"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." ~ Groucho Marx "Mustard's no good without roast beef." ~ Chico Marx "*honk*, *honk*!" ~ Harpo Marx
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: Sautéed Vegetable Scramble(an off-menu item now) ~ scrambled eggs, red peppers, tomatoes, scallions, button mushrooms, melted goat cheese, served with fresh fruit and roasted potatoes; to drink, a glassa Ocean Beach ~ | Skyy Vodka | peach schnapps | pineapple | cranberry, which came with another neo-retro paper straw; and, of course, a basket (which included two this morning) of (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!)
(Hey, Brian, just what the h*ck does Queen or "Bohemian Rhapsody" have anything to do with today's meal? Well, maybe Freddie Mercury and the rest of those Queenie-boys liked them some [World] Famous Cliff HousePopovers[!], too. And there is the fact that this song was prominently featured on their album named "A Night at the Opera". Mamma mia, now d'yer get it, Signore Galilei?!) Doubling-up/-down/-heading on all of the restaurants in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I returned to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, November 3rd, 2019; so, basically, last week) again this morning.
Holy smoke (fog, whatever)! What a difference a week makes! Unlike last Sunday morning's gorgeous weather, the view out the window today was... well... almost nonexistent. The coastal fog was so thick that you could barely see Seal Rocks, which are only about one hundred yards offshore. (For a change, the blurriness of this photo is not really my fault or due to any intentional bokehocity.)
This particular item is no longer listed on their Breakfast menu. Luckily, Chris had informed me last week that it could still be ordered/made. Otherwise, the choice of items for st*pid vegetarians is very limited. This was always one of my favourite offerings of theirs, anyway. I suppose, in a pinch, I could always order a Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sandwich ~ ciabatta bread, red peppers, goat cheese, fresh basil, garlic fries; it is actually listed on their Lunch menu portion, but I was informed by my friendly waiter/server-person guy[1] that the Lunch menu items can also be ordered during breakfast hours. Cool! (Same as last weekend) Today's side of fruits included: watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, strawberry (one), and red grapes(two). Thankfully, the Ocean Beach did not taste anything like the Pacific Ocean. However, I thought there was a bit of grittiness when drinking it and coulda sworn there was some sand from outside in it. (Again, same as last weekend) For condimentary supplementation, the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House only has Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce). I used some of my own Dat'l Do-it®Spicy Jalapeno (noted sin virgulilla, Ms. Swinton) Hot Sauce (Thanks,Mom!) generously doused all over the scramble-mess and some Dragon's Lair Extra HotCayenne & Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks again,Mom!) on the potatoes. Additionally, I sprinkled a whole lotta McCormick®Grill Mates®Smokehouse MapleSeasoning all over everything... and I mean everything... including the fruits! (Well, I did not sprinkle any on the [World] Famous Cliff HousePopovers[!], 'cause that woulda just been sacrilegious!) Do not mock my fruit-spicening, this is a very common practice in Mexico with watermelon and mangoes.
Hollywoodland Spotlight of the Day I think this is a photo of Louis Feinberg, Moses Horwitz, and Jerome Horwitz ~ better known professionally as the Ritz Brothers. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Sautéed Vegetable Scramble ~ 6.7; Ocean Beach ~ 7.0; (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!) ~ 8.2; the comedic antics of the Ritz Brothers ~ 8.5 (I would rate them higher, but everyone knows that the real humour-talent in that family belonged to Milton and Herbert.) ___________________ 1. Whose name I completely forget, but he has worked there for thirteen years now and always recognizes me as "the hot sauce guy" whenever I am there when he is working. He told me this morning that his favourite hot sauce is Marie Sharp's (original) Habanero Pepper Sauce. It is a good one. I like that one, too. https://www.mariesharps.bz/portfolio-item/original-fiery-hot/ He also told me that he was a D*dgers fan... at least he has good taste in hot sauces.
(World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!)... for what ails ye!
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: Shakshuka ~ two poached eggs on a bed of lightly spiced tomato and red pepper sauce with goat cheese & green onions served with warm pita bread, and also served with a side of fruit and roasted potatoes; to drink, a Ramos Fizz ~ Gordon's® Gin | sweet & sour | egg whites | cream | orange flower water (so, your basic Breakfast-themed beverage), which came with another neo-retro paper straw; and, of course, a basket (which included three this morning) of (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!)
