cabbage, house potatoes (this dish would probably be in honour of their japanese [See? Two can play at this minuscule game!] heritage); 

or 

loco moco ~ angus beef patty, 2 eggs sunny side up, onions, mushroom, gravy, white rice, scallions.

Sadly, they no longer offer the very tasty sweet porridge (which I had on my previous visit). The owner/manager-lady told me that they stopped offering it because no one was ordering it... St*pid customers! What the h*ck do they know about good food?!

Even though the sweet green mighta had a sickly nookular hue to it, it was one mighty tasty/sweet-*ss drink. The pear and apple flavours definitely overpowered the spinach (and I love spinach).

This was one HUGE bowl o' steaming quinoa with lots of (other than the aforementioned "vilocity") good junk in it, which included (at least): sweet potato, mushrooms, julienned bell peppers (gold, orange, and red), (even more) spinach, and possibly some kale or chard. Extra kudos goes to the restaurant for not labeling the vegetables as "market veggies (uggh!)". I suppose this dish coulda been alternately named "Egg(s) Simón (José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Palacios Ponte y Blanco)"[1].

For condimentary supplementation, 6th & B had Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and Frank's® RedHot (Original). Once again (in a dubiously valiant effort to try to use up at least one more bottle from my refrigerator), I used some of my own Pepper Palace Chocolate Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!)  on top of the poached egg. Now, the hot sauce poured out juuuust a bit more quickly than I was expecting and I might have overdone it a bit, but, at least, the runoff/overrun covered some of "the vile weed" junk making that a bit more palatable.


the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

After breakfast, while taking a little walk along Balboa Street (near the corner of 5th Avenue), I heard a few of the noisy little chatter-heads and looked up to see a small pandemonium (about three or four of them) flying overhead southbound (towards Golden Gate Park?).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
quinoa bowl ~ 6.8;
sweet green ~ 7.0;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

___________________

1. Okay, so maybe to get that silly little joke, you might have to understand that quinoa was first cultivated for human consumption in the Andes Mountains, along the Bolivian (Now do ya get it?) and Peruvian borders of the Lake Titicaca basin, three to four thousand years ago.

6th & B

Raccoon Island Discovery Day ~ Anniversary the 4th

http://www.6thandb.com/


Place: 6th & B

Location:  452 Balboa Street (on the corner of 6th Avenue)

Hours: open Thursday - Monday at 8:00am (closed Tuesday and Wednesday, which they felt the need to specify as such on their web-site for those of us that are calendarly-impaired)

Meal: ​sweet porridge ~ steel cut oats, brown and red rice, slow cooked in milk topped with sweet potato compote and fruit; a side of house potatoes (homefries basically); and to drink, a glassa watermelon man ~ mint+watermelon

(What's with today's EweToobular juxtaselection? Well, it is a little-known Cliff Clavinistic fact that Trey Anastasio is also a big fan of Mariani Nut Company California Almonds ~ Whole Almonds[1].)


In a direct effort to try and keep it "local" this morning (because after returning from my little trip to Raccoon Island after breakfast, I planned on doing nuthin' else all day long), I simply headed back to 6th & B (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, January 22nd, 2017).

This was only my second visit breakfastarily, and there are other ideas still that I want to get back again to try:

quinoa bowl ~ gold and red quinoa, potatoes, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, grapes, poached egg (this will probably be my choice next time);

french toast ~ brioche bread, coconut milk batter, seasonal fruit, organic maple syrup;

lemon ricotta pancakes ~ seasonal fruit, organic maple syrup;

b toast ~ fried egg, cheese, avocado, baked on Vienna white bread, mini salad;

or 

egg[ sic ] benedict ~ two poached eggs, baby spinach, chard, baby kale, Hollandaise, French country bread, house potatoes (this is also available in a few meatetarian options, with: bacon, applewood smoked ham, pork pico de gallo, beef tomato salsa, smoked wild salmon, or Dungeness crab).

I figured that a "healthy" breakfast was in order today because I plan on eating a ton of "junk" later in the day before/during the Super Bowl-thing. Now, this weren't yer standard Quaker-man instant-type oatmeal! (Sorry, Greg, but these are only made with "steel-cut oats". They probably do not want to have to import Macroom oatmeal from Ireland by way of Michigan using UPS to mail them to Pennsylvania, then having them forwarded via USPS to an APO in England to then have them shipped to California... ). It was served in a very large bowl (think bibimbap-bowl size) and was very good. I really liked the sweet potato compote addition, too. The fruits that were on top this morning were red grapes (halved), strawberries (quartered, mostly), and blueberries (whole).

I especially like their version of homefries. These are made with halved small potatoes, roasted and/or fried, and smooshed a bit to give them a nice crunch. Plus, there were some fried, crispy strips of kale and carrots throughout. This side dish alone is worth a return trip. "But, Brian, why would you order a side dish with yet more carbohydrates?" What else are ya gonna do with them?! 

