Eats

(Sunday, July 13th, 2014 ~ you can blame the delay in posting this 'blog-entry entirely on one Glen Bacon[1]) 

"Did you ever get the feeling that the World is a tuxedo and you’re a pair of brown shoes?" ~ George Gobel

(No official web-site. Still.)

Place: Eats 

Location: 50 Clement Street (on the corner of 2nd Avenue); phonicular contact: (415) 751-8000

Hours: open Monday-Sunday at 8:00am (or at 8:05am if the restaurant clock is running five minutes slow)

Meal: Spinach Portabella Feta Benedict ~ (sv) Hollandaise, potatoes or salad; and a glass of Refresher ~ cucumber, pineapple, romaine

(Sorry, there is no/are none EweToobular juxtaselection/s today. And as much as I would like to blame this all on "one Glen Bacon", too, it is really just due to my laziness and not being able to come up with a decent song/video.)

An actual panegyric is not necessarily expected when I write about one of the restaurants in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, but most visits to any of these particular places usually deserve one. Today's meal at Eats (see last 'blog-entry from April 13th, 2014) was certainly no exception as it turned out to be one of my favourite of the recent dishes that I have had there.

I had arrived just a few minutes before 8:00am and there were already several people/groups aimlessly milling about waiting to get in (see above photo). Apparently the "official clock" in the restaurant didn't agree with what most everyone else knew to be the correct time (you know how iffy the "exact time" can be with those pesky smart phones getting their input from the Intro-net and all). No biggy, I put my name on the dry-erase board waiting list outside and was about sixth in line, anyway; so I was still assured to get in with the first wave of the hungry horde. 

It was still a bit chilly and overcast yet this morning (hence the ubiquitous Mickey Mouse hoodie, Mrs. Morin), but apparently it was warm enough and a bit stuffy inside the restaurant as they had the front window transoms open to help out. (If a semi-opened door is "ajar", can a slightly opened transom be called "aramekin"?) Knowing that this place is owned by the same people that also own Burma Superstar, I could only think to myself: "How do you say 'transom' in Burmese?"[2]

After going here several times a year for the past few years now, I have almost gone through all of their options for stupid vegetarians (or as they have it designated on the menu: "(sv)"), which should give you a good idea of the extent of items that they have to offer. I have repeated a few dishes, but they do change the menu seasonally, so I am always playing "puréed tomatoes condiment" there, anyhow. Here are a few of the remaining items left yet for me to try: Spinach Tomato Feta Scramble ((sv) garlic and fresh basil); Vegetarian Egg Sandwich (arugula, Cheddar, tomatoes, spicy aioli, over easy egg, Ciabatta, potatoes or salad); or the always altogether alliterative-sounding Two Tofu Tacos ((sv) zucchini, bell peppers, Hungarian peppers, corn, Pico de Gallo, cabbage slaw, avocado, beans, grilled tortillas, potatoes or salad).

I may have had this same "Benediction" at Eats before (just in a slightly different incarnation) as it seemed very familiar. It had lots of spinach and Portobello (Portabella, Portobella, Portabello, mature Agaricus bisporus ~  whatever) in it. I was picturing this with an entire mushroom cap under the poached eggs; however, the Portobello (Portabella, Portobella, Portabello, mature Agaricus bisporus ~  whatever) was actually in nice bite-size slices. I would have liked to have seen just a little more Feta in it (but I always want more Feta). The English muffin base was not your typical one that Mr. Thomas might normally supply; it was much thicker and less nooks-and-crannier. 

I really can't imagine anyone stupid enough to go with the option of "salad" when there is a choice of Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes. There were only three cloves of roasted garlic in the Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes, but it was still very good (and no GBS points were taken off due to this slight omission). 

I discovered another new, interesting flavour combination by accident this morning. Some of the fresh (roasted) rosemary leaves (sprigs? stems? whatever?) from the potatoes got onto the slice of watermelon garnish and I figured I might as well try it like that. It actually ended up being very good; I could see a nice rosemary-watermelon drink (or maybe even basil-watermelon drink) being made.

The Refresher ~ good taste, verdantly ugly colour, though.

Eats offers the full San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces (of course, this is know in the culinaristic vernacular as SFToHS) for condimentary supplements: Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red); Tapatio®; and Cholula® Hot Sauce. I used some of my own Dave's Gourmet® Ginger Peach Hot Sauce (Thanks, Jim!) on the potatoes and some Fat Cat® Surprisingly Mild Guajillo Ghost (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of both eggs (to kick the Hollandaise sauce up a bit). The Ginger Peach Hot Sauce really pairs well with Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes (especially when there is a good amount of fresh rosemary and roasted garlic in the mess) and I really am enjoying all of the Fat Cat hot sauces ~ and this one really is pretty mild for having the wicked hot Ghost chilli in it.

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Spinach Portabella Feta Benedict ~ 7.0; Refresher ~ 6.7; Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes ~ 7.5

1. Please note: this "Glen Bacon" is no relation to the eponymous "Glen Bacon Scale". This was the "Glen Bacon" famous as one half of the olde Vaudeville team of "Glen Bacon & Stanley Eggs" ~ known more colloquially as "Glen & Stanley", of course.

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

Unfortunately Google Translate does not offer an English-Burmese option; so I really have no idea what "transom" would be in Burmese. However, in Thai it would be "หน้าต่างกรอบวงกบ" (pronounced much like it looks), and in German I believe it is called "Qu'est-ce que c'est?"*

*(To get that stupid little joke, you would have to hearken back to an earlier 'blog-entry where I posted about the [possible] word origin of how to say "transom" en français. See 'blog-entry from May 15th, 2010.)

B Star Bar

(or) B ★ Star Bar (which to me just seems kind of redundant to me)



http://www.bstarbar.com/


B Star Bar is the sister restaurant to both Burma Superstar* (think Burmese/Asian fusion ~ and that is fusion as in nukular, George W.) and Eats (see: April 10th, 2010 entry); all three are located within blocks of each other along Clement Street. I have had dinner here before (their Basil Chili Tofu is a keeper), but this is the first time I have had breakfast here.

I ordered the Stuffed Azuki Almond Banana French Toast (which is a bit of a mouthful, but does describe exactly what you are getting) ~ Japanese red beans & mascarpone, cinnamon. This is your basic French toast slathered with an azuki bean and mascarpone paste between slices of bread, sprinkled with sliced roasted almonds, and with lots of chunks of bananas around it; it was very lightly-battered/egg-dipped, not soggy at all; and served with real maple syrup (it may sound like a little thing, but it really does add lots of extra flavour, not to mention extra points in the Glen Bacon Scale Rating). It was very good and I especially liked all the interesting ingredients; however, it wasn't Baker Street Bistro's Pain Perdu, but, then again, not many are (this is not to insult this tasty breakfast; I doubt that either Nicole Kidman or Uma Thurman mind being compared with Marilyn Monroe).



I had this with a side o' home fries, which were more like roasted potatoes, not greasy at all (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing either); they were nicely spiced already, but the addition of their home-made chili oil was still a nice touch.

In place of the ubiquitous orange juice, I had a glass of Mango Lassi (not to be confused with a "Coconut Rin-Tin-Tin" ~ I had to add that corn-ball joke so as to curtail any like replies by my older brother, who shall remain nameless… and I don't mean Kerry); this was more like a mango smoothie (beware the brain-freeze!) than a typical Indian-style lassi that I am used to.

To round out the breakfast, I also ordered the Vietnamese Style Drip Coffee (that I had first misread as Viennese coffee ~ which did sound a bit out of place with the theme of the rest of the food) which automatically comes with sweetened condensed milk. They bring it right to your table and you patiently wait while it does its job. This was a very cool drip contraption; I may have to find one for my own home use. The coffee was very strong (read: very good) and reminded me of a Greek/Turkish/Arabic coffee, just without the extra added benefit of the grounds at the bottom.



They only have Tapatío® and Huy Fong Foods Inc.® Sriracha hot sauces upon request, but their (aforementioned) home-made chili oil was more than sufficient and flavourful.

Like Eats and Q (see: July 31st, 2010 entry) ~ and coincidentally both in the same area on lower Clement Street ~ this is another good place to go back to one of these days to check out some of the other interesting breakfasts on the menu (e.g. Hijiki Tofu Scramble, Lentil Ragu, etc.).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Stuffed Azuki Almond Banana French Toast ~ 7.2; Vietnamese Coffee ~ 7.0; Home Fries ~ 6.9; Mango Lassi ~ 6.8


*(Burma Superstar has the BEST-tasting curry I have had in any Indian, Thai, or South Asian place EVER! It's hard to explain without actually tasting it… but I am always up for a dinner there if anyone wants to try it for themselves. I am not saying I am an expert on curries, but I have been eating them since the early 80's and know what I like. Plus their Tea Leaf Salad and Rainbow Salad are worth the trip there alone.
http://www.burmasuperstar.com/ )