(Despite the contradictory themes in these two temporal-related songs by the Rollink Stonz boyz, I am sure that both Sir Mick and Kommoner Keef hate Daylight Saving Time [either the Start or the End] as much as I do.) When I woke up this morning, I was not sure that I was going to go out for a breakfastary repast. I think something that I ate yesterday did not agree with me (much like my family... except, with an upset stomach, I can always take some Pepto-Bismol™; unfortunately, they do not offer that for family get-togethers yet). It was quite possibly the Burger King®Impossible™Wh*pper® that I had yesterday for lunch. But then I got to thinking, if (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) can not quell my stomach woes, nothing could. So, (even though Baseball Season ended last week ~ Congratulations to the 2019 World Champion Washington Nationals!), to close out my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I simply went back to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, May 26th, 2019).
What a gorgeous Autumn day to be a seabird out on Seal Rocks! (This was the view from my seat this morning.)
This is a brand new item on their menu. It was not offered back in May on my last visit. My ever-informative waiter/server-guy, Chris, (who has been working there as long as I have been going there; I usually pester the H*ll outta him about some of the lesser-know Hollywoodland stars' photos on the walls) said that they just added this to their menu in the last four months. Chris also told me that the Shakshuka has become an instant hit with many of the patrons; he also told me that most patrons usually have to ask him just what the h*ck exactly is a "Shakshuka". At first, this did not look like an awful lotta food, but with the three (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!), potatoes, and fruit, it ended up being almost too much for me to finish. I did "force" myself to eat the last bite of my (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!), though. Needless to say, I fully enjoyed this version of Shakshuka. With the recent menu change, they no longer offer either Farmer's Scrambleor Sautéed Vegetable Scramble(which had been two of my stalwart favourites in past years). However, Chris astutely informed me that you can still order both of these items "off-menu", too. Seems like a decent menu trade-off to me. Today's side of fruits included: watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, strawberry (one), and red grapes (two). For condimentary supplementation, the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House only has Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce). I just used a little of my own H*ll's KitchenWhiskey Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the potatoes and several grinds of The Spice & Tea Exchange®Earthly Delight Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!) on top of the Shakshuka and potatoes.
Hollywoodland Spotlight of the Day Positioned just over my left shoulder this morning was the above autographed photo of Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland. She is a two-time Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award winning actress ("To Each His Own" [1946] and "The Heiress" [1949] ~ both for Best Actress). Still alive today, at 103 years of age, she is among the last surviving movie stars of the Golden Age of Classical Hollywoodland. I think her younger sister acted in a few Hollywoodland movies, too. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000014/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1 Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Shakshuka ~ 7.2; Ramos Fizz ~ 7.1; (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) ~ 8.2
Goodbye, dead, decaying porky-butt bits, Though I never knew you at all...
https://www.hollywoodcafesf.com/ Place: Hollywood Cafe Location: 530 North Point Street (coincidentally enough, near the corner of Taylor Street) Hours: open everyday[ sic ] at 7:00am Meal: Asparagus Eggs Benedict ~ bacon (which was edited out, Mr. DeMille ), asparagus & tomato, two poached eggs on English muffin, topped with our own Hollandaise sauce, served with hash browns (which I had upgraded to Hollywood Hash Browns ~ hash browns topped with bacon [sorry, these also did not see the final cut], mushroom, onion, bell pepper, basil flakes & melted Cheddar cheese); and to drink a glassa 100% Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
(There is no EweToobular juxtaselection with these songs and today's breakfast destination. Well, there is this bit of Cliff Clavinistic Hollywoodland factoid: Marilyn Monroe was once "the Asparagus Queen of 1944".[1]) While Hollywood Cafe(see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, October 29th, 2017) is not technically a part of the Taylor Street Coffee Shop-family mini-chain of restaurants, I think that it is owned by the brother of the owner of TSCS-etc. So, I figured to make it the Compleat Package Tour, I might as well head back to their "cousin-restaurant", too. Their online menu states that they have been open "Since 1989"; however, I am not sure if that is with the current ownership or just that a restaurant called "Hollywood Cafe" has been at this same location since then. As best as I can figure (from yet still another truly extensive-and-intensive Intro-Net search [read: checking out yelp* for the earliest reviews again]), this restaurant was open at least as far back as January 2008; whereas, the original Taylor Street Coffee Shop predates it by a few years, opened since at least March 2005. I had arrived just a little after 7:00am and there were still several empty tables inside, which was good 'cause it was still too early, too overcast/foggy, and wayyyy too chilly to sit outside comfortably at one