the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House

'blog-post-thing the One After 999

(plus)

Raccoon Island Discovery Day ~ Anniversary the 5th

https://cliffhouse.com/bistro/


Place: the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House

Location: 1090 Point Lobos
(at the end of the Earth/Ocean Beach)

Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 9:00am, Sunday at 8:30am

Meal: Joe's (not-really-so-very) Special (I-suppose-when-you-excise-the-dead-decaying-grinded-up-bovine-flesh) Scramble ~ scrambled eggs with sautéed ground beef (which I made sure to have éighty-sixéd), onions, mushrooms, spinach, topped with Parmesan cheese, served with fresh fruit and roasted potatoes; once again, to drink, a Ramos Fizz ~ Gordon's gin | sweet & sour | egg whites | cream | orange flower water; and, as always, a basket of (World) Famous 
Cliff House Popovers(!) with two hot, fresh outta the oven

I had not originally planned for my 1,000th 'blog-entry to include (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!); however, when I saw that I was closing in on the ten-century mark, anyway, I made sure to adjust my breakfast trips so that this would indeed happen. Because of which, I ventured back to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, September 16th, 2018) to close-out the early 2019 workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation. I arrived almost exactly at 8:30am this morning. I was the first one in line and was admitted as soon as they had opened, so I was assured of getting a great viewing table along the west-facing window-wall overlooking Seal Rocks and Ocean Beach.

I have had all of their vegetarian-viable breakfast options many times over now and really have nothing to complain about as they are always worth reordering. However, I really wish they did still offered a Greek Scramble (it was one of the better versions in the city and was made with authentic Kalamata olives and Greek Feta); this exclusion is very strange, 'cause the owners of the restaurant are actually Greek themselves.

Today's scramble included a profusely perfect preponderance of spinach that would make even Popeye profoundly proud.

Even though there were only two (World) Famous 
Cliff House Popovers(!), those were sufficient for me this morning. I promptly ate both of them (with butter and marmalade on one and butter and strawberry jam on the other ~ "Get 'em while they're hot!") even before the meal had arrived.

This morning's side of fresh fruits was/were: watermelon, (red) grapes, cantaloupe, and honeydew melon.

Needless to say, it was all a very-good-portioned breakfast for my moderate appetite. Even so, after the meal, they had the "noive" to try and tempt me with any of their desserts!!! (Warm Triple Fudge Brownie [salted caramel sauce & Chantilly cream] or Peanut Butter Cheesecake [candied peanuts, fudge sauce & Chantilly cream], anyone?!)

the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House only has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) for use as a condimentary supplement. So I just used some of my own Tijuana Flats Tex-Mex Smack My *ss and Call Me Santa (Thanks, Rick!) on the scramble-mess and some Laura Plantation Vidalia® Onion & Peach Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the potatoes.

Hollywoodland Spotlight of the Day

This photo was just overlooking my right shoulder during breakfast. Of course, almost anyone that has been a child since 1939 knows that Frank Morgan (born Francis Phillip Wuppermann; June 1, 1890 – September 18, 1949) played the titular character (along with a few other roles in the movie) in "the Wizard of Oz"[1]. I just love that his photo is directly above the one of Frances Gumm (the lesser-known of the Gumm Sisters, of course).

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0604656/

Raccoon Island Discovery Day Anniversary Strange Interlude ~ 2019

Those ungrateful little masked rat-bastages! On the fifth anniversary of my "discoverying" Raccoon Island, I had fully prepared to share with them some purloined (unsalted) roasted peanuts and illegal Zante currants! However, there were none to be found when I arrived at the shores across from Raccoon Island this morning after breakfast. (Okay, it was 9:30am, and they really all shoulda been asleep by then, anyway, but still... ) The only wildlife present were several Grey Squirrels (the top photo shows how large they can get when people keep incessantly feeding them). The middle photo is of a couple of female Ring-necked Ducks (Aythya collaris) that usually only show up in Golden Gate Park in Winter and early-Spring.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Joe's (not-really-so-very) Special (I-suppose-when-you-excise-the-dead-decaying-grinded-up-bovine-flesh) Scramble ~ 6.6;
Ramos Fizz ~ 7.0;
(World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) ~ 8.22;
Raccoon Island environs and its autochthonic wildlife ~ 8.5

___________________

1. W. C. Fields was originally chosen for the role of the Wizard, but Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios ran out of patience after protracted haggling over his fee.

