the Art Bistro

Richmond (District) Coffeehouses ~
Part 1b

(No official-type web-site.)


Place: the Art Bistro

Location: 2960 Clement Street (on the corner of 31st Avenue); phonicular contact: (415) 379-7119

Hours: open Monday to Friday at 7:00am; 
open at 8:30am every other day of the week (well, supposably)[1] 

Meal: All Seeded[ sic ] Bagel with Cream Cheese and Tomatoes; and a small cuppa Organic French Roast Coffee (whichever brand it might have been)[2]

(I just figured that the first Bruddah Iz song would be the perfect EweToobular juxtaselection to welcome a new/old business back to the 'hood. Besides, Bruddah Iz iz always cool to listen to on a placid Sunday morn, anyway, be you haole or native Hawai'ianese.)


the Art Bistro (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, July 26th, 2015) just recently reopened on August 19th at their new location on Clement Street. They had closed their old Geary Boulevard location (my guess is that the rent was just too d*rn high) about two months ago now. I was greeted this morning by (whom I can only assume is) the owner/manager-lady that was always at the old location. I had always thought that she was Korean, but she informed me that she and most of the workers are Thai. Not knowing many Thai words or phrases, I had to ask her how to say "Thank you!"; she told me it is "ขอบคุณ!", which sounds something like "Kapoon!" (to my untrained Siamese cat-ears).

They have moved only three blocks away into the space that used to house Saltroot Café (insert frowny-face emoji here)[3]. The good news is that the Art Bistro will still now be selling their (very good) Brazilian 
Cheese Popups (Gorgonzola and Guava are my two favourite flavours, but they are all very tasty) in frozen boxes of ten each. This is a much smaller space than they used to occupy (by about one-third, I would guess) and a bit more off the beaten path (and Geary Boulevard is a well-worn, beaten path) than the previous location.

One nice thing about their new location is that I got to sit outside at one of the two small round two-seater tables along the Clement Street sidewalk. The old Geary Boulevard location did not have any space to offer any outside seating. Fortunately, the Sun was out this morning and shining brightly, but it was still a little breezy and I had to keep rescuing my errant napkins.

I thought it was kinda funny that they still have the old ★ Intelligentsia Coffee sign up on a back wall in the kitchen area. Apparently, when the painters had repainted the walls during the recent renovation, they painted around the sign instead of removing it. So now if the coffeeshop were ever to remove the sign, there will be an off-colour spot on the wall. (Hmmm?! Maybe the Art Bistro could start selling ★ Intelligentsia Coffee instead of "Some Guy Coffee"... )

I had gotten there too early this morning and they were all outta eggs. The owner/manager-lady told me that she had sent someone to a nearby grocery store to pick up some for the day, but she had not returned yet. Otherwise, there is not really a whole lotta choices for breakfastary items (or food in general). I was actually planning on getting a bagel or croissant sandwich with eggs (they only prepare the eggs one way: nuked-scrambled), cheese, tomatoes, and onions. Oh, well, maybe next time... 

There was nothing special about this meal, but I did not really expect anything more, anyway. I mean, it was just a toasted bagel (all-seeded and such; which, as best as I can tell, include: sesame and poppy [Sorry, Elaine.] seeds, at least) with cream cheese schmeared on it and some sliced tomatoes.

As for the Coffee (it is a coffeehouse, after all), it was pretty good. However, I did not discern any l'orange or ส้ม in the French Roast... They change the blend/roast that is offered over the counter as their standard drip Coffee every so often. I think that I liked the Colombian Coffee that I had there last week a little more, though. 