of their sidewalk tables. (Let all the st*pid touristas that get up after 7:30am occupy those tables!) I had arrived so early that I even scored a legal and free (well, until 9:00am, at least, 'cause, even on Sundays, the parking meters run in this part of the city to be sure to get every last penny outta the st*pid touristas) parking spot directly across the street this morning. This being only my fourth trip to Hollywood Cafein about an eight-year span, there are still a few other viable ideas left for st*pid vegetarian types: Rancheros (as in "Huevos... ") ~ two eggs over-medium with homemade (well, café-made) tomato spicy sauce, avocado, Mozzarella cheese (???; I think auténtico queso fresco mexicano would be more natural here), corn chip (listed in the singularity on the menu, mind you, but I am sure they give you more than one), lettuce, drizzled homemade (whatever) cream cheese (I think they probably meant some type of sour cream, though); Hash Burrito ~ scrambled eggs with hash browns, avocado, ham & cheese (well, just "... & cheese" for me), our own wasabi cream sauce (this sounds intriguing), wrapped in tortilla; Veggie Sandwich ~ grilled mushroom, tomato, onion, avocado, bell pepper, cherry pepper, sprouts & Swiss cheese on whole wheat bread; Vanilla French Toast ~ with homemade (you know the drill) vanilla-banana sauce garnished with whipped cream and almonds; or Dolce French Toast ~ topped with fried banana, mixed berries & candied walnut (once again, listed as a singular item on the menu, but I bet you get at least two whole walnut pieces) with whipped cream. Additionally (and especially), for those of you that do partake of the dead, decaying porky-butt bits, they offer something similar to the Taylor Street Coffee Shop-family mini-chain's Millionaire's Bacon®, which they simply call Sweet Bacon (and do not feel the need to "®"-ise or "™"-ise it) ~ glazed with maple syrup, fresh orange juice, brown sugar & Grand Marnier®. I did not see it as a side dish on any of the neighboring tables, so I am not sure if it is the same thick-cut style. However, it is much cheaper ($6.99 for four slices) than the Millionaire's Bacon® (listed on their different menus from $7.50 to $9.00 for just two slices [yes, you read that correctly; hence the "Millionaire's" moniker]; smoked tofu ain't never cost that much). They also have an interesting-sounding Korean breakfast/health drink listed that I have never heard of or tried before: Misugaru[2]Legume Latte ~ homemade (again, café-made) multigrain drink with steamed soymilk & honey. I wanted to keep it simple this morning, so I chickened-out (or, as is the case with being a st*pid vegetarian, I "Tofurky®-ed-out"). Next time, perhaps.
There was nothing extremely special about this version of ol' Benny's eggs on English muffins, but any time asparagus is included in a dish, it is a given that I will automatically like it. This was made with fresh, sautéed asparagus, not frozen, too. The Hollywood-ised hashbrowns was (were?) definitely the way to go. I probably coulda made a whole meal outta a side order of those with some toast and an egg over-medium atop the heap. Thankfully, I am not a fungophobe as there were more mushrooms than most of the other ingredients. (Can you imagine being a st*pid vegetarian that does not like mushrooms? That would be almost as bad as not liking br*ccoli... ) Now if they only had an option to also add some diced-up, fresh, sautéed asparagus to the mess, they could call it Millionaire's Hash Browns® and make a real killing... Hollywood Cafeoffered both Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce and Greeñ Jalapeño Sauce) and Cholula®Hot SauceOriginal for use in the way of any condimentary supplements. I used some of my own H*ll's KitchenSriracha Chili Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) all over the hash-stuff and some Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on top of both poached eggs (I made sure to taste the Hollandaise sauce first; it was okay, but it didn't hurt any to have it spiced-up some). I also used some more sprinklings of my McCormick®Grill Mates®Smokehouse MapleSeasoning all over both the potato-mess and the egg-piles (the flavours might not exactly have been a match, but I bought the d*rn thing, so I am gonna use the d*rn thing). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Asparagus Eggs Benedict ~ 6.6; Hollywood Hash Browns~ 6.9 ___________________ 1. Nah, not really. But Marilyn Monroe was crowned "Artichoke Queen of 1948" in Castroville ("the Artichoke Heart of the World"), Callie-for-nee-ya. https://artichokefestival.org/about-festival/ 2. This is not some kinda unattainable training exercise for Starfleet Academy cadets. I asked. https://mykoreankitchen.com/korean-multigrain-shakes-misutgaru/
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: Thick Sliced Sourdough French Toast ~ maple syrup, crisp bacon (once again, they were nice enough to substitute the dead, decaying crispy porky-butt bits with some of their very good breakfast roasted potatoes), powdered sugar, and fresh apple compote; a basket of three (3) (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!); and a glassa Cliff House Classic Bloody Mary ~ Skyy Vodka, house mix of tomato juice/chili sauce/clam juice (much like the dead, decaying crispy porky-butt bits, I made sure to request the drink without this item; besides, just what kinda satanic juicer/blender would be used to make this un-dogly ingredient?!)/horseradish (this came with a neo-retro paper straw; hence, the opening query and the following EweToobular song)
[1] As has been the norm for several years now, to close-out the mid-Spring workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I returned to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, January 27th, 2019).