As far as condimentary supplementation, 6th & B offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and Frank's® RedHot (Original). I just used some of my own Sunbelt Plantations Vidalia® Onion Picante Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the potatoes.

Raccoon Island Discovery Day Anniversary Strange Interlude ~ 2018

As everyone is well-aware, Raccoon Island Discovery Day is actually on January 30th, but, as with many other major national holidays, we usually celebrate it for an entire weekend. Unfortunately for me, it seems that all of the indigenous Procyonids had also taken the entire weekend off, and I did not see neither hide nor bandit-masked hair of any of them. And to make matters worse, there was only one solitary Squirrel (seen in above photo squirreling[2] away two illegally placed [someone has some 'splainin' to do, Lucy] Mariani Nut Company California Almonds ~ Whole Almonds; "But, Brian, unless you were the culprit that had 'illegally place' those almonds, how do you know exactly what kinda nuts they were?!" Trust me. Coming from my family, it is very easy to discern the true nuts out there.) cavorting in the large tree overlooking the shore (there are normally dozens of these furry-tailed rats nearby). However, I did see a few Steller's Jays (not pictured above, though) and many, many LBB's.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
sweet porridge ~ 6.8;
house potatoes ~ 7.2

___________________

1. http://marianinut.com/

2. Hey! I just got that expression now!

Butter Love Bakeshop

Richmond (District) Coffeehouses ~ 
Part 25b

When life hands you Marathons... make (or just buy some) lemon tarts!

http://www.butterlovebakeshop.com/


Place: Butter Love Bakeshop

Location: 3717 Balboa Street 
(between 38th and 39th Avenues)

Hours: open Tuesday-Friday at 7:30am, Saturday-Sunday at 8:00am

Meal: a slice of Cheddar-Jalapeño Quiche; a Sun-Dried Tomato & Ricotta(???) Galette; a large chunka Nectarine Bread Pudding; and a large cuppa 
Mr. Espresso® Organic Seven Bridges Blend 
("There are seven bridges that keep the people of the Bay Area connected, and the Seven Bridges Blend pays homage to the diversity of people and tastes in the San Francisco Bay Area." Well, technically, there are eight bridges in the Bay Area; most people forget about the Antioch Bridge. Or, perhaps, Mr. Espresso® doesn't count that big brick red one heading to Marin as an "organic" bridge.)

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

(I know what your're thinking: "Hey, Brian, just what the h*ck is today's EweToobular juxtaselection?" I bet you were not aware that ol' Satchelmouth himself invented the New Orleans Marathon; he was also a big fan of galettes ~ savoury or sweet.)


I really shouldn't need an excuse to get back to 
Butter Love Bakeshop (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, March 13th, 2016), but(ter) the San Francisco Marathon was back in town, cutting the city in half, and basically making me an involuntary hostage (as opposed to any of those "voluntary" types of hostages in Stockholm) in my own neighborhood. So, rather than try to deal with any stop-and-go (more stop-and-wait than go, really) traffic to get anyplace else, I figured I could just walk the eight blocks over to this bakery-joint and stay very local.

I sat outside in the backyard patio area (and I was the only idiot to do so this morning; the fog was still pretty thick and had not burned off yet and everything was kinda dewy and wet). I sat at the only table that was still dry, as this table was under a covered area right by the back door. There were four to five other tables of varying sizes that could seat from two to six people, though.

One of the hardest problems was deciding on exactly which savoury and/or sweet baked-goods items to go with ~ there were just too many good choices. I almost went all savoury and was thinking about also getting their savoury bread pudding item this morning (which I have completely forgotten already what it included; I just remember that it was vegetarian-[but probably not Vegan-]friendly). I do remember that the sweet galette choice was a strawberry one (it looked very good) and almost went with that over the savoury galette.

I put the "(???)" after the "Ricotta" in the galette name above because I could not remember what was in it and forgot what the front counter lady-person had told me it included (and, yes, I could have asked again on my way out, but didn't want to seem like too much of a geek[1]). Needless to say, I enjoyed all three of my pastry/baked-goods items this morning. I really have to say that I liked the Nectarine Bread Pudding the best of the three; I kinda figured that I would, and that was one of the reasons I chose it over the savoury bread pudding.

Once again, I really didn't bother to ask what Butter Love Bakeshop had for condimentary supplements. I actually brought a few of my own bottles of hot sauce and used just a little Dat'l Do-it® Zesty Chipotle Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) as a complementary pick-me-up on the quiche.

I am sure that both Uncle Albert and Fleet Admiral "Bull" Halsey would be mighty proud of this place...


