Bákér Stréét Bístró

(I am titling this one: "A Selfie of the 'Artist' as a very [silly] Old Man")

http://www.bakerstreetbistro.com/


Place: Baker Street Bistro

Location: 2953 Baker Street 
(Between Lombard and Greenwich Streets)

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

Meal: Pain Perdu A "Brunch" favorite! (one of Brian's favourites!, too) ~ two slices of cinnamon French Toast, fresh fruit, strawberry coulis & crème fraîche; 
a side order of home fries; and a cuppa (and one refilla) the house (well, Bistro) Coffee to drink

(What is/are today's EweToobular juxtaselections? Simplement! Monsieur Noel Yang likes him some lost-and-found bread, too. I do not really know how that Nena-lady feels about any verd*mmt französischer Toast, though.)


As a Double-Header (or Double-Play... take your Baseball-ese pick), je suis retourné à Baker Street Bistro (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, October 12th, 2019... that would be yesterday) again this morning.

I actually poulette-d-out and sat inside for a change this morning. The weather had noticeably dropped and it must have been about ten degrees colder than it was just yesterday morn.

Do I really need to extol the greatness and tastitude of this absolutely sublime meal again?! I will just leave it at this: it is still my favourite breakfast in San Francisco.

I can not be sure, but I think their spice/herb mix on the homefries includes fennel seeds in it. I asked Chantal for corroboration, but she did not know for sure herself. I will just say that it does include fennel seeds and that they were a very surprisingly nice flavour-addition to some already great potatoes.

As has been my (silly li'l) wont whenever ordering Coffee there, I added the (le garniture) sprig of mint from the pile o' fruits into the cuppa. Kinda like "Café à le Turc".

Fruits d'aujourd'hui: framboises; mûres; myrtilles; pastèque; cantaloup; ananas; pomme; et orange.

(same as yesterday) For condimentary supplementation, Baker Street Bistro has only Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) on the tables. I used a goodly amount of my own Old St. Augustine Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the potatoes and The Spice & Tea Exchange® Earthly Delight Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!) judiciously grinded all over the potatoes, too. Chantal (upon seeing my two bottles of hot sauces and my spice grinder): "I see you have brought your own 'instruments' again... ".  I like that sentiment: "Instruments of Mass Spice-struction!"


the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

This morning, I had parked across the street from the tall Eucalyptus trees next to the Lombard Street Gate of the Presidio. However, I was completely shut-out this time and did not see remiges nor rectrices of the normally squawking perroquets.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Pain Perdu ~ 8.2;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5 (well, when present)

Berkeley Social Club

A(nother) breakfastary roadtrip:
Berkeley, CA

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

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


Place: Berkeley Social Club

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

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

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


Thus concludes Episode 7...

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

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

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

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

and

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

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

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

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

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


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

___________________

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

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

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

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

or

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

or

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

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

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

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

Does anyone know if cats eat rice?!

Baker Street Bistro

It was a Dark 'n' Stormy morn... 
(and I probably coulda really used one 
of them to drink this morning, too)

http://www.bakerstreetbistro.com/


Place: Baker Street Bistro

Location: 2953 Baker Street

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

Meal: Pain Perdu A "brunch" favorite! (Okay, so maybe I added those extra "quotation marx" around "le Brunch". Don't get all Groucho about it!) ~ two slices of cinnamon French Toast, fresh fruit, strawberry coulis & crème fraîche; a side of home fries; and a glassa orange juice

(I do not know whether Sir George Ivan [or even Marianne Faithful] is a fan of Pain Perdu or not, but I figured that there would be no better way to start my 2019 'blog-entries than with a few of his songs.)


Pour mon premier petit déjeuner out for 2019, I 
wanted to start the year out on a positively high note (♪... I believe it was a C8), so je suis retourné au 
Baker Street Bistro (see last 'blog-entry from Dimanche 2 septembre 2018). I suppose 2019 is gonna be all downhill from here now...

I really wanted to eat my first breakfast for 2019 outside; however, mean ol' Mr. Winter Weather was not cooperating this morning. It was cold and raining (off-and-on), so I wisely decided to sit indoors for a change.