Beach Chalet

Where the Park (that would be Golden Gate) meets the Pacific (that would be Ocean)

https://www.beachchalet.com/


Place: Beach Chalet

Location:  1000 Great Highway
(@ Ocean Beach, between John F. Kennedy Drive and Lincoln Way)

Hours: open for "Brunch" Saturday + Sunday 10:00am

Meal: Roasted Vegetable Frittata ~ roasted mushrooms + cauliflower, caramelized onion, spinach, Cheddar, marinated tomatoes, little salad (oh, how that would really p*ss-off Elaine Marie Benes); a side order of Hash Brown Cakes; and (because it is a brewery-type joint, after all) a pinta Sea Serpent Foggy I.P.A.

(Hmmm?! Okay, so maybe I probably mighta shoulda waited to use the EweToobular juxtaselection and header quote from Friday's 'blog-entry here today instead.

If anyone is wondering, I did not have a second pinta for dessert... but only 'cause I was too full.)


In revisiting some places that I had not eaten breakfast ("Brunch", whatever) at in a while, I decided to revisit Beach Chalet (see previous 'blog-entry from Saturday, July 9th, 2011). It seems that in the past few years they have changed their name (and signage colours) from the Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant.

Because I had arrived there about fifteen minutes before they had opened for the morning, I was one of the first people to get seated. (There were about twenty other people waiting in line ~ ahead of and behind me ~ before they started seating people.) I scored a primo window-seat looking out onto the Great (well, that is what they call it; it just seems kinda "Okay" in my book) Highway and Ocean Beach. I was seated right below an open vasistas[1], too.

The table one over from me had a young family of five (Mom, Dad, and three kids ~ two girls and one younger boy, probably four or five years old). The restaurant supplies kids with a small box of crayons and kids menus where the reverse side is a picture that can be coloured. I found it funny that the little boy yelled out: "I call the 'seahorse'! I call the 'seahorse'!" I watched... all three pictures were 'seahorses'.

There were still several other good ideas from which to choose on the "Brunch" menu (I am not sure what they may have had to offer on the kids menu, though, as no one thought to offer me a set of crayons and a picture to colour ~ Harrumph!): 

Florentine Benny ~ toasted English muffin, sautéed spinach, roasted tomato, Hollandaise, poached eggs, Hash Brown Cakes;

Honor Your Benny ~ sausage buttermilk biscuit, charred tomato relish, seared pork belly, poached farm eggs, sauce Choron[2], Hash Brown Cakes (I like the sound of both the charred tomato relish and Choron sauce; if this could be made vegetarian-friendly, I know I would like it);

or

Baked French Toast ~ thick sliced pain de mie bread, lavender honey, roasted local strawberries, maple syrup, applewood bacon (where I would 86 the dead, decaying porcine stuff and probably order a side of Hash Brown Cakes).

They also have an item under the heading Snacks + Apps: Charred Brussels Sprouts ~ onion agro-dolce(???), cashews, lime, mint, Aleppo pepper. I know I would love that one, but I am not sure how to make it into a complete meal. Possibly ordering two poached eggs as a side?

("Beer for breakfast, Brian?!" 

Mind yo' own bees-wax! It is made with wheat, barley, and yeast ~ them's the ingredients in toast, anyway. Plus, this I.P.A. was very citrusy... that spells breakfastary to me!)