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Quiche ~ 6.6;
Galette ~ 6.8;
Bread Pudding ~ 6.9

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist (mostly etymological) pointer of the day:

(Note: Copied directly from our friendly friends at WikipediA, so take this explanation for the paper that it is written on.)

The word comes from English dialect geek or geck (meaning a "fool" or "freak"; from Middle Low German Geck). "Geck" is a standard term in modern German and means "fool" or "fop". The root also survives in the Dutch and Afrikaans adjective gek ("crazy"), as well as some German dialects, and in the Alsatian word Gickeleshut ("jester's hat"; used during carnival). In 18th century Austria, Gecken were freaks on display in some circuses. In 19th century North America, the term geek referred to a performer in a geek show in a circus, traveling carnival or travelling funfair sideshows (see also freak show).

Marla Bakery

Richmond (District) Coffeehouses ~ 
Part 27b

http://www.marlabakery.com/


Place: Marla Bakery

Location: 3619 Balboa Street (between 37th and 38th Avenues)

Hours: open Tuesday - Sunday at 8:30am for breakfast; open Saturday & Sunday at 10:00am for Weekend "Brunch"

Meal: Savory Scone ~ Dry Jack, caramelized onion, and black pepper; Sweet Scone ~ tart cherry and oat; Cardamom Spiced Coffee Cake ~ la pièce de (much less) résistance; and a 12oz cuppa Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters Sulawesi Toraja Toarco Jaya

https://www.wreckingballcoffee.com/products/sulawesi-12-oz

(I will let you figure out today's EweToobular [threepeat] juxtaselections after reading on.)


I really love living in San Francisco and I love that there are always events going on around the city year-round... however, sometimes these events tend to be a bit of a nuisance and lock-up the city and block-off specific neighborhoods for a few hours (sometimes a lot longer). Take today, Henny. Please! Today's major traffic impediment/temporary neighborhood imprisonment was the 2017 United Airlines Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon San Francisco.

http://www.runrocknroll.com/san-francisco/

I was initially planning on heading over to North Beach to eat breakfast again at Mama♥s on Washington Square, but due to the above-mentioned event, that part of the city was basically unattainable this morning (until almost Noon). So, instead, I just figured I would keep it as local as possible and hoofed it over (pedestrian-style, not equestrian-style) the six blocks to Marla Bakery (see last 'blog-entry 'blurb from Sunday, July 3rd, 2016). Mama♥s on Washington Square will just have to wait until next Sunday now (unless American Airlines decides to do some kinda Blues Triathlon event then, too).

I sat outside in the backyard garden patio once again, and, once again, I had the entire space all to myself. A few people stopped back to check it out, but it was still a bit overcast and gloomy, so they wimped-out and headed back to the safety of indoor seating. Thank you!... which left me with just my thoughts... and my Cardamom Spiced Coffee Cake to enjoy in peace.

(If I only had some lemon-butter!)


I was hoping to order Baked Eggs w/ Grilled Bread (spring herb & onion cream, bacon [Nah!] & lemon confit), but it looks like they don't offer that item any longer for just breakfasts on the weekends. (I wonder if I can blame this oversight in any way on marathons or Rock-and/or-Roll.) I think they do still offer this dish during the week for breakfasts and on the Weekend "Brunch" menu. It looks like I will have to bite the bullet (or at least "bite the pastry") and check them out some other (later) time for "Brunch", where they do offer some other (changing seasonally) items. This weekend I might have been able to order: Potato & Butternut Squash Fritter (city ham [I wonder if it was a "gridlocked city ham"], grilled asparagus, pea tendrils, avocado-cilantro crema) or Winter Salad (frisée & escarole, toasted walnuts, griddled mandarins, walnut Skordalia[1] & Marla spice vinaigrette).

These are scones the way they are supposed to taste/be made ~ very moist and fluffy on the inside with a nice exterior crunch. They were both very good, too. I liked the cherry sweet scone better than the savoury one, but I am partial to cherries, anyway, Ms. Currie. 

The Cardamom Spiced Coffee Cake was as good (or better) than I remember it from before. (Hmmm?! Have you ever tried to "remember something from the future"?) I could really taste the cardamom in this pastry, which is a good thing, and the cardamom flavour always goes very well with Coffee. ("Cinnamon?! We don' need no stinkin' cinnamon in our Coffee cakes!")

I do not know what they might have had to offer in the way of condimentary supplements. I had come prepared with a few hot sauces of my own, but with the items I had ordered, I did not need to use any.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Savory Scone ~ 6.5;
Sweet Scone ~ 6.7;
Cardamom Spiced Coffee Cake ~ 7.6;
Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters Sulawesi Toraja Toarco Jaya ~ 7.2

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1. Apropos-iately enough, I was just talking with someone on defacedbook earlier this morning about this tasty Greek dish/dip.

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

This stuff ain't Tzatziki, but it ain't half-bad none neither.