Ce pain perdu est tout simplement extraordinaire![1]

(If you were expecting a bit more loquaciousness expounding on this great breakfastary repast, you can always read through the hundred or so other 'blog-entries that I have already posted on this specific meal.)

I ordered the side of potatoes mainly for a sweet-and-savoury juxtaselection to the French toast. Once again, their version of homefries did not fail to please my taste-buds. Even if their Pain Perdu were not already "simplement extraordinaire!", these are worth ordering all on their ownsome. (Why do people sometimes use the adjective "creamy" to describe potatoes?! I mean, I am one that loves potatoes in all of its sundry forms and tasty manners [see 'blog-entry from Wednesday, February 8th, 2012], but even I would not want to eat any Ice Potatoes or add potato-milk to my morning cuppa.)

Les fruits du jour: myrtilles (blueberries); pastèque (watermelon); cantaloup (cantaloupe); mûres (blackberries); une fraise (one strawberry [made into the shape of some kinda flower-thing]); ananas (pineapple); et pomme (and apple).[2]

Baker Street Bistro only has bottles of Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) on the tables for use as a condimentary supplementation. However, I finally officially got to test out one of my recent Christmas gifts, Peaks of Otter Peppers ~ Cremation Drops Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!), and used several drops/splashes all over my "creamy" potatoes. This hot sauce was not overwhelmingly épicé ~ about the same as your standard Tabasco®-stuff ~ but it had a lot more saveur (Ingredients: Cayenne chiles, garlic, onion, vinegar, black pepper, and salt).

https://www.peaksofotterpeppers.com/


(not so really) Strange Coffee Interlude

I purposefully (purposely? [porpoise, Lee?!] There really is only a shade of difference between the two, anyway, right?) had skipped any Coffee with my morning meal (and Chantal had even mentioned this noticeable omission when I was ordering my "jus d'orange") because I had pre-planned on rounding-out today's excellent start to 2019 with a cuppa Bettys Jamaica Blue Mountain (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) to drink while keyboarding up this here 'blog-entry-thing.


the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

After breakfast, on the way back to my car, I first heard overhead then looked up to see a small pandemonium of four Wild Parrots of San Francisco noisily chasing off/harassing the much larger Mr. Drinky Crow.


The euphonious offerings of Sir George Ivan, Pain Perdu Extraordinaire, enjoying some of the best d*rn Coffee on the Planet (that would be "the Planet Earth"; I have never had Coffee on any of the other Planets; however, I have heard it said that Martians are mostly Mormons [or it may have been the other way 'round]), and being entertained by the caterwauling hi-jinks of the colourful local (but non-native) psittacines... Don't you wish every year could start like this?!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Pain Perdu A "brunch" favorite! ~ 8.2;
Bettys Jamaica Blue Mountain ~ 8.5;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5;
the songs of Sir George Ivan ~ 8.6

___________________

1. If something in French is even "better than perfect", should it be expressed with verbs in the "plus-parfait" form only?

2. Quick (stupid, useless) botanical pop-quiz, kids: 

Okay, how many of those fruits are actual berries again?

The correct answer is two: blueberries and watermelon. 

If you had mistakenly guessed "three" ~ thinking "that is soooo easy, Brian: blueberries, blackberries, and strawberry... " ~ you would have been berry, berry wrong, of course. (Even the spiny ol' pineapple is more of a berry ~ the fruit of the pineapple tree are botanically called "coalesced berries" ~ than these two berry-impostors, but that would just confuse the issue even that much more.)

I know that all sounds rather nuts, but just not peanuts or walnuts...

"My Favourites" of 2018

For the past few years now I have gone with a more adverbial appellation of "My Favourites... " instead of the ubiquitous "Best of... " (which you see everyone using everywhere these days). After all, what is "Best" to me may not truly be "Best" to Randolph Peter and the rest of those fab Liverpudlian lads. Once again, I am keeping with the "Top Ten" format-idea, and the easiest way to rank these was just to go back through all my 'blog-entries from 2018 and see which ones had the highest Glen Bacon Scale Rating (and in the case of any identical GBS ratings, I am simply listing them chronologistically).

