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 janvieret aussiDimanche 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 Endrestaurant & 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 VelvetLatte ~ 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 Frittataat 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
"They may take our first name... but they will never take our Puka French Toast!"[1] ~ Sir William Kalani Paiʻea Wohi o Kaleikini Kealiʻikui Kamehameha o ʻIolani i Kaiwikapu kauʻi Ka Liholiho Kūnuiākea Wallace
http://www.grindzrestaurant.com/ Place: grindz Location: 832 Clement Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues) Hours: open Saturday & Sunday at 9:00am for "Brunch" Meal: Puka French Toast ~ brioche, piña berrycompote, vanilla Chantilly; a side of potatoes; and a cuppa (and two full refillas) Bicycle Coffee co https://www.bicyclecoffeeco.com/
(I am sure that Bruddah Iz loved him some Puka French Toast, too.) Sometimes you just want to keep it local and simple for breakfast, so I simply located myself back to grindz (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, February 18th, 2017... so, simply-exactly one year ago) again this morning. My attentive and knowledgeable (we talked about Bicycle Coffee co a bit) server-dude this morning was Chase. He did a great job plying and re-plying me with the good Coffee stuff.
I only have kine words to say about this dish! Sure, I may have ordered this same meal on my last visit, but that was the first time that I had ever had it in the (at the time) five years that I had been going there. What can I say? It made the #3 spot on "My Favourites" of 2017 for a reason. They offer this as a "half" (1 piece) or "full" (2 pieces) order. (Now why would anyone want just one piece?!) I am not exactly sure what is in their piña berry compote, but I think there were at least some blackberries-and/or-raspberries (both of which are not botanical berries, of course; however, the fruit of the pineapple tree is considered "coalesced berries"; go figger) and blueberries (now this is an actual botanical berry, Chuck). Luckily, I did get a lot more of the tasty compote this time than last year. I bet this French toast would also be great with their Li Hing Pineapples(ripe pineapples dusted with Li Hing powder [ground dried plum skin]) and/or coconut crème Anglaise (which they use on their Apple Banana Pancakes; I can attest to this being a very good topping, too) on top. Unfortunately, once again they have stopped serving their extremely good Plantation Potatoes, but the current homefries version was still very good.
grindzoffers two of their own homemade (restaurant-made, whatever) condimentary supplements: The Original Hawaiian Ketchup and The Original Chili Pepper Water. Because I already have a bottle of their ketchup in my refrigerator, I used a good bit of the Chili Pepper Water on the potatoes... and because I brought it with me (specifically for this deliberately disgustingly diabolical purpose), I used some of my own (just a hihihi[2] dusting really) Charlie's Chili Stuff by Thyme Farm Vinegars (Thanks, Sharon!) on one of the slices of French toast. (Don't you dare judge me!) Just as I had expected, it really went very nicely, too!
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Puka French Toast ~ 7.6; Bicycle Coffee co ~ 7.2; Bruddah Iz ~ 7.8 ___________________
1. Even if those greedy corporate bastages at Ono Hawaiian BBQ made them change their name a few years back, dis is still some of the ono-est grindz, bruddah! 2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: According to Google Translate (and I can not believe that they even offer a Hawai'ian-English choice) the translation for "a skosh" in Hawai'ianese is "hihihi".
(No hay el sitio-web oficial.) Place: the Castro Republic Location: 2295 Market Street (on the corner of 16th Street) Hours: open Saturday and Sunday at 9:00am para el desayuno Meal: Huevos Escalfados[1] ~ poached egg/s [ sic/s ], olive oil, lemon, sea salt, Marash pepper[2], served over toast, topped w/ avocado and spinach salad with cherry tomatos [ again sic ]; a side of Grilled Potatoes (or possibly "Potatos", Dan); and a glassa Blood Orange Lemonade(which came served in a Ball® jar-glass) A few weeks back, when I ate at KITCHEN Story, I happened to notice a new(-ish) restaurant in the same neighborhood that I had never had breakfast at before. the Castro Republic[3] has only been open a little over a year (and the last time that I had breakfast in the Castro was about two years ago now). I liked the look of their menu de desayuno and made myself a mental note (♪) to get back there one of these days. Well, because today happened to be "one of these days", and I have about run out of new places to try in San Francisco, anyway, I figured that today was as good a day as any to finally play that mental note (♪). the Castro Republic is a small-to-medium sized place with seating of twelve tables for two and two tables for six. Plus, outside on the Market Street sidewalk, there are five tables for four (it was still way too chilly to sit out there at 9:00am, but I bet it's a great spot when the Sun is shining... well, if the Sun is shining). There were several otras buenas ideas from which to choose (however, I am just not sure when I will be getting back there again any time soon to make any of these choices): Chilaquiles ~ crispy corn chips with scrambled eggs, chile sauce, queso, crema, Fresno chiles[4], avocado and cilantro, served with black, pinto beans or salad; Verde Benedict ~ sautéed spinach, mushrooms, roasted tomatoe, served with grilled potatos or salad with citrus dressing (they do not specify anywhere on the menu that this comes topped with Hollandaise sauce, though; I might have ordered this one, but I just had another version of really good Huevos Benito last weekend which I figured would be hard to top ~ with or without any Hollandaise sauce); California Omelette ~ avocado, greens mix, green onion, Jack cheese, mushrooms, and cherry tomatos, served with grilled potatos and toast; Monte Spinach Scramble ~ eggs, baby spinach, queso, grilled potatos, salsa fresca and avocado; or Sopes Con Huevo y Carnitas ~ hand made corn sopes, with carnitas (which I would have ochenta-y-seis-ed, of course), tomatillo salsa, sunny side eggs, queso, crema, & salad or black or pinto beans.