I had arrived at the Cliff House about twenty minutes before they were scheduled to open, so, to kill some time ("I swear it was in self-defense, your Honour!"), I decided to walk around the building to ward off the (extra) breezy and cold(-ish) weather this morning. I was pleasantly surprised by the sight of several large pods of Pelicans flying in nice Military V-formations (in honour of the Memorial Day weekend, perhaps?). Even with my sojourn around the perimeter of the building, I still ended up being the second "group" in line waiting. Because they were a little late to open this morning, I got to talking to the three people in front of me and one of the nice ladies even invited me to join them this morning for breakfast. I politely declined, but told them to try and get the "The Wizard of Oz" table (where there are autographed photos of both Frances Gumm and Francis Phillip Wuppermann on the wall over a specific table ~ this was also the same table at which I sat on my previous visit), and, as luck would have it, they were seated right at that table, too!
(Ooopsie! Looks like the Cliff House needs to House-train their pets.)
This drink was a veritable meal unto itself. It included the compulsatory celery stalk along with a pimiento-stuffed olive, a small Hungarian chilli (or close enough for varietal purposes), and a wedge of lime. It was already pleasantly spicy enough that I did not need to pep-it-up any with any shots from my own hot sauces.
After twenty-five-plus years of eating at the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House now, this might be only the second time that I have ordered this dish. Trust me, this was a major oversight on my part (perhaps, my breakfastary vision has been a bit myopic). This is a very good version of French toast, and by using thick slices of local sourdough, it not only gives it a distinctive flavour, but does not become over-soggified (it's a real word... look it up!) by the eggy-batter. Unfortunately, I think that this meal may have been a bit of a carboverload; what with the three (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!), French toast, potatoes, and I am sure that there were some superfluous carbohydrates in the Bloody Mary, too. the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House only has Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) for use as a condimentary supplement. I used some of my own Peaks of Otter PeppersInca GoldHot Sauce (Thanks,Cindy & Greg!) on the potatoes and a few grinds of my grains of paradise grinder all over the potatoes... and a bit on top of the French toast, too. (Do not judge me for my taste-quirks! At least I did not use any of the hot sauce on top of the French toast... however, I did give it a thought as mango and pineapple are ingredients in that hot sauce, and might very well have complemented both the maple syrup and the apple compote.)
Hollywoodland Spotlight of the Day Although I did not score "the Wizard of Oz"-table myself, on the wall over the far side of my table was an autographed photograph of George Raft. Of course, George Raft was best known for his portrayal of gangster-toughguys in many movies in the 30's and 40's. He also happened to play a major role in one of my All-Time Favourite Movies of All-Time ~ "Some Like It Hot"[2]. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0706368/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Thick Sliced Sourdough French Toast ~ 7.0; Cliff House Classic Bloody Mary ~ 7.2; (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!) ~ 8.2 ___________________
♪ "'Cause I was just thirteen when I got my first taste of... Brie and leeks... " "... and the kids are lined up on the wall and they're ready to... dine... " ♫
https://chloessf.com/ (Wow! This must be a brand new[-ish] web-site for them. It was not active last year when I ate there.) Place: Chloe♥s Cafe Location: 1399 Church Street (on the corner of 26th Street) Hours: open Monday - Sunday at 8:00am Meal: Special Scramble(off their weekend Specials Board) ~ 2 scrambled eggs w/ spinach, mushroom, leeks, fresh red bell peppers, basil, & Brie (the Frenchy soft cow's-milk cheese, not the Academy Award-winning actress... although, I am sure she woulda been plenty melty and tasty in a scramble, too), served with a choice of 2: fresh fruit, home fries (which was one of my intelligent and correct choices), green salad (yeah, right!), or toast (and this was my second intelligent and correct choice, where I went intelligently and correctly with the rosemary-potato bread); and, to drink, a large glassa grapefruit juice
