♪ "Across Chenery Street P*mps tryin' to catch a crêpe that's sweet..." ♫
(No official-type web-site.) Place: higher grounds coffeehouse Location: 691 Chenery Street (on the corner of Diamond Street); phonicular contact: (415) 587-2933 Hours: open daily at 8:00am Meal: Alla Milanese[1] (à la mode d'une crêpe) ~ tomato, eggplant, Mozzarella, black pepper, olive oil, spices, served with potatoes & salad (you know, your basic boring salad mixed greens stuff, aka rabbit-food); and a (large-ish) cuppa the (coffee)house Coffee
(There are no real EweToobular juxtaselections with these two videos [well, other than the rain today]. Maybe ol' Bobby W. and the wolf-boyos like crêpes and eggplant[2], too.) (Here we have a special bonusary Friday 'blog-entry due to the three-day Veterans Day Weekend this year. I knew it would pay off being one of them WWII Vets one of these days.) While this morning's wicked ol' rain may have let up by the time I arrived at higher grounds coffeehouse(see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, December 18th, 2016), there was still a bit of a wet mist in the air. It's funny, I had arrived just a little after 8:05am, but there were already several people (neighborhood regulars by the looks of them) in this tiny joint; some had been served already and some were still waiting to order ahead of me. D'autres bonnes idées encore (all of which can be made as either crêpes or omelettes; next time [and there will be many other next times, believe me] I really should oughtta try one of their omelettes): Pesto ~ cheese, pesto (well, natch'), mushroom, & Feta (this one I would probably like to try as an omelette); Simply Italian ~ Mozzarella, Parmesan, basil, spices, salt, pepper, olive oil, zucchini (this sounds like it would be good as either); Florentine ~ cheese, spinach, cottage cheese, onion (I don't care much for cottage cheese in my omelettes, so this would have to be tried as seulement une crêpe); Curry ~ bell pepper, cheese, onion, sour cream, potato (while they don't state it on the chalkboard menu, I am sure there are some kinda curry-spices involved there, too; I could go either way with this one, but it sounds like it would be better as a crêpe); or Apple Cheese ~ cheese (well, duh!), apple (duh x2), brown sugar, cinnamon (okay, this one should probably only be made as a crêpe, but I am not discrediting the choice of this as an omelette until I try it).
I think that I might have enjoyed their Puttanesca Crêpe just a little bit better on my last visit, but this was another stellah-winnah for me! This was made with lots of eggplant in it (which is a good thing, as this was my main reason for going with this choice this morning) and the eggplant was cut into nice bite-sized/palatable 1/4" strips (sometimes places will go with 1/2" chunks or larger and it makes the crêpe a bit unwieldy... if you are into wielding crêpes, that is). Their special coffeehouse blend/roast is very strong (read: good!), too, but they could serve brown mud-water there and I would still come back again and again for the great food. "But they are a coffeehouse, after all, Brian, shouldn't they be serving good Coffee, anyway?" You would be surprised... As far as condimentary supplementation goes, higher grounds coffeehouseonly has Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (just the standard Original Red Sauce). Knowing this (well, making sure to re-read the previous few 'blog-entries from this place), I made sure to come prepared with some of my own hot sauces. I used some Pepper PalaceGator Bite Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the (also very tasty) potatoes and some Dixie CrossroadsHot Habañero[ sic ]Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the crêpe (which turned out to be a mistake, as this really didn't need any extra flavour, but I had already liberally doused it before trying it... oh, well). This tiny bonhomous coffeehouse really is: "a nice little place to eat". I'll testify to that... heheheh! Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Alla Milanese ~ 6.8; higher grounds coffeehouseCoffee ~ 6.6 ___________________
1. Didn't she star in "Who's the Boss?" with Tony Danzig? 2. Pop-quiz to see just how many of you have been paying attention or have been sleeping through class (well, these silly li'l 'blog-entry things): Is an eggplant a vegetable or fruit (and it does NOT come from the chicken-tree, Nick!)? Much like it's New World cousins tomato and peppers (both of the chilli and bell variety), the eggplant is actually a fruit... and botanically a berry!
