(Sorry, you try finding decent garlic-studded songs. Besides, you know you all wanna give "garlic gumbo gravy guava" a go-go.) garlic[2] noun | gar-lic | \ˈgär-lik\ 1 : a European allium (Allium sativum) widely cultivated for its pungent compound bulbs much used in cookery; broadly : ALLIUM 2 : a bulb of garlic — garlicky \ˈgär-li-kē\ adjective This is just a quick follow-up on garlic (see previous 'blog-entry from Wednesday, February 11th, 2015). This is the kinda thing that pops into my head late at night (well, 3:00am early in the morning) when I can not sleep. While garlic may not necessarily be a mandatory ingredient for the first meal of the day (and just how come those smarmy bastages at the Pancake Home of Internationality [better known as "PHOI®", of course] have never come up with a decent "Garlic Pancake"?), it really does enhance most breakfastary dishes. Any decent homefries/country potatoes worth its merits should include at least a little (or, like the truly Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes at Eats, a lot) of this tasty underground fruit. ("But... Brian... garlic is not really a 'fruit' is it?" Seriously?! This is a silly li'l 'blog-post about "garlic", fercryinoutloud, and you are actually questioning my botanical authentification. Besides, if you don't believe me, you can check with those monkey-experts at Scopes.com [see, they don't just fight smelly bad-breath now-a-days, they fight smelly bad-breathtaking rumours, too].) Most of the great cuisines of the World utilize garlic to some extent in their dishes (with the exception of certain sects of Buddhism[3]): Chinese, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Thai, Indian (the Hindu-type, I am not sure about the Native American take on garlic, but I bet it would be great with fry-bread), Burmese (Myanmarese, too), Vietnamese, French, German, Korean, Japanese, Turkish, Arab, Israeli (and also European/American Jewish), Ethiopian and Eritrean, Russian, Afghani, Cuban, Jamaican, and Irish[4]. Garlic always goes great in/with some of my favourite foods: Pizza (and, yes, in my family Pizza is a traditional breakfast dish, d*mmit!), potatoes (in the chips form and most all forms), etc. I have even had Garlic Ice Cream (once) and it wasn't that bad (of course, it was late in the afternoon at the Gilroy Garlic Festival[5] and by that time everything tasted like garlic anyway). Not to mention... Τζατζίκι! (and do not try and tell me that Tzatziki is not a true breakfast dish; it has yoghurt in it, right?) However, I do draw the line at garlic-Coffee and garlic-Beer. And just another good reason that garlic is a great breakfast addition ~ not that I expect people will run out to their local Garlic Julius® tomorrow to start drinking up this stuff ~ but a 3.5 oz/100g serving of garlic has 38% of your Daily Value of Vitamin C (okay, sure, the equivalent serving of oranges pack a 64% of Vitamin C, but when was the last time you asked for extra oranges on your Pizza Margherita?). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Garlic (plain) ~ 6.8; Garlic (roasted) ~ 7.2; Τζατζίκι ~ 7.2-8.2
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1. http://www.garlic-central.com/stinking-rose.html First off, I am impressed that there is an actual web-site dedicated to garlic. Secondly, while garlic is not actually a member of the Rose-family, it is interesting to point out that apples (as well as pears, quinces, apricots, plums, cherries, peaches, raspberries, loquats, strawberries, and almonds) are. How do you like them roses?! 2. Definitionary results courtesy of little Miss Mary-Anne Webster. 3. Do you really wanna know the complete arbitrariness of that particular dietary restriction? You can read my somewhat explanation in my initial garlic 'blog-entry. The ban also includes not using onions, leeks, and a few other good-tasting stuff. H*ck, different Buddhist sects can not even agree as to exactly why this is. Trust me, this Buddha guy would not last a week on the food network. 4. No, "Irish Cuisine" is not a culinaristic oxymoron. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: For any of you wise-a-guy pun-dits wondering just what the word for "garlic" in Gaelic might be, it is "gairleog". 5. https://gilroygarlicfestival.com/