(Here's to innocence and now. Cheers!)


1) Surprise, surprise, surprise... not! Le Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro (see 'blog-entries from Samedi 6 janvier et aussi Dimanche 2 septembre) tops the list yet once again this year. It is not a coincidence that I usually make this meal one of my first breakfasts of the year.

2) Well, well, well... it seems as though we have a brand new usurper at the "Number 2" spot this year (just edging out the previous, long-running "No. 2" from our long-running friends at Dottie's True blue café) with Savory Reggiano at GriddleGriddle FreshFresh (see 'blog'blog-entryentry from SaturdaySaturday, JuneJune 9th9th). This was such a tasty, great surprise that I am also claiming it as "My Favourite" (New) French Toast Dish Not Named Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro!

3) Even though it has been bumped down a peg, Al, it is still one of "My Favourite" breakfasts in the entire city: Zucchini Cakes at Dottie's True blue café (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, January 13th).

4) Puka French Toast at grindz (see 'blog-entry from Poaono, Feberuari 17). Sadly, I only "discovered" this dish late in the life of this restaurant and this was only my second time ever to order it. Ah, well, maybe I need to make a little road-trip over to Mokupuni Nui to try it again.

5) Dutch Baby Pancake at LaLe (see 'blog-entry from Zondag 22 april). Even though this was only a singular "pancake", it more than deserves this placement due to its wh*pping size and flavour.

6) It really should not be fair for one local restaurant to have two of "My Favourites" in the "Top Ten", but les Œufs Baker Street Bistro at Baker Street Bistro (see 'blog-entry from Samedi 14 avril) rightly deserves this honour every year. Is it their fault that their Pain Perdu est tout simplement extraordinaire aussi?

7) Challah French Toast at the Manor (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, March 31st [which à propos-priately happened to be the first day of Passover]).

("What?! Another d*mn French toast dish on this list, Brian? Maybe you should just call it 'My Favourite' French Toasts of 2018 already." 

Hmmm?! Ya know, that might not be such a bad idea. Perhaps next year I might just make two separate lists: one for French toast [possibly including pancakes, too] dishes and one for all other dishes.)

8) A great out-of-State (outta-my-mind?) discovery: Green Goddess Frittata at gather (see 'blog-entry from Friday, July 27th). Not only was my main meal extremely tasty (asparagus and Feta in the same dish? You had me at asparagus... ), but they had their own special homemade (well, gather-made) condimentary supplementation: vanilla-butter ~ which was mighty awesome all on its ownsome (well, spread on toast and such). Because of both of these, I am also honorificing (not a real word, but maybe it should be) this restaurant as "My Favourite" Out-of-Towner Breakfast.

9) (yet still another French toast entry) Orange Bread French Toast at Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry (see 'blog-entry from Wednesday, August 15th). Now, if they had some of gather's vanilla-butter to use on it, this dish might have ended up a few numbers higher still. 

10) (and not such a bad way of finishing out the list, 
an olde stalworth "Favourite") Chilaquiles at Chava's Mexican Restaurant (see 'blog-entry from Sábado 13 de octubre).


2018 Specific Categories (& Honourable Mentions kinda stuff)

"My Favourite" Swiss Rösti outside of Yorkshire (possibly one person that reads this silly li'l 'blog-thing regularly will get that reference) ~ pomelo (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, November 25th).
GBS Rating: 7.2

"My Favourite" Huevos Rancheros Dish ~ Buck's of Woodside (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, February 25th). (Well, seeing as I probably only had Huevos Rancheros a few times in 2018, this might not seem like such high praise, but their version ranks up there with any dishes you can find in the Mission.)
GBS Rating: 7.2 

"My Favourite" "Brunch" with Beer ~ Beach Chalet (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, September 30th).
GBS Rating:  Roasted Vegetable Frittata ~ 7.1;
Sea Serpent Foggy I.P.A. ~ 7.2

"My Favourite" New Find ~ Wooden Spoon (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, November 10th).
GBS Rating: Morning Bowl ~ 7.1