Unfortunately, they did not have any special Oktoberfest Beers available yet for the season. I was initially just going to go with a standard Riptide Red Ale (I have had this one many times over the years and knew I liked it), but I saw the above Sea Serpent Foggy I.P.A. pull. The barkeep gave me a small tipple-taste of it and I was sold. This was a very decent rendition of an I.P.A.

They had me at "roasted cauliflower"[3]. I really enjoyed this traditionally-made frittata. And there were two different types of mushrooms (at least I think there were; I am not exactly sure which kinds of mushrooms they were, though) in the mess. The marinated tomatoes were halved cherry (or grape) tomatoes: purple, orange, and yellow, and served on top of the frittata, not added into the egg-mixture. The rabbit-food junk came piled on top of the frittata (which seems to be the ubiquitous way they are serving frittatas these days); I made sure to push it all off to the side out of the way.

Another pleasant surprise were the Hash Brown Cakes. I was just expecting these to be served as some kinda hashbrowns patties. They turned out to be a trio of towering tater-tots!

Now why have I not been back to this place in over seven years for breakfast ("Brunches", whatever)? (Probably due to their 10:00am opening time. I prefer to eat my breakfasts a lot earlier than that.) Hopefully I will make a return visit for breakfast sometime before the year 2025.

Their sister venue (their words on the web-site) in the back of the building, Park Chalet, does not open until even later for "Brunch" at 11:00am. That is wayyy too late for my liking. They do offer a whole different menu there, though.

For condimentary supplementation, Beach Chalet offers the Standard San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces (Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce - Original Red Sauce; Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce; and Cholula® Hot Sauce - Original). Even so, I still used some of my own Tijuana Flats Tex-Mex Smack My *ss  and Call Me Santa (Thanks, Rick!) on the frittata and Fan the Flames Sriracha Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the tater tots on steroids. And to make even the boring ol' rabbit-food junk taste better, I sprinkled a little Charlie's Chili Stuff by Thyme Farm Vinegars (Thanks, Sharon!) all over it.

("Wait a minute, Brian... what does Emmylou Harris singing a Noel Yang song have anything to do with Beer or frittatas or Ocean Beach?"

Just keep reading... [buncha impatient jerks])

(not so) Strange Coffee Interlude

On my way over to breakfast, I stopped by Marla Bakery and picked me uppa a small 12 oz cuppa Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters Ethiopia Guji Gr. 1 Uraga Tomme. I made sure to enjoy it while killing an hour-and-a-half ("I swear it was in self-defense, your Honour!") at various stopping places along the way westward in Golden Gate Park.

https://www.wreckingballcoffee.com/


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Roasted Vegetable Frittata ~ 7.1;
Sea Serpent Foggy I.P.A. ~ 7.2;
Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters Ethiopia Guji Gr. 1 Uraga Tomme ~ 7.3

___________________

1. I will let you all try to figure out that cunning linguist reference. 

(Hint: This is actually used as a French word, not a German word.)

2. Say wha'?!

https://www.foodnetwork.com/terms/choron-sauce

3. Now this is an interesting factoid that I just learned yesterday. In a 100 gram/3.5 ounce serving of cauliflower, there is 58% of the Daily Value for Vitamin C. That is the same amount as in a 100 g/3.5 oz serving of pineapple. As a comparison, a 100 g/3.5 oz serving of oranges has a 64% DV, the same size serving of mangoes has a 44% DV, grapefruit ~ 40% DV, tomatoes ~ 17% DV, and cranberries ~ 16% DV.

Now, I am not suggesting that Tropicana®, Welch's®, or Ocean Spray® start marketing cauliflower juice... not that I wouldn't try it... but that is a pretty impressive level of Vitamin C. 

Winter and flu season are approaching; so eat your cauliflower, kids!

If you are wondering (and even if you weren't) just how high a level of Vitamin C a 100 g/3.5 oz serving of Brussels sprouts packs ~ there is a wh*pping 102% DV! Yowza!