"A nickel will get you on the subway, but garlic will get you a seat." ~ unknown, old Yiddish proverb Garlic (unlike potatoes ~ see specific 'blog-entry from February 8th, 2012 ~ and Coffee ~ see last specific 'blog-entries from February 26th, 2014 and February 28th, 2014) is not necessarily a mandatory breakfastary staple (unless you are making Garlic Pancakes or Garlic-stuffed French Toast, of course), but I do really like the addition of garlic in most of my savoury breakfast dishes. Garlic (Allium sativum) is in the same Genus as onions, shallots, leeks, scallions, and chives. However, I am pretty sure that it is not related in any way to Marijuana (Cannabis sativa). (See, "sativum/sativus/sativa" are just forms of Latin botanical adjectives meaning "cultivated". Anyone that has ever tried smoking garlic leaves will know this for a fact.) Garlic ~ etymology and numerous stupid, useless cunning linguist pointers: Etymology: Old English "gārlēac" (Mercian), "garlec" (W. Saxon), from "gār" ("spear", in reference to the clove) + "lēac" ("leek"). Arabic = ثوم (I don't have the correct transliteration, but it sounds something like "thoom" which is good enough for Gub'mint work) Czech = česnek (pronounced "CHESS-nek") Chinese = 大蒜 (transliterated as "dàsuàn" and pronounced something like "DA-swen") Dutch = knoflook (pronounced "Ka-NO-flouk") French = ail (pronounced "aye", with a silent "l") German = Knoblauch (pronounced "Ka-NO-bloukh", with the "l" pronounced, Chuck) Greek = σκόρδο (transliterated as "skortho" and pronounced "SKOR-tho") Hungarian = fokhagyma (pronounced "FOK-hagima", or close enough; what do you expect, I was only in Budapest once and then only for four days) Irish (Gaeilge) = gairleog (simply pronounced "garlic"; sometimes these cunning linguist pointers ain't Brain Science) Italian = aglio (pronounced "AL-yio") Korean = 마늘 (transliterated as "maneul" and pronounced something like "MAN-ay") Polish = czosnek (pronounced "CHOSE-nek") Portuguese = alho (pronounced "AL-yo") Russian = чеснок (transliterated as "chesnok" and pronounced as "CHESS-nok") Spanish = ajo (pronounced "a-HO") Garlic is native to Central Asia, and it has been used by humans for over 7,000 years, both for culinary uses and medicinal purposes. While garlic is used (more than) generously throughout Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking, it is mentioned only once in the Bible (they must be a buncha anti-Semites to mention it just the one time, though): Numbers 11:5[1] ~ We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely: the cucumbers and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. Which is why you probably never hear Israel referred to as "the land of milk and garlic". Interestingly enough (well, it's "interesting" if you are either a food-geek or Cliff Clavin, I suppose), there are certain Buddhist sects (and I am not sure if that is even the correct designation for a branch of Buddhism), in addition to being strictly vegetarian, that do not allow/recommend the use of garlic (or onions). (And you all thought that the Jews and Muslims had some strange dietary laws.) It seems there are differing ratiocinations for this by separate branches of Buddhists. East Asian Buddhists do not eat any root vegetables (to include: potatoes, carrots, or onion and garlic); apparently this has something to do with "killing" any plant life. Other Buddhists avoid eating "strong-smelling plants"; something to which they say "tend to excite senses" (whatever the heck that is supposed to mean). All I can think about is that aren't ginger roots also grown underground (and aren't they also pretty strong smelling and "sensually exciting", too)? And what about lotus roots? Apparently, ol' Sid Guatama never smelled a ripe jackfruit or durian either. (Whew! "Strong-smelling" would be putting it overly nicely there.) And, of course, these arbitrary dietary restrictions came into play centuries before the New World was invaded by the Europeans and chillies were "discovered" and then imported for use in almost every major cuisine in the World (to include Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Indian). I suppose that capsaicin isn't considered "sensationally arousing" in local Buddhist temples. Plus, you just try eating a mango or a banana without "killing" it first; those suckers won't go down without a fight (be extra careful when wrestling with bananas, though, they do tend to bruise very easily). Gilroy (the one in California) self-proclaims itself as: "the Garlic Capital of the World". However, in fact, the entire U.S. of America is only the 9th top garlic producer in the World; whereas, China is by far the largest producer of garlic ~ making up for about 81% of the World output of garlic (growing about 100 times as much garlic as the entire U.S. does). That doesn't keep the city of Gilroy from holding their annual garlic festival (and completely messing up traffic along Highway 101 all the way from San Jose to Salinas) for three days every summer. http://gilroygarlicfestival.com/ And, of course, garlic is one of the main ingredients in that most supreme of the Foods of the Gods: Τζατζίκι! 1. Of course, on the West Coast, this is usually known as "Numbers 8:5", except in Hawai'i and most of Arizona during Daylight Saving Time.