I have no idea what they might have had to offer in the way of any condimentary supplementation (it is just a coffeehouse, not a restaurant, after all).  I had come prepared and used some of my brand-spanking (If it is unbranded, does it not need corporal punishment?) new Sassy Mama Cuisine Fire Roasted Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) and a coupla good twists from my The Spice & Tea Exchange® Italian Street Fair Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!) grinder-thing on the inside of the bagel. This was my first time trying out this hot sauce (on anything other than a spoon when I had first opened it to test it out a few weeks back). I liked it a lot; it was not overly espicy, but had a decent roasted habanero flavour.

https://www.sassymamacuisine.com/

https://www.spiceandtea.com/seasonings-blends-rubs/italian-street-fair-spice-blend.html


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Bagel with etc. ~ 6.0;
Coffee ~ 6.8;
Bruddah Iz ~ 7.9 (on the Glen Bacon Scale... but fuggedaboudit on a standard weight-scale, it just don't go that high; you would need a truck-scale to do that)

___________________

1. I had stopped by there last Monday (as in Labor Day), and they had not opened yet for the morning at around 8:50am; no biggie, I figured I would just check them out on another day... as it is only three blocks away. 

"But, Brian, maybe they were closed to observe the labourious 'merican holiday?!" Nah, sorry. I had just stopped by there on the Saturday before and the owner/manager-lady told me they would be open at 8:30am on Sunday and Monday.

2. I asked the owner/manager-lady where they got their Coffee. Her reply: "Some guy." Of course, now knowing that she is Thai, she mighta been saying that they get their Coffee from a roaster named "Orange Chicken"*...

*(Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer/joke-explainer of the day:

Unfortunately, my "knowledge" of the Thai language is limited to only those few items that I have seen on menus at local restaurants. 

There is a Thai restaurant in my neighborhood [very good, by the way] that is named "Bai Som" ["ใบ ส้ม" in Thai], which the best that I can figure means "orange leaf"[?]. I was also aware that the Thai word for "chicken" is "gai/kai" ["ไก่"] [this word is very similar in Chinese, Lao, and Vietnamese, too]. So, I jokingly added the two words together which sound somewhat like "Some Guy" in 'merican-speak.)

http://www.baisomthaisf.com/

3. Luckily, I stopped by Saltroot Café (see previous 'blog-entry from Monday, February 20th, 2017) just a few weeks before they had closed-up their retail-storefront operation for good. Thankfully, I was informed by one of the owners that they are not out-of-business, they are now only selling their (very good) Brazilian Cheese Popups at a few local organic markets in town.

grindz

"They may take our first name... but they will never take our Puka French Toast!"[1] 
~ Sir William Kalani Paiʻea Wohi o Kaleikini Kealiʻikui Kamehameha o ʻIolani i Kaiwikapu kauʻi Ka Liholiho Kūnuiākea Wallace

http://www.grindzrestaurant.com/


Place: grindz

Location: 832 Clement Street 
(between 9th and 10th Avenues)

Hours: open Saturday & Sunday at 9:00am for "Brunch"

Meal: Puka French Toast ~ brioche, piña berry compote, vanilla Chantilly; a side of potatoes; and a cuppa (and two full refillas) Bicycle Coffee co 

https://www.bicyclecoffeeco.com/

(I am sure that Bruddah Iz loved him some Puka French Toast, too.)


Sometimes you just want to keep it local and simple for breakfast, so I simply located myself back to  grindz 
(see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, February 18th, 2017... so, simply-exactly one year ago) again this morning.

My attentive and knowledgeable (we talked about Bicycle Coffee co a bit) server-dude this morning was Chase. He did a great job plying and 
re-plying me with the good Coffee stuff.

I only have kine words to say about this dish! Sure, I may have ordered this same meal on my last visit, but that was the first time that I had ever had it in the (at the time) five years that I had been going there. What can I say? It made the #3 spot on "My Favourites" of 2017 for a reason. They offer this as a "half" (1 piece) or "full" (2 pieces) order. (Now why would anyone want just one piece?!) I am not exactly sure what is in their piña berry compote, but I think there were at least some blackberries-and/or-raspberries (both of which are not botanical berries, of course; however, the fruit of the pineapple tree is considered "coalesced berries"; go figger) and blueberries (now this is an actual botanical berry, Chuck). Luckily, I did get a lot more of the tasty compote this time than last year. I bet this French toast would also be great with their Li Hing Pineapples (ripe pineapples dusted with Li Hing powder [ground dried plum skin]) and/or coconut crème Anglaise (which they use on their Apple Banana Pancakes; I can attest to this being a very good topping, too) on top.