"My Favourite" Use of (and correctly spelled) Brussels Sprouts ~ Roasted Brussels Sprouts Hash at Town's End restaurant & bakery (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, December 9th).
GBS Rating: 7.1

"My Favourite" Thai Family Restaurant Back-up Plan (twice) ~ Lapisara Eatery (see 'blog-entries from Saturday, March 24th and Saturday, November 17th).
GBS Rating: "Veggie" (uggh!) Omelet ~ 7.0;
Savory "Veggie" (uggh!) Frittata ~ 6.8

"My Favourite" Scandinavian/Danish Breakfast ("Brunch", whatever)/Bakery kinda-joint ~ Kantine (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, November 24th).
GBS Rating: Savory Porridge ~ 7.0

"My Favourite" Ridiculously Disgusting New (for me, at least) Coffeehouse ~ home (see 'blog-entries from Saturday, February 3rd and Sunday, February 11th [and several other references/visits throughout the year]).
GBS Rating: Lavender Latte ~ 7.5;
Rose Latte ~ 7.3;
Cookie Monster (Latte) ~ 7.1;
Red Velvet Latte ~ 6.9

"My Favourite" New Local (Neighborhood/within walking-distance) Place ~ lokma (see 'blog-entries from Sunday, June 10th and Sunday, August 19th).
GBS Rating: Türlü Omelet ~ 7.0;
Menemen ~ 6.7


In Memoriam Interlude 
(aka "Another One Bites the Dust", though the food always tasted much better than nibbling any fine particles of solid matter, Mr. John Richard Deacon)

In 2018, we bade a sad farewell to both grindz and heartbaker. This was doubly-sad as both of these restaurants were located within my neighborhood (if not exactly walking-distance, at least only a short three-to-four stops on the bus).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro ~ 8.2 (mais certainement);
Savory Reggiano at GriddleGriddle FreshFresh ~ 7.7;
Zucchini Cakes at Dottie's True blue café ~ 7.61 (Why the extra 0.01 GBS points there? Just to distinguish it as a little more "Favourite" than the next dish.);
Puka French Toast at grindz ~ 7.6;
Dutch Baby Pancake at LaLe ~ 7.5;
Œufs Baker Street Bistro at Baker Street Bistro ~ 7.4;
Challah French Toast at the Manor ~ 7.4;
Green Goddess Frittata at gather ~ 7.3 
(vanilla-butter alone ~ 7.5);
Orange Bread French Toast at Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry ~ 7.3;
Chilaquiles at Chava's Mexican Restaurant ~ 7.3

Dottie's True blue café

http://dottiestruebluesf.com/


Place: Dottie's True blue café

Location: 28 6th Street 
(on the corner of Stevenson Street)

Hours: open 7:30am Thursday through Monday

Meal: Pumpkin Cranberry French Toast; and a glassa orange juice

(There is no EweToobular juxtaselection between 
Ray Charles Robinson and Pumpkin Cranberry French Toast, they were just playing a few of his songs [including this one ~ a cover of the Leon Russell 1971 hit] during breakfast this morning on the house stereo.)


Of course, I had to make a return visit to Dottie's True blue café (see last 'blog-entry from Friday, April 13th, 2018) for a September work-out of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation.

There were a few other different ideas off their chalkboard specials that I might have gone for:

Peach Blueberry Custard Cake (probably with a side of two eggs over-medium or a side of homefries);

Caramelized Onion, Gruyère (whereas, I added l'accent grave), Sweet Potato Tart ~ eggs any style + fruit;

Bacon (which would have gone Glen-less for me), Onion, Tomato, Bleu Cheese Scramble ~ toast + potatoes;

Chipotle Ground Beef (Glen can have that dead, decaying animal flesh, too), Onion, Tomato, Corn, Spinach Scramble ~ cornbread + potatoes;

or

there is always (well, when available) Zucchini Cakes ~ topped with poached eggs, Marinara sauce, with fruit + potatoes (which I just had two visits ago, so I wanted to try something new/different).