"Laugh and the world laughs with you… snore and you sleep alone." ~ Anthony Burgess
http://www.phoenixirishbar.com/ Place: phoenix bar Location: 811 Valencia Street (between 19th and 20th Streets) Hours: open at 10:00am Saturday & Sunday for "Brunch" Meal: Vegetable Hash ~ grilled potatoes, mixed vegetables, poached eggs, with goat cheese sauce; and a large glass of ½-orange juice and ½-grapefruit juice
(I know I could have used Glen Campbell's classic version of this song, but I just liked these versions much more.) Today's breakfastary destination was just a few blocks down the street (if the street happens to be Valencia, that is) from last Sunday's entry. I had "Brunch" (their actual term, and that they don't open until 10:00am for the first meal of the day on the weekends kind of dictates the use of this snooty sobriquet) at phoenix bar. It is mainly an "Irish Pub and Gathering House" (it says so right above the awning in the front), but they have some pretty decent dishes on their food menu. There are several large-screen TeeVees around the joint, and they were showing some Barclays Premier League Football games (aka "English Soccer" to you bloody Y*nks[1]) this morning. There is plenty of seating throughout the place. There is probably enough for fifty to sixty people at several copper-covered tables (made for two to four people), and many of these tables have benches along the wall side that look like they may have been pews in a church at one time (I made sure to get one of those to get the whole religious effect of the meal). Plus, there are another fifteen to sixteen seats along the bar. They offer a pretty small "Brunch" menu (I counted only eleven items, which I almost needed to take my shoes off to do so) and there were just a few other good ideas for stupid vegetarians. However, I was also looking at getting either Veggie Omelet (fresh seasonal vegetables, cheese, and breakfast potatoes) or Huevos Valencianos (roasted chiles, guacamole, black beans, eggs any style, corn tortillas with grilled Irish bacon or spicy sausage; which I would have ordered sin carne, of course). For those of you that are huge fans of the dead, decaying porcine products, they also offer the traditional Irish breakfast, coincidentally enough, called Traditional Irish Breakfast (sausage, Irish bacon, pudding [don't let the name fool you, this ain't none of the sweet stuff that Bill Cosby used to shill], baked beans, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, and potatoes); this meal is also known alternatively as "Cardiac Arrest on a Plate".
I really liked that they bring out before each meal slices of homemade Irish soda bread[2]; and they will give you more if you ask for it, too (I asked for it). I bet this would make for a great base for a Celtic version of Eggs O'Benedict, too. (Actually they do offer just this on their "Brunch" menu as Irish Bacon Benedict ~ grilled Irish soda bread, Irish bacon, poached eggs, Hollandaise, and potatoes; I may need to try that one in the future, too.) In addition to the grilled potatoes mentioned above, today's mixture of vegetables was: kale, cauliflower, mushrooms, green beans, carrots, (red, green, and yellow) bell peppers, zucchini, and the vile weed. All except for the vile weed were welcomed ingredients, and kale is one of my favourite leafy greens, anyway. Strangely enough, in this hash there really wasn't any discernible garlic or onions; perhaps the owners are Mahāyāna BuddhistIrish. I had completely forgotten that this had a goat cheese sauce on it; I was wondering why the poached eggs seemed extra creamy. It all worked very nicely with the vegetable hash. I asked the waitress/server/bartender-lady (there was just one person working the bar and taking food orders when I first got there) what kind of juices they offered and she told me both orange and grapefruit juices. So I asked her for a glass with "half-and-half". She must have misunderstood me and brought me out a pint o' Guinness® and Harp®Lager… (Nah, not really. But that would have been pretty funny at an Irish pub for breakfast.)
