https://www.justforyoucafe.com/ Place: Just For You bakery & cafe Location: 732 22nd Street (between 3rd and Tennessee Streets) Hours: open Monday-Friday at 7:30am, Saturday-Sunday at 8:00am for "Brunch" Meal: GreekScramble~ 3 eggs with Feta cheese, onions, spinach, tomato, and Kalamata olives, served with choice of bread (a HUGE chunka cornbread was my choice this morning) and choice of sides (the chosen side was homefries); and, to drink, a cuppa (and one refilla ~ they kept offering me more, but I did not want to be awake all day) good N'Arlins-style Community Coffee® with roasted chicory https://www.communitycoffee.com/products/coffee/32-oz-ground-coffee-and-chicory
(These two old guys do a pretty decent cover of Them's original Garage Rock classic.)
("Hey, Brian, just who the h*ck was that guy that introduced Laura Brannigan?"... Shirley, you must be joking. "And, Brian, what is up with the dazzling duo of 'Gloria' songs?"... Well, as far as I know, there are not any EweToobular juxtaselections between GreekScramblesand anyone named "Gloria". I just happened to be listening to a CD of Blues Traveler live performances [Thanks, Greg!] to and from the restaurant this morning and ol' Pop-man done sang that Them version of "Gloria" hisd*mnself. Of course, there is always the possibility that Sir George Ivan and/or little Johnnie Hooker are fans of Hellenic egg dishes, too.) I say this every time that I go to Just For You bakery & cafe (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, April 1st. 2018... no foolin') for breakfast, if it was not all the way cross-town, it would easily be in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation. (And, yes, while the restaurant is still in the same city in which I live, even early on a Saturday morning with no real traffic of which to speak, it still took me about a half-hour to forty minutes drive over there.) Not that there was really anything that I considered ordering, but on the weekends, they offer several items on a separate printed Today's Specials menu. Off which, Today's offerings were: Blueberry Lemon Mimosa! (They added the explanation point there!) ~ Our 16oz mimosa with fresh blueberry lemonthyme syrup, blueberries & lemon wedge! Ask your server for other flavors! (See, they kinda like them explanation points!); Corned Beef Hash! (Again, with the explanation point?! Apparently, they do not have Elaine Marie Benes editing their printings!) ~ Homemade (well, bakery & cafe-made) Corned beef hash with peppers, onions & potatoes served with two eggs any style & choice of bread. (Hmmm?! Someone seems to have missed the explanation point at the end of that sentence!); Chicken Apple Scramble! (I will not even mention the addition of the explanation point here!) ~ Three egg scramble with chicken apple sausage, cherry tomatoes, arugula, mushrooms & blue cheese. Served with home fries or grits, and choice of homemade (again, bakery & cafe-made) bread. Clam Linguine! (Maybe the exclamation point is standard in Italiano!) ~ A homemade (you know the drill) wine butter sauce with clams, shallots, fresh basil, and tomato over linguine pasta, topped with parmesan cheese. Served with a small green salad.; and lastly(!) Pastrami Benedict! (Whatever!) ~ Hot Pastrami, spinach & tomato topped with poached eggs & hollandaise sauce over choice of bread (They do not specify here if it is "homemade" or not!). Served with home fries or grits.(!)