(Once again, there is no real EweToobular juxtaselection with these songs and today's meal. Well, I am sure that Mikel Jollett, Steven Delopoulos, and even Mr. XV like[d] Brie and leeks in their breakfastary scrambled poultry ova dishes.) Sometimes, it is all a matter of timing... I had arrived at Chloe♥s Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, February 18th, 2018) at around 7:50am and noticed that there was already a small line (which for the size of the restaurant is sometimes enough to fill the place) beginning to form outside. I passed up a legal parking space directly in front of the restaurant because it looked like it might be a tight fit for my car-length (I did not want to be "that guy" that parks over the crosswalk line). No biggie, I found another (larger) spot just a half-block down Church Street, anyway. I decided to sit in my car listening to one last song (which just happened to be the first song above by those d*mn Toxic Avenger people) before getting into line myself. It was still a few minutes before they were to open their doors and they had not even put out the "Sign-up Sheet" yet (of which I was not aware). When they finally did put out said "Sign-up Sheet", I thought everyone in front of me had already signed-up, so I left my spot (I was last in line at the time, anyway) to check it out and only then found out that everyone in line was also waiting to "sign-up". When I went back to my place at the end of the line, there was a new couple (well, they may have been together for many years, I just mean that they were new to the end of the line) standing there. They offered me my spot back in line, but I told them not to bother because from the looks of the size of the line we would all probably get in on the first wave of diners... Ooops! Guess who missed out getting in with the first group by one table?! Because of which, I am counting that as my "Pay-it-forward (... or bugger off!) Weekend" input-deed for today. Besides, the food tasted just as good a half-hour later... Now, I coulda opted to sit outside (about fifteen minutes after they had opened, they started setting up four small, round tables ~ that could fit three to possibly four people comfortably ~ along the 26th Street sidewalk), but, by that time, I figured I could just wait another fifteen or twenty minutes for anyone in the first group to finish-up. It was not raining at that time (it had stopped raining 'round about the time I left my apartment this morning), but it looked like it was threatening to start again, anyway. (It actually did start raining about twenty minutes after I had finished eating while I was driving on my way home. Another "all a matter of timing", I suppose.)
Yes! Some things are worth waiting for! (And, yeah, sure, if you wanna get all Grammatik Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei on me, that sentence probably shoulda read: "Some things are worth waiting for, *ss-hole!") The Brie and leeks were the real standouts in this morning's scramble-mess. The leeks were finely julienned (as were the red bell peppers). Also, not many places will use "le fromage de la belle France" (Yeah, I know that was a reference to some other m*udit Frenchy cheese, Mr. Wensleydale, but you gets my point, right?!) as an ingredient. Brie is not Feta (Of course, everything's just betta with Feta!), but it did go very nicely with the rest of today's ingredients (and Brie does the melting-thing much betta than Feta). I did not really taste any basil, but I was so intent on getting the full Brie and leeks experience that I probably overlooked that one with all of the spinach (another favourite of mine, too) that was also in it. Now, who in their right mind, when given the above side choices, would ever choose a d*mn green salad or fresh fruit over homefries?! People like that should not be allowed to go out to eat at nice joints. "But... but... Brian... what if they are on a diet and are trying to eat healthy?!" Then, once again, stay at yer own homes and "eat healthy" there and leave all the other good, "unhealthy" junk to those of us that can truly enjoy it while dining out! Chloe♥s Cafe has both Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce for use as hot sauce condimentary supplements. I used some of my own Pepper PalaceChocolate Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the perfectly crispy and crunchy (See?! If'n I had been in the first wave of diners, the potatoes may not have reached their crispiocity perfection yet. Another positive "all a matter of timing"-thing.) homefries and some Dat'l Do-it®Spicy JalapenoHot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of the scrambled-mess. (another not so very) Strange Coffee Interlude When I arrived back home, to ward off some of the recent dampness and chill, I made myself a cuppa (once more via the single pour-over funnel-thing) BettysJava Kalibaru (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!). This is another gifted-Coffee that I finally just opened this morning. Now, this ain't BettysJamaica Blue Mountain, but that is not a fair comparison for most Coffees, anyway. This is another one of the many really good Coffees from the tea-totaling-folks at Bettys and it is probably my 3rd or 4th favourite of theirs. https://www.bettys.co.uk/java-kalibaru-single-origin-coffee ♪ "And the world is crying as we move along And the world is trying as we move along But they're still chopping our leeks and red bell peppers for a scramble... " ♫ Mikel and his band of friends owe me a half-hour of my life back... Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Special Scramble~ 7.0; BettysJava Kalibaru ~ 7.3
'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 HousePopovers(!) 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 HousePopovers(!), 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 Houseonly 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-MexSmack My *ssand 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 HousePopovers(!) ~ 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.