(No official-type web-site.) Place: higher grounds coffeehouse Location: 691 Chenery Street (on the corner of Diamond Street); phonicular contact: (415) 587-2933 Hours: open daily at 8:00am Meal: Puttanesca[1]Crêpe ~ tomato, olives, onion, mushroom, garlic, capers, red pepper (as in chilli flakes), parsley, olive oil, sour cream (savory crêpes are served with potatoes [of the homefries variety] & salad [of the rabbit-food variety]); and a cuppa/glass-mugga Caffè Borgia (which is a Mocha/Latte-style Coffee drink)
(Do not be fooled by the first song and the fact that today happens to be the Sunday before Christmas into thinking that I have suddenly "discovered" religion; it's Sir George Ivan, dammit, and I do not ever need a reason to post any of his music here. The second EweToobular song is because today happens to be the 73rd birthday of Keif Richards. It was not very often where Keif got to sing lead vocals.) Because I could and because I wanted to, I went back to higher grounds coffeehouse(see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, September 6th, 2015) for breakfast this morning. I just love this little coffeehouse/crêperie. The food is always great and the friendly neighborhood atmosphere is, too. That they open up pretty early on a chilly Sunday morning is an extra-added bonus. If it were closer, I would probably go there more often and add it into my Breakfastary Starting Rotation. Some other ideas (and still more reasons for which to return), all of which can be made either as a crêpe or an omelette:
Alla Milanese (tomato, eggplant, Mozzarella, onion, black pepper, olive oil, spices; this will probably be my top priority on my next visit);
Curry (bell pepper, cheese, onion, sour cream, potato; they don't state it on the menu, but I am sure there are some kinda curry-spices involved there, too); or
Apple Cheese (cheese, apple, brown sugar, cinnamon; okay, this one should probably be made only as a crêpe, but I am not discounting the choice of this as an omelette until I try it).
This was another great-tasting crêpe from them (well, from the owner-guy that seems to do everything from cooking the food to making the Coffee drinks all by himself first thing in the mornings). Capers and Kalamata olives?!? Oh, yeah! Thankfully, there were no anchovies in the mix, though. They (well, he) make (makes) their version of Caffè Borgia with almond syrup and Chocolate. The Coffee drink was also very good, but I do prefer my Caffè Borgias made with orange syrup (or, better yet, actual orange slices in them) and Chocolate a little better. higher grounds coffeehouse only offers Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) for use as a condimentary supplement. This really didn't matter because I brought two brand new hot sauces from my own collection to try out for their first taste-test-run. I used some Pepper Palace™Gator Bite Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the potatoes and some Palo AltoFire FightersXXX Ghost PepperSauce(Thanks, Brian! [Now I really did not need to buy any more hot sauces for myself this year. I still had about nineteen bottles in my refrigerator already. However, I saw this newest hot sauce from Palo AltoFire Fighters last week and couldn't pass it up.]) on the crêpe. I went lightly with both of these this morning until I knew the heat level that they would provide. The Palo AltoFire FightersXXX Ghost PepperSauce was a bit hotter (it does have Jolokia Chile Peppers in it, but they are tempered a bit by jalapeño, serrano, and cayenne chillies, if you can believe that) of the two, but both pack a lot of flavour. https://www.pepperpalace.com/ http://www.paloaltofirefighters.com/index.html Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Puttanesca Crêpe ~ 6.9 (this rating is based upon the inclusion of a good amount of capers and an extra 0.2 points for the use of authentic Kalamata olives); Caffè Borgia ~ 6.6 ___________________
(No official [or unofficial] web-site available.) Place: higher grounds coffee house ~ a nice little place to eat (or higher grounds coffeehouse or higher ground ~ a coffeehouse; take your pick) Location: 691 Chenery Street (on the corner of Diamond Street); phonicular contact: (415) 587-2933 Hours: open daily at 8:00am Meal: Cannelloni[1] (crêpe) ~ cheese (they don't specify it on the chalkboard menu, but I am guessing that this was Cheddar; I really forgot to check), onion, mushroom, spinach, cottage cheese (which may have actually been Ricotta cheese, as they offer that on a different style crêpe and that would be the standard filling in the pasta dish "Cannelloni"), Marinara (savory crêpes served with potatoes [of the homefries variety] & salad [of the rabbit-food variety]); and a cuppa their own very good (Coffee)house blend/roast
(For today's EweToobular juxtaselection, you will just need to read on a bit further to the end where I make another Strange Interlude, Eugene.) I went back to higher grounds coffee house ~ a nice little place to eat (or higher grounds coffeehouse or higher ground ~ a coffeehouse; they have it stylized a few different ways on their signage) (see previous 'blog-entry from November 9th, 2014) this morning to have a nice little bit to eat. There was the same guy (the owner, I assume) working the counter-register/Espresso machine/grill all by himself again this morning. (Another guy did come in around 8:45am to help out behind the counter; however, by then, everyone had already ordered and had been mostly served, and the owner-guy still finished up all the rest of the cooking that was needed.) The place really filled up pretty quickly on a Sunday morning and all of the tables (inside and outside) were occupied by 8:30am (these people really need to get lives). There was also the same little white poodle in the corner with his group of human friends. They offer several other interesting-sounding ideas:
Puttanesca (tomato, olives, onion, mushroom, garlic, capers, red pepper [I am pretty sure that means of the chilli-er kind and not the bell type], parsley, olive oil, sour cream; I will probably get this one the next time I go back there; and there will definitely be a next time; if this place were a little closer, it would totally be Breakfastary Starting Rotation-worthy);
Alla Milanese (tomato, eggplant, Mozzarella, onion, black pepper, olive oil, spices);
Curry (bell pepper, cheese, onion, sour cream, potato; they don't state it on the menu, but I am sure there are some kinda curry-spices involved there, too);
Simply Italian (Mozzarella, Parmesan, basil, spices, salt, pepper, olive oil, zucchini); or
Apple Cheese (cheese, apple, brown sugar, cinnamon).