Having already run the gamut (and, I will have you know, that I did it in under 10-minute miles!) of viable st*pid vegetarian-friendly dishes off their standard weekend All-Day "Brunch" menu (which is really pretty extensive), I simple went with a choice that I knew was very good and that I liked a lot. Of course, once again, this was a great meal and a whole lotta food. The portion of homefries was enough to feed two people and the HUGE hunka cornbread was almost too much for me to finish it all (but I did!). If I had one minor quibble with this morning's meal, it was that the scramble-mess was a bit light on both the amount of Feta and Kalamata olives in it. As has been documented many times in the past (so I am not gonna do so again in the present), Just For You bakery & cafe offers one of the best selections of condimentary supplementation in the city. Oddly enough, even so, I used some of my own Old St. AugustineDatil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the potatoes and some H*ll's KitchenSriracha Chili Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the scrambled stuff. I also grinded several grinds of The Spice & Tea Exchange®Pirate's Bite Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!) all over everything. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: GreekScramble~ 6.6 (with the sufficient amount of Feta and Kalamata olives, I think that I normally would rate this as 6.7 or 6.8); Community Coffee® with roasted chicory ~ 6.8
Airport Breakfastary Food - Part IX San Francisco International Airport (SFO) (Saturday, 8/17/2019)
https://www.flysfo.com/content/y*nkee-pier[1] Place: Y*nkee Pier® Location: Terminal 3, Boarding Area F near Gate 72, SFO; phonicular contact: 650-821-8938 Hours: open daily 5:00am (or so they say; I got there around 6:30am and it looked like they had just opened for business for the morning) Meal: GreekScramble~ eggs scrambled with spinach, mushrooms, red onion, Feta & tapenade, served with home fries & choice of toast (I chose sourdough); to drink with the meal, a large glassa orange juice; and, to drink afterward while walking around waiting for my plane, a medium cuppa Peet's Coffee®Yosemite Dos Sierras https://www.peets.com/coffee/dark-roast/yosemite-dos-sierras-organic
(I do not know if either Sir George Ivan or Maurice, the Space Cowboy,[2] like Feta and/or spinach, but they were playing both of these songs on the house-stereo while I was eating breakfast.) I really enjoyed the geographic irony of eating at a place named Y*nkee Pier® when flying out of San Francisco heading towards Boston. Of course, I was half-expecting to find a seafood restaurant in Logan Airport on my return flight called "Dock of the Bay" or such. They actually offered a decent variety of breakfastary items, even for stupid vegetarian-types. Ferinstance: Tofu Scramble ~ egg whites scrambled with tofu, mushrooms, spinach, green onions, served with home fries and choice of toast; NorCal Scramble~ eggs scrambled with tomatoes, avocado, salsa verde, cumin sour cream, served with home fries & choice of toast; or maybe even Cinnamon Raisin French Toast ~ with fruit compote & pure maple syrup.
(The tops of the tables caught my eye as they were cartography-themed. Mine happened to be of the Monterey Bay/Monterey Canyon area.)
All in all, this was surprisingly a very decent breakfast. I was not really expecting to like a dish from an airport restaurant-kitchen as much as I did. It was served more in a frittata-style, which is nice. One of the nicer surprises was that the topping was made of an authentic Kalamata olive tapenade. However, if I had one small quibble (a quibblaki, perhaps?), it would be that they should have used tomatoes instead of mushrooms in it; that would have been a bit more Greek-y to me. Their version of homefries were extremely good, too. For condimentary supplementation, Y*nkee Pier® had Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce, and Cholula®Hot Sauce (Original) (but just one bottle that was semi-hidden in with a bunch of other condiments). I used a good amount of their Tapatío® on the potatoes. (just a bit of a) Strange Coffee Interlude I was hoping on finding a less ubiquitous Coffee purveyor than both St*rbucks and Peet's®, but SFO's Terminal 3 really lacked in choices. So, I just went for the worse of two evils and ordered whatever they were serving as the drip-Coffee choice at one of the Peet's® in the terminal. Me: "What blend do you have this morning?" Clueless Baristette: "Dark Roast!" Me: "Yes, but which specific blend or roast are you offering this morning?" CB: (has to go look at the bag of whatever blend/roast they have brewed... then just shows me the bag) Me: (thinking "Really?!") Glen Bacon Scale Rating: GreekScramble~ 6.5; Peet's Coffee® Yosemite Dos Sierras ~ 6.8 ___________________ 1. Okay, so maybe you will need to replace the "*" in that URL with an "a". I just did not want to be caught using any overtly vulgar language in my personal 'blog-thing. 2. It took me a bit to recognize this song. You know you are getting old when it takes you a minute or so to remember who the original artist of a Classic Rock-and/or-Roll song is.
