Eats

https://www.eatsrestaurantsf.com/


Place: Eats

Location: 50 Clement Street
(on the corner of 2nd Avenue)

Hours: open Monday - Sunday at 8:00am

Meal: Divorced Eggs ~ sunny up eggs with half red sauce and tomatillo sauce, ricotta salata[1], black beans with pepper Jack cheese[2], grilled tortillas, and roasted potatoes; and, to drink, a glassa Power C ~ a mixture of orange, pineapple, and grapefruit juices

("Before"... "After"... whatever. Unseasonable [and mostly unwanted] rain is still rain.)


Because I am still running through my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, and today is also the 108th annual running of the Bay-to-Beer in San Francisco, and it had been raining earlier for most of the morning, I wanted to keep it as local as possible and not have to deal with any traffic that may have been caused due to all of that. So, I simply returned to Eats (see previous 'blog-entry from Saturday, January 19th, 2019) for breakfast this morning.

Since I last ate at Eats, there are brand new (retractable) awnings outside on both the Clement Street-side and 2nd Avenue-side sidewalk seating areas. I probably coulda even sat outside if I really wanted to, as the rain had already ceased from the earlier morning deluge and did not resume until much later this afternoon. However, I had arrived early enough this morning to still get a choice of a few different two-seater tables indoors, anyway.

By now, I have more than worked my way through their entire menu and will be repeating most of the meals again. This is fine-by-me, because they have many good items from which to choose (even for st*pid vegetarian-types) and it will take me a few years to run through all of them again (even with three to four visits a year).

Oh, noooo!!!

Sadly, it appears that along with their fancy new awnings outside, they have also changed the formula for their homefries. However, this would be in the opposite direction ("un-fancy old"?)... they are no longer including any roasted garlic cloves. (Well, there were none what-so-ever in my portion this morning, where there were normally at least three to six cloves.) I just hope this was an oversight for my meal and they do still include the roasted garlic cloves in their homefries. These were easily the best homefries in town with the garlic in them. Additionally, I did not notice any rosemary sprigs in the potatoes either. (Hmmm?! Maybe to be able to pay for their fancy new awnings, they had to cut back on a few other important items.)

Anyway... thankfully, the eggs dish was still mighty tasty itself. With the salsa roja, salsa verde, and grated white cheese (ricotta salata) on top, the colours sorta reminded me of la Bandera Mexicana, Antonio.

As far as condimentary supplementation goes, Eats offers the full 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, El Yucateco® three ways (Salsa Picante Roja de Chile Habanero, Salsa Picante Verde de Chile Habanero, and XXXtra Picante Salsa Kutbil-Ik® de Chile Habanero). I still went with some of my own 
Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the potatoes and some H*ll's Kitchen® Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the black beans. Both of which ended up being superfluously supplemented. I liked their salsa roja better than their salsa verde (which was tomatillo-based, and plenty good enough all on its ownsome) and happened to mention it to one of the server-lady persons, so she went back and brought me out a whole 'nother small ramekin of salsa roja, which I proceeded to dump on top of the one egg that already had salsa roja on it, the potatoes, and the black beans.


(another, not really such a) Strange Coffee Interlude

Before heading out for breakfast, I had prepared myself a mighty fine cuppa Bettys - Java Kalibaru[3] 
(Thanks, Cindy & Greg!). Now, not that I really needed another cuppa after breakfast (Does anybody truly need another lung-full of oxygen more than once a day?!), but when I got home I made myself yet another cuppa the same stuff (and once more prepared via the single-cuppa drip/pour-over method). The main reason I decided to "risk" drinking two cuppas-a-day was that, after breakfast, I once again strolled through the Clement Street Sunday Farmers Market and picked up a few interesting fresh baked-goods junk. For a mid-morning after-breakfast snack (and, because of which, I had to completely skip any lunch), I went with a Cardamom Puff purchased from Portside Bakery (outta Sausalito-town). The best way to describe this was a roundish croissant (about the size of a very large apple) filled with a cardamom custard. The cardamom custard was awe-some and really complemented (or vice-the-versa) the cuppa Coffee. So, it totally made it worth the second cuppa... even if I cannot get to bed until really late tonight... like, say, 10:30pm. I also made the second cuppa in my brand-spankin'-new "Eats" mug that I had just purchased this morning after breakfast. (I already have two "Dottie's True blue café" mugs, so I figured I would try to collect one mug from each of the other restaurants in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation... if possible; that makes two down and only three to go).