Unfortunately, once again they have stopped serving their extremely good Plantation Potatoes, but the current homefries version was still very good.

grindz offers two of their own homemade (restaurant-made, whatever) condimentary supplements: The Original Hawaiian Ketchup and The Original Chili Pepper Water. Because I already have a bottle of their ketchup in my refrigerator, I used a good bit of the Chili Pepper Water on the potatoes... and because I brought it with me (specifically for this deliberately disgustingly diabolical purpose), I used some of my own (just a hihihi[2] dusting really) 
Charlie's Chili Stuff by Thyme Farm Vinegars 
(Thanks, Sharon!) on one of the slices of French toast. (Don't you dare judge me!) Just as I had expected, it really went very nicely, too!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Puka French Toast ~ 7.6;
Bicycle Coffee co ~ 7.2;
Bruddah Iz ~ 7.8

___________________

1. Even if those greedy corporate bastages at Ono Hawaiian BBQ made them change their name a few years back, dis is still some of the ono-est grindz, bruddah!

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

According to Google Translate (and I can not believe that they even offer a Hawai'ian-English choice) the translation for "a skosh" in Hawai'ianese is "hihihi".

Squat & Gobble Cafe & Crepery

http://squatandgobble.com/


Place: Squat & Gobble Cafe & Crepery
Location: 1 West Portal Avenue (on the corner of Ulloa Street)
Hours: open seven days a week (I think that includes Saturday and Sunday) at 8:00am
Meal: Veggie Fajita Crepe (a Savory Crepe) ~ caramelized peppers, onions, mushrooms, roasted corn, cilantro, black beans, jalapeno [ sic ] sour cream and pepper Jack cheese, topped with homemade (well, crêperie-made) ranchero and tomatillo sauces and crispy tortilla strips (served with your choice of our "famous" rosemary garlic potatoes, French fries, mixed green salad, fresh fruit, or chef's soup of the day); a large glassa fresh-squeezed (or whatever you call made with one of those the Jetsons automated orange juice-making contraptions) orange juice; and, afterward, a medium cuppa Equator Coffees & Teas™ Mocha Java at Greenhouse Cafe

https://store.equatorcoffees.com/coffees/fto_mocha_java.html

329 West Portal Avenue
phonicular contact: (415) 742-5545
(No official web-site thing.)

(Now what are the odds that someone else had a 
Bettys bag?)

(File under: Never Judge a Book By Its Cover 
[no matter how large the cover may be] File

Of course, the question isn't how did such a big guy have such a soft and beautiful voice, the question is how the heck did he play the ukulele with such big paws?

I am pretty sure that I have already linked either or both of these Bruddah Iz songs [at least] once already here. If you don't like them, tough! Start your own 'damn 'blog-thing!

"But, Brian, why did you post 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' twice today?"

While I was sitting enjoying my cuppa at Greenhouse Cafe, they played the song twice on the [green]house stereo in about a twenty-minute [or less] span, and I figured I would just duplicate duplicate it here.)


As it was time to schedule another eye exam (with my optometrist, Dr. Karen See ["care and see"?] ~ seriously, you can't make this stuff up), I decided I might as well also have breakfast this morning in the same neighborhood (which, in this case, happens to be West Portal) and went back to Squat & Gobble 
Cafe & Crepery (see last 'blog-entry from July 26th, 2014). I am calling this location their flagship restaurant because it is the newest (the building has only been around for two years now) and largest (with two floors of seating). The (original?) Squat & Gobble 
Cafe & Crepery in the Lower Haight (on Fillmore Street) seems to have been closed since Summer or Fall 2015. This just leaves this West Portal location along with the Marina District (on Chestnut Street) and Castro (on 16th Street) locations.