http://kitchenstorysf.com/ Place: Kitchen Story Location: 3499 16th Street (on the corner of Sanchez Street) Hours: open daily from 8 a.m. Meal: Athenian Omelet~ tomato, mushroom, arugula, Greekolives, mild goat cheese,[1] served with butter croissant and rainbowpotato[2] (they actual have this option on their menu: "Add $4.5 for mixed berries instead of potato"; Say wha'....?! ... four-and-a-half bucks for just a buncha chopped up fruit-junk?! No way, especially when their rainbowpotato are already so good. I can chop up my own d*mn fruit-junk at home myd*mnself!); and a glassa fresh-squeezed orange juice to drink
(I have posted this song by little Davey Alvin before, just not this particular duet-version with the Texas Whippoorwill.) Ever-continuing-on with the Taylor Street Coffee Shop-family mini-chain tour, I returned once again to Kitchen Story(see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, March 30th, 2019). As best as I can figure out, this was their #4 restaurant to open ~ back in November 2012. Unfortunately, it was way too cold and foggy yet this morning to even think about sitting outside in their spacious sidewalk-patio seating area along Sanchez Street. (This is a very large seating area all on its ownsome. There may be as many, or more, tables/seats outside as there are inside.) Strange pseudo-Patriotic Interlude In honour of Independence Day (and to pretend to be a bit patriotic, Mr. George MichaelCohan), I decided to wear an article of clothing from my old Air Force uniform. I am very pleased to say that it even still fits like a glove! (And, no, it was not a "pair of gloves", Johnnie Cochran. It may have been foggy and cold this morning, but it was not that cold. [Come to think of it, I do not think that I have even ever worn gloves in all of my Winters in San Francisco.] Well, maybe the article of clothing is just a "belt", but it does still fit... [Okay, to be totally honest, it is one of those stretchy-kinda belts, and I mighta had it stretched to-the-max, but it does still work.]... the buckle is a bit scratched-up, though, and I doubt it would meet 35-10.) After eating at all of their other restaurants for the past few weeks, I am running outta new ideas for breakfast. However, even at this location there are still a coulpla more other ideas: Primavera Omelet~ egg whites, roasted tomato, arugula, mushroom, served with butter croissant and rainbowpotato (this same dish is offered at a few of their other locations, too) or Grilled "Veggie" Morning Melt ~ mushroom, asparagus, arugula, red onion, avocado, cherry pepper, made with pain de mie bread (and, yes, I am completely aware of the redundant redundancy of "pain" used with "bread" ~ tell it anyone that uses "shiitake mushrooms" in a sentence), cilantro aioli, served with organic salad (I have no idea how exactly this might come as; I am imagining this to be some kinda open faced sandwich perhaps; if I could get a poached egg or two on top of it, it would make it even more breakfastarily-so). Additionally (and sadly), I did not notice this Eyeopener Cocktail until after I had already ordered my (plain ol' closed-eyes) orange juice: Castro Michelada[3] ~ Thai Lager, Tapatío®, Worcestershire (which would have to be nixed, most likely), salt, lime, tomatoes juices[ sics ], secret spice. I will definitely have to check that drink out on a future visit.
"But... but... but... why would you go and order a Greeky-style omelette at a California-Asian-fusion-kinda-place on the 4th ofJuly, Brian?!" Funny that you should ask that (well, it is only "funny" 'cause I am picturing hearing it said in an Elmer Fudd-ish voice). On this date ~ July4th, 1979(that would be forty [4-0] years ago today for those of you that are mathematically-impaired) ~ I had first arrived in the land of Greece! (I know! What kinda fool travels on the 4th of July[or, worse, travels overnight on a plane starting on the 3rd of July to arrive at their destination on Independence Day]?) So, I thought it more than fitting to order this dish as a bit of historical reminiscence. As with every other meal I have already had at all of their other locations, this was another very good breakfast. However, just to pick a nit or two... pluses: they use authentic Kalamata olives (and lots of 'em) and some other kinda green olives (not sure of their Greek city of origin, though) abundantly throughout the omelette; minuses: 1) as much as I like me some good ol' "rocket", Bullwinkle, I think that spinach would have been a better Greek-match, and 2) (and this is the biggest of the minuses) they use (I "kid" you not) goat cheese instead of Feta... I... just... have... no... words... sure, the creamy goat cheese does tend to melt better inside an omelette, but it... just... ain't... Feta... How many times must I point this out: "Everything's mo' betta' with Feta!"? (Idunno, perhaps something is lost in the translation from Greek-to-English-to-Korean, or "goat cheese" and "arugula" are synonymous with "Feta" and "spinach" in Korean.) Now, this was neither a "plus" nor a "minus" with me, but it also had lotsa sliced mushrooms (I have no idea if'n they were actual Greekmushrooms or local ones, though) in it ~ so, this would not be a very good dish for the fungi-faint of heart. For condimentary supplementation, Kitchen Story offered both Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. I went with some of my own H*ll's Kitchen®Chipotle Chocolate Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) thoroughly all over the rainbowpotato and a few splashes (maybe seven or eight) of Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on top of the omelette. One very interesting thing that I saw on the tables was that they have Coffee beans in their salt shakers(?!?). (At first I thought that they were raisins [Hey! The lighting was poor!] and that really had me wondering why a California-Asian fusion restaurant would be pickling/preserving raisins on their tables.) I had never seen that before. I can only assume that rice must be an extremely valued commodity in Asia and they do not want to waste any to absorb excess moisture in salt shakers... In keeping with their whole "Story"-theme, the check is presented clipped to a paperback book. My check-book today happened to be Danielle Steel's "Courage"[4] and, better still, it was printed en français! Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Athenian Omelet ~ 6.6 (now, if this had been made with spinach and Feta, it would easily have been a 6.8 or 6.9) ___________________
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguists pointer(s) of the day: Greek-speak for the above ingredients: tomato = ντομάτα (pronounced just like it looks!) mushroom = μανιτάρι (pronounced "manitARi") arugula = ρόκα (pronounced "ROEka")* Greekolives= Ελληνικέςελιές (pronounced "ElliniKESSeliES") goat cheese = Αυτό δεν είναι Φέτα! (pronounced "This is not Feta!") *(This same Greek word "ρόκα" can also be used in the sense of a rocket/missile/cylindrical projectile-thing. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-horticultural pointer of the day sub-set [and this is borrowed directly outta the funny pages of WikipediA]: The English common name rocket derives from the French roquette, a diminutive of the Latin word eruca, which once designated a particular plant in the family Brassicaceae (probably a type of cabbage). Arugula (/əˈruːɡələ/), the common name now widespread in the United States and Canada, entered American English from a non-standard dialect of Italian. The standard Italian word is rucola, a diminutive of the Latin "eruca". The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first appearance of "arugula" in American English to a 1960 article in The New York Times by food editor and prolific cookbook writer Craig Claiborne.) 2. rainbowpotato consists of Chilean purple, Yukon gold, Gemstone red, Russet, and Sweet yam. 3. ¿Qué? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelada 4. Personally, I have never felt the urge to read any of Ms. Steel's novels, but, then again, both McDonald's and Budweiser seem to appeal aux grandes masses non lavées, aussi. "Courage" is the Frenchy-working title for the original 'merican-titled "Leap of Faith". https://books.google.com/books/about/Leap_of_Faith.html?id=g06NDQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://www.moz-cafe.com/ Place: Mo'z Cafe Location: 5 Masonic Avenue (on the corner of Geary Boulevard) Hours: open every day at 8:00am (now, apparently; however, they have not updated their web-site to reflect this yet) Meal: Romano Omelete[ sic ][1] ~ spinach, Greekolives and Feta cheese, served with house potatoes, mixed greens or fruit; and, to drink, a large glassa Pineapple Paradise smoothie
(Is there anything more 80's than Nena[2]? Howsabout Nena and little Kimmie Wilde together?! Now, I do not know what Nena [or little Kimmie Wilde even] thinks about Greekomeletes[ sic ] disguised as Italianomeletes[ sic ], but today happens to be Nena's 59th birthday... man, is she old! [And for the record, little Kimmie Wilde also turns 59 later this year.] Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Fräulein Gabriele Susanne Kerner!) Because it is just down the road (in this case Geary Boulevard) a piece (in this case about forty-two blocks or so), I headed back to Mo'z Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, August 4th, 2018) for breakfast. It looks like Mo'z has not only somehow lost a "t" from their "omelettes", but now no longer uses the accented "é" in "Cafe". I had arrived there a little after 7:30am (which I figured would be about a half-hour after they opened) only to find a sign on their door with their new opening hours of 8:00am... no problem, I figured that I would just head across the street over to Target to kill some time before 8:00am... except, Target also does not open until 8:00am... no problem, I figured then that I would just head up the street a half-block and kill some time at Trader Joe's until 8:00am... except, Trader Joe's also does not open until 8:00am... by the time I had walked back and forth to these other places, it was almost 8:00am, anyway, and Mo'z Cafe was just opening up. Unfortunately for me, it was way too cold to sit outside (even with my coat on and in the covered/tarped sidewalk seating area) again this morning. There was some good news this morning, their black bean chiliis vegetarian (I made sure to ask Mo for any future visits), which makes the Amore Omelete[ sic ] a vegetarian-friendly option ~ avocado, black bean chili, salsa, Cheddar cheese, and sour cream. I wonder if Mo would pour some of their excellent ranchero sauce on top of that omelete[ sic ] if I asked nicely (and promised not to make fun of any mispelinks). Do not worry, for you meatetarian-types they offer a couple of other interesting-sounding dishes on the Breakfast Specials part of their menu: Corned Beef Hash ~ corned beef, carrots, green onion and hash brown (noted as two words and singular), topped with two poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce (so, this would kinda be like Eggs O'Benedict, I suppose) and Chorizo Scramble ~ three eggs scrambled with tomato, green onion and Jack cheese, topped with black bean chili, sour cream and salsa, served with fruit or house potatoes.