For condimentary supplementation, phoenix baractually had a pretty decent offering: Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (three types, too: the standard red, green jalapeño, and Chipotle); El Yucateco® SalsaPicante Verde de Chile Habanero (the green kind); Tapatío®; and HP™Sauce (the standard kind, not the Guinness® one, though). I really didn't expect them to have that many salsas from which to choose, so I had brought a few of my own and used some Born to Hulapresents Devon Allman'sAll Natural Hot Sauce Chipotle Blues(Thanks, Kerry!) on top of one of the eggs and a little (just a few drops, as this one goes a long way) Fat Cat®Chairman Meow's Revenge (Scorpion Pepper Sauce)(Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of the other egg. I did make sure to use a good amount of the HP™ all around on the potatoes and vegetable hash. This is another one that is definitely worth a return visit… one of these days, me droogs. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Vegetable Hash ~ 6.5 (I gave this an extra .2 for the inclusion of the kale, but I also took away .1 due to the vile weed); homemade Irish soda bread ~ 6.7 1. But, Brian, aren't you also a "bloody Y*nkee"? Not on yer life, boyo! As a devout Red Sox fan, being called a "Y*nkee" would be as bad as calling an Irishman English! 2. For anyone not familiar with Irish soda bread, here is some information from the friendly people at WikipediA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_bread Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: "Soda bread" in Irish is "arán sóide".
"Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken." ~ Bertrand Russell
http://nobhillgrille.com/ Place: Nob Hill Grille Location: 969 Hyde Street (on the corner of Pine Street, and, as their name implies, on Nob Hill) Hours: open at 8:30am on Saturday and Sunday for "Weekend Brunch" Meal: huevos rancheros ~ choice of red beef sauce or vegetarian tomatillo sauce (I will give you two guesses which one I chose) with corn tortillas, two fried eggs, Mexican rice, black beans, shredded lettuce and sour cream; a side order of homefries; and a cuppa (and a few more refillas) Contraband Coffee, Black Market blend/roast http://www.contrabandcoffeebar.com/
(Tomorrow is Johnette Napolitano's birthday, so I am doing another mini-EweToobular concert just like I did yesterday for little Lenny Cohen. Video #2 is to prove that Dennis Miller was once actually relevant; just still not very funny, though. Sorry, Puddles Pity Party doesn't have any covers of any Concrete Blonde songs that I know about.) Today's breakfastary sojourn brought us (well, me) back to Nob Hill Grille (see last 'blog-entry from July 22nd, 2012)[1]. I still think they really missed the Joycean mark and should have named the restaurant "Nob Hille Grille". Even though they actually call their early morning weekend meal "Brunch", the fact that they open up at 8:30am is good enough for me. I like that early on a Sunday morning, parking in the neighborhood is pretty easy to locate. Nob Hille Grille is a nice neighborhoody joint (well, if your neighborhood happens to be Nob Hill) and isn't that large of a place. The seating is just: seven stools at the counter overlooking the kitchen area; three tables for two and one table for four in the original/main/front dining area; the back room dining area (which is actually down a set of stairs and was once part of a different building; they even have it demarcated as "1315 [Pine Street]" at the top of the stairs down to the area) has another three tables for four and four tables for two; and, on days when it is nice enough to sit outside (this morning was, but I still ate indoors), there are two tables for two along the Hyde Street sidewalk (believe me, it's way too steep to have any tables along the Pine Street side).
There is a cool new piece of artwork above the counter just as you enter. It is a of collage of Mel Ramos' Superman. The original oil-on-canvas painting's current Fortress of Solitude happens to be the de Young, Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, in Golden Gate Park.
