Mo'z Cafe

Do you have some time for... Frühstück?

https://www.moz-cafe.com/


Place: Mo'z Cafe

Location: 5 Masonic Avenue 
(on the corner of Geary Boulevard)

Hours: open every day at 8:00am (now, apparently; however, they have not updated their web-site to reflect this yet)

Meal: Romano Omelete[ sic ][1] ~ spinach, Greek olives and Feta cheese, served with house potatoes, mixed greens or fruit; and, to drink, a large glassa Pineapple Paradise smoothie

(Is there anything more 80's than Nena[2]? Howsabout Nena and little Kimmie Wilde together?!

Now, I do not know what Nena [or little Kimmie Wilde even] thinks about Greek omeletes[ sic ] disguised as Italian omeletes[ sic ], but today happens to be Nena's 59th birthday... man, is she old! [And for the record, little Kimmie Wilde also turns 59 later this year.]

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Fräulein Gabriele Susanne Kerner!)


Because it is just down the road (in this case Geary Boulevard) a piece (in this case about forty-two blocks or so), I headed back to Mo'z Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, August 4th, 2018) for breakfast. It looks like Mo'z has not only somehow lost a "t" from their "omelettes", but now no longer uses the accented "é" in "Cafe".

I had arrived there a little after 7:30am (which I figured would be about a half-hour after they opened) only to find a sign on their door with their new opening hours of 8:00am... no problem, I figured that I would just head across the street over to Target to kill some time before 8:00am... except, Target also does not open until 8:00am... no problem, I figured then that I would just head up the street a half-block and kill some time at Trader Joe's until 8:00am... except, Trader Joe's also does not open until 8:00am... by the time I had walked back and forth to these other places, it was almost 8:00am, anyway, and Mo'z Cafe was just opening up.

Unfortunately for me, it was way too cold to sit outside (even with my coat on and in the covered/tarped sidewalk seating area) again this morning.

There was some good news this morning, their black bean chili is vegetarian (I made sure to ask Mo for any future visits), which makes the Amore Omelete[ sic ] a vegetarian-friendly option ~ avocado, black bean chili, salsa, Cheddar cheese, and sour cream. I wonder if Mo would pour some of their excellent ranchero sauce on top of that omelete[ sic ] if I asked nicely (and promised not to make fun of any mispelinks).

Do not worry, for you meatetarian-types they offer a couple of other interesting-sounding dishes on the Breakfast Specials part of their menu:

Corned Beef Hash ~ corned beef, carrots, green onion and hash brown (noted as two words and singular), topped with two poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce (so, this would kinda be like 
Eggs O'Benedict, I suppose)

and 

Chorizo Scramble ~ three eggs scrambled with tomato, green onion and Jack cheese, topped with black bean chili, sour cream and salsa, served with fruit or house potatoes.

(Please ignore the quality of this photo. I assure you that the quality of the taste was much better.)


What was not to like about this one (other than its geographically confusing moniker)? It included some of my favourite ingredients and in good amounts, too. I was very happy to see that the "Greek olives" inside were actually Kalamata olives (I can only assume that "Greek" means "Kalamata" in Roman-speak). Plus, there was a very decent amount of Feta throughout... Mo' Feta, Mo' betta! (So, Ray forgives you for the [mis]name of this dish, Mo.)

And, as always, the side of house potatoes were a really good version of homefries and came in an extremely large portion.

For condimentary supplementation, Mo'z Cafe had Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (two ways: 
Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. I used some (about a normal ketchup-sized portion) of my own H*ll's Kitchen® Chipotle Chocolate Hot Sauce 
(Thanks, Mom!) all over the potatoes.


♪ "...Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich
Von neunundfünfzig Luftballons... ?!?" ♫


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Romano Omelete[ sic ] ~ 6.8;
Pineapple Paradise ~ 6.9

___________________

1. They have this spelded kerrektly on the large menu over the counter and on their printed menus in the restaurant, but their online menu has it mispelt. I am no(t) sure if (t)hey dropped (t)he penul(t)imate "t" or (t)he las(t) "t", (t)hough.

2. While I was living in (what was still at the time West) Berlin, I actually learned a lot of useful German phrases by translating some of Nena's songs into English. You would be surprised how often "Let me be your pirate... " comes up in normal conversation in den Kneipen.