(Please ignore the quality of this photo. I assure you that the quality of the taste was much better.) What was not to like about this one (other than its geographically confusing moniker)? It included some of my favourite ingredients and in good amounts, too. I was very happy to see that the "Greekolives" inside were actually Kalamata olives (I can only assume that "Greek" means "Kalamata" in Roman-speak). Plus, there was a very decent amount of Feta throughout... Mo' Feta, Mo' betta! (So, Ray forgives you for the [mis]name of this dish, Mo.) And, as always, the side of house potatoes were a really good version of homefries and came in an extremely large portion. For condimentary supplementation, Mo'z Cafe had Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (two ways: Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. I used some (about a normal ketchup-sized portion) of my own H*ll's Kitchen®Chipotle Chocolate Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) all over the potatoes. ♪ "...Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich Von neunundfünfzig Luftballons... ?!?" ♫ Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Romano Omelete[ sic ] ~ 6.8; Pineapple Paradise ~ 6.9 ___________________
1. They have this spelded kerrektly on the large menu over the counter and on their printed menus in the restaurant, but their online menu has it mispelt. I am no(t) sure if (t)hey dropped (t)he penul(t)imate "t" or (t)he las(t) "t", (t)hough. 2. While I was living in (what was still at the time West) Berlin, I actually learned a lot of useful German phrases by translating some of Nena's songs into English. You would be surprised how often "Let me be your pirate... " comes up in normal conversation in den Kneipen.
Hours: open daily at 4:30am Meal: Mediterranean Scramble ~ spinach, tomato, Feta cheese, & Kalamata olives, served with home fries & toast; and to drink, a cuppa (and one refilla) Mr. Espresso®House Roast https://mrespresso.com/coffee/blends/
(I am pretty sure that I have juxtaselectioned this particular song before [and probably more than once], but how often is it that you get two Britishlander Kaniggets chanting about Cholula®?) One should never travel on an empty stomach; it is always much easier and safer to travel on an airplane. So, before heading eastward to the Wonderful World of Disneylandia (Florida-chapter) for a pre-Christmas vacation last week, I made sure to fill up my stomach at Mission Bar & Grill prior to boarding the aircraft. It was even more convenient as the restaurant was located directly across from my boarding gate that morning. Unlike many restaurants at airports now-a-days, this particular establishment is specific to SFO only and does not have a corresponding in-city location from which it was borne. Even though "Good Airport Food" is usually an oxymoron filed just under "French Politesse" and "British Cuisine" (and, as added by several of my English friends, "American Humour"), sometimes you can get lucky and find a decent breakfastary repast at airports. At this particular establishment, I could also have ordered California Scramble (Cheddar cheese, mushrooms, tomato, & avocado). Additionally, while wandering around before my flight, I saw a few good other choices at a different restaurant (Y*nkee Pier) that was located in another boarding area in this same terminal.