https://www.bettys.co.uk/java-kalibaru-single-origin-coffee

http://portsidebaker.com/

https://agriculturalinstitute.org/directory/listing-details/clement-st


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Huevos Divorciados ~ 7.0;
Power C ~ 6.7;
Cardamom Puff ~ 7.8;
Bettys Java Kalibaru ~ 7.4

___________________

1. For those of you that might be cheesily-impaired:

https://www.cheese.com/ricotta-salata/

2. This link is probably unnecessary, but still...

https://www.cheese.com/pepper-jack/

3. For a posh British tearoom kinda place, Bettys really does a great job with their Coffees, too. The Coffee is always top-notch and only costs about the same as the swill you can get at that St*rbucks place. This blend/roast is priced at £5.95 for a 227g bagga; with today's exchange rate, that equates to about $15.16/pound (that would be 'mercian-style measure of weight "pound", not the Britishlander-style monetary unit "pound"). 

Louis'

♪ "Between the Omelette and 
the Deep Blue Sea... " ♫ ???

http://louissf.com/index.html/


Place: Louis'

Location: 902 Point Lobos Avenue
(somewhere between 48th Avenue and the Great Highway-ish)

Hours: open 6:30am everyday[ sic ]

Meal: "Build Your Own" Omelette (with Feta, spinach, and tomatoes) ~ three cage free eggs served with potatoes and English muffin; and a cuppa (and one refilla) Peerless Coffee & Tea® (I did not ask which blend/roast they serve, though)

http://www.peerlesscoffee.com/

(What's with today's EweToobular juxtaselections? Simples! I have it under good authority [How come you never hear about anyone having it "under bad authority"?] that ol' Satchelmouth himself was a big Feta and spinach fan.)


With today's running of another Bay-to-Beer "race" (since 1912) gumming-up my neighborhood streets, I thought it best to keep my breakfastary sojourn as local as possible, so I took a 38-Local all the way down the street (it beat walking the seventeen blocks to-and-fro; plus, it was pretty d*rn windy and chilly this morning to boot ~ which is usually the weather-norm for Bay-to-Beer "race"-days) to Louis' (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, October 2nd, 2011).

https://www.baytobreakers.com/

As close as this place is to where I live, I do not think that I have eaten there but a handful of times in the 
30-plus years that I have lived in San Francisco; and, probably, just two or three of those visits have been breakfastarily. This is no fault of the diner/restaurant-joint itself; there really is just not that much from which to choose on the menu for stupid vegetarians is all.

This morning I sat at the mini/three-seater diner-counter area. I was offered any of the empty booths right along the window, but I didn't want to "steal" a booth if a larger group came in and needed/wanted one. However, as it turned out, I was in and out so early this morning there remained three booths still empty the entire time that I was there, so I could have had an entire booth to myself... oh, well. Usually by 9:00am, the (rather smallish) place will be full and there will be a line ~ out the door onto the sidewalk ~ waiting to get in.

Even if I did not have these views from where I was sitting, I only had to turn around or get up and go over to one of the windows to see the views. And there is never an extra charge for these Million Dollar Views. I even saw one whale ~ either a California Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus)[1] or a Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)[2] ~ unfortunatley, it breeched too quickly for me to really see which it might have been (like I could really tell the difference even if they were swimming side-by-each). It was just off the coast (less than a hundred yards really) past Seal Rocks[3]/Lands End[4]/Sutro Baths[5].