All of these can be made as either crêpes or omelettes. Of course, the last one would make a rather strange omelette, even for my bizarre tastes (but I am not ruling it out entirely for a future visit).
This crêpe was another big hit with me, and just one more good reason to return again (one of these days). The Marinara sauce was very tasty, too. I think the owner-guy is actually of Arab descent, but he seems to have a very good take on la cucina di Bella Italia. If I had one little complaint (I didn't, but if i did), it would have been that the homefries weren't cripsy (read: burned) enough for my liking. This can be more than explained by the fact that the lone owner-guy had to prepare three to four servings of homefries from scratch all at the same time (to be honest, I would really rather have had homefries prepared from potatoes instead). Not that it really matters, but they no longer charge $2.07 for a cuppa Coffee as they did last year. They have raised the price to an even $2.50 (which is more than worth the price here, anyway, as it is a great cuppa and an extra large cuppa, too) now. I noticed that they also offer a Borgia on their Espresso drinks menu. higher grounds coffee house (or higher grounds coffeehouseor higher ground ~ a coffeehouse) only offers Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce as a condimentary supplement, but they do have Tellicherry[2]Black Pepper Grinders on most of the tables (which I made sure to put to good use all over the crêpe, potatoes, and rabbit-food stuff). I just used some of my own Fat CatChairman Meow's Revenge (Scorpion Pepper Sauce) (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on only half of the crêpe and some Hot Licks®SerranoHot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the homefries. A Strange Operatic Interlude Just because I thought of it recently (and this is really à propos of nuthin' else), have you ever noticed that the word for "opera"[3] is a cognate in almost all languages? They all come from the same Italian word "opera". Ferinstance: Afrikaans/Croatian/Czech/Danish/Dutch/English/ Filipino/Hungarian/Latvian/Lithuanian/Maori/ Norwegian/Polish/Slovak/Slovenian/Somali/Swedish/Turkish/Uzbek/Welsh/Zulu ~ "opera" (in case you didn't notice it, that would be "opera" from "A" to "Z") Albanian ~ "operë" Bulgarian/Macedonian/Russkij/Serbian/Tajik/ Ukrainian ~ "опера" Catalan ~ "òpera" Esperanto ~ "opero" (them damn Esperantonians just have to be different from the rest of the Europeans) Estonian ~ "ooper" Finnish ~ "ooppera" French ~ "opéra" (and the damn Frenchies aren't any better than the damn Esperantonians) German ~ "Oper" Greek ~ "όπερα" Icelandic/Portuguese/Spanish ~ "ópera" Maltese ~ "opra" Romanian ~ "operă" Winfrey ~ "Oprah" Just never get lost in Pest (or Buda, even) and try to find out where their "Opera" is located. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Cannelloni (crêpe) ~ 6.9; higher grounds coffee house (or higher grounds coffeehouseor higher ground ~ a coffeehouse) house Coffee ~ 6.9 ___________________ 1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numero uno: "Canneloni" is simply Italian for "large reeds". 2. Apparently, the town of Thalassery (formerly Tellicherry), on the Malabar Coast of India, was well-known for its black pepper trade. 3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, dualitas: The Italian word "opera" comes from the plural of the Latin word "opus", which means "service, work".