I think that this was supposed to have been served Eggs Benedict-style with the poached eggs on top of each half-slice of the avocado toast (at least that was the impression that I got from the description on the menu). After eating one half-slice of the toast and one poached egg, I decided to do just that and laid (placed, whatever) the remaining egg on top of the toast. In my opinion (and if'n you don't wanna hear my d*mn opinions, why are you reading this silly l'il 'blog-thing in the first place?), this was the way to go. I did like the Marash chilli flakes (which were sprinkled on both of the poached eggs and on the avocado toasts); I would liked to have had more even of those, too. The side of grilled/roasted potatos was very good. It was made with both your standard yellow/white potatos and sweet potatos, and with lots of red onions mixed in with them. I would rather have seen this as an optional side in place of the baby spinach and cherry tomatos pile (even I can open a bagga baby spinach and cut cherry tomatos in half.... well, given an hour or more to prepare it). Surprisingly, the Castro Republic only had Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) for use as condimentary supplementation; I would have expected a good Mexican restaurant to offer a few other hot sauces, too. Luckily I came well-equipped and I used some of my own Dat'l Do-it®Scorching Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of both poached eggs (just a few drops on each for a bit o' heat and flavour) and some Sunbelt Plantations Vidalia® Onion Picante Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) all over the potatos (about the amount a normal person might use ketchup). Strange Coffee Interlude of the Day When I was back in Massachusetts (the newer one in New England, not the older one in Olde England) last month, my brother Kerry had given me a pounda Coffee for my birthday: Gold Star Coffee Inc - Hawaiian Kona Extra Fancy (Thanks, Kerry!). So I made sure to brew me uppa (well, drip me downa) cuppa to enjoy while keyboarding uppa this here 'blog-entry. I still am working my way through several of my Christmas gifts of Coffee, but did manage to finally use up one of those and was able to break into this newest bagga last week. I normally am not a big fan of Kona Coffee. I have always found it to be a bit on the weaker side for my tastes. This may be due to the fact that Kona Coffee is normally produced as a Light or Medium roast. However, this stuff is labeled as a Medium roast, but it really is more of a Medium-to-Dark roast and I have been enjoying it immensely. It has brought Kona Coffee to a new light in my eyes. http://goldstarcoffee.com/products/4-kona Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Huevos Escalfados ~ 6.8 (this is factoring in their mighty fine roasted potatos to the meal); Gold Star Coffee Inc - Hawaiian Kona Extra Fancy ~ 7.5 ___________________
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer del día: "Huevos Escalfados" literally translates from Spanish into English as "poached eggs". I was hoping it was going to be some kinda cool nickname for the dish. 2. Ne dedin? https://www.zingermans.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=P-MAR (There were several other on-line links from which to order Marash pepper flakes. I chose this one from Zingerman's® on purpose. I bet that I can find them locally and will not have to have them shipped from the Republic of Ireland, though.*) *(I am sure that only a few ex-residents of Sharow, Ripon, North Yorkshire, England will get that stupid joke.) 3. the "Castro" Republic? I was expecting some kinda restaurante comunista cubano. (Besides, everyone knows that there are no "Republicans" living in the Castro. That would be like a Mormon coffeehouse.) 4. http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Red_Fresno_Chile_Peppers_8101.php
"All sorrows are less with bread." ~ Mikey de Cervantes Saavedra (And they are even much less so when combined with da kine eggy-batter mixture, piña berry compote, and vanilla [crème] Chantilly[1], bruddah.)