Strange Memory/Mind-losing Interlude

This morning when I got up and before I was preparing to go out for breakfast, I could not locate some of my notes that I keep on these silly little breakfast visits. (Yes, I do actually keep notes on actual paper. I still refuse to go back to the future into the 21st Century and get me one of them new-fangled mobular devices with which to keep notes/information.) It took me about an hour (and, sadly, that is not an exaggeration) to finally discover where I had put them yesterday. I found them inside one of the reference books (and, yes, I do still use actual printed materials for reference sources; not everything can be found so quickly on these-here World Wild Webs-things) that I used yesterday to look up the information on "sheriff"[6]. While searching manically, I almost swore that I was the victim of a Little Green Men abduction (it is a well-known fact that those sneaky little bastages love a good omelette or crêpes) or an NSA subversive plot (you would be surprised at just how far our government is willing to go trying to keep us from enjoying our early-morning repasts).

As for the actual omelette-review part of this 'blog-thing, it was a simple-enough rendition and much better'n I could ever manage (luckily this was not a "Make Your Own" Omelette... ). It included lotsa spinach in it, but I felt that it coulda used a bit more Feta (this is my standard complaint with most places, anyway).

Louis' has only Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce ~ Original Red Sauce for use as a condimentary supplement. No biggie, as I finally got to use up the last drops of my Palo Alto Firefighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the potatoes. (Now I am down to only thirty bottles of hot sauces on my refrigerator door shelves.) Additionally, I used a little of my own Great Wall Wasabi Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on half of the omelette.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
"BYO" Omelette ~ 6.0;
Million Dollar Views ~ 8.2 (with tax and tip included)

___________________

1. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/whales/gray-whale.html

2. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/whales/humpback-whale.html

3. https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/historyculture/upload/Seal_Rocks_sr-2014.pdf

4. https://www.nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/landsend.htm

5. https://www.nps.gov/goga/upload/sb-clho-2008.pdf

6. "A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language" by the Rev. Walter W. Skeat Litt.D., LL.D., D.C.L.. Ph.D. (I bet he made up half of those titles, though). My copy is only a paperback version of a book that dates from the 1890's, and I find it very useful when looking up older meanings for English words and stuff.

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/a-concise-etymological-dictionary-of-the-english-language_walter-w-skeat/18168653/?mkwid=s5F8Qd4T0%7cdc&pcrid=70112885352&pkw=&pmt=&plc=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-5iR2fSU2wIVkVqGCh1-5wzUEAQYASABEgL1AvD_BwE#isbn=0399500499&idiq=4340036

Simple Pleasures Cafe

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-Winged Blackbirds, 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-Winged Blackbird 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".

O’Reilly’s

"Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper."
~ Francis Bacon (no relation to the inventor of the legendary Glen Bacon Scale)

http://www.sforeillys.com/OReillys_Irish_Pub/Oreillys_Irish_Pub.html

(Just a couple of classic Irish dirges to tide you over while reading this 'blog-entry, boyo… or girlo.)


I went to O'Reilly's this morning for "Brunch" (their term, not mine, even though they open at 8:00am ~ or 9:00am ~ on the weekend; their website says 9:00am, but when I arrived there this morning at 8:30am they were open for business and the weekend "Brunch" menu stated 8:00am; so, take your pick, Mick) on Green (figures) Street in North Beach. I have eaten dinner there a few times in the past, but this was my first breakfastary experience there. Now, I know what you are thinking (and just clean it up right now, buddy!): "An Irish pub in North Beach?" (for you out-of-towners/touristas, North Beach is the well-known quartiere italiano in San Francisco, akin to the North End in Boston and Little Italy in New York City).

