Sweet Maple

http://www.sweetmaplesf.com/ 


Place: Sweet Maple

Location: 2101 Sutter Street 
(on the corner of Steiner Street)

Hours: open for breakfast Monday through Sunday at 8:00am

Meal: Sweet Potato Pancake ~ cinnamony healthy goodness, served with pure Vermont maple syrup (Hidden Springs Maple Syrup ~ a family-owned and operated maple syrup farm in Southern Vermont) and butter (they do not specify from which creamery they source their butter, though) and a side of Herb Roasted Potato Medley ~ consists of seasonal & regional varieties such as Chilean Purple, Yukon Gold, Gemstone Red, Russet, Sweet Yam

https://www.hiddenspringsmaple.com/

(My initial thought was to use one of Shana Morrison's[1] cover-versions of this Sir George Ivan song, but I came upon this one in the same EweToob search and really liked it.)


Because last week I ate at Taylor Street Coffee Shop again, I figured it was fitting that I should probably go through the litany of other restaurants in this local family-owned mini-chain of restaurants. Hence, next up was Sweet Maple (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, October 15th, 2017). I think this was the second restaurant that they opened (possibly third), but it has been ensconced in the Lower Pacific Heights/
Japantown/Fillmore District triangle-area since 2010.

Many of the restaurants in their mini-chain have the same or very similar dishes (just with different name-variations) and I have tried several of them already. There are still yet another few (specific to the Sweet Maple menu, at least) other ideas that seem breakfastary worthy for me:

Southern Benedict ~ chorizo (which woulda gone chorizo-no with me), cherry pepper, tomato, chipotle Hollandaise, served w/ potato medley 
(I have had their chipotle Hollandaise before and know that it is really good);

Snowed Spinach Scramble ~ baby spinach, Vermont Cheddar, Parmesan, served w/ potato medley and ciabatta au levain toast; 

or if I am the mood once again for something Sweet...

Marnier ~ French toast: creamy Grand Marnier® (citrus) batter.

There is not really much to report about this dish. It was sweet potato pancakes in all its sweet potato-goodness and cinnamocity (yeah, it's not a real word, but neither is "cinnamony"). They have this listed on the menu as "Pancake" in the singularity, but it actually came as three (possibly four?) rather large (but, thankfully, sorta thin) pancakes; otherwise, with the side of potatoes, it woulda been wayyyy too much for me to finish. Not listed on the menu was that it also comes served with two types of berries (that would be blueberries and oranges to you botanical minded-types) and one not-a-berry (that would be strawberries to you in the botanical laity) on top. (However, I am not quite sure where in the fruit-world that sprig of fresh parsley may lay. In time, I am sure that Rosemary will sagely tell me... )

I saw on their menu that you could upgrade to something called "JD syrup". This intrigued me enough to ask what exactly that meant. Sadly, it was not a syrup tapped from juvenile delinquent maple trees in Vermont. However, I was ecstatic to learn that the "JD" actually stood for "Jack Daniels" and just had to try out that junk! Unfortunately, when they brought it out in a small syrup-pourer/carafe-thing, it was chock-full-o' crispy dead, decaying porcine-butt bits. The waiter/server-person guy forgot to mention to me that it included this item, and I had to end up going back to the "plain ol' 100% Vermont maple syrup" instead... 

As far as condimentary supplementation goes, Sweet Maple offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce 
(both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce), Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and Traina® Hot Sriracha Sun Dried Tomato Ketchup. I ended up using a goodly portion of the Sriracha Ketchup on the potatoes (and don't think the thought did not cross my mind to try some on the pancakes, too, Mr. Moses Harry Horwitz!).


(yet still another not necessarily such a) 
Strange Coffee Interlude

Sure, I coulda ordered a cuppa Coffee at the restaurant to complement my breakfast ("My, Miss Pancakes, you do look lovely this morning!"), but earlier in the morning I made sure to whip-me-up (well, technically, drip-me-down) an extra-fine cuppa Koa Coffee Plantation® 100% Kona Coffee Grande Domaine Single Estate Medium Dark Roast!!! (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!)[2] This was actually from a Christmas gift, which I am finally getting around to using some of it up. Man, I wish I had known how d*rn good it was, because, trust me, it would not have made it past February! Besides, no matter how good the Coffee at Sweet Maple might have been, I knew that (even with the way that I crummily make Coffee) this superior bean/roast could not be topped. In the past I had always had a lighter (as in "way too light") roast of Kona Coffee and was never very impressed with its flavour. However, I really like this Coffee so much so that I am claiming it as "My Favourite New Coffee of 2019" (and I truly believe that you will be hard pressed [or hard-percolated] to change my mind on this before year's end, anyway). To make this early morning cuppa even more early morning special, I drank it outta my "Breakfast of Champions"[3] mug (Thanks, Sean!), too.

https://www.koacoffee.com/p/pure-kona-coffee/grande-domaine-vienna-roast-whole-bean-kona


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Sweet Potato Pancake(s) ~ 6.5;
Koa Coffee Plantation® 100% Kona Coffee Grande Domaine Single Estate Medium Dark Roast!!! ~ 7.7-7.8;
"Breakfast of Champions" ~ 6.