(Hmmm?! I wonder what the DV% of Vitamin C is in an I.P.A.)

LaLe

http://www.lalesf.com


Place: LaLe

Location:  731 Irving Street 
(between 8th and 9th Avenues)

Hours: breakfast and/or "Brunch" are served daily at 8:00am

Meal: Napa (Scramble) ~ goat cheese, mushrooms, bacon (which I nixed, Santa), bell peppers, served with home style potatoes and housemade (well, LaLe-made) English muffin; to drink with the meal, a glassa Homemade (again, LaLe-made) Strawberry Lemonade; and, afterward (to enjoy whilst saunterin' around San Francisco Botanical Garden), a mighty fine cuppa Snowbird Coffee - Zatara (à la méthode pour-over)

http://snowbirdcoffee.com/

(There is/are no EweToobular juxtaselections here [of which I am aware]; I was just thinking about this song while wandering around San Francisco Botanical Garden. [Who knew Dan Fogelberg was a Peter Pan fan?])


Next up on the September work-out of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation: LaLe (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, April 22nd, 2018). 

Even after several visits to this new-ish restaurant, there are still a few other good ideas yet for me to try:

Cairo (Scramble) ~ lamb (naaaaaa!), peppers, tomatoes, onions, Feta cheese (this will probably be my choice on my next visit);

Ciudad de México (Scramble) ~ chorizo (which would be ochenta-y-seis-ed), green onions, mushrooms, guacamole, sour cream, cheese;

Toronto (Benediction) ~ ham (No thanks, ya hoser!), grilled tomato, spinach;

or

Fennel Cabbage Salad ~ green and purple cabbage, fresh fennel, apples, arugula (where I would probably have them add a poached egg or two on top of the pile of rabbit-food to make it a bit more breakfastarily-sound).

This was a decent-enough scramble-mess, but just not quite as great as some of the other dishes that I have had at this restaurant already. It was made with both green and red bell peppers and the goat cheese made for a very nice creamy, melty addition.

LaLe offers for condimentary supplementation just Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. I used some of my own hot sauces, anyway; a little (wellll, a lot; ooops! I accidentally went a little heavy-handed with it because the d*rn thing poured-out too fast on me; luckily it did not "exceed the limit") Dat'l Do-it® Scorching Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the scramble-mess and some Dragon Breath Garlic Hot Sauce (Thanks again, Mom!) on the potatoes, and a lotta grinds from my grains of paradise grinder all over both. (And especially) plus, LaLe offers their own very good, homemade (whatever) berry jam and orange marmalade, Lady; I made sure to use a heaping dollop of each on the two slices of English muffin.

(not really such a) Strange Coffee Interlude

As has been my current rubric for the past several visits to LaLe ~ either beforehand or afterfoot ~ I made sure to stop by Snowbird Coffee for a really good cuppa. 

(and a bit exciting) Strange San Francisco Botanical Garden[1] Interlude

[2]

If'n ya gots two hours or so to kill, this is a great place for a premeditated double-hora homicide. (Don't do the "crime", if you ain't got the time, though.) 

This morning, I had purposefully parked along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive directly across the street from the Main Gate of San Francisco Botanical Garden with the intention of galumphing throughout the gardens after breakfast while sipping away at my cuppa from Snowbird Coffee (the Coffee lasted about a half-hour only, though).

Go for the flora...

I saw (and touched and smelled) Lavender (Lavandula ~ at least two different species), Sage (Salvia ~ also, at least two different types), Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis ~ probably two-to-three different cultivars); and Thyme (Thymus vulgaris). (Sorry, I did not espy any Parsley [Petroselinum crispum], though, Mr. Simon and/or Mr. Garfinkle). I was smart enough not to touch (or attempt to smell) any of the cacti in the Succulent Garden (however, the prickly pears were almost ripe and tempting).

(This tiny little guy [or girl] came right down to me while I was in the Garden of Fragrance.)