West Portal really is a great little neighborhood with several good places to eat for breakfast. However, I noticed today that the long-running, family-owned restaurant, Manor Coffee Shop, (see 'blog-entry from November 12th, 2011) has closed, but is being remodeled to re-open under new ownership (to now be called simply the Manor).

Squat & Gobble Cafe & Crepery doesn't just offer crêpes on their menu, they also have several other good sections from which to choose for breakfast (and lunch or dinner). Some of the other offerings which I was looking at ("... at which I was looking", whatever): Mama Mia (also off the Savory Crepe section; Mozzarella, Parmesan and cottage cheese, onions, mushrooms, spinach, eggplant, and tomatoes, topped with marinara sauce [please note, this is made with two kinds of botanical berries ~ eggplant and tomato]; I have had this before and know it is very good and this was going to be my original choice this morning until I waffled [or is that crêped] and went with the choice I did; and Beelzebub doesn't even have to have a devil put aside for me... for meeeee... for this one); Whole Thing (off the Dessert Crepes section; fresh bananas, walnuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon, topped with nutella® and powdered sugar; served with your choice of vanilla bean Ice Cream or whipped cream; oh, yeah, Ice Cream for breakfast!); Tropical Island (also off the Dessert Crepes section; fresh pineapple, papaya, banana, shredded coconuts, brown sugar, caramel sauce, candied walnuts, topped with pineapple papaya sauce; if I had been in the mood for a "sweet" breakfastary repast, this would definitely have been my choice); Santa Fe Scramble (off the Scramblers section; pepper Jack cheese, mushrooms, peppers, onions, black beans, corn, and avocado, topped with tomatillo salsa, jalapeno [ sic, again ] sour cream, crispy tortilla strips and cilantro; this was basically a scrambled eggs version of the crêpe I had); Castro Omelette (off the Omelettes section; Feta cheese, tomatoes, spinach, and Kalamata olives); or Mee Goreng (off the Wok Kitchen section; sauteed cabbage, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, tofu, garlic, ginger, giant Shanghai noodles, spicy Sriracha fish sauce [which would have been แปดสิบหก-ed... 555!] and crispy onion strings; I am not sure how that would go as a breakfast meal, though).

All of the crêpes that I have had at Squat & Gobble 
Cafe & Crepery have always been very good. I liked this one because it had a very good salsa de tomatillo and the jalapeño sour cream-thing added a nice bit of flavour, too. Plus, the crispy tortilla strips added a nice crunch to the whole thing. Of course, I ordered my crêpe with the side choice of their "famous" rosemary garlic potatoes (Pfffft! What kinda idiot would order the salad or fruit option?!); plus, there was a large portion of them, too.

The Coffee at Greenhouse Cafe was made à la mode de presse française. They only offered the one roast/blend today, and I am not sure if they ever have any other choices. I have had Equator Coffees & Teas™ many times before and they are generally very good. 

Squat & Gobble Cafe & Crepery had for condimentary supplementation Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Pepper Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. I used a good amount of my own Sunbelt Plantations Vidalia® Onion Picante Hot Sauce 
(Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the potatoes and just a skosh of El Yucateco® XXXtra Hot Sauce 
Salsa Kutbil-ik® de Chile Habanero (Thanks, Brian!) on the crêpe (which turned out being a bit superfluous and masked some of the nice flavours of the salsas already on it).

This is just being nitpickery (or nitpickerie), but Squat & Gobble Cafe & Crepery do not use the "ê" in either the spelling of their name, nor in the crêpes section listed on their menu; and, additionally, the word should actually be spelled "Crêperie", not "Crepery". (Why do people think it is necessary to come up with completely madeuppery words?) Do not worry, no 
Glen Bacon Scale Rating points are ever deducted for spelling (or translational) êrrors. (Of course, this doesn't even take into consideration the entirely creepy and coprophagia image-conjuring rest of their name: "Squat & Gobble".)