LaLe

Kids, be nice to your Mother (Earth)...
I am told she is the only one we have (and no one wants to be an interplanetary orphan).

http://www.lalesf.com/


Place: LaLe

Location:  731 Irving Street 
(between 8th and 9th Avenues)

Hours: breakfast and/or "Brunch" are served daily at 8:00am

Meal: Dutch Baby Pancake (just one, but it was an extra large pancake) ~ w/ caramelized apples & housemade (restaurant-made, whatever) whipped cream; and to drink with the meal a glassa fresh strawberry-lemonade; and afterward a cuppa Snowbird Coffee - Zatara blend (pour-over/drip-method)

http://snowbirdcoffee.com/

("Old Man" Noel Yang does one h*ckofa great anthem for our Momma.)


To wrap up the early-Season workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I went back to LaLe (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, January 21st, 2018)... which just leaves closing with some (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) next weekend. LaLe has a brand-new (well, since-January-new) wooden-carved/lathed sign over the front door.

Still some other ideas yet to try:

Mexico City (Scrambler) ~ chorizo (which would get ochenta-y-seis-ed for me), green onions, mushrooms, guacamole, sour cream, cheese;

Napa (Scrambler) ~ goat cheese, mushrooms, bacon (also 86-time), bell peppers;

(Scramblers are served with home style potatoes and housemade [restaurant-made, whatever] English muffin)

Toronto (Benediction) ~ ham (no way, you hoser!), grilled tomato, spinach (housemade [restaurant-made, whatever] English muffin topped with poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, served w/ potatoes);

or maybe

Fennel Cabbage Salad ~ green and purple cabbage, fresh fennel, apples, arugula (and I would probably have a couple of poached eggs placed on top).

Stuff like this is exactly why LaLe is currently in my Breakfastary Staring Rotation! This was very similar (and just as tasty) to the same kinda dish that I had at Outerlands (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, April 29th, 2012) several years ago (which reminds me, I really should plan a return visit there again soon, too). I think the apples that were used in today's meal were either Granny Smith or Golden Delicious (Who am I? John Fr*ggin' Chapman?). The housemade (restaurant-made, whatever) whipped cream was very good, too, and it was served as a very large dollop (more like a wallop).

LaLe has bottles of Tapatío® Salsa Picante 
Hot Sauce on all the tables for use as a condimentary supplement. Of course, none was needed or used again this morning... however... I did use a small dusting/grinding from my rainbow peppercorn grinder on top of the whipped cream as an extra-added flavour bonus.[1]

Strange Literary Interlude (sorry, Greg)

As I was expecting this meal to take 15-20 minutes for them to prepare (they even warn you about the wait on the menu), I had brought along my new Christopher Moore novel, "Noir", to read while killing time waiting for the food to arrive. However, as the restaurant was not very busy (and I was the second customer in the door to order breakfast this morning), it came out much sooner than I figured, and I had barely time to read a few pages. It was probably only a five-minute wait or just a bit more (or Moore).

https://www.chrismoore.com/

(not so) Strange Coffee Interlude (there-ya-go, Greg)

As I have been doing for the past few visits to LaLe, after breakfast, I headed around the corner to Snowbird Coffee for a mighty fine cuppa. Today, I once again went with their Zatara blend. In honour of Mommy Third-Rock-from-the-Sun Day, I enjoyed the cuppa while strolling through San Francisco Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park. (Do not worry, I made sure to throw away the paper cup in the appropriately-marked recycle trash-bin.)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Dutch Baby Pancake ~ 7.5;
Snowbird Coffee - Zatara blend ~ 7.4;
Noir ~ 7.1

___________________

1. Do not judge me! I did not make up this very interesting flavour-combination.

When I lived in West Berlin (the one that used to be in the middle of Deutsche Demokratische Republik), I frequented this great Italian restaurant that was nearby Tempelhof Zentral Flughafen. One of the desserts that they had on the menu was a warm fig split open with a scoop of vaniller Ice Cream on top of it... they would then grind some fresh black peppercorns on top of the dessert. 

Hey, if it worked for Adolph on Ice Cream, it can (and did) work for me on whipped cream!

LaLe

Haiku Day again?
Counting syllables is hard.
When does Baseball start?!