There was lots of green inside for some reason; plus, the walls are festooned with photos of Ireland and Celtic paraphernalia (I spotted at least one bodhrán[1] and one shillelagh[2] on the walls or hanging from the ceiling). They have plenty of indoor restaurant seating (and there is a full bar/pub adjoined in the next room); plus, there are a few outdoor/sidewalk picnic tables with which to dine al fresco (sorry, I have no idea how to say that in either Irish or Italian) if you like. I sat at one of the beer-barrel tables. I liked that their condiments holders are Guinness® six-pack cartons.

parklet mini-rant of the day
I parked on Columbus Avenue right behind another stupid, useless parklet (the one in front of Rose Pistola). Also, while walking around this morning, I saw about 2-3 more of these stupid parking obstructions along Columbus and other streets in North Beach. But I am so sure they are absolutely necessary as it is a full ONE BLOCK to have to walk ALL THE WAY to Washington Square Park (and in one case there is one that is directly kitty-cornered from the park). Complete rubbish! End of rant… for now.

Bay-to-Beer Interlude
This morning was the running of the 102nd Bay-to-Beer (officially know as Bay-to-Breakers). I didn't go to watch it in Golden Gate Park as in years past, but I still saw hundreds of costumed runners (sorry, I didn't see any of the "naked-people" this morning) walking to the starting line from North Beach (my most-knowledgeable server-lady told me that they normally gather in Washington Square Park and head to the starting line in large groups). This was one of the better days for it for a change; it was an absolutely beautiful, sunny morning downtown and even clear and warm(ish) over at the ocean/breakers (it's normally a 50-50 shot that it will be overcast and rainy this time of year).

There really aren't that many things that O'Reilly's offers for "Brunch" (I counted fourteen entries). They do offer several omelettes and scrambles, along with some pancakes and waffles choices. It was also interesting to see (not that it does me any good, but you lovers of the dead, decaying porky products might like this) that they do have a Full Irish Breakfast ~ two bacon rashers (and after seeing all of these meat-stuffs, you may break out into a rasher of your own), two Irish link sausages, two black pudding, two white pudding, two eggs, baked beans, mushrooms, grilled tomato, and home fries or French fries. I did see something on the "Brunch Favorites" section of the menu that I knew I had to try: Vegetarian Benedict ~ on a boxty[3] cake, grilled beefsteak tomatoes, spinach, and zucchinis (sic; and while it is perfectly correct as the plural of zucchini, you rarely would see it pluralised in this instance); this comes with a side of home fries. I also had a large glass of grapefruit juice.

The boxties (I have no idea if the correct plural is "boxties" or "boxtys") served as a perfect and unique base for the Benedict; plus, as an Irish establishment, they shouldn't be caught dead using none of them crummy "English"-type muffins, Mr. O'Thomas. My friendly and ever-informative server-lady told me that they used to make these with Irish brown bread instead of the boxtys (what the heck, one of them has to be correct), which would also be a nice substitution. (I should point out here that I really wasn't tying up the poor woman with all of my inane/insane questions, as there was just myself and one other table of people there the whole time I was eating, so she had more than enough time to answer me.) The only thing I might have done differently if I were making these (and there is a much better chance that the Republic of Ireland will go back to being part of the United Kingdom than me ever making these) would have been to slice the tomatoes and zucchinis (see, here it makes sense in the plural) a little thinner, as the entire thing was a bit too thick and unwieldy. The home fried potatoes were very good, too, and made with lots of julienned onions and (red and green) bell peppers.

O'Reilly's only has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) for condimentary supplements. I was very surprised to see that there weren't even any bottles of HP™ Brown Sauce on any of the tables; my friendly and informative server-lady explained to me that they do put some out once in a while, but people tend to steal them (because it's not as if you can't get these at most local grocery stores in San Francisco or anything; the idiots that steal these probably think that parklets are actually a "cute idea" and serve a good purpose). I had come prepared (with the same bottles of hot sauces that I didn't need to use yesterday morning) and used some Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce ~ XX Habanero (Thanks agains, Amys and Brian!) on the potatoes and a little Nando's Extra Hot Peri-Peri Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) on top of the two eggs.

