Berkeley Social Club

A(nother) breakfastary roadtrip:
Berkeley, CA

"We are out of rice... how about spaghetti?!"[1]

https://www.berkeley-socialclub.com/


Place: Berkeley Social Club

Location: 2050 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA 
(near the corner of Shattuck Avenue)

Hours: open at 9:00am Monday - Friday and 8:00am Saturday - Sunday 

Meal: Mascarpone Blueberry stuffed Crunch French Toast; a side of Crispy Yukon (that would be potatoes, not Cornelius); and, to drink, a glassa Fresh Raspberry Lemonade


Thus concludes Episode 7...

(I think) with today's road-trippable breakfastary journey (all the way over [Hey! I will have you know that it was a four-hour roundtrip via buses and BART.]) to Berkeley Social Club, that finally wraps up all of the restaurants in the Taylor Street Coffee Shop-family mini-chain tour. This mini-link in their mini-chain has been open now since November 2016. After extensive research on these-here World Wild Webs (okay, so maybe I just looked up when the earliest reviews were posted on yelp*, but still... ), I can also conclude that this particular restaurant was #6 to be opened (just a little before their newest restaurant, #7, Surisan, in December 2016).

Size-wize, I would have to guesstimate that it ranks at probably #2 or #3, maybe a little behind Sweet Maple and Surisan.  I sat at one of the four round two-seater tables that are along the front window facing out onto University Avenue. (I had to ask one of the Thai waiter-server guys if the "University" in question was "Leland Stanford Junior University"... Sheesh! The looks some people will give you!)

As far as any other viable options for st*pid vegetarian-types go, this location also offers many of the same items as some of the other restaurants. There were two items that I do not remember seeing on the past menus, though:

Strawberry Avocado Toast ~ strawberry, avocado, goat cheese, Balsamic glaze (they have this one listed under "Small Bites", but I would probably order a side of Crispy Yukon and a poached egg to make it into a "Full Bite"; and, yes, I know that strawberry and avocado does sound like a strange combination, but I would try it; plus, an avocado is botanically a berry, whereas, strawberries are not)

and

Morning Pizza ~ doughless, potato, bacon (to be nixed), chorizo (ditto on the nixture), mushroom, tomato, cherry pepper, onion, Mozzarella, egg, arugula (this was going to be my back-up choice just in case the restaurant was out of "bread" this morning... ).

They had me at the "Mascarpone... stuffed... French Toast" (which was what I basically had on another visit to Kitchen Story [see previous 'blog-entry from Saturday, June 10, 2017], anyway). All the rest was just more glitter, but more than welcomed. This was basically a French toast sandwich, encrusted with corn flakes (trust me, it works), with Mascarpone cheese and some blueberries in the middle, and a few blueberries and strawberry slices on top. There really were not that many extra blueberries in between the slices of French toast, probably about as many as were already on top of the pile.

For condimentary supplementation, 
Berkeley Social Club offered both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. I had schlepped a few bottles of my own hot sauce (all the way over to Berkeley), so I made sure to use at least a little H*ll's Kitchen Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the potatoes and also a couple of shakes of McCormick® Grill Mates® Smokehouse Maple Seasoning (I figured that would be a nice juxtaselection along with the maple syrup that I poured all over the French toast). However... oooops! I went a little heavy-handed with the hot sauce this morning. Even if this particular Ghost Pepper-based sauce is "tempered" with Tabasco and aged red pepper chillies, it still has a bit of a kick to it; thankfully, the main meal was overly sweet and helped to balance it out... somewhat...

I guess I could say that this was a very crispy/crunchy kinda morning!

... and I was very happy to hear that they were not out of rice this morning ~ I asked! (Plus, I saw one of the worker-guys eating a big plate of what looked like some kinda fried rice dish for his own breakfast at the bar/counter-area.)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Mascarpone Blueberry stuffed Crunch French Toast ~ 7.1;
nebby li'l Chinese restaurants that run outta rice ~ 5.4

___________________

1. Completely un-breakfastarily related ~ but still food-based (mostly) ~ rant:

I do not want to sound overly Trumpian-racist here, but it goes without saying that when eating at a Chinese (and Asian in general) restaurant that a verisimilitude will be that they offer rice in some form or another (either as "plain steamed" or in a multitude of "fried rice" dishes on the menu). However, such was not the case when I ate at a local Chinese restaurant last night. After I had already placed my order (simply Curried Vegetables with a side of "rice"), the waitress/server-lady person came back to my table and said the above titular [footnoted] question.