('blogging in Haiku
would be too time-consuming.
This will have to do.)

http://www.lalesf.com/


Place: LaLe

Location:  731 Irving Street 
(between 8th and 9th Avenues)

Hours: breakfast and/or "Brunch" are served daily at 8:00am

Meal: Boston (Benedict) ~ bacon (as this really is not a specific Boston-based ingredient, I skipped this today), tomato, arugula, guacamole, homemade (well, restaurant-made) English muffin topped with poached eggs and Hollandaise, served with home (well, again, restaurant) style potatoes; and, afterward, a 12 oz cuppa Snowbird Coffee Bahn Bann[1] (this is normally their batch-brew offered) which I enjoyed with an Apple Berliner (which is just a filled doughnut to you) from a German bakery booth at the Sunday morning Inner Sunset Farmers' Market

http://snowbirdcoffee.com/

(You might be asking yourself just what the h*ck is today's EweToobular juxtaselection. Simples! It is a little-known Cliff Clavinistic fact that this Derek Domino guy wrote all of his songs in 5-7-5 meter.)[2]


I am still continuing with a pre-Spring Training work-out of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation for 2018. So I continued on to LaLe (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, September 10th, 2017) this morning for breakfast.

One of the main reasons that I added LaLe to my Breakfastary Starting Rotation last year is that they offer a really diverse selection for breakfast ("Brunch", whatever). I have had several meals there now over the past few years and all have been very good. There are still many more dishes that I am planning on trying in the future. Ferinstance:

(off their Today's Specials blackboard)

Dutch Baby Pancake ~ w/ warm apples & housemade whipcream[ sic ], add bacon (no thanks) or strawberries too;

or

French Toast Sandwich  ~ Ricotta stuffed French toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, avocado, chipotle aioli, & maple syrup for dipping, side salad... to keep us healthy (I have no idea how all of that is put together, but I am willing to give it a go, Joe);

and (off their printed menu)

Napa (Egg Scramble) ~ goat cheese, mushrooms, bacon (which I would have omitted), bell peppers, served with home style potatoes and homemade English muffin;

Toronto (Benedict) ~ ham (which I would also have 86-ed, ya hoser, eh?!), grilled tomato, spinach, homemade English muffin topped with poached eggs and Hollandaise, served with home style potatoes;

or

Seattle (Frittata) ~ asparagus, peppers, chicken-apple sausage (which I would also order sans), Cheddar, served with salad and fruit (this was going to be my back-up choice this morning).

I know, I know, arugula and poached eggs again?! I thought about that only after I had placed my order, but I have not had an Eggs Benedict dish in a few weeks (well, last Saturday, but still...); besides, I wanted to make sure to get some potatoes as a side dish. I am not so sure what exactly the connection between Boston and tomato, arugula, and guacamole might be, though. I really like that they use their own English muffins as the base for all their Benedicts; that is refreshing and unusual. While those may not have your standard "crooks and nannies" that Mr. Thomas' faux crumpets do, they are much fresher and simply better.

I only noticed bottles of Tapatío® Salsa Picante 
Hot Sauce on the tables for use as condimentary supplements. I had one last Christmas gift that I wanted to check out, anyway, and used some of my own tin of Charlie's Chili Stuff by Thyme Farm Vinegars (Thanks, Sharon! [at least I think this was gifted to me by my sister]). This is a dry powder combination consisting of chili powder, paprika, Cajun seasoning, salt, cumin, cayenne pepper, and red & black pepper. I sprinkled it generously all over the homefries. I probably didn't really need to do so, as the potatoes seemed to have been seasoned well enough, anyway. It has a nice flavour, not too spicy, and I am looking forward to bringing it with me again in the future as a change from always schlepping bottles of hot sauces.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Boston (Benedict) ~ 6.6;
Snowbird Coffee Bahn Bann ~ 7.0;
Apfel Berliner ~ 7.1

___________________

1. This is made with a blend of light- and dark-roasted beans.

Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

Apparently, "Bahn Bann" is a play on the Korean for "half-and-half"/"반반의". 

2. Because I felt that it would have been very cool, I tried to find a cover of this song by little Georgie Harrison, but to no avail. Some guy named Eric Clapton does an okay slower, acoustic version of it, though.

Ella's American Kitchen

"The one with the Mushroom Swiss Omelet."

https://www.ellassanfrancisco.com/


Place: Ella's American Kitchen

Location:  500 Presidio Avenue (on the corner of California Street)[1]

Hours: open for breakfast Monday through Friday at 7:00am; open for "Brunch" Saturday and Sunday at 8:30am

Meal: Mushroom Swiss Omelet ~ sautéed mushrooms, Swiss, country potatoes, toast; and a glassa Ginger Orange Juice Punch

(Just a couple of [pitch-perfect] songs from Lady Ella to help weather Ol' Man Winter.)