There are only about eleven items on the "Weekend Brunch" menu. If I hadn't ordered the huevos rancheros this morning, I was thinking about either getting: build your own omelette or scramble (three eggs with your choice of cheese plus homefries and wheat toast; I probably would have built mine with avocado, tomato, and goat cheese; they call this "build your own", but I am pretty sure they have cooks to actually make these for you ~ no one wants me making junk in their kitchen) or french toast (vanilla brioche bread topped with berries and crème anglaise; I have had this a few times before and know that it is very good). And for anyone that partakes of the crisped-up belly of dead, decaying little piggies, they also offer a bacon fritter (sweet bacon filled fritters served with bourbon maple syrup ~ I could probably do a few shots of that syrup, at least).
I had never seen Huevos Rancheros done this way before, but the two eggs were between two corn tortillas ~ sorta like a Huevos Rancheros sandwich ~ and I liked it a lot. This had a very good tomatillo salsa ~ con mucho sabor. This had a nice pico de gallo on top of the pile; however, I am not gonna lie to you, there was a good amount of white onions in it (which is fine with me, I like a lot of onions; of course, if you happen to be a Mahāyāna Buddhist, you will have to forego this topping ~ I recommend going with the red beef sauce instead). They state that this comes with "black beans" on their on-line menu, but these were actually whole pinto beans this morning (I like both, so no grande cosa); I think that some Cotija cheese or queso fresco crumbled on top of the beans might also have been a nice touch. I really like their rendition of homefries (which is one of the reasons I didn't have a problem with the addition of yet more carbohydrates in my meal). These are always done nice and crispy and made with lots of green and red bell peppers and (more still) white onions (Sorry, Gautama). Contraband Coffeeis about as "local" as you can get for this place. It is located just two blocks away (also on Nob Hill). This was a very nice blend/roast. I wasn't quite sold on it with my first cuppa, but, by the third refilla, I really enjoyed it. It also seemed to pair very nicely with all of the sabores mexicanos of the meal. Nob Hille Grille had Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and Huy Fong Foods Inc®Sriracha "Rooster" Hot Chili Sauce for condimentary supplements. As I was just talking about the dreaded Scorpion Chilli this morning on defacedbook (Hey, Victoria!), I decided to go with some of my own Fat Cat® Chairman Meow's Revenge (Scorpion Pepper Sauce) (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the potatoes (but I used it very sparingly, probably just eight to ten drops; this hot sauce does have a bit of a sting to it, but it is still not the worst of my collection). I didn't add any hot sauce to the tasty tomatillo salsa (I tasted it first just to make sure and it really didn't need me messing it up). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: huevos rancheros ~ 6.9; Contraband Coffee, Black Market ~ 6.8 1. I have only been doing this stupid li'l 'blog-thing for a little over four-and-a-half years now, and I finally figured out how to make a hyperlink in the text. I probably should say a big "THANKS!" to Cabin Jim for his help and expertise in these stupid 'blog-things (he keeps two, himself)… I should, but I won't.
"We had some ham and eggs and took our time saying goodbye to the bright lights." ~ Stanley Kubrick, "Killer's Kiss"
(No official web-site.)
50 Clement Street (on the corner of 2nd Avenue)
phonicular contact: (415) 751-8000
(Just a few more Boston-related EweToob songs for the weekend.)
This morning's breakfastary repast was once again at Eats (see last 'blog-entry from February 9th, 2013). I got there just as they were opening this morning (8:00am, daily) and was one of the first customers there. Even though I had a choice of tables from which to choose, I chose to sit at the window-counter seats which look out onto Clement Street. I had never noticed before that they have transoms[1] above these windows, but as this morning was actually pretty nice, they had them open and it was a pretty comfortable warm breeze coming in.
I have had most of their breakfast choices already so far and was thinking about either the Farmer's Scrambled Eggs (I have had this once before when it used to have kale in the mix, now it has cauliflower instead) or the Spicy Tomato Skillet (which I have also had in the past and really liked; I even renamed it the Spicy Kale Skillet as it had tons of kale in it). However, instead, I ordered something that I had never had before, the Waffle Bacon ~ bacon pressed in a waffle, Cheddar, Hungarian peppers[2], sunny up eggs; potatoes or salad.