I was more amused and bemused (and probably a little ceemused, too) than enraged or outraged (or even above-raged), so I just went with the only other option that they had (on a busy Friday night, I must add). I would probably have enjoyed it a bit more if the noodles that they served were actually Chinese chow mein or chow fun noodles, but this was just your run-of-the-mill, straight-outta-the-box, plain ol' Italian-style spaghetti stuff... and I am not an anti-pastite b*stard in any way.

Can you imagine going to a KFC and being told that they are out of the dead, decaying poultry flesh: "Well, I'm afraid we don't get much call for it around these parts."

or

Mickey D's Rainbow Room: "Sorry, we are all outta French fries... how about some steamed br*ccoli?"

or

any good Italian Pizz'aria: "Scusi, we are all outta the Pizza-dough, eh?!... howza about-a nice-a bowl-a quinoa instead?!"

(Okay, so maybe the generalization that all Italian-Americans "speak-a like-a this-a" is a bit racist, but you all know you were picturing ol' Guisepp' saying this with both of his hands flailing.)

I did make sure to ask the waitress/server-lady person 
if the name of the restaurant was not actually 
"Ye Old Chinese Emporium" and if the owner did not happen to be named "Henry Wongsleydale".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1JWzyvv8A

Does anyone know if cats eat rice?!

café Durant

Another breakfastary roadtrip:
Berkeley, CA

¡Feliz día de San Patricio!

https://www.cafedurantberkeley.com/


Place: café Durant

Location: 2517 Durant Avenue 
(between Telegraph Avenue and Bowditch Street)

Hours: open Monday to Sunday at 7:30am

Meal: Chilequiles[ sic ][1] ~ three eggs scrambled w/ (corn tortilla) chips, green tomatillo sauce, cheese & sour cream, served with rice, beans (in this case it was a combination of both frijoles refritos y frijoles negros) & (three) corn tortillas; and, to drink, a large glass-mugga Mexican Hot Chocolate 

(I have it on good authority that after driving all the Danes and snakes outta Ireland, ol' Santa Pádraig sat down to a hearty breakfast of Chilaquiles hisd*mnself! [See, the joke here being that there was probably just about as much Native American maize crops in Ireland in the 5th Century as there were any sorta d*mn snakes.]

Sorry, but I could not locate any songs by Sir George Ivan en español.)


I had never been to café Durant before for breakfast (I had eaten there a few times in the past for lunch and/or dinner) and decided to start una nueva tradicion for Saint Patrick's Day.[2] But why 
Mexican food and not Irish food you may ask? Because as a stupid vegetarian-type, there are just more options with cocina mexicana . 

Thankfully, Señor Sol was kind enough to grace us with his presence again this morning, so I made sure to sit outside on their second-level sun-deck in one of the tables directly overlooking Durant Avenue. It was still cool enough at the time that I kept my jacket on, but was not uncomfortable in the least (comfortable in the most?!). The entire place was pretty empty on this domingo plácido and there was only one other idiot sharing the sun-deck with me.

Not that I will be probably getting back over there any time again soon (I found out the hard way that on early Sunday mornings, the BART station at Powell Street is not even open for operation until 8:00am and that there are less trains going directly to Berkeley and Richmond then, too), but there were several other viable options listed on their breakfast menu, to include:

Huevos Rancheros ~ three fried eggs with rancheros sauce & cheese;

Huevos Divociados[ sic ] ~ eggs on crispy tortilla;

Huevos a la Mexicana  ~ three eggs scrambled with jalapeños, tomatoes, onions;

Sundeck Combo D ~ two Chocolate chip banana pancakes, one strawberry banana crepe, veggie (uggh!) omelet & fruit salad (if I had not already planned on getting the Chilequiles[ sic ], I would have probably ordered this one, just substituting some homefries for the boring ol' fruit salad);

or

Greek Omelet ~ Feta cheese, olives, spinach, tomato, & green onions (this would have been the back-up to my back-up plan; because nuthin' says "Happy Saint Patrick's Day!" like eating at a Mexican restaurant and ordering the Greek egg-dish).