I suppose this meal could also easily have been called "Greek Scramble"; it included everything you would normally get from a dish of that nomenclature. Surprisingly, for a meal that was found in an airport restaurant-joint, this turned out to be a very good breakfast. It was made with lots of Feta (chunks and crumbles) and Kalamata olives (sliced, not crumbled), which was good because those two ingredients were my deciding factors in ordering it. It was also made with fresh sautéed baby spinach. I went with sourdough for my toast choice. After the first cuppa, I decided to make my Coffee drink into a pseudo-Caffè Borgia[1] by adding the slice of orange garnish off my plate into the mug (you can just see it peaking its ugly head over the rim in the photo above). I simply considered this my daily dose of Vitamin C(offee?). For condimentary supplementation, Mission Bar & Grill offers both Cholula®Hot Sauce (Original) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. I went with a little (well, a lot ~ to those of you that would consider several splashes more than just "a little") Cholula® on the potatoes. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Mediterranean Scramble ~ 6.5 ___________________
1. A "Caffè Borgia" is a Mocha with orange rind or zest and sometimes orange flavouring added. It is often served with whipped cream and topped with cinnamon. Supposably, according to legend, the Borgia family used poisoned orange zest to murder their enemies, thus resulting in everyone nicknaming this the "Caffè Borgia". https://www.thecoffeebump.com/blog/cafe-borgia-recipe.html#.XCFYV1VKiM8
https://www.frjtzfries.com/ Place: Frjtz Location: 3412 17th Street (near the corner of Valencia Street) Hours: "Brunch" is served everyday[ sic ] from 9:00am Meal: Louise (Belgian Waffle) ~ Bananas Foster (contains Rum) with nutella®, caramel, whipped cream; a side order of "Small" Frjtz with two dips/sauces ~ Ginger Orange Mayo ('cause it is breakfast and you need your Vitamin C) and White Truffle Artichoke Ketchup; and to drink (keeping with the whole Belgian theme [Belgisch thema/Thème belge/Belgisches Thema]) a 0,33L glassa Hoegaarden®Witbier (which I christened as a "Belgian Mimosa", the waitress/server-lady person seemed to like that one) https://hoegaarden.com/beer/hoegaarden/ Also in keeping with this whole Eleventh Hour/Day/Month-theme, I figured what better way to celebrate Veterans Day 2018 than to eat at a Belgian eatery kinda place, so I headed back to Frjtz (see last 'blog-entryfrom Saturday,August 3rd, 2013). (I bet not many people were aware that right next to Flanders Field is Simpsons Field... I read it on the World Wild Webs, so it has to be true.) So, Belgian Waffles, Belgian Fries, and Belgian Beer[2] it was to be this morning. Since my last visit there, they have moved around the corner from their old Valencia Street location. This new space is much smaller (by half, at least) than the former location. It only has eight tables for two and eight seats at the counter-area by the kitchen. Luckily, I was the only idiot there that early in the morning and had the entire joint to myself. Their original location on Hayes Street (well, the second original location on Hayes Street ~ they seem to like to move next-doors) and their restaurant in Ghirardelli Square (which was my favourite location of the three; it had great views overlooking Aquatic Park/Aquatic Cove) have both been closed now for several years. I wish they had other (closer) locations in the city. One thing I really like about their "Brunch" and standard menu items is that there are so many good things from which to choose: scrambled eggs dishes, poached eggs dishes, omelettes, pancakes, French (well, Belgian-French) toast, savoury crêpes, several French fries-based dishes (which they have labelled as "Stoner Frjtz"), and, of course, Belgian waffles. There are simply way too many to list all of them, but a few other choices that I was eyeing were: the Guggenheim ~ three egg scrambled with mushrooms, spinach, veggie (uggh!) salami, Feta cheese, and cilantro pesto served with home-fried potatoes (this was going to be my original order until I decided to go all-Belgium); L'accademia ~ two poached eggs with spinach, tomato-basil sauces and Hollandaise sauce on English muffins, served with home-fried potatoes; the Benaki ~ three egg omelet with Feta cheese, tomato, green onion, Kalamata olives and spinach served with home-fried potatoes; Belvedere ~ Bananas Foster Rum French toast, topped with whipped cream, caramel, and bacon (less the dead, decaying pork-belly stuff, this is basically what I had today in waffle-form, anyway); (off the Stoner Frjtz portion of the menu) Greek ~ extra virgin olive oil, Meyer lemon brine, oregano, Feta cheese; or Vegetarian Poutine (which they have mispelded on their on-line menu as "Putine", but I did see it spelt kerrektly on their printed menus; this was also a viable back-up option this morning if I had not already gone and waffled).
This turned out to be a very sweet dish (with the Bananas Foster sauce, caramel, nutella®, and whipped cream, it was to be expected). I really did not need to add (but I did, anyway) the small plastic ramekin of maple syrup that came on the side (and, yes, I did have to try a French fry... or two... dipped into this amalgam of sweet sauces; it really wasn't half-bad). I do not think they really even needed the additional nutella® in this; it probably would have been better without it. The waffle was a bit over-cooked and that made it extra crunchy, which also made it harder to eat; I am not really complaining, just pointing it out.