Working my way through my Breakfastary Starting Rotation for the first time for 2018, I went back to Ella's American Kitchen (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, September 2nd, 2017). I sat at their new (well, it was new on my last visit and it is still new-ish) counter seating area overlooking the kitchen.

It seems as though they no longer do a (Seasonal) Weekend "Brunch" Specials menu, but their standard menu items still offer a few new ideas that I have not tried yet. Such-as:

Chilaquiles ~ slow roasted pork, tomatillo salsa, lime crema, queso fresco, two eggs (I made sure to ask the head chef-lady Veronica, and she confirmed that this could be made suitable for stupid vegetarians if requested);

(the simply enough-named) Avocado Omelet ~ avocado, Cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, country potatoes, toast;

or maybe even

(despite the extremely cornbally-named [whoever came up with that name oughtta be severely "pun"-nished]) Kale Caesar Salad ~ organic kale, croutons, Parmesan, Caesar dressing (however, I did not think to ask if the Caesar dressing had any anchovy in it; I would probably have two poached eggs added on top).

I happened to notice a large amount of fresh cilantro bunches at the cook/prep station and (to continue an earlier conversation from defacedbook) I also asked head chef-lady Veronica what she thought about it. She once again agreed 100% with my (amateur) assessment that it is necessary in both a good pico de gallo and in any Vietnamese bánh mì sandwiches (besides, the soapy taste can be used to cleanse your pallet... and the dishes afterward).

I thought I noticed that my waitress/server-lady Iris had a bit of ein Akzent. I correctly guessed and asked her "Bist du Deutsche?" She informed me that she was in fact from Deutschland... and from (West) Berlin to be exact. I asked her which town/neighborhood she used to live in, but I forget which it was now.

This was a good omelette, nothing really special, but much better than I could ever manage. I liked that they sautée the mushrooms (I watched them do so in a separate pan) before adding them to the omelette stuff; plus, there was a good amount of melted-stretchy Swiss cheese in it, too.

For my toast choice, I went with sourdough rye for a change of pace. I am not sure if they still make all of their own breads and baked goods (the bakery section is/was in the next room and I didn't think to check it out).

The glassa Ginger Orange Juice Punch now comes in a large glass (16 oz?), which is nice. It used to be served in a much smaller glass, probably just an 8 oz-er.

Ella's American Kitchen offers for condimentary supplements just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce 
(Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante 
Hot Sauce.  So I used two more of my new hot sauces ~ some (just a few drops, really) H*ll's Kitchen® Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce on the omelette and some Whiskey Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks for both, Mom!) on the potatoes. (It is pretty funny; the ingredients listed on the Whiskey Habanero Hot Sauce state "Whiskey flavor"?! Wha'?! Why couldn't they just use actual Whiskey as an ingredient?) That just leaves one last new hot sauce left for me to check out now...

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

After breakfast, on the way back to my car (I had parked two blocks away over on Masonic Avenue where it meets Euclid Avenue), I heard first then looked up to see a decent-sized pandemonium of at least twenty Wild Parrots flying overhead heading southward (to which destination, I do not know). You do not generally see them this far West into the City. 

Strange Coffee Interlude

While keyboarding up this silly li'l 'blog-entry, I enjoyed another Christmas gift of a cuppa Bettys (well, technically Taylors of Harrogate) Rare Blossom Ethiopia[2] Ground Coffee (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!). This was another excellent Coffee from the folks at Bettys (and Taylors of Harrogate)! This might be my second (or third) favourite Coffee from them now. For an authentic Britishlander Tea Rooms kinda place, Bettys always offers some mighty d*mn good Coffee, too!

https://www.bettys.co.uk/rare-blossom-ethiopia-ground-coffee


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Mushroom Swiss Omelet ~ 6.6;
Bettys (Taylors of Harrogate, whatever) 
Rare Blossom Ethiopia Ground Coffee ~ 7.8;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5;
the pitch-perfect singing of Lady Ella Fitzgerald ~ 8.9

___________________

1. Not that it truly matters any, but I had always assumed that Ella's American Kitchen was located in the Laurel Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. However, after viewing the spot on a map, it appears that it is actually situated right on the upper northwest corner of Lower Pacific Heights (which is just across the street technically from Laurel Heights). Both Laurel Heights and Lower Pacific Heights are (supposably) incorporated into the Western Addition District, anyway. 