(Ooops! I had already dug-in and messed with the dish a bit before remembering to take the requisite photo of the meal.)


Whenever I eat at a new Mexican place, and they offer Chilaquiles (or even Chilequiles[ sic ]), I make sure to order that dish. It is sorta my touchstone (piedra de toque) with un desayuno mexicano . Now this was a very good rendition and I did like their use of a tomatillo salsa in place of a standard salsa roja (which is still my favourite) for a change of pace. 

The three corn tortillas came out warmed/steamed and wrapped in a red-and-white checkered paper-thing to keep them a bit warm. These may not have been fresh-made like at some other Mexican restaurants, but they were still welcomed and good all the same, and I made sure to make the best use of them.

café Durant had for condimentary supplement use both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. Neither of these were needed (and really seemed un poco superfluo) because they offered two different fresh-made salsas of their own: a very nice salsa roja (which I used on top of the rice and beans after mixing them together) and a tomatillo salsa (which I added to the top of the eggs and chips mess; it already had the same tomatillo salsa in it when they made it, I just added more 'cause I could and I wanted to).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Chilequiles[ sic ] ~ 6.7;
the ♪ music ♫ of Sir George Ivan ~ 8.5

___________________

1. Not that I am un erudito español o un epicúreo mexicano  in any way, but I am pretty sure that after eating this same dish for about thirty years now that it should be spelded kerrectly as "Chilaquiles". It really is not of Spanish origin, anyway; it is actually a Nahuatl word. 

2. "Now... wait... a... minute... Brian! You can not just make up a new tradition whenever you like!"

Well, it is my silly li'l 'blog-thing, and I can do whatever I d*mn please! If you have a problem with that, you can write yer own d*mn breakfastary 'blog-thing.

Besides, I think turn-about's fair play:

Wayyyy back in 1986, when I was still living in Omiehaw, Neebraskie, a bunch of us Air Force types stationed at Offutt AFB decided to have lunch at one of the only good Mexican restaurants in town on Cinco de Mayo. Mind you, the restaurant was about a good twenty to thirty minutes drive away from the airbase. Well, when we got there, there was a sign on the door stating that they were closed to observe this 
Mexican holiday. (How do you say "D'oh!" in Spanish?) Rather than settle for any of the cr*mmy food at a local Taco Bell or waste more time driving around trying to locate another decent Mexican restaurant (trust me, back in the 80's, Omiehaw was dearly lacking in any kinda auténticos restaurantes mexicanos), we all decided to simply head over to a nearby Chinese restaurant. For several years after that, I maintained this "tradition" and would normally try to remember to eat Chinese food on May the Fifth.

(Hmmm?! Looks like next year to celebrate Chinese New Year, I might need to find a decent Irish pub for breakfast.)

Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen

A Boxing Day breakfastary roadtrip:
Berkeley, CA

http://saulsdeli.com/


Place: saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen
Location: 1475 Shattuck Avenue (at Vine Street), 
Berkeley, CA
Hours: open every day at 8:00am (except Thanksgiving[1] and Yom Kippur)
Meal: Mrs. Anderman's Matzo[2] Brei[3] ~ fried matzo and eggs with a touch of sweet onions, served with your choice of house made (restaurant-made, whatever) applesauce and sour cream or cinnamon and brown sugar; a side order of their great Latke (which also came with its own house made [restaurant-made, whatever] applesauce and sour cream); and a cuppa (with two refillas) Ruby's Roast[4]

http://rubysroast.com/


(Today's EweToobular juxataselections should be pretty evident in that not only do both Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel have their birthdays today, but both Robert Zimmerman and Rubin Carter also share their birthdays with them today, too. And they are all of the Jewish faith!

What are the odds?)

Yes, it has taken me two years to get back to saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen (see previous 'blog-entry from December 15th, 2013), but just how many Meshugga[5] Beach Parties can one attend across the Bay? (A Jewish deli on Boxing Day? Makes perfect sense to me.) The traffic happened to be extremely light this morning on the Bay Bridge, both on the way over and the way back, but it is not usually the case on a normal Saturday morning, which is why it has taken me two years for a return visit.