Conclusion: Once again, good food ~ horrible name!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Vêggîê Fâjîtâ Crepê ~ 6.7; Equator Coffees & Teas™ Mocha Java ~ 6.8

grindz

Did you ever wonder what they call extra thick waffles[1] in Brussels (of Brussel… ou Bruxelles… oder Brüssel), Jean-Claude?

http://www.grindzrestaurant.com/


Place: grindz 
Location: 832 Clement Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues)

Hours: open for "Brunch" Friday, Saturday, & Sunday at 9:00am

Meal: GRINDZ Waffle ~ buttermilk waffle, pina berry compote, quenelle whipped cream; a side of Plantation Potatoes[2] (because as a vegetarian I never get enough carbohydrates in my diet); and a cuppa (and 1-½ refillas) Bicycle Coffee[3] co (though I always forget to ask which particular roast/blend they offer)

http://www.bicyclecoffeeco.com/

(No trip to an Hawai'ian ~ a Hawai'ian? whatever ~ restaurant would be complete without a EweToobular juxtaselection of Bruddah Iz. 

The second video/song is just for anyone living in North Windsor, Ontario that wants to take a midnight train going nowhere in particular.)


The continuation of the pre-Spring Training workout of another one of my Breakfastary Rotation Starters brought me back to grindz (see last 'blog-entry from October 19th, 2014). 

There is really only a handful of items on their "Brunch" menu which I really can eat (and, by "handful", I mean exactly five items ~ which is a handful if you have an overly large hand, I suppose). As I have eaten there more than five times in the past, I have more than worked my way through what they have to offer to stupid vegetarians. My backups today were going to be either Kalua Benedict (toasted Hawai'ian bread, Kalua pig, taro leaves, 2 poached eggs, tarragon Hollandaise, plantation potatoes; just consider this an/a Hawai'ian version of Eggs Benedict, bra'; of course, I would have ordered this again without the dead, decaying Kalua piggy stuff) or Veggie Scramble (mushrooms, zucchini, spinach, plantation potatoes, chilli oil; "veggies" may vary).

This was really good. I don't normally order waffles (and I don't think that I had any the entire year of 2014), but I liked this dish. The "pino berry compote" was made with pineapples[4] and blueberries[5]; this was very good, too, but I wonder if blackberries or raspberries (yes, I am well aware that neither blackberries nor raspberries are technically botanical berries, but still) might have been a better combination with pineapple.

The Plantation Potatoes were very good as always, made with lots of chopped up celery[6], red bell peppers[7], and white onions[8].

For condimentary supplementation, grindz offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and some kind of Sriracha sauce (I think I overheard someone asking for it); plus, they have on all the tables their own homemade chilli oil and Hawai'ian Spicy Ketchup. Normally, I would just have settled for using their Hawai'ian Spicy Ketchup ~ as it is very good ~ and not bothered bringing any of my own hot sauces with me; however, I just received a belated Christmas gift in the mail this week with four more bottles of new stuff to try (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!). All four bottles are from the same English company, The Wiltshire[9] Chilli Farm. 

http://www.justchillies.co.uk/

This morning I tried some smoked Chipotle chilli sauce on half of the potatoes and Hell Mouth on the other half. 

The smoked Chipotle chilli sauce was the less spicy of the two and I could go pretty heavily with it. 

Ingredients: tomatoes, onions, red wine vinegar, sugar, molasses, smoked garlic - 1%, smoked chilli - 1%, various spices.

Hell Mouth was a lot spicier, but not as crazy hot as some other hot sauces that I have.