"I don't want to spend my life 'dancing as if nobody is watching', but more like 'dancing as if everyone is watching and make sure they are all taking notes'." ~ Robin Williams[1]
(No official web-site.) Place: higher grounds coffee house ~ a nice little place to eat (it says so right on their window and they do not lie) Location: 691 Chenery Street (on the corner of Diamond Street); phonicular contact: (415) 587-2933 Hours: open daily at 8:00am Meal: Alla Toscana[2] (crêpe) ~ Mozzarella, Parmesan, olive oil, spinach, egg, Ricotta, special spices (savory crêpes served with potatoes & salad); and a cuppa the (Coffee)house blend
(In celebration of Veterans Day, which is coming up on Tuesday, I am including the first EweToobular song by Stevie Wonder. I bet that not many people were aware that Stevie Wonder used to be an Air Force Pilot back in Double-U, Double-U, Aye, Aye. The second song is just because they happened to be playing old 30's and 40's Big Band songs on the [Coffee]house stereo this morning. Of course, this massive hit for the "King of Swing", Benjamin David Goodman, was written by none other than "King Louie" Prima himself.) For this morning's breakfastary experience, I headed all the way over to higher grounds coffee house (alternately, this may be called higher ground ~ a coffeehouse, with a singular "ground" and "coffeehouse" as one word, as this is what the older wooden sign above the door reads) in Glen Park. It is a very small place; there is just seating of nine tables for two inside, and another two small tables for two on the sidewalk. It was a hopping little place the entire time I was there this morning with most of the tables occupied and a steady amount of walk-in customers taking stuff to go. There is even a pretty cool Coffee bag-covered ceiling.
There was just one guy (probably the owner-guy) working behind the counter taking orders, making Coffee drinks, and doing all the cooking when I first got there. Someone else showed up at 9:00am and was helping with all the duties afterward, though. It is super dog-friendly (if not maybe a little illegal), too, as there was a small, white Poodle-dog at another one of the (inside) tables when I had first got there. And everyone knows that you should never let dogs drink Coffee! There were several other good crêpes/ideas: Puttanesca[3] (tomato, olives, onion, mushroom, garlic, capers, red pepper, parsley, olive oil, sour cream); Simply Italian (Mozzarella, Parmesan, basil, spices, salt, pepper, olive oil, zucchini); Curry (bell pepper, cheese, onion, sour cream, potato); Salsa (avocado, olives, tomato, cheese, onion, salsa, sour cream); Cannelloni (cheese, onion, mushroom, spinach, cottage cheese, Marinara; this probably would have been my pick other than the one I went with); or Apple Cheese (cheese, apple, brown sugar, cinnamon; which I would have had to order a side of potatoes to go with). With this many good crêpes from which to choose, I will really have to make a plan to re-visit higher grounds again some time (of course, with all the re-visits and new places that I already have planned to visit, this may not happen for another two to three years).
This was a very good crêpe ~ kind of like an omelette inside a crêpe. This is a very cool idea. It had lots of spinach and Mozzarella that I detected, but I really couldn't discern much Ricotta. It was all still very good, anyhow. I actually liked this so much so that I claiming this place as "The Best 'New' (for me, at least) Crêpe Joint of 2014". The Coffee was very good, too. I asked the owner-guy what roast/blend they normally have prepared in the thermos up front, and he said it is a special (Coffee)house blend that they make themselves from a few different local wholesale Coffees that they buy. Now, I normally don't comment on the prices of any food or Coffee products (they are what they are), but I just found this to be pretty funny. They charge $2.07 for a standard cuppa. I have no idea why it is such an odd amount. Why not a more even $2.05 or $2.10? (Okay, yes, the current Sales Tax in San Francisco is 8.75% and that would make a standard cuppa $2.25 total with tax, but it is all a moot point if someone orders any other items with Coffee.) For condimentary supplements, higher grounds has just Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce available. They do also have bottles of fresh, whole peppercorn grinders on most tables, too. I used some of my own Fat Cat®Surprisingly Mild Guajillo Ghost (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the crêpe and some (the last of it ~ but don't cry for me, Argentina, I still have about a dozen more bottles of hot sauce left in my collection) Dave's Gourmet®Ginger Peach Hot Sauce (Thanks again, Jim!) on the potatoes.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Alla Toscana ~ 6.8 1. Nah, this is not really a quote by Robin Williams. This just goes to prove that you can't believe everything (or anything) that you read on the World Wild Webs. I made it up this morning on my way back from breakfast. I just thought it sounded like something Robin might have said; plus, it makes the quote sound funnier if he had said it. 2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numero uno: "Alla Toscana" simply means "from/in the manner of Tuscany" in Italian. There is no corroboration that there was ever an Italian-Irish TeeVee show called "Alla McBeal", though. 3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numero due: "Puttanesca" means in Italian "of the whore". The word for "whore" in Italian is "puttana". The same word and word root "putana/puta" can be seen in Spanish, too.