I ordered this without the dead, decaying pork belly bits (so, I guess I just got the "Waffle"). I was expecting both the Cheddar and
Hungarian peppers to be mixed in the waffle batter already, but this
was actually prepared with the cheese and peppers just underneath the
eggs that were laid on top (these were just placed atop the waffle, no
chickens had to actually sit upon the hot waffle griddle, as that would
just have been cruel). This was still very good, I just thought it would
have been cool to have them pressed into the waffle maker.
Of course, I chose the Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes over a stupid side salad, as this is one of the main reasons I keep going back and put Eats into my Breakfastary Rotation. The Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes only had one (1, eine, une, egy) garlic clove in them this morning (insert stupid frowny-face emoticon here if you like). They were still Excellent!, but they would have been even more Excellenter! with more garlic. I suppose that it really didn't matter as I had no toast to spread them on this morning, anyway.
Eats provides the standard San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces(SFToHS) for condimentary supplements: Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red), Tapatío®, and Cholula®. However, I still used some from my own collection. I used a good amount of Serious Food… Silly Prices Sweet Heat(Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes and a little Cherry Republic® KaBOB's Kick’en Hot Sauce(Thanks again, Cindy & Greg!) on the eggs.
Lastly, tomorrow is Earth Day, so please be nice to your Mother.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Waffle (ohne/sans/nélkül) Bacon ~ 6.5; Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes ~ 7.45 (these are normally a 7.5 GBS Rating, but I am docking them .05 points for just giving me one garlic clove this morning)
1. I have already related this stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer before in the past about "transoms":
"Transom" in Hungarian is "keresztfa" and "What is that?" in Hungarian is "Mi ez?". The first word really never came into play while I was in Budapest in December two years ago, but I am sure that the second phrase was probably used about ten times a day.
2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, a második: "Pepper(s)" in Hungarian is simply "paprika". This is a diminutive of the Serbo-Croatian word "papar" (meaning "pepper"), which in turn came from the Latin "piper" (“pepper” also).
(Most people think this catchy summer ditty is just a nice little beach song. "Hey! Let's go to the beach." However, it's actually about a nuclear holocaust. It's basically saying, "We're all screwed, anyway; so we might as well just head to the beach." We all need more fluorescentwater, right?)
This is the first time in all the years that I have lived in San Francisco that I have ever eaten at Ladda's Thai Cuisine/Sea View Restaurant/Great Highway Inn Coffee Shop. I list it as such as they have had many incarnations (I thought that was a Hindu thing, not Buddhist thing) over the years and have maintained all of the old signage for some reason. I think it is actually just Ladda's Thai Cuisine now, but who knows? I have driven by the place many, many times, and finally got around to eating there for breakfast this morning.
LTC/SVR/GHICS (it's just easier this way) is located across the street (well, across the Great Highway) from Ocean Beach and across from the southwestern corner of Golden Gate Park (near Murphy Windmill, which was not operating this morning). They have their own parking lot, which is nice, but for some reason it is usually empty. I actually parked around the corner on 48th Avenue myself as it was easier than going around the block to use the La Playa Street driveway. One of their names may call this a "coffee shop", but it's actually a regular full-service restaurant; it's the house restaurant that is attached to Great Highway Inn.
LTC/SVR/GHICS offers a standard 'merican breakfast fare: eggs, omelettes, pancakes, and French toast; but they serve Thai food in the evenings (I am not sure what a typical Thai breakfast would consist of). There was a Buddhist display/offering at the front door that had a bowl of oranges, cups of tea, and some toast… I suppose I could have stolen some of that and just eaten for free this morning. (Karma is a Hindu thing, not Buddhist, right?) I ended up ordering the Vegetarian Omelet ~ mushroom, bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes; served with toast (just not Buddha's, I hope) and hash brown (sic[3]; noted as two words ~ which is okay with the Gates Spell-Check Nazis, but singular). I also had a cuppa decent enough coffee.