http://www.grindzrestaurant.com/ Place: grindz Location: 832 Clement Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues) Hours: open for "Brunch" Saturday and Sunday at 9:00am (well, their official-type web-site states "9:30am", but I know that they were already open and serving when I arrived there this morning at 9:05am) Meal: Puka[2]French Toast ~ brioche, piña berrycompote, vanilla (crème) Chantilly; a side of Plantation Potatoes; and a cuppa (and, because I could, two full refillas) Bicycle Coffee coDark Roast (Guatemala) http://bicyclecoffeeco.com/
(Believe me, I tried finding Ukulele Jake[3] doing a EweToobular version of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" [the other Bruce Springfield hit after "Jessie's Girl"]. This will have to suffice. "If it's jake with Jake, it's jake with me!") Luckily for me, the last few days of torrential rainfall had stopped a few hours before I was going to head out this morning for breakfast at grindz (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, May 22nd, 2016). Even though I no longer have grindz in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I am giving them a Spring Training try-out. There are still a few items left on their "Brunch" menu that I want to try one of these days: Li Hing[4]Pineapples (ripe pineapples dusted with Li Hing powder [ground dried plum skin]; which I would have had to have supplemented with an order of Plantation Potatoes, too) and Breakfast Sandwich (furikake[5] brioche, sage breakfast sausage, egg, Cheddar, mixed greens; but no matter how intelligent those dead, decaying porky products might be, I would have had to have them substituted for avocado). If ever needed, I can always re-order my (past) favourite dish of theirs, Kalua Benedict (kalua pig, luau[6], Kings sweet bread, piña de gallo, tarragon Hollandaise, potatoes; which I always order without the shredded piggy-stuff).
(I only wish that I knew how to say "Yowzah!" in Hawai'ianese.) Not only was this dish very good, it is now my favourite dish of theirs (overtaking my old favourite Kalua Benedict). Plus, I am claiming this as my Best "New" French Toast Find of 2017! This was made with two very thick (easily an inch-and-a-half to two inches thick) slices of homemade (well, restaurant-made) brioche bread (the owner/manager lady-person informed me of this when I was raving about how much I liked it; not that this piece of information would ever influence my Glen Bacon Scale Rating, but it is always good to know). This dish was very similar to their dish, grindzWaffle (which I have had in the past, and they do not seem to offer on the "Brunch" menu any longer), but just way much better, due to the fact that it was made with homemade (well, restaurant-made) brioche bread. How have I missed this great dish all of these years?!? I have been going to grindz for the past five years now ever since they opened (two months after they opened, actually) and have never ordered this before. If I were getting paid for this silly little 'blog-thing, I would fire myself for this major omission. Now this may not be quite as good as le Pain Perdu ultime at Baker Street Bistro, but I am highly recommending this to anyone that likes French toast or sweet breakfast dishes. If I did have one little complaint, it would be that I would liked to have had more of the extra-tasty piña berrycompote; I am sure that if I asked for some more, they would have provided it to me, anyway. Also of (high) note, they are now making their potato side dish again like they did in the past as Plantation Potatoes (not that there is anything wrong with hashbrowns, these are just so much better). These are made with lots of chopped celery bits, (white) onions, and red bell peppers (in addition to lots of cubed roasted potatoes, of course). Smart*ss Coffee-snob comeuppance interlude ("D'oh!") I normally like to know which specific roast/blend of Coffee that I am drinking from the local roasteries. So, I asked the waitress/server lady-person. Me: Which Bicycle Coffee co do you serve? Waitress/server lady-person: I think it's a Medium Roast. Me: Okay, thanks! (Then, thinking to myself, "Why do I even bother?!", because I just figured she had no clue.) Well, it turns out that Bicycle Coffee co does not use any fancy-schmancy names for their blends/roasts and that they do have one simply called "Medium Roast". However (because I didn't want to settle for the simplistic answer "Medium Roast"), a little later on, I asked the owner/manager lady-person the same question and she told me that it is a "Dark Roast", and this time I did ask a little further and she told me that is just what Bicycle Coffee co calls it. So, my Coffee-snobbery may have been wrong in not believing the "Medium Roast" moniker, but it also turned out that the waitress/server lady-person was wrong in her answer. So there! (Now back to our regularly scheduled unsnobbish 'blog-program.) grindzoffers two very nice homemade (well, restaurant-made) condimentary supplementations: The Original Chili Pepper Water and The Original Hawaiian Ketchup (as pictured above in the opening photo). Knowing this, I did not bother bringing any of my own hot sauces with me this morning. I used a little of each on differing halves of the potatoes. I even ended up buying a bottle of the The Original Hawaiian Ketchup to bring home with. Right now I still have wayyyyyy too many (near-enough to thirty bottles) of my own hot sauces, or I might have bought a bottle of the The Original Chili Pepper Water, too. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Puka French Toast ~ 7.6; Plantation Potatoes ~ 7.3 ___________________