2798 Diamond Street (on the corner of Chenery Street)
phonicular contact: (415) 239-4060
[1]
(I couldn’t find any good tiger-related[2] songs on EweToob, so these will have to do. Besides, what is the difference, they are all large African felines, anyway, right? Plus, noone sings like that Herman guy does.)
I am not quite sure how long Tyger's Coffee Shop has been around in Glen Park[3], but I know it has been longer than the 27 years that I have lived in San Francisco. I am familiar with this place as some friends of mine used to live just up the street a bit back in the early 90's (Hey, Bren and Tree!). I think it is currently Korean family owned and operated. At least I hope they were Koreans, as I used one of the only two Korean phrases that I know "Gamsahabnida!" (this is closely enough transliterated for Government purposes), which just means "Thank you!", as I was leaving. I also understood what was said to me in reply "Annyeonghi gaseyo!", which just means "Good-bye!" (the other phrase I know). So, I am pretty sure I guessed correctly. (You can consider those your "stupid, useless cunning linguist pointers of the day" if you like. I am pretty sure that I have done both of them in the past here.)
Tyger's is only open for breakfast and lunch (and I like that they open up early every day at 7:00am). They offer a pretty decent breakfastary menu. I decided on the Chenery Scramble (when on Diamond Street, do as they do on Chenery Street, of course) ~ two eggs with spinach, tomato, onion, mushrooms, and Cheddar cheese; served with country potatoes (they didn't specify which country, though) and toast (I went with sourdough as my choice of burned bread). The California Scramble also sounded good and was very similar, but with avocado in place of the spinach. I also had a cuppa coffee; it is a "coffee" shop, after all, it says so right in their name.
This was all pretty good. The scramble had lots of fresh (not frozen) spinach and (sorry, Greg) tomatoes (also fresh, not frozen) in it. Whatever country the potatoes were from was very good; these were thinly sliced potatoes and prepared like most homefries, which makes for better crispiocity. The house coffee turned out to be Peerless Coffee & Tea®, and it was made from freshly ground whole beans (I didn't ask what roast or blend, but they told me it was "organic"); this was a very good, strong cuppa and much better than your typical diner-joint swill.
For condimentary supplementation, Tyger's has Crystal®Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce on all of the tables and they also have a spice rack at the diner-counter that has another 5-6 different brands (I saw Tapatío® and Huy Fong Foods Inc.®Sriracha that I recognized, but there were a few other names that I didn't know). I was actually surprised not to see any Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce or Cholula®Hot Sauce, though. I ended up using some of my own Cholula® (Thanks, Brian!) on the scramble mess and some Nando'sExtra Hot Peri-Peri Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) on the homefries.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Chenery Scramble ~ 6.0 1. There is no confirmation from the NTSB that one of the pilots of Asiana AirlinesFlight 214 was really named "Wi Mo Wei", either.
2. Okay, so I lied:
If anyone is into Alt-Country Rock (or just likes cute gingers), I suggest checking out more songs from Neko Case. She's been a favourite of mine since the early 2000's or so. I finally got to see her perform live at Hardly Strictly Bluegrasstwo years back.
3. Glen Park is a nice little boutique* neighborhood in the southeastern portion of San Francisco. I call it a "boutique neighborhood" mainly because it is a tiny neighborhood, yet there are a number of nice shops right along Diamond and Chenery Streets. There are three more coffee shops/cafés (one being a crêperie also); un bistro français; a very good cheesy shop; a non-chain book store (yes, there are still a few of them left; so, bite me amazon.com and Barney's & Ignoble!); una taqueria (La Corneta, which is very good); and a top-notch pizzeria italiana (Gialina, they specialize in Pizzas, and Napolitana-style ones at that, Johnette).
There is no relation to the inventor of the Glen Bacon Scale. The surname "Park" just might be in reference to a Korean family, though, Neon.
*(In case you were in the mood for another stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, sorry, I had already covered this word previously. It has the same word root as "bodega", too.)