This was a good enough omelette, but nothing really extraordinary. It was pretty large and fluffy, and made with lots of fresh vegetables (and fungus, too, I suppose). This might have been a bit better if the vegetables (and fungus) had been sautéed first before adding them to the egg mixture. I went with an English muffin as my choice of toast, Siddhārtha Gautama.
LTC/SVR/GHICS just has for condimentary supplementation: Tabasco® (the standard red), which was expected, so I used some of my own YOUK'S HOT SAUCE (Thanks, Brian!) on the omelette and a little (too much) BIG PAPI EN FUEGO HOT SAUCE GRAND SLAM XXXTRA HOT (Thanks, Kerry!) on the hashbrowns (I used just four drops and it was still pretty darn en fuego). Technically, this really can't be considered an homage to the Boston Red Sox, as Kevin Youkilis is no longer with the correct Sox team, but I had bought the bottle when he was still with Boston. This is okay, as I am actually a little homage-phobic and really don't see what all of the to-do is with eating at ChicKKK-fil-A[4].
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Vegetarian Omelet ~ 6.0
[1] Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, part the first: The term "patel" means "village headman" in Indian. The surname "Patel" is a very common name among hoteliers (moteliers?) in 'merica now-a-days. According to Wikipedia: "As many as 60% of mid-sized motels and hotel properties, all over the U.S., are owned by the people of Indian origin. Of this, nearly one-third have the surname Patel." [2] Stupid, useless cunning linguist punto del día, número dos: "La Playa" simply means "the beach" in Spanish. [3] Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numero tres: "sic" is Latin for "so/thus". Many people incorrectly think it is the abbreviation for "said in context". [4] Alternatively (life-styled) known as Chick-fil-A-holes. (Thanks go to my nephew Cam for that one.)
I went to the Pork Store Cafe (sans accent aigu) this morning; the one on 16th Street over in the Mission. The original restaurant in the Haight is always a pain to get into as it is much smaller, there is always a long line to get in, and parking is less accessible. They have been open on Haight Street for over twenty years now. I think the Mission restaurant has been open for less than ten years. I remember that at one time back in the 90's they even had a (short-lived) location over in the South of Market Area.
They have local artists paintings for sale on their walls. "Buddha of Belief" by JD Lenzen ($450 ~ which seemed kinda steep to me) was right above my table. I almost sprayed it with some hot sauce by accident. The cap on the Tapatío® bottle had a crack in it (which I did not notice) and as I was shaking it up before using it, it got little splatters all over the table and wall, just missing this piece of art by inches. Maybe JD Lenzen could have then renamed it "Buddha of Unbelievable Salsa" and command another $50-100 for it.
I had the Eggs In A Tasty Nest ~ A bed of hash browns topped with bacon (skipped this), Cheddar cheese, grilled green peppers, fresh tomatos (sic*), onions and garlic with 2 eggs any style, and biscuits or toast. I opted for "over medium" and their home made buttermilk biscuits. This really ended up being more like "Eggs On A Tasty Heap", though, Uriah. I was expecting more of a deep bird's nest appearance to the dish for some reason. It was all still very good. The base of hash browns was nicely seasoned and just "grease-y" enough (with what I hoped was some kinda vegetable oil and not a porcine by-product). Their biscuits (two each) were large and fluffy, fresh and warm; they melted the pats of butter nicely and tasted great with what appeared to be real maple syrup (by the taste and viscosity), which are present on each table.
There are several other good breakfast choices for both Vegetarians and Vegans. They even offer several non-porky items: tofu scrambles, soy chorizo, vegetarian bacon, and vegetarian sausage (I don't know if these are in the patty or links format). I only noticed that they had a vegetarian bacon after I had ordered and the meal came; which really didn't matter as they specifically stated on the menu "no substitutions" with this dish. It's a good thing I didn't request "tomatoes" instead of "tomatos".
They only have Tabasco® (the standard red) and Tapatío® (with faulty caps, apparently) on the tables. I would have expected them to have a better selection of hot sauce condiments; especially at this location in the Mission, where great bottled hot sauces are easily found in any local corner bodega.