("You lookin' at me?!")


... and stay for the (avi)fauna.

Now, I really hit the jackpot with all the variety of Boids this morning (mainly because there were many bushes in which to see two or more around the gardens). There were: Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus - one juvenile[?]); Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis ~ also, just one [another] juvenile[?]; that would be him/her in the photo directly above this paragraph); California Scrub Jays (Aphelocoma californica ~ I think I counted at least five different ones around the gardens); Robins (Turdus migratorius ~ way too many to count); Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans ~ just the one in the second photo above); Little Brown Birds (Volucres minus brunneis ~ again, way too many to count); Steller's Jays (Cyanocitta stelleri ~ at least four, but I heard many, many more; there was one pretending that he was a Red-tailed Hawk and another thinking that he was Mr. Drinky Crow); Canada Geese (Branta canadensis ~ several, as in a whole lotta several); Ducks (of the plain ol' Mallard variety - Anas platyrhynchos ~ just a few; the Geese have usurped a lot of the good pond spaces); Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana ~ just one female, I believe; she was way too fast for me to even think about getting her photo); and also some kinda waterbird, possibly a Kingfisher (Alcedinidae), which I came upon at the small pond/reservoir in the California Native Garden and startled him before I could even get an identifying shot of him.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Napa (Scramble) ~ 6.5;
homemade (whatever) berry jam and orange marmalade ~ 7.2;
Snowbird Coffee - Zatara ~ 7.4;
San Francisco Botanical Garden and all its great flora and (avi)fauna stuff ~ 8.0 (and the price is always right for local San Franciscans ~ at zero dollars, it just makes no sense not to check this place out[3])

___________________

1. https://www.sfbotanicalgarden.org/

2. This is such a cool story.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/spanish-monastery-stones

3. Okay, so I stole... er... borrowed that line from Billy Bradford, but I am completely giving him full credit here and also hoping to promote his charitable activities. This guy really has no sense of business, just a great sense of civic pride.

https://www.facebook.com/badbusinessmodelbikes/

Art's Cafe

"Hey, baby... we forgot all about the... 
Bi Bim Bop Veggie Omelete[ sic ]... "

(No official web-site-type-thing.)


Place: Art's Cafe

Location:  747 Irving Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues); phonicular contact: (415) 665-7440

Hours: open at 7:00am Tuesday through Saturday; open at 7:30am on Sunday (??? ~ this is where an official web-site-type-thing would be helpful)

Meal: Bi Bim Bop Veggie (uggh!) Omelete[ sic ] ~ with spinach, zucchini, bean sprout, carrot, and Swiss cheese, served with hashbrowns or rice (you would be surprised how many people go with this choice instead of Art's stellar hashbrowns) and toast; (to drink with the meal) a large glassa orange juice; (afterwards, for a breakfastary dessert) a cuppa Snowbird Coffee Zatarra (via pour-over/drip-method) and a corn-cherry scone at Arizmendi Bakery

http://snowbirdcoffee.com/

https://www.arizmendibakery.com/

(What's the EweToobular juxtaselection here today? Simples! Ol' Davie-boy Alvin [Theodore and Simon were not available for comments] is a big gochujang fan, too.)


I wanted to go to a (somewhat close/accessible) place for breakfast that opened early (or hopefully was even open on the 4th of July) and because it had been a while since I last ate at Art's Cafe (see last 'blog entry from Sunday, November 6th, 2016), anyway, that was where I ended up going this morning. Once again, I simply parked in Golden Gate Park (directly across from the entrance to San Francisco Botanical Garden), where there is normally ample (and free) parking that early in the morning. (The extra-added bonus was that after breakfast I strolled through San Francisco Botanical Garden to work off some of those breakfastary calories.)

I arrived at the restaurant around 7:15am and had the entire counter-space to myself for a while. There were two take-away customers ahead of me. But, otherwise, only two other customers came in to eat the entire time that I was having breakfast.