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/San_Francisco/Western_Addition#/map/0/14/37.7802/-122.4406

Whatever... it seems like they are constantly changing the borders of these neighborhoods in the City, anyway. (Kinda like Israel does with the Palestinian homeland.)

2. What the h*ck do they know about Coffee in Ethiopia, anyway? Everyone knows that "real Coffee" originated in Colombia and Java...

LaLe

"I just had a Berliner[1]... 
and now I am stuffed!"[2]

http://www.lalesf.com/


Place: LaLe

Location:  731 Irving Street 
(between 8th and 9th Avenues)

Hours: breakfast and/or "Brunch" are served daily at 8:00am

Meal: (off their weekend "Brunch" specials board) Polenta w/ Mixed Veggies (uggh! [I added that exclamation; it is not part of the actual meal name.]) 
& 2 Poached Eggs; and a glassa (very re)fresh(ing) lemonade with mint; and (afterward, as a breakfastary dessert) a Black Forest Berliner (from 
a German bakery booth at the Sunday morning 
Inner Sunset Farmers' Market) with a cuppa Snowbird Coffee Zatarra 

http://www.pcfma.org/

http://snowbirdcoffee.com/

(There really are never any excuses needed for any EweToobular juxtaselections when it comes to 
Lady Ella, but this first song just happened to be playing while I was enjoying my cuppa and doughnut at the coffeeshop, so I figured I'd play the second song[3] to go along with the doughnut, too.)


As a last-minute September Call-up to my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I headed back to LaLe (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, January 29th, 2017) this morning for kahvaltı/Frühstück. 

The reason for this emergency addition is that, sadly, it seems that Cafe GoLo has closed their Lombard Street restaurant ~ I am moving them to the 40-Day DL until I know better. Their phone has been disconnected and without an official-type web-site, I can not determine if/when they may re-open at the new location in the Tenderloin (which they have been attempting to open now for the past four years). Hopefully this is just a temporary closure. So, until I know for sure, LaLe will be the Fifth Starter starting today. (Hmmm?! I wonder if someday in the future Cafe GoLo will show up on a Japanese breakfastary 'blog-entry.)

One of the main reasons that I have no problem with adding LaLe to my Breakfastary Starting Rotation is that, in addition to all the great meals that I have had there already, there are still several other good ideas from which to choose: 

Dutch Pancakes (this is also off their weekend "Brunch" specials board, but it has been available for most of my past visits; they state that this has a 20-minute wait-time to prepare, so I will have do try it some other time when I feel like waiting that long);

Mexico City (Egg Scrambler) ~ chorizo, green onions, mushrooms, guacamole, sour cream, cheese (I am sure I can always order this sin salchicha);

Napa (Egg Scrambler) ~ goat cheese, mushrooms, bacon, bell peppers (which I would also order without any of the dead, decaying, crispy pork-butt stuff);

Toronto (Benediction) ~ ham, grilled tomato, spinach (this is another one from which I would have the back-bacon omitted, ya hoser);

or

Ricotta Stuffed Almond French Toast.


(Ooops! Unfortunately, there are no corresponding photos of the actual meal or subsequent German jelly-stuffed pastry and Coffee. The batteries seemed to have died on my camera after I had taken the photo of the restaurant sign above.)


Oh, my! (to be read in your best George Takei-an voice)

It is exactly stuff like this why I like coming back to this place (and another reason why I have absolutely no qualms with placing them on my Breakfastary Starting Rotation). Now if you could see a photo of this dish (someone needs to remember to check their battery-power before leaving the house), you would see that this was a big bowl of polenta as the base, then lots of grilled "veggies" (uggh!), and topped with two poached eggs (themselves topped with some Hollandaise sauce). The "veggies" (uggh!) included: zucchini, tomato, (red and green) bell peppers; (white) onions, and mushrooms (there might have been another "veggie" [uggh!] or two, but those were the ones that I immediately recognized). And all of this was atop really good, creamy, cheesy polenta! In my opinion, this dish didn't even need any Hollandaise sauce on top of the two poached eggs (and I bet it would have been even better still with a nice Marinara sauce [à la Dottie's True blue café Zucchini Cakes]). This also came with one of their warm, fresh homemade (restaurant-made, whatever) English muffins on the side of the bowl.