They still have a few other tempting ideas on their breakfast menu which will garner another visit or two (once again, probably in another two years): Challah French Toast (which I would have had to order with a side of the excellent Latke, too); Backyard Omelette (v) (Chef's choice of seasonal vegetables and cheese; served with a mixed green salad; once again, I would have had to substitute the leafy rabbit-food for their excellent Latke instead); or (and for this one, I would need to get there during the week, as it is only available Monday through Friday) Malawach Yemeni Pancake (v option available) (fresh tomato, labne yogurt cheese, zhoug[6], harissa, and a poached egg; I have no idea exactly how any of that is made/served, but it sounds just meshugge enough that I know I would love it). 

meshugge, useless parklets mini-rant

New since my last visit, there is an obnoxious (and rather large) parklet right in front of the building, which (unfortunately) is sponsored by saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen. I won't complain much about this one as: 1) it's on a side roadway and not really blocking much traffic, 2) at the pace I am getting over there, I would only have to deal with it once or twice a decade, and 3) I don't live in Berkeley and can't really whinge about their stupid local city politics. 

I liked this dish a lot. (Maybe not quite as much as I liked their Shakshouka that I had the last time I ate there, but it is still roadtrip-worthy on its ownsome, Ms. Benes.) I guess the best way to describe this dish would be to call it a Jewish version of Chilaquiles. I happened to mention this to the extremely cute and Coffee-knowledgeable (We had a nice discussion on the merits of both Ruby's Roast and Philz Coffee. As chilly as it was this morning, she happened to be drinking a Mint Mojito Iced Coffee from the Philz on Shattuck ~ which is located just a block away. Sorry, Ruby.) waitress/server-person lady (Whose name I did actually get, Mrs. Huneycutt, but have since forgotten.) and she laughed and agreed with me at my astuteness (or maybe she was just laughing at my astupidness). The matzo cracker chips in the scrambled eggs/omelette mess would be the substitute for the corn taco chips. Plus, in Jewish cooking, they use onions as frequently as jalapeños would be used in Mexican cooking.

The latke was as good as I remembered it from before. It was deliciously crispy and crunchy and potatoey. 

For condimentary supplementation, I remembered from my last visit (well, I didn't really remember, but I did look back at my previous 'blog-entry this morning before heading over there) that saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen has their own homemade (restaurant-made, whatever) hot sauce. I didn't need to ask for any of it today as I had come prepared with two new bottles from my own collection that I had just received as a Christmas gift (I actually received four new hot sauces in all; Thanks, Cindy & Greg!). I wasn't sure if I was going to get to try either one depending on if I had ordered a "sweet" or "savoury" dish. As both the latke and Matzo Brei can be considered "sweet" (hence the added applesauce, etc.) or "savoury", I got a chance to use both this morning. I used some Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper[7] Sauce on half of the eggy-matzo dish (the other half I tried with the applesauce and sour cream provided); while datil chillies can be as hot as habaneros, this one was not over the top in heat, but still pretty picante. I also used some Sunbelt Plantations Vidalia® Onion Picante Hot Sauce on half of the latke (again going with the provided applesauce and sour cream on the other half); this one wasn't very hot at all (but very tasty due to the sweet Vidalia® onions) and I could use it liberally (I can see this one being used like ketchup and won't last very long).

http://www.osagourmet.com/products/snake-bite-hot-sauce

(I couldn't find a decent corresponding hyperlink to Sunbelt Plantations, though.)

As long as I was already there, on my way out I stopped at their take-away deli area and bought three different types of hamantashen[8] (traditional poppy seed, apricot, and mixed berries) to enjoy later today at home.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Mrs. Anderman's Matzo Brei ~ 6.7; Latke ~ 7.4; Ruby's Roast ~ 7.1

___________________

1. I'll bet not many of you were aware that Thanksgiving was one of the High Holy Days in Judaism. It ranks above even Hashanah's Head and Black Shabbat.

2. Meshuggeneh, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day (Oy vey!), number one:

Whenever I am taxed with coming up with a good definition of a Yiddish word, I always resort to my 
"The Joys of Yiddish", by Leo Rosten for the authoritative explanation. 

matzo
matzoh
Pronounced MOTT-seh (not MOTT-so) to rhyme with "lotsa." Hebrew: The plural in Hebrew is matzoth, pronounced MOTT-sez, in Yiddish.