(Again, their entire diner-counter-top is covered with postcards from customers sent from all over the World ~ which are under some Plexiglas to keep the spillage from crudding up the pictures. To my left this morning, I could see London [the one in Englandia, not the much more popular town in Arkansas], Hong Kong, and some far-away place called "Wis-Con-Sin", which I believe used to be a province in that old Czechoslovakia place.)


I have been going to Art's Cafe since some time in 2010 now. Surprisingly enough, there are still a couple of other items on their menu that I need to get back to try:

Hashbrown Melt (Sandwich) ~ served with melted Cheddar cheese on hashbrowns, two eggs, and toast;

or

Four Cheese Omelete[ sic ] ~ American (so, technically, this should be called a "Three Cheese Omelete[ sic ] with some other kinda faux cheese-like product-stuff"), Cheddar, Jack, and Swiss cheese, served with hashbrowns or rice and toast.

Additionally, for you meatetarian types, they offer the interesting sounding Samurai Omelete[ sic ; and if you are getting [ sic ]k of seeing me type "[ sic ]" every time I have to mispel "Omelette", just think of how [ sic ]k I am of typing it, too ] ~ beef teriyaki, onions, and cheese, served with hashbrowns or rice and toast.

Now if they only offered a Hashbrown Bi Bim Bop Veggie (uggh!) (Sandwich)...

(This was exactly how it was presented to me. Really. [Yeah, and today is Cinco de Mayo.])


I have had this same dish once before (I think it was the very first meal that I ever tried there) and knew that I was going to like it (again). Sure, the ingredients may all sound kinda strange for inside an omelete[ sic ], but if you have ever had the Korean dish Bibimbap, you know it has most of the same items in it (well, less the Swiss cheese) and usually includes either a raw egg or fried egg on top.

These guys (well, Art, at least) are truly "Masters of the Hashbrowns". Trust me, I am a Potato Doctor; I even have a PhD to prove it (well, if "PhD" stood for "Potato-h*ckova-Doctor"). Why anyone would choose plain ol' white rice over these crispy golden-brown delights is beyond me. 

For condimentary supplementation, Art's Cafe has both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce 
along the counter-top. In my opinion (trust me, I also minored in Hot Sauce at Doctoring School), both of which are superfluously redundant when they have a great gochujang sauce/paste for use instead. As can be seen in the above photo, that is exactly what I used on both the omelete[ sic ] and hashbrowns.

(not so) Strange Coffee and Pastry Interlude

As has been my habit lately whenever eating breakfast in that area of the Sunset, I headed around the corner after the meal for a mighty fine cuppa at Snowbird Coffee. And because I still had a little room left, I also got a fresh-baked good at Arizmendi Bakery[1], too. The scone was a little bit on the dry side (I am just chalking that up to the use of cornmeal), but it was still very good; it had lots and lots of whole dried cherries in it. I bet a savoury-sweet scone made with cornmeal, cherries, and jalapeños would be excellent, too.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Bi Bim Bop Veggie (uggh!) Omelete[ sic ] ~ 6.5;
hashbrowns (on their ownsome) ~ 7.0;
Snowbird Coffee Zatarra ~ 7.1;
corn-cherry scone ~ 6.8

___________________

1. Normally, I avoid this bakery like the plague because they are supporters of a very large (three car-space-length) p*rklet in front of their building. (Need I point out that this is only a block-and-a-d*mn-half away from Golden Gate Park?!) I decided that because it was the 4th of July today, I would do like George Washington did on this very day in 1776 and emancipate the slaves... that's the Spirit, Brian!

(Besides, when was the last time you heard of a plague outbreak in the Sunset District, anyway?!)