1. Now, I could not tell you the difference between a good crème Chantilly and regular ol' whipped-up cream, but here is some information and a recipe for anyone wanting to "cook" some up themd*mnselves: http://www.thegoodlifefrance.com/chantilly-cream/ 2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number one: "Puka" (as in "puka shells", apparently) is the Hawai'ianese word for "hole" and refers to the naturally occurring hole in the middle of small seashells. (Now, why they have named a bready-breakfast dish after a sea-snail's home, I dunno, brah. Maybe that is the secret ingredient in their crème Chantilly.) 3. Jiminy Cricket! Let's see how many people get that silly little pun. 4. Yeah, I could do another whole "stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day" thing here, but I figured it's just easier to link the information that was already gathered by the friendly folks at WikipediA (even if their information can be suspect at times): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_hing_mui 5. Once again, I am just going with the much simpler WikipediA link than doing a whole 'nuther* verkakte** (not to be confused with furikake***) "stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furikake It seems that this product is not vegetarian-friendly. If I ever order this dish, I would have to ask for it without any of the grounded-up dried fish-stuff. *(Is there such a thing as a "half 'nuther"?) **(Subsetted stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: "Verkakte", with the adverbial meaning of "sh*tty or cr*ppy", comes from the Yiddish word "פֿאַרקאַקטע" ["farkakte"] which means "sh*tted upon". Its word root is from the verb "קאַקן" ["kakn"] [meaning "to sh*t, def*cate"]. I kakn you not. It is interesting to note that this rather vulgar word does not appear in my usual go-to lexicon of Yiddishisms, TheJoysofYiddish by Leo Rosten.) ***( And I always thought that "furikake" meant "Kitty Bung-holes" in German.) 6. (Now here I will settle for my own) stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number two: "Lūʻau" (and if I need to tell you how to pronounce this word, you will have to deal with Danno) is the Hawai'ianese word for "taro leaves", literally "young taro tops".
http://www.pomelosf.com/ Place: pomelo ~ REFRESHINGLY GLOBAL Location: 1793 church street (at 30th street) Hours: "global brunch": saturday and sunday at 10:00am Meal: makena (maui) ~ crunchy french toast – banana rum-stuffed pain de mie dipped in mascarpone egg batter and rolled in corn flakes, with roasted macadamias and warm coconut syrup; a side of house potatoes (they don't specify which country the house is in, though); a complimentary (and complementary) mini-muffin ~ today's was a strawberry-rhubarb; and a cuppa (and 1-1/2 refillas) Mr. Espresso® (I didn't ask which specific roast/blend it was) http://mrespresso.com/
(Because everyone knows that the Swedish word for "pomelo" is "norgren"[1][2]... ) It's been a few years since I last went to pomelo (see last 'blog-entry from November 15th, 2014), so I figured it was time for a return visit. At one time (back when the place was known as Valentine's), this restaurant was in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation. I DFA'd them several years back due to the distance and time to get "all the way over" to the far end of Noe Valley. This DFA-manship was not in any way due to the quality or quantity of items from which to choose. They still serve great food and have many choices for stupid vegetarians and those that partake of the dead, decaying animal-flesh alike. Some of the other global destinations that I was thinking about this morning were: monte cristo (italy) ~ polenta sandwich with prosciutto, mozzarella, sun dried tomato and basil, pan fried in olive oil, served with a balsamic reduction, two eggs your way and seasonal greens (of course, I would have had to ottantasei la carne maiale morto in decomposizione); bern (switzerland) ~ swiss rösti – crispy grated potato with bacon, onion and gruyère cheese, topped with one egg sunny side up, butter lettuce and cherry tomato salad (I don't know if I could have ordered this ohne den toten und abklingende Schweines Hintern; I didn't really ask); masantol (philippines) ~ filipino style spicy sizzling tofu with chili peppers, garlic, onion, soy sauce and lemon (don't judge me, I have had much stranger stuff for breakfast before); lop buri (thailand) ~ ไขย่ ดไส khai yat sai - thai style stuffed omelet with minced pork, tomato, onion, garlic, cilantro, thai basil, thai chilies, served with lime-garlic-chili sauce (again, I would have ordered this โดยไม่ต้องเนื้อหมูตาย; 555!); otsu (japan) ~ cold buckwheat noodle salad with cucumber, scallion, cilantro & a spicy soy, ginger & sesame dressing, topped with pan sautéed tofu;
or pomelo (apparently this poor little salad has no homeland) ~ butter lettuce, baby arugula, roasted sweet pepper, grilled peach, gorgonzola, large herb mustard vinaigrette.