*(This was spelled as such on their "Specials" menu; however, they did have it spelled correctly on their regular menu. Maybe they hired Dan Quayle to be their weekend sous chef; it's not as if he has been in demand on the inspirational speaking circuit in the past twenty years or so.)
Where were you on April 18th, 1906 at 5:12am? (If I really had any "kompyuter-no-how", here is where I would have had a cool video link of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" by Jerry Lee Lewis; but, unfortunately, "Eye bee ign'ant" when it comes to these thingys ~ Sorry, J.T., one of these days I might "figger it owt".)
Lotta's Fountain is where the survivors of the 1906 Earthquake met and left messages for their loved ones; and now it is where they hold the annual commemoration of the earthquake. I have been attending (off and on) since 1994 when my brother ("Hi, Kerry!") came out for a visit and talked me into getting up at 4:00am to check it out. What sorta idiot gets up at that hour while on vacation?
This year there was a pretty decent turn-out for the 104th Anniversary. The weather was beautiful for a change (clear and warm). There was even a large (20+ piece) German Oom-pah band playing bright (well, actually it was before sunrise) and early. Unfortunately, actual survivors have been attending less and less each year. This year only Bill Del Monte (104 years young, I think they said he was only 3 months old at the time) was able to make it; they did mention that there are one or two others still alive that just couldn’t make it. Wild Bill is pretty spry and good looking for 104, and he seemed to be having a great time, too.
There was free coffee, tea, or hot chocolate provided by the American Red Cross along with informative brochures for just such emergencies. They used to provide donuts, too, but didn’t this year. And years back, there was even another volunteer van (I can’t remember who it was, though) that had $1.00 Bloody Marys and Screwdrivers. I don’t know why they stopped doing it, maybe the City decided people getting drunk and disorderly (for under $10.00) that early in the morning was not exactly the best way to celebrate this somber and sobering occasion.
I even ran into someone (a customer) I used to know from my old job (about five years ago now). Fred owns a moving company called One Big Man, One Big Truck ("… and one big dog, Beau", I always used to say to Fred; as he used to have this great big, friendly Golden Retriever, Beauregard, that rode with him when he was working; Beau passed away several years back). Fred actually has a number of trucks in his fleet now and doesn’t actually do much of the moving himself any more.
http://www.onebigman.com/
Speaking of dogs, there were several in attendance with their humans. There was this really cute dog that seemed to care less about the happenings. As his human put it: "Dogs have no sense of history…" (Can you blame them? This event would have happened 728 years ago to them.) I asked what breed of dog it was and was told that it was a Tibetan Terrier ~ I had never heard of that breed; heck, it could have been a "Buddhist Beagle" or "Dalai Dachshund" for all I knew.
As for the breakfast portion of this posting, Lefty O’Doul’s Restaurant & Piano Bar* (three blocks West on Geary near Union Square) opened early at 5:30am today for their "Annual Bloody Mary Survivor Breakfast". It was really nothing special; I simply had two eggs over medium, home fried potatoes, sourdough toast, and orange juice, as that was the extent of what they were offering at this ungodly hour... at least they were open and the food was hot.
I could just picture Jeanette MacDonald standing in the rain and singing proudly:
"It only takes a little corner of This great big world to make a place you love My home upon the hill I find I love you still I've been away, but now I'm back to tell you
San Francisco Open your Golden Gate You let no stranger wait outside your door San Francisco Here is your wandering one Saying 'I'll wander no more'
Other places only make me love you best Tell me you're the heart of all the golden west
San Francisco Welcome me home again I'm coming home To go roaming no more!"
*(Francis "Lefty" O'Doul was a local San Francisco Baseball hero. He played professionally for both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Giants… as well as those D*mn Y*nkees and da Brooklyn Bums ~ no one is perfect.
Lefty still holds the record for 3rd Most Hits in a Season, 254, behind only Ichiro Suzuki, 262, and George Sisler, 257. He was one of the first Major Leaguers to come out of the San Francisco Bay Area ~ he predates some skinny Italiano kid named Joe; Joe is best known as the slightly less talented brother of Boston Red SoxLegend, Dom DiMaggio, and being married to Marilyn Monroe.)