LaLe

Kids, be nice to your Mother (Earth)...
I am told she is the only one we have (and no one wants to be an interplanetary orphan).

http://www.lalesf.com/


Place: LaLe

Location:  731 Irving Street 
(between 8th and 9th Avenues)

Hours: breakfast and/or "Brunch" are served daily at 8:00am

Meal: Dutch Baby Pancake (just one, but it was an extra large pancake) ~ w/ caramelized apples & housemade (restaurant-made, whatever) whipped cream; and to drink with the meal a glassa fresh strawberry-lemonade; and afterward a cuppa Snowbird Coffee - Zatara blend (pour-over/drip-method)

http://snowbirdcoffee.com/

("Old Man" Noel Yang does one h*ckofa great anthem for our Momma.)


To wrap up the early-Season workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I went back to LaLe (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, January 21st, 2018)... which just leaves closing with some (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) next weekend. LaLe has a brand-new (well, since-January-new) wooden-carved/lathed sign over the front door.

Still some other ideas yet to try:

Mexico City (Scrambler) ~ chorizo (which would get ochenta-y-seis-ed for me), green onions, mushrooms, guacamole, sour cream, cheese;

Napa (Scrambler) ~ goat cheese, mushrooms, bacon (also 86-time), bell peppers;

(Scramblers are served with home style potatoes and housemade [restaurant-made, whatever] English muffin)

Toronto (Benediction) ~ ham (no way, you hoser!), grilled tomato, spinach (housemade [restaurant-made, whatever] English muffin topped with poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, served w/ potatoes);

or maybe

Fennel Cabbage Salad ~ green and purple cabbage, fresh fennel, apples, arugula (and I would probably have a couple of poached eggs placed on top).

Stuff like this is exactly why LaLe is currently in my Breakfastary Staring Rotation! This was very similar (and just as tasty) to the same kinda dish that I had at Outerlands (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, April 29th, 2012) several years ago (which reminds me, I really should plan a return visit there again soon, too). I think the apples that were used in today's meal were either Granny Smith or Golden Delicious (Who am I? John Fr*ggin' Chapman?). The housemade (restaurant-made, whatever) whipped cream was very good, too, and it was served as a very large dollop (more like a wallop).

LaLe has bottles of Tapatío® Salsa Picante 
Hot Sauce on all the tables for use as a condimentary supplement. Of course, none was needed or used again this morning... however... I did use a small dusting/grinding from my rainbow peppercorn grinder on top of the whipped cream as an extra-added flavour bonus.[1]

Strange Literary Interlude (sorry, Greg)

As I was expecting this meal to take 15-20 minutes for them to prepare (they even warn you about the wait on the menu), I had brought along my new Christopher Moore novel, "Noir", to read while killing time waiting for the food to arrive. However, as the restaurant was not very busy (and I was the second customer in the door to order breakfast this morning), it came out much sooner than I figured, and I had barely time to read a few pages. It was probably only a five-minute wait or just a bit more (or Moore).

https://www.chrismoore.com/

(not so) Strange Coffee Interlude (there-ya-go, Greg)

As I have been doing for the past few visits to LaLe, after breakfast, I headed around the corner to Snowbird Coffee for a mighty fine cuppa. Today, I once again went with their Zatara blend. In honour of Mommy Third-Rock-from-the-Sun Day, I enjoyed the cuppa while strolling through San Francisco Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park. (Do not worry, I made sure to throw away the paper cup in the appropriately-marked recycle trash-bin.)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Dutch Baby Pancake ~ 7.5;
Snowbird Coffee - Zatara blend ~ 7.4;
Noir ~ 7.1

___________________

1. Do not judge me! I did not make up this very interesting flavour-combination.

When I lived in West Berlin (the one that used to be in the middle of Deutsche Demokratische Republik), I frequented this great Italian restaurant that was nearby Tempelhof Zentral Flughafen. One of the desserts that they had on the menu was a warm fig split open with a scoop of vaniller Ice Cream on top of it... they would then grind some fresh black peppercorns on top of the dessert. 

Hey, if it worked for Adolph on Ice Cream, it can (and did) work for me on whipped cream!