Unleavened bread (it comes in thin, flat, ridgy oblongs, and is semiperforated to facilitate neat breaking).

3. Additionally, there is this from the friendly folks at WikipediA:

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

4. This Coffee is a definite winner. If I hadn't already received three bags of Bettys Coffee for Christmas (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!), I probably would have picked up a bag for myself to make at home, too.

5. Meshuggeneh, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day (Oy vey!), number two:

While the Jewish Beach Party boyos like to spell it "Meshugga", I am going with Mr. Rosten's spelling of "meshugge".

meshugge
Pronounced m'-SHU-geh, to rhyme with "Paducah". Hebrew: "crazy".

6. I have absolutely no idea what that is, but maybe our friends at WikipediA can explain it a little better:

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

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datil_pepper

8. As meshugge as it may seem, this word is not listed in Mr. Rosten's book. However, it is a lexicon, not a cookbook, after all.

nourish café

http://www.nourishcafesf.com/


Place: nourish café 
Location: 189 6th Avenue (at California Street)
Hours: Monday-Friday open at 7:00am; Saturday & Sunday open at 9:00am
Meal: Acai [sic][1] Bowl ~ açai, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, apple juice, topped with coconut, bananas, and sprouted buckwheat granola (gluten-free) from Floating Lettuce (whoever they might be); and a cuppa Ruby's roast COFFEE Dark Roast

http://www.rubysroast.com/

(Sorry. I couldn't find any good EweToobular juxtaselections that referenced either "nourish" or "açai".)


nourish café (they use the minuscule script on their menu and signage, but sans l'accent aigu; however, on their web-site they do reference it as "Nourish Café", avec l'accent aigu; so I am combining both here) is a relatively new place in the Richmond District. I think they've only been open now for a few months or so since February of this year; I remember walking by one day after they had just opened up and figured I'd have to give 'em a go one of these days. They call themselves a "100% plant-based café" (it states that right on their menus and on their web-site), but I saw some metal wire shelving in the kitchen and the front counter and front dining area were covered with ceramic tiles. They really don't specify it anywhere, but they might be a completely Vegan-type restaurant, as I didn't see anything on the menu that would include any milk (or milk products) or eggs (Which came first, the cheese or the eggs?) or honey, even. 

The seating offered is also pretty minuscule: 
(inside) there are just four tables for two; (outside on the sidewalk area) there are another four tables for two. I got there just as they were opening and was lucky enough to get one of the inside tables (it was still pretty overcast and misty outside and even stupid vegetarians and Vegans like to remain dry when eating).

I thought this was pretty funny. In preparation for eating there this morning, I checked out their defacedbook page (it really wasn't much more informative than their web-site menu). Anyway, on their defacedbook page, there seems to be a small "noisy" battle going on with some people in the neighborhood complaining about the noise. I couldn't figure out just what the heck they could mean by that… until I heard all of the "smoothie" blenders going this morning. It was a bit loud inside. Even so, how much of that noise could actually travel outside? Seems to me, some of these neb-nosed complainants need to get an açai smoothie and just chill. (Get it? "Chill" with a frozen smoothie? Whatever!)

There really aren't that many items from which to choose for breakfast (or "Brunch"). There was Green Acai Bowl (açai, spinach, the vile weed, bananas, ginger, citrus, apple juice; topped with coconut, hemp & greens granola [gluten-free]). They also had a "Brunch" Special Waffle (coconut, quinoa, almond flour, gluten-free flour, topped with bananas and maple syrup), which sounded good, but I doubt that I will be getting back there for either "Brunch" or breakfast again. I might check them out for lunch (after 11am) one of these days, though.

They offer a number of freshly-blendered juices and smoothies, too. There were Summer Special ~ Dragonfruit[2] Smoothie (dragonfruit, orange juice, bananas) and Zucchini Dreams (with zucchini, basil, pineapple, celery, lemon). I don't usually mention or complain about prices (I figure if you can't afford to eat out, just stay home and eat your own crappy food), but at $9.00 per 16oz, their Smoothies all seem a bit overpriced to me.