LaLe only has Tapatío®  Salsa Picante Hot Sauce on all the tables in way of condimentary supplements. I used some of my own Punch Drunk™ Chocolate Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Sean!) on top of one of the poached eggs and some Dat'l Do-it® Spicy Jalapeno Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of the other egg. Additionally, LaLe does have their own homemade (restaurant-made, whatever) jams and preserves on all the tables; today's choices were strawberry[4] and orange[5] marmalade ~ I used some of each on each half of their homemade (restaurant-made, whatever) English muffin.

Whenever I am in the neighborhood (and that would be the Inner Sunset in this case), I like to head over to Snowbird Coffee (which is just around the block from LaLe, anyway) for a very decent cuppa after breakfast. On my way over to the coffeehouse, I stopped in at the regular Sunday morning Farmers' Market (which I had to pass by on my way). I really wasn't planning on getting anything more to eat while there, but I saw one booth that was selling German pastries and really couldn't pass up buying a few ~ especially when I saw they offered both a Mango, Passionfruit, and Orange and a Black Forest (which I was told was filled with cherries, a cherry liqueur/brandy [Kirshwasser auf Deutsch], and a cream filling) Berliner. The really funny thing is that the two Berliners may very well have been "frei"-bies, too; I got to talking to the guy selling the products and walked away without paying. I remembered right off and went back straight away to pay for the two pastries, but the guy told me that I had already paid him. I am pretty sure that I had not, but he was nice enough to not worry about it. The Black Forest Berliner really went well with the Zatarra (which is one of my favourite local Coffees, too).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Polenta w/ Mixed Veggies & 2 Poached Eggs ~ 7.3;
homemade  jams and preserves ~ 7.2;
Black Forest Berliner ~ 7.3 (especially at the price);
Snowbird Coffee Zatarra ~ 7.4

___________________

1. Okay, this has been mentioned before by me on this here 'blog-thang as a stupid, useless cunning linguist (and urban legend-debunker) pointer of the day. When President John F. Kennedy said "Ich bin ein Berliner.", he was not stating that he wanted to be thought of as a German jelly-doughnut. He was correct in his translation. Plus, in Berlin-town, I was informed by a native Berliner that they actually call jelly-doughnuts "Französisch" ("French-style" doughnuts).

The owner-lady of the German pastry booth was from Germany and told me that people in Berlin call "Berliners" ~ "Krapfen" (which is a standard name for a doughnut/pastry in German). However, the lady that I spoke with was not from Berlin herself, so I am sticking with the information that I obtained from an actual Berliner (who was also not a jelly-doughnut in any way).

2. For a change, do not blame me for this completely awful corn-bally joke. I am just paraphrasing one from Greg Kipe. If you have any complaints or groans, please direct them to/at him.

3. Coincidentally enough, Leonard Cohen's (in memoriam) birthday happens to be upcoming on September 21st.

4. Unlike both the ghost pepper and jalapeño pepper, strawberries are not botanically a berry. 

5. However, strangely enough, oranges are actually a kind of modified berry (called a hesperidium). Crazy stuff like this is why I would never cut it as a botanist.

★ the ★ Richfield

Richmond (District) Coffeehouses (redux)
~ Round 9b


"Cup of Coffee in the kitchen,
Fire up a little danger to my health..." 
~ Leonard Cohen, Feels So Good

(No official [or unofficial, even] web-site. Good luck trying to locate even a phonicular contact on the Intro-Net.)


Place: ★ the ★ Richfield
Location: 195 5th Avenue (on the triangulated corner at California and Cornwall Streets)
Hours: open Tuesday through Friday at 7:00am, Saturday and Sunday at 8:00am; closed Monday (or as best as I can figger from the available information on these here Intro-Nets)
Meal: Brekkie Sandwich ~ folded omelette, melted Cheddar cheese, crispy bacon (of course, I nixed this in deference to the memory of ol' Leo Normie Cohenberg), special house sauce, on King's Hawai'ian toast; a Maple Pecan[1] Scone (which they get from Devil's Teeth Baking Company); and a cuppa pourover-style Snowbird Coffee, Southpaw (a delicious blend of heirloom Burundi and Yirgaceffe)

http://www.devilsteethbakingcompany.com/

http://snowbirdcoffee.com/

(In Memoriam[2]: 
Leonard Norman Cohen, CC GOQ; 
21 September 1934 – 7 November 2016.