Ingredients: orange pepper, sugar, cider vinegar, Habanero chilli, apple, mango, salt, ginger, Ghost Pepper…  

I will probably get around to testing out the other two bottles tomorrow with breakfast. This brings my collection total to twenty now; an entire shelf on my refrigerator door is dedicated to just these hot sauces. I really was not planning on getting any more hot sauces to add to my collection until after I had used up a few more bottles. (Last month I even bought three new bottles myself, which I probably should have waited on, too.)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: GRINDZ Waffle ~ 6.6


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, nummer een/numéro un/Nummer eins:

Everyone knows that there are three Official Languages in Belgium (unlike here in 'merica where there are just two ~ Spanish and Chinese): Dutch, French, and German. So, if anyone ever asks you "Do you speak Belgiumese?", you can answer: "Ja!", "Oui!", and "Ja!"

Here are the words for "Waffle" in all three:

Dutch ~ "wafel (singular)/wafels (plural)"
French ~ "gaufre (singular)/gaufres (plural)"
German ~ "Waffel (singular)/Waffeln (plural)"

I could go into a long etymological explanation of the word "waffle", but then why do we have WikipediA? Here is the link to more information by them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle#Etymology

2. I figured, what the heck (of hel… ou enfer… oder Hölle) while I was at it, I might as well also provide the stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) for this word in Dutch, French, and German (for anyone keeping count here, that would be nummer twee/numéro deux/Nummer zwei):

Dutch ~ "aardappel (singular)/aardappelen (plural)"
French ~ "pomme de terre (singular)/pommes de terre (plural)"
German ~ "Kartoffel (singular)/Kartoffeln (plural)"

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, nummer drie/numéro trois/Nummer drei:

Dutch ~ "Koffie"
French ~ "Café"
German ~ "Kaffee"

(See, sometimes these stupid, useless cunning linguist pointers aren't exactly Rocket Surgery.

I have even covered this word a few times before here. See specific 'blog-entry from February 26th, 2014.)

4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, nummer vier/numéro quatre/Nummer vier:

Dutch ~ "ananas (singular)/ananassen (plural)"
French ~ "ananas (singular)/(plural)"
German ~ "Ananas (singular)/(plural)"

5. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, nummer vijf/numéro cinq/Nummer fünf:

Dutch ~ "bosbes (singular)/bosbessen (plural)"
French ~ "myrtille (singular)/myrtilles (plural)"
German ~ "Blaubeere or Heidelbeere (singular)/Blaubeeren or Heidelbeeren (plural)"

6. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, nummer zes/numéro six/Nummer sechs:

Dutch ~ "selderij"
French ~ "céleri"
German ~ "Sellerie"

7. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, nummer zeven/numéro sept/Nummer sieben:

Dutch ~ "rode paprika" (singular)/(plural)
French ~ "poivron rouge" (singular)/"poivrons rouges" (plural)
German ~ "rote Paprika" (singular)/(plural)

8. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, nummer acht/numéro huit/Nummer acht:

Dutch ~ "witte ui (singular)/witte uien (plural)"
French ~ "oignon blanc (singular)/oignons blancs (plural)"
German ~ "weiße Zwiebel (singular)/weiße Zwiebeln (plural)"

9. Wiltshire is a County in Southwest England. It is best known as the county where the City of Salisbury (home to both Salisbury Cathedral, which houses one of the four surviving original copies of the Magna Carta, and to the eponymous steaks) and the Village of Avebury (home of the famous Neolithic henge monument). Wiltshire is also the county where there are the lesser known standing stones in some place called "Stonehenge".

grindz

"There is a lot more juice in grapefruit than meets the eye." ~ author unknown (but probably said by Jimmy Cagney at one time or another)

http://www.grindzrestaurant.com/

(Just a little Sunday morning Bruddah Iz-piration to go along with today's food theme.)