This was kinda like having a bowl of Ice Cream for breakfast (except that the açai smoothie base at the bottom of the bowl included no actual milk or cream). They do state that their smoothies have no added ice and no added sugar. I am not really sure what the (supposed) health benefits of açai berries (well, botanically these are really "drupes", not "berries") are (I bet my cousin Barry does, though) ~ heck, I am not even sure how to correctly pronounce "açai berries" (the first word is easy, that second word, "berries", always throws me) ~ but they are pretty tasty, all the same. This was an okay enough meal, but I think it would have been better with the addition of some other whole fresh fruit slices: sliced apples or strawberries (both of which are already in the smoothie mixture) would probably have paired (or "peared") nicely.

This ended up not being an awful lot of food and I probably should have ordered something else to go with the meal. They also offer these one-slice toast things. (I saw a few other customers had ordered some; they were about ¾"-thick.) Some of the choices were: Avocado (avocado, sea salt, drizzle of oil, pepper), Hummus (house made hummus, radish, sprouts), and Miso[3] (adzuki bean miso, radish, flax oil).

The best part of the meal to me ended up being the Coffee. I have had Ruby's roast COFFEE Dark Roast a few times in the past and knew it to be a good local (as in Berkeley-local) brand. They also sell this by the pound bags of ground Coffee at the counter.

I didn't bother to ask what nourish café might have to offer in the way of any condimentary supplements and I hadn't brought any of my own hot sauces with me for a change, as I figured (correctly) that there would probably be no need of any.

Conclusion: While this was all pretty tasty, breakfasts (or "Brunches") were never meant to be "healthy", dammit!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Açai Bowl ~ 6.0; 
Ruby's roast COFFEE Dark Roast ~ 7.1


________________

1. For some reason, nourish café does not use the "ç" in their spelling of "açai". 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%C3%A7a%C3%AD_palm#Fruit

(That information from WikipediA already includes a stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer on the etymology of açai, so I didn't feel it necessary to make my own.)

It seems that Billy-boy and his band of Spell-checkering Nazis at Microsoft do not recognize either spelling ("açai" or "acai") of this word. They really need to start eating healthier and broaden their epicurean horizons.

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitaya

3. Apparently, Microsoft's spell-checking Braunhemden do not recognize this common Japanese culinaristic word either. Miso sorry for them…

Saul’s Restaurant & Delicatessen

A breakfastary roadtrip:
Berkeley, CA

http://saulsdeli.com/


Place: Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen[1] 
Location: 1475 Shattuck Avenue (at Vine Street), Berkeley, CA
Hours: Open Every Day at 8:00am (Except Thanksgiving and Yom Kippur)
Meal: Shakshouka[2] (One egg baked in a rich spicy cumin tomato sauce, oregano and parsley. Served with potatoes, dipping bread and mixed green salad); and a cuppa Ruby's Roast

(Ha! This Leon Cohan boyo doesn't even know the correct words to the song. Leave it to an Irishman to ruin a perfectly good song.)


At the suggestion of an old Air Force buddy (Thanks, Karl!), I had breakfast this morning all the way over at Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen. (Karl had recently seen a EweToob video by a Jewish Surf group[3] ~ I think it might have been one by Meshugga Beach Party ~ that was filmed at Saul's Deli.) It was no big deal as it only took me about half-an-hour to get there on this quiet Sunday morning, Mr. Placido Domingo. Saul's Deli is located right on one of the three main streets (well, that most San Franciscans know of, that is) in Berkeley: Shattuck Avenue; the other two main streets are: University Avenue and Telegraph Avenue. If it ain't located along one of these streets, most San Franciscans would accidentally end up lost in the hills of Berkeley/Oakland.

It has probably been at least fifteen years since I had last eaten at Saul's Deli (and then for lunch only, not breakfast). They have a huge space with plenty of burgundy vinyl-covered booths (for either two people or four people); plus, there are lots of tables down the middle for when all the cool booths are full. It seemed to fill up pretty early this morning with families and such.