This dish could easily be called: "the All-'merican French Toast" ~ seeing as both pumpkins (Sorry, Sopwith... 'tis the season and all) and cranberries are native berries of the New World. This was made from two (extra thick) slices of a pumpkin-cranberry bread-loaf-thing. It ended up being a lot of food (way more than I had expected). I initially thought that I could easily finish this with there being only "two slices". However, the "slices" were double-thick and I barely finished one-half to three-quarters of it all. I had even thought of ordering a side of two eggs over-medium to make it less of a sweet breakfast (of course, I had to add another Native 'merican item ~ maple syrup ~ on top of the French toast to make it even that much sweeter), but, luckily, I did not.

As for any condimentary supplementation (of which Dottie's True blue café has several different bottles of hot sauces from which to choose), none were needed or used.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Pumpkin Cranberry French Toast ~ 6.8

Baker Street Bistro

So this is what the houp-là[1] is all about... 
all about... 
all about...

http://www.bakerstreetbistro.com/


Place: Baker Street Bistro

Location: 2953 Baker Street (between Lombard and Greenwich Streets)

Hours: open for "le Brunch" Samedi et Dimanche at 9:00am

Meal: Pain Perdu A brunch favorite! ~ two slices of cinnamon French Toast, fresh fruit, strawberry coulis & crème fraîche; a side of home fries; and a cuppa (and just one refilla ~ I had a cuppa at home earlier in the morning before heading out and didn't want to be up all night[2]) their Café de la Maison


Mais bien sûr, no September work-out of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation would be complet sans une visite de retour à le Bistro sur Rue Baker (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, April 14th, 2018).

"But, Brian, didn't you just say yesterday that a restaurant needs at least five or more stupid vegetarian-friendly dishes from which to choose to make it into your Breakfastary Starting Rotation?" Well, I just have three things to say about that: 
1) Ce Pain Perdu tout à fait extraordinaire counts as ten items, m*rde!; 
2) Mind yer own cire d'abeille!!; 
and 
3) See remarks 1) and 2)!!! 
(Just because that Italiano painter-guy, Pedro Picasso, only had one hit in his life with that "Moaning Liza" portrait, does not mean that people can not enjoy seeing it over and over again.)

I sat outside on their sidewalk-patio café area again, 'cause I could... unfortunately, Monsieur Soleil was not quite yet awake this morning, but at least most of the cold and fog (well, in that nape of the forest) had already quickly receded like George Costanza's hairline.

You know what they say: "No Pain (Perdu), no gain (fer you)!"

Les fruits du jour: raisins rouges, pastèque, cantaloup, ananas,[3] et pomme.

Baker Street Bistro only has Tabasco® Brand Hot Sauce (Original Red Sauce) for use as a condimentary supplement. I used some of my own H*ll's Kitchen® 
Whiskey Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the potatoes along with several grind-twists from my trusty grains of paradise-grinder (and I might even have "accidentellement" grinded-up some on top of les Pain Perdu, aussi... do not judge me, Aaron!).

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

Because I had once again parked over near the Lombard Gate of the Presidio, I was hoping to see some of the local caterwauling feather-brains. I did hear several of them in the area; however, I really only saw one pair flying overhead later while I was eating breakfast a block away.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Pain Perdu A brunch favorite! ~ 8.2;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer (of sorts) of the day:

(This definition/explanation is directly stolen... er... borrowed from Marianne Webster's own book.)

In French, the interjection houp-là is used roughly the same way as English's upsy-daisy or whoops-a-daisy, as one might say when picking up a child. (This usage can be found in English, too, in such works as Booth Tarkington's The Magnificent Ambersons and James Joyce’s Ulysses.) In the early 20th century, the word, playing on the syllable hoop, gave its name to a ring-toss game played at carnivals. But before that, hoopla was used in American English to refer to a kind of bustling commotion, and later, as a term for sensationalist hype.

2. Someone once said to me: "I do not know why I drink Coffee. It always goes right through me." To which I replied: "Yeah, and why even bother breathing when you will only exhale the air, anyway, right?!"

Sheesh, some people!