Place: grindz 
Location: 832 Clement Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues)
Hours: Friday, Saturday & Sunday open at 9:00am for "Brunch"
Meal: Kalua Benedict ~ toasted Hawai'ian bread, Kalua pig, taro leaves, 2 poached eggs,
tarragon hollandaise served with plantation potatoes; and a cuppa Bicycle Coffee


grindz (see last 'blog-entry from April 27th, 2013) is the last of my Breakfastary Rotation Starters; that just leaves the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House to close it out next weekend with some World-Famous, Most Excellent Popovers(!) next weekend (that was not a typo, nor even a Type AB Negative; that is just my way of making fun of the redundant redundancy in the bistro-restaurant nomenclature name). 

I thought this sign above the door was pretty funny: "Maximum Occupancy 49 Persons". Why the odd number? They couldn't squeeze in just one more person to make it an even half-century? Besides, I counted and there are actually only forty-four seats available (at tables for two or four people). If you are going to try to tell me that maybe there is room for five more rug-rats in highchairs, nice try! Everyone knows that they aren't considered "people" until they can sit at the table like a real person (despite what those crazy Christian fundamentalist are trying to tell us). 

As I have already run through most of the viable stupid vegetarian dishes on the menu, I am repeating the first meal I tried there last year. There is still Veg N Eggs ~ 2 poached eggs, mushrooms, zucchini, spinach, potatoes, chili oil ~ to try; however, I am not sure how that is prepared/served, but I might have to try it on my next visit.

This must be some kinda "Benedict" weekend with me. Of course, I got this without the Kalua pig. Without the pork, this is more like a Hawai'ian version of Eggs Florentine, "Eggs Honolulutine", perhaps?! I really like the use of the taro leaves and the Hawai'ian bread (a variation of Portuguese sweet bread) in this dish. Plus, unlike yesterday's breakfast ("Brunch", whatever), the poached eggs were actually cooked properly this morning. I also really like the plantation potatoes; these are made with lots of red bell peppers, white onions, and celery in them (I think there were even some potatoes in it).

For condimentary supplements, grindz offers bottles of Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and Huy Fong Foods Inc.® Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce; but, more importantly, they have both a fresh-made Hawai'ian ketchup and cruets of chilli vinegar (the waiter-server guy said that it goes best with the Loco Moco[1], so I probably won't get to try much of it). I used some of the Hawai'ian ketchup on the plantation potatoes and a small amount of my own Nando's Extra Hot Peri-Peri Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) on top of the eggs (mixed in with the Hollandaise sauce again).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Kalua Benedict ~ 7.2 


1. Not really a stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer, but just more of an epicurean name origin:

The most probable origin of the name "Loco moco" is that "loco" is a variation/Hawai'ian slang of "local" (there is another story that says that "Loco" was the nickname of the first boy to eat the concoction), while "moco" was added simply because it rhymed.

grindz

Just who the heck is this "Mahalo"[1] guy, and why doesn't he even know how to use a bathroom correctly?

http://www.grindzrestaurant.com/

(This is their new web-site. It may not be up and running yet, so here is another link to just their menu.)

http://sanfrancisco.menupages.com/restaurants/ono-grindz/menu

(Nobody better be hatin' on Bruddah Iz!)


As promised last weekend, I went back to grindz (see last 'blog-entry from September 3rd, 2012; I seem to always go to this place right around a holiday, my first visit was on the
4th o f July) for breakfast this morning. The first thing I had to ask them was: "Why the name change?" Apparently there is a small chain of crummy Hawai'ian BBQ restaurants that has trademarked the word "ONO". Seriously?! That would be like trademarking the word "Delicious". It's not as if they were calling themselves "Spamalot", Mr. Python. What a buncha alohaholes!!! 
 
Hawai'ian MLB Players Interlude
 
Just for the heck of it, here is a short list of recent or current MLB players that were born in Hawai'i[2]:

Shane Victorino ~ Boston Red Sox (current team);
Jerome Williams ~ Los Ångeles Ångels of Anaheim (current team);
Kurt Suzuki ~ Washington Nationals (current team);
Ron Darling ~ New York Mets, Montreal Expos, Oakland Athletics; and
Charlie Hough ~ Los Ångeles D*dgers, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, Florida Marlins.