What do you call dessert after breakfast? As I had skipped a cuppa coffee this morning with breakfast, afterward I stopped at Caffe Trieste for a Doppio Esspresso and a cannoli[4] (Really?! Herr Gates and his Microsoft Spell-Checker Nazis do not recognize, or offer a valid alternative, to this word. Must be a buncha tiramisù fans.); this one was a chocolate chip one, but I prefer the ones with the candied fruits in them instead.

http://www.caffetrieste.com/

Here's hoping your supper is as good as my breakfast was.

And the craic[5] was good…


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Vegetarian Benedict ~ 7.0; Caffe Trieste Doppio Espresso ~ 7.6


1.* Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, uimhir amháin:

"Bodhrán" is not a small "Arabian" island country. It is an Irish frame drum. It is suggested that the name means "skin tray" and a link with the Irish word "bodhor", meaning "a drum" or "dull sound" (the word "bodhra" also means "deaf").

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, uimhir dhá:

"Shillelagh" is an Anglophone (which is not another mobular company in Great Britain) corruption of the Irish "sail éille", the two words meaning "cudgel" and "leash, thong".

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-epicurean pointer of the day, uimhir trí:

"Boxty" is a traditional Irish potato pancake. The word "bacstaí" or "arán bocht tí" means "poor-house bread" in Irish.

4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numero quattro:

"Cannoli" comes from Italian and the Sicilian language. The singular is "cannolo" (or "cannolu") and means "little tube" and is derivative of the Latin "canna", meaning "reed" or "cane".

5. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, uimhir a cúig:

Just so you know, this is not an illegal drug being sold on the streets of Dublin or Belfast.

Instead of me trying to explain exactly what "Craic" means, I will let the idiots at Wikipedia do it for me, seeing as they have already gone to all the trouble:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craic


*(Note: I would normally put these footnotes in one size smaller font than the rest of the 'blog-entry, but I have been informed by some of the elderly readers here that it is very hard to read them at that size.

I blame it all on the 'blog-spot that provides this ~ free ~ service to me. When I first started posting here, there was a much easier to read and just a tad bit larger font to be used with the Georgia text, but about a year ago they changed the format and now the Georgia text is smaller that it was previously. I am sure it has absolutely nothing to do with people trying to read this on their stupid mobular devises or electronic tablets.

So for now I will just leave the footnotes at the same size as the rest of the 'blog-post.

Of course, I am putting this parenthetical explanation in the smaller font and it will probably go unnoticed by the same people/person.)

The Bistro Restaurant @ Cliff House

Breakfast on Geary, finally Finale

http://www.cliffhouse.com/bistro/lunch.html

(I really wanted to finish up this series with a local version of "On The Street Where You Live", but, try as I might, I still could not find a version of the song on EweToob sung by a true San Franciscan… like Tony Bennett or Frank Sinatra.)


With today's 'blog-entry, I conclude my "Breakfast on Geary" series. While the Bistro Restaurant @ Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from January 2nd, 2012) is not technically on Geary, if you followed the logical progression of Geary Street/Boulevard westward all the way to Ocean Beach, this is where you would finally end up. Surprisingly, this was only my 15th stop along the way; I was really expecting about twice that amount of places to eat breakfast, or at least into the twenties.

I wouldn't normally walk all the way to the Bistro Restaurant (it's about twenty blocks away), but it was a gorgeous sunny morning and I first walked to Golden Gate Park to catch some of the craziness known as Bay-to-Beer! (see photos below). I figure if 100,000 idiots and weirdos (in all manners of costume, and sometimes none at all) can run 12K on a Sunday morning, I am good for a two mile walk (round trip) for breakfast.

The Bistro Restaurant's breakfastary menu really isn't that extensive and I have already had most of the items a few times over. This morning I once again had Sautéed Vegetable Scramble ~ Scrambled Eggs, Red Peppers, Tomatoes, Scallions, Button Mushrooms, & Melted Goat Cheese; served with roasted potatoes and, of course, Popovers(!). I also had a large glass of orange juice with the meal. On my way to Golden Gate Park, I had stopped at Simple Pleasures Cafe and picked up a decent cuppa coffee to drink while watching the festivities pass me by; so I really didn't need to order another at the restaurant.

http://www.simplepleasurescoffee.com/

This was the same meal I had ordered the last time I was there, so you can re-read that 'blog-entry if you want. Today's fresh fruits were: cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew melon, strawberries, and grapes.

Knowing full well that the Bistro Restaurant just has Tabasco® (the standard red) for condimentary supplements, I came prepared and used a little of my own Oaxacan Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the scramble and a little Cholula® (Thanks again, me!) on the potatoes.

As I sat (or was seated) in one of the booths this morning (and not along the window-side overlooking the Pacific), I didn't have a wall of Hollywoodland photos above my table. So, I walked around the corner and took these pictures of local San Francisco Bay Area Sports and Rock-and/or-Roll figures:

(Picture 1, top to bottom)

Art Howe, Oakland AAA's; Greg Norman (okay, he's not a San Franciscan, but I was told he is a friend of the owner's; besides, isn't Australia just a little west of San Francisco?)
Ronnie Lott, San Francisco 49ers; Bill Walsh, San Francisco 49ers
Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants; (from the 1961 MLB All-Star Game: back row, left to right) Harmon Killebrew, Minnesota Twins; Jim Gentile, Bal'more Orioles; Norm Cash and Rocky Colavito, Detroit Tigers; (front row) two of the bat-boys for the game

(Picture 2, top to bottom)

Grace Slick; Herb Caen
Carlos Santana (from the 1988 Haight Street Fair?)

As always the food was fine. Heck, they could serve me S.O.S. and as long as I get my helping of Popovers(!), I would never complain and still keep coming back for more.

101st Annual Bay-to-Beer!

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?
A: If you saw this horde of crazies coming at you, would you stand still?

(Of course, the chicken had to wait for over two hours for a break in the traffic to do so… and by then the egg had already beaten her to the other side.)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  Sautéed Vegetable Scramble ~ 6.7; Simple Pleasures Coffee ~ 7.0; Popovers(!) ~ 8.2; Bay-to-Beer! ~ 7.9

The Crepe House

I may be a Crêêp, but I ain't no Wêirdo!

http://www.thecrepehouse.com/

(Sure it's a Radiohead song originally, but I just like Chrissie Hynde better than Thom Yorke... it's so f*cking special this way.)


My breakfastary destination this morning was The Crepe[1] House (and like a lot of local crêperies, they spell "crêpe/crêpes" sans the little hat thingy ~ which, as I have pointed out before, is technically called an "e-circumflex", I just prefer "little hat thingy" better). The Crepe House is a mini-chain crêpe joint in San Francisco; they have three locations throughout the City: Nob Hill, Hayes Valley, and the Mission. I went to the one on Gough Street in Hayes Valley today; I have been here a few times in the past (as well as their Nob Hill spot), but this was my first visit back in a couple of years.

I found out today that they are closing/leasing this specific location. I am not sure if the entire chain is going out of business or just this one shop in Hayes Valley. There is a "FOR LEASE Restaurant" sign on the side of the building. Anyone want to start a new business venture with an existing location?

(June 26th, 2012 Update:
I was in Hayes Valley this afternoon for lunch and stopped by to see if they were still open. They were completely closed and looked like they had been for a few weeks now. They have a sign on the door stating that their other two locations ~ 1755 Polk Street/at Washington Street and 1132 Valencia Street/at 22nd Street ~ are still open for business.)