There were several other tempting breakfast ideas, specifically: Challah French Toast; Mrs. Anderman’s Matzo Brei (Fried matzo and eggs with a touch of sweet onions. Served with sour cream and applesauce ~ I have absolutely no idea what that means, but it sounded very interesting, and this was going to be my back-up option this morning; it might just need a return Breakfastary Roadtrip to try it one of these days); and (only available Monday through Friday) Malawach Yemeni Pancake (Fresh tomato, labne yogurt cheese, zhoug, Tripolitan red sauce and a poached egg ~ this definitely would have been my choice if it weren't a Sunday, as this sounded the most interesting).

Additionally, their deli counter offers many fresh-baked desserts: New York Cheesecake; Black and White Cookies (just for you, Jerry); Chocolate or Poppy Babkas (sorry, Elaine, no Cinnamon Babkas, though); Baklava; Linzer Cookies; Macaroons (Plain and Chocolate Dipped); and Hamantashen[4]. I can't believe that I left without picking up something to nosh on later today while watching Football. D'oh!

This was a very good dish!

The sauce was mostly a tomato-based one, but it did also have lots of onions in it (which is a good thing in my book). This had lots of spice flavour to it, too…  Cumin Feel the Noize! This dish is somewhat similar to the Turkish breakfast dish Menemen, which I had at Troya (see 'blog-entry from February 25th, 2012), but just with a lot more chunky tomato sauce to it. Think of this as something like a breakfast stew. On the menu it says that you can "Sub latke for potatoes", which is exactly what I did, Mr. Kauffman ~ Hell, yeah! (or even "Hallelujah!") ~ because it was available and an option. This turned out to be a great decision as the latke was most excellent, too.

Not only was the meal very good this morning, the coffee served was just as good as the entire meal. This was another great local (as in Berkeley-local) artisan coffee find: Ruby's Roast. One of the owners of Ruby's Roast even works as a hostess at Saul's Deli; I spoke with her briefly as I was leaving (but I didn't catch if she was Debbie or Sherry… or Ruby even). However, this brand of coffee is only served on Saturdays and Sundays; otherwise, Saul's Deli serves Mr. Espresso®, which is also a local ~ out of Oaktown ~ roastery, just much larger and less artisanal. But you don't have to take my word for it; I only had three cuppas with breakfast.

http://rubysroast.com/

I had come prepared with a few bottles of my own condimentary supplements, but wasn't sure if they would be needed. However, I was happy to find out that Saul's Deli offers their own homemade (well, deli-made) hot sauce, and I used some of it with the Shakshouka for a bit more picanteness. Their hot sauce was a bit hotter than standard red Tabasco®, and it also had a lot more spices to it. I used a little of it on one portion of the meal and really liked its flavour. I don't suppose that the Shakshouka really required any extra spicing up, as it had a decent enough flavour to it already, but it never hurts. I just used the provided sour cream and applesauce on the latke, though.

This entire meal was definitely worth the trip over the Bay Bridge this morning! Shades of the exceptional roadtrip-worthy breakfast at The Dipsea Café (see 'blog-entry from April 7th, 2012). The roundtrip mileage was just 36 miles (so, about eighteen miles both ways… give or take). Not only was the main meal extra tasty, but the real finds for me were both the latke and the new coffee choice.

♪"Matzo-Matzo-Man… I've got to be a Matzo-Man!"♪

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Shakshouka ~ 7.0; Latke ~ 7.4; Ruby's Roast ~ 7.1

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number one:

"Delicatessen" is a German loanword in English; it is the plural form of "Delikatesse". The German word itself is also a loanword from French "délicatesse" (meaning "delicious things"). The root word is the Latin adjective "delicatus" (meaning "giving pleasure").

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day, number two:

"Shakshouka" means "a mixture" in Arabic slang. It is likely that it was first known as "chakchouka", a Berber word meaning "vegetable ragout", although according to a cookbook about Jerusalem cuisine, the name is derived from the Hebrew verb "leshakshek", "to shake".

3. I know what you are thinking: "Oy vey! A Jewish Surf group?!"

Well, let's not forget that Dick Dale's Surf Rock hit song "Misirlou" was originally a Greek folk song influenced by Middle Eastern music.

Which brings up stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number three:

"Misirlou" ("Μισιρλού" in Greek) is the feminine form of "Misirlis" ("Μισιρλής"), which comes from the Turkish world "Misirli", meaning "Egyptian".

4. For those of you goyim that are not familiar with the pastries Hamantashen/Hamentaschen:

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