The second song provides a EweToobular two-fer. It is a cover of another ol' Lenny Cohen song and it reminds us of the ultimate demise and fall of the Berlin Wall from way back on November 9th, 1989.)


As it is Veterans[3] Day and, for a change, I actually scored a three-day weekend outta this Federal Holiday (even the Donald wouldn't dare take that away from us Vet'ran-types), I felt like making it a local, quick breakfast this morning and decided to (finally) make a return-trip visit back to ★ the ★ Richfield (which, while technically in my neighborhood, is still about thirty blocks away; see previous 'blog-entry from Saturday, October 17th, 2015). I really like this little (as in what you see in the above photo is about all you get) local coffeehouse. I have stopped by several times since my initial visit, but just for a cuppa (or grounded-up bagga for use at home); this was my first return visit for a meal to enjoy breakfastarily.

They really don't offer that many food items from which to choose (Did I mention how small the place is?), but the next time I go there for breakfast I will surely have to try the Avocado Toast ~ smashed avocado with bits of sweet pickle, spread over sourdough toast, drizzled with olive oil and fresh lemon, topped with shredded radish and seven spice pepper. 

For some reason, I was really expecting this to be served "open-faced" style like my last "Brekkie" (Don't you just hate these completely madeuppery words? Really, how hard it is to just say "Breakfastary"?!)) or like the Avocado Toast that I saw several other customers munching away on ("... on which I saw several other customers munching away"?; "... away on which I saw several other customers munching"?; whatever). However, I was pleasantly surprised that it came as a pickupable (which is a perfectly real word; trust me, I'm a lexicographer... well, I pretend to be one on TeeVee) meal. I also liked that they used thick-cut slices of King's Hawai'ian for the toast base. Their "special sauce" seemed to be okay ~ possibly a bit sweet; however, I really couldn't tell because some idiot had gone a bit heavy-handed with the hot sauce supplementation. It was all a bit messy, but that is not necessarily a bad thing (I ended up having to use six paper napkins in the process). I had to find out, "How do you make an omelette in a small space without a real stove?" The barista/kitchen-worker lady showed me how: in a frying skillet on a hotplate! So, apparently,  in a coffeehouse joint, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs and having a hotplate.

The scone-thing was very good, too. It was about the size of two normal scones, though. I had only ordered it because I expected the sandwich to be smaller.

I only saw bottles of Huy Fong Foods, Inc.® Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce to use as a condimentary supplement in the same spot where there were sugar (no thanks) and cream (no thanks, again) to use. Figuring (correctly) that there wouldn't be much variety (for what they offer on the food menu, it's not really necessary, anyway), I came prepared with a few hot sauces of my own and used some (wellll... a lot apparently) of my own Dixie Crossroads 
Hot Habañero [ sic ] Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) inside the omelette sandwich thing.

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

There were no actual sightings, just hearings this morning. I decided to enjoy my "brekkie" outdoors 
("al freskkie"?) at one of the tables that they have set up on the sidewalk along Cornwall Street, and could hear a few (several?) of the colourful, noisy feather-brains somewhere down the street (possibly as far away as Arguello Street).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Brekkie Sandwich ~ 6.4;
Snowbird Coffee, Southpaw ~ 7.1;
Maple Pecan Scone ~ 6.6;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

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1. Like maple syrup, pecans are a completely 'merican (New World) food.

A pecan is technically the fruit (a drupe) of the tree; it is not botanically a nut. What we know as "nuts" are actually the edible seeds of the fruit.

Not necessarily a stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

Word Origin and History for pecan

n.
1712, paccan "the pecan tree," or a related hickory, from French pacane, from an Algonquian word meaning "nut" (cf. Cree pakan "hard-shelled nut," Ojibwa bagaan, Abenaki pagann, Fox /paka:ni/).

So the debate on how to pronounce it correctly in English (Northern 'mericanese, Southern 'mericanese, or Britishlanderese) will have to rage on:

"pee-CAN"; "PICK-an"; "pi-CAHN"; "wal-nut", whatever...

2. As best as I can deduce, Memoriam is a small neighborhood of Westmount, Quebec, Canadialand.

3. No apostrophe for me. I prefer it in its plurality (like the comradeship that it is) and non-possessive (it's not about one singular "Veteran", it's about all of them/us).