Tomorrow is the 101st running of San Francisco's very own elite and completely idiotic Bay-to-Beer! (officially known as Bay-to-Breakers, unofficially knows as Bay-to-Buffalo, and alternatively life-styled known as Gay-to-Breakers ~ see previous 'blog-entries from May 15th, 2011 and May 16th, 2010 for more information). I only mention this as it will pass by just a block away from this crêperie, up and over the infamous Hayes Street Hill.

Not only do they have a large and varied selection of savoury crêpes, but they also offer a decent selection of omelettes, Belgian waffles, Huevos Rancheros, and Eggs Benedict/Florentine (for breakfast); sandwiches, pastas, and salads (for lunch/dinner); and dessert crêpes (for anytime). Their ordering procedure is like most crêperies and coffee shops: you order at the counter, pay for the meal first, they give you a number to take back to your table, and then they bring the food out to you when it's done (which makes it very hard to "chêw-and-scrêw" at these places). I chose the Mediterranean ~ Cheddar cheese, onions, tomatoes, black olives, Feta, roasted red peppers, avocado, artichokes (hearts), & pesto sauce; served with rosemary potatoes and baby mixed greens; I also had a cuppa coffee with the meal (and it was pretty decent, just no freebie refills).

I liked it all well enough. It was chock full o' stuff. Pluses: there were lots of avocado, roasted red pepper strips, and most of the other ingredients in it. Minuses: the artichoke hearts were the marinated kind ~ I feel this would have been better with the brined style; and the black olives were just the standard sliced, canned variety ~ as always, this would have been so much better with real Kalamata olives. Now this was a decent enough crêpe (and I never even attempt to make pancakes, let alone crêpes); however, my main minor quibble here (une quibble mineure ici) was the amount (or lack thereof) of Feta inside; they were pretty stingy with this one ingredient, and it is one of my favourites.

The rosemary potatoes were excellent, Mr. Parsleysagethyme ~ nice and crispy/crunchy slices. I skipped the stupid "baby mixed greens", baby. I can make that myself ~ open up a bag of pre-washed, mixed lettuces/greens, put on plate… et violins! A fresh-made salad! Big deal.

The Crepe House only has condimentary supplementation of Tabasco®, two flavours: the standard red and green Jalapeño. So I used a little of my own Cherry Republic® KaBOB's Kick'en Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy!) on the potatoes and a little Big Papi En Fuego Hot Sauce ~ Original Medium (Thanks, Kerry! That now kills that bottle, too; the remaining two bottles of Off The Wall Triple Hot and Grand Slam XXXtra Hot! will last me a few years more, I am sure.) on the crêpe.

The Crepe House has an interesting collection of teapots over the counter and along the back wall. (Greg, don't worry, Cindy's collection outnumbers theirs by twofold at least.)

Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  Mediterranean Crêpe ~ 6.4[2]


[1] Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-epicurean pointer of the day, numéro un:
 
The French word "crêpe/crêpes" comes from Old French "crespe", which comes from Latin "crispa", the feminine of "crispus", meaning "curled, uneven, wrinkled".
 
As best as I can discern, this is the same word root used for the fabric made of silk, cotton, or other fiber. It is also the same word root for "crepe paper". (You can consider that an extra-added, at no charge, stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-haberdasherial pointer of the day.) 
 
However, the anglicized spelling of this word is just pure "crape".
 
[2] Now I am not being hypercritical (or hypocritical… or even Harpocritical) with my GBS Rating of today's meal. 6.4 is actually a very decent score.
 
Here is a quick GBS refresher:
 
6.5-7.0, worth a return trip ~ the equivalent in terms of females:  Marisa Tomei and Lindsay Lohan (back before she went crack-head, bat-shit crazy, of course);
7.1-7.5, definitely worth at least a few more return trips ~ think: Salma Hayek, Scarlett Johansson, and Natalie Portman;
7.6-8.5, please invite me along ~ think: Uma Thurman, Nicole Kidman, and Marilyn Monroe;
8.6-10.0, say "Hi!" to Saint Peter for me, 'cause you must be dead and in Heaven
 
It is all highly scientific, of course.