Of course, their menu is basically an Hawai'ian influenced one. The Kimchi Huevos Rancheros sounded good, and I will have to check that out one of these days (possibly on my next visit there whenever grindz comes around again in my 2013 Breakfastary Rotation). I ended up ordering Apple Banana Pancakes ~ apples (not a berry), bananas (a real berry), coconut (not a nut) crème, crushed Macadamia nuts[3] (also not a real nut). I also ordered a side of Plantation Potatoes and a cuppa Bicycle Coffee.

These were four medium-sized pancakes made with apples and bananas already in the batter; somehow I was picturing this as going to just be regular pancakes with sautéed apples and bananas on top. This was served with no maple syrup and I am not sure it needed it or would have even gone with all of the other ingredients. There was a lot of crushed Macadamia nuts liberally sprinkled on top along with the coconut crème. I liked these a lot, but my one minor complaint would be that there wasn't enough of the coconut crème, though; plus, I think some shredded coconut might have added a bit more pop, too. I also think that pineapple-banana pancakes might have been a better Hawai'ianese combination, or just skip the apples altogether.

As stated in my past two visits, the Plantation Potatoes are very good, with lots of julienned onions and red bell peppers in the mix, and the Bicycle Coffee (of which I had about three cups or so) is one of the better local roasteries.

grindz offers for condimentary supplementation Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red), a Sriracha hot sauce, and their own homemade Hawai'ian Ketchup (which I have tried and knew to be pretty tasty). However, I had just received a brand new bottle of Spicymonkey Raspberry & Chipotle Ketchup (Thanks, Cindy!) for Christmas and used some on the Plantation Potatoes. This was hot and sweet, but not too spicy; I liked it very much. Ingredients: tomatoes (a real berry), vinegars, raspberries (not a real berry), Worcestershire sauce[4], tamarind (not a berry, but some kinda fruit/indehiscent legume; whatever that means), chipotle (a real berry), spices, and sugar.

http://www.spicymonkey.co.uk/

Minor Stupid Customer Rant of the Day
 
Overheard at the next table over: "I need to get out of here in about a half-hour… is that doable?!"

First off, there were already about eight orders ahead of his and there was just one server/waiter person guy that early in the morning (they had just opened up about fifteen minutes prior). Secondly, the idiot then goes and orders a full breakfast (The Big Island ~ 2 eggs, Plantation Potatoes, 2 Apple Banana Pancakes, & choice of Portuguese sausage, Spam®, or bacon).

Who goes out to eat when they only have about half an hour to spare?

They actually did get his meal out to him in about fifteen minutes and he did finish it in about fifteen minutes, too.

The stupid customer actually was a nice enough guy, as I spoke with him for a bit about my new ketchup and loaned him some (luckily he liked it also), but next time give yourself more time to eat, bruddah.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Apple Banana Pancakes ~ 6.5; Spicymonkey Raspberry & Chipotle Ketchup ~ 6.9


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

There were a couple of signs in the bathroom that specified some of the quirks about their plumbing and ended addressed to "Mahalo!"

"Mahalo" simply is Hawai'ian for "Thank you!"; I have no cute stories as to its origin.

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number two:

"Hawai'i" derives from Proto-Polynesian "Hawaiki", with the reconstructed meaning "Homeland" or "Place of the Gods".

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-botanical pointer of the day, number three:
 
"Macadamia nuts" are actually the seeds of the fruit of the Macadamia tree, and not a botanical nut. The genus is named after John Macadam, a Scottish chemist; he was no relation to John McAdam, the Scottish engineer that invented a new process for building roads (see: macadamisation and tarmac).

4. I just wonder if the Worcestershire sauce used in this is Vegetarian-Kosher. Worcestershire (or Worcester) sauce usually has anchovies as one of its ingredients. It really doesn't matter much to me, as I like it and plan on using it all up.

And just because I am tired of typing today, here is some extra information from those friendly, informative people at Wikipedia:

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