I mainly went with this breakfastary destination because I have never been to Hawai'i (or hawai'i)[3]. I suppose that I have also never been to the Philippines (or the philippines), Thailand (or thailand), or Japan (or japan), but I felt like having French toast (or french Toast) this morning. This turned out to be rather smallish in stature, but, thankfully, it was LARGE in flavour. I am glad I had ordered the side o' potatoes; it probably wouldn't have been enough even for my appetite otherwise. I really liked the coconut cream sauce/syrup and there was a lot of it to go around ~ literally, it was surrounding the pieces of French toast (or french Toast) like little archipelagos of tastiness. There was lots of Macadamia nuts all over the mess, too; a lot of places tend to go very cheap with the amount used of these "nuts"[4]. Now I can't be sure, but it seemed to me that the roasted Macadamias may have also been salted, which gave the dish a nice salty-sweet twist to it. While this may not have been Baker Street Bistro quality Pain Perdu, it was definitely very tasty to me ~ cornflakes, bananas, coconut cream-syrup, and Macamadamia nuts... what's not to like?! I ended up taking the surplus (and superfluous) mint leaves-sprig out of the top of one of the French toast (or french Toast) squares and added it into my cuppa (à la what I normally do at Baker Street Bistro or what you might find at Philz Coffee).
I like the selection that pomelo offers for condimentary supplementation: Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (three types: Original Red Sauce, Green Jalapeño Sauce, and Chipotle Sauce); Cholula®Hot Sauce (Original); and El Yucateco®Hot Sauce Salsa Picante de Chile Habanero (the red kind). However, I had brought a few of my own hot sauces with me and went with some Marie Sharp's Grapefruit Pulp Habanero Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on half of the potatoes and some Dragon BreathGarlic Hot Sauce (Thanks again, Mom!) on the other half of the potatoes. (Here is where I would have liked to have stated that I brought along the Marie Sharp's as a planned breakfastary juxtaselection for the whole "pomelo" thing, but it was actually just a serendipitous supplementary turn of events.) I don't know if it is globally refreshing or not (this morning was a rather chilly and wet, foggy morning), but there was the same little Chihuahua (¿la chihuahuaita?)[5] from a few visits back waiting patiently outside while her stupid human fed his belly and sat inside the warm, dry joint... Glen Bacon Scale Rating: makena ~ 7.4 ___________________ 1. Really? No one actually bought that stupid Cliff Clavinism, did they? Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: (part a) The actual word for "pomelo" in Swedish is "pomelo" (simply pronounced as "pom-MELLO" ~ see, sometimes this cunning linguistic stuff ain't always raket vetenskap). (part b) The word for "grapefruit" in Swedish is "grapefrukt" (simply pronounced as "GRAPE-frookt" ~ and sometimes it ain't even hjärnoperation, too). 2. If you have never heard of Daniel Norgren and enjoyed these two simple songs that I have provided this morning, you should check out some more of his stuff on EweToobor check out his official-type web-site thing: http://www.superpumarecords.com/danielnorgren/ 3. I have been to 48 other of these here Yoo-nited States. I have never been to Hawai'i (or hawai'i) or North Dakota (or north dakota). Some day I hope to get to Hawai'i (or hawai'i), though. 4. Botanically-speaking (I don't remember "Botanical" being one of the languages taught at DLI), Macadamia nuts are not really a "nut", but are the kernel of the fruit from the Macadamia trees. Additionally, coconuts are not actual "nuts" either. (However, true "nuts" can be found all over Washington, D.C. during this Presidential Harvest Season.) 5. Speaking of dogs, Macadamias are toxic to dogs. Ingestion may result in macadamia toxicity marked by weakness and hind limb paralysis with the inability to stand, occurring within 12 hours of ingestion. Depending on the quantity ingested and size of the dog, symptoms may also include muscle tremors, joint pain and severe abdominal pain. In high doses of toxin, opiate medication may be required for symptom relief until the toxic effects diminish, with full recovery usually within 24 to 48 hours. Always be careful what you feed your K-9 friends, folks. Luckily, "the vile weed" has not been proven to be harmful to dogs...