Whatever I was going to order for the main breakfast, I was going to make sure to get a side order of their French fries. It is a main reason to eat there. Due to the Ice Cream sundae glass/cone shape, the amount of fries looked way more than I could finish. However, there were really less than it looks there. They were piled pretty high, but I did manage to finish all of them (of course, I did end up leaving two bites of the waffle untouched). The Belgian Mimosa actually paired very nicely with all the food; it is a bit citrusy, anyway. I think the first time that I ever had a Hoegaarden®Witbier was on Tenerife (the one in the Canary Islands, not the much more famous suburb of Boise, Idaho) during Christmas vacation 2003. The waitress/server-lady person told me that they no longer offer Stella Artois®. This really doesn't matter, as both of these breweries are now owned by the same Mega-corporation, Anheuser–Busch InBev, and the quality is not what it once was. From what I could see, Frjtz only had Tapatío® Salsa Picante®Hot Sauce in the form of pre-bottled condimentary supplements, but this did not really matter as none was needed/none was used. Now I would not know a "white truffle" from a "brown Portobello", but I liked the flavour of the ketchup choice I made. They have about twenty different types of ketchups and mayonnaises from which to choose. "But, Brian, you ordered a 'vile white goop' dip, too? I thought you hated all things related to the Mayo Clinic." First off, this is not your everyday (see, that is the correct usage of this adjective) refrigerator-quality plain ol' Hellman's gunk; it is a fresh-made aioli/mayonnaise gunk. Secondly, when in Brussels, do as the Antwerpians do... (another not so) Strange Coffee Interlude Once again this morning, before heading out into the cold, cruel (and, this weekend, "very smoky") Sunday climes, I made me another cuppa gifted Coffee from Bettys (Thanks again, Greg & Cindy!). This time it was a cuppa the simply sublime JamaicaBlue Mountain. Someone tried to convince me yesterday that Jamaica was not a country on the African Continent, mon. Ha! Nice try! If Jamaicawas not actually in Africa, why was Bob Marley always singing about that Hayley Selassie woman? Plus, do you expect me to believe that Coffee beans somehow magically floated across the Atlantic Ocean and planted themselves in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. Some people! https://www.bettys.co.uk/jamaica-blue-mountain Happy Veterinarians Day to all! Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Louise ~ 6.4; Ginger Orange Mayo ~ 6.9; White Truffle ArtichokeKetchup ~ 7.0; BettysJamaicaBlue Mountain ~ 8.2 ___________________
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist (and a bit U.S. Air Force historical) pointer of the day, numerus unus/pars una: The Latin phrase "Ut Fiat Libertas" used to be the motto of my old Air Force Squadron when I was stationed in Greece, 6916th Electronic Security Squadron (despite the electrocutionary moniker, we were not union members of IBEW... unless IBEW were actually a buncha spies, too) ~ "Home of the Proud Professionals". I think the best translation of this phrase would be: "That There Might Be Freedom." (Google Translate is giving me the direct translation: "so that it becomes the liberty of". Doesn't Mr. George Google know that you are not supposed to end a sentence a preposition with?) Of course, the old joke at our squadron was that it meant: "One Free Fiat." Because today is the day that we honour past members of the Armed Forces (especially if they were animal doctors), I paraphrased the motto to make it a bit more breakfastarily sound. Hence, my titular phrase kinda means: "That there might be Breakfast."
Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, deel twee/deuxième partie/Zweiter Teil: Just for the h*ck of it, here are the Dutch/French/German (respectively) translations of "Ut Fiat Libertas" (well, as best as I can come up with from the likes of Google Translate again): Dat er vrijheid kan zijn. Qu'il pourrait y avoir la liberté. Dass dort Freiheit sein könnte. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, deel drie/partie trois/Teil drei: "Breakfast" might be a universal language, but they say it three different ways even in one small country in Europaland: Ontbijt Petit Déjeuner Frühstück 2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, nummer twee/numéro deux/Nummer zwei: Waffles Wafels Gaufres Waffeln French Fries Frietjes Frites Pommes Frittes Beer Bier Bière Bier