3. Do you think the snooty-*ssed French dare call their serial comma "une virgule d'Oxford"?

Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry

A(nother) breakfastary mini-roadtrip:
South San Francisco, CA

(Sunday, August 12th, 2018)

(No official-type web-site or nuthin'.)


Place: Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry

Location: 1131 El Camino Real, South San Francisco, CA; phonicular contact: (650) 872-2810

Hours: open Monday-Friday at 7:30am; Saturday & Sunday at 8:00am

Meal: (me) Orange Bread French Toast ~ 3 slices of our (well, their) housemade (well, Cafe & Pantry-made) bread, dipped in our (again, their) delicious (they are correct there) orange batter, topped with butter and sliced oranges, & served with real maple syrup, and (because that was not quite enough carbohydrates for me for the morning) a side of home fries; (Joe) Cheddar, Bacon, & Green Onions Omelette ~ 3 eggs cooked in butter, home fries and toast (Joe smartly went with a fresh-baked cinnamon muffin; even I can make toast at home); (Karen) the Original ~ 2 eggs scrambled with spinach, green onions, mushrooms, spices, and your choice of meat (Karen chose chorizo), served with home fries & your choice of toast, muffin, bagel, tortillas, or scone (Karen chose [very wisely, I might add] an orange-cranberry scone); 
and to drink: (me) a large glassa orange juice, (Joe) a cuppa (and a few refillas) whatever the house Coffee was, (Karen) just a glassa water


Some old friends (meaning I have known them for a verrrry long time, but both Joe and Karen are kinda old, too) were in town for the weekend and staying at a motel in San Bruno, so I figured hitting Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry again for breakfast (see last 'blog-entry from Monday, March 13th, 2017) was the smart thing to do (it was less than a mile just up the road ~ in this case, El Camino Real ~ from where they were staying, anyway).

I tried my d*rnedest to talk Joe and/or Karen into ordering something off of the Weekend Specials menu-insert. If I had not already pre-planned on getting what I had ordered, I might have easily deigned to order the Banana Buttermilk Pancakes. I mean, banana-filled pancakes topped with blueberries (an actual botanical berry, of course), strawberries (not so actual botanical berry), bananas (which botanically are a berry all on their ownsome, too), and berry butter? What is not to like there? Plus, that berry butter sounds like something that I will need to try on a future visit.

I just have one word to describe this meal: 
Verrrry tasty! 

Now while this dish may not have been "My Favourite New French Toast Dish of 2018 Not Named Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro" (that honour will probably be going to GriddleGriddle FreshFresh [see 'blog-entry from Saturday, June 9th, 2018]), this one is definitely Honourable Mention-worthy. The only thing that might have made this ever betterer would have been if they made their own cinnamon-orange-infused maple syrup to pour all over the top (or had given me some of that berry butter to use with this).

For condimentary supplementation, Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry offers the Standard (in this case, South) San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces: Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and Cholula® Hot Sauce Original. I simply went with some of my own Chelsea Fire Wicked. Hot. Sauce.® on the potatoes, as did Joe.

(another not so) Strange Coffee Interlude

After breakfast, Joe and Karen had the great idea to head over to the "sunny" coast of Pacifica to kill the time until they had to head to the airport back to Denver. While we were walking around the Rockaway Beach area, both Joe and I (at this point, I am thinking that Karen might secretly be Mormon) got 12 oz cuppas Kona Coffee at Pacific Java Cafe.[1] This was a fairly light roast Coffee, but it was pretty good all the same. They do offer a few other different roasts/blends from which to choose. However, I am not sure which brand of Coffee they serve. (I did not see anything listed on any of their signage and I did not really bother to ask.)

(Karen[-Sheena, the Punk Rocker?] and Joe[y Ramone?] on Rockaway Beach, Pacifica, CA.)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Orange Bread French Toast ~ 7.3
Kona Coffee from Pacific Java Cafe ~ 6.8

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1. Pacific Java Cafe also does not have any kinda official-type web-site or nuthin'.

Location: 450 Dondee St # 6, Pacifica, CA; 
phonicular contact: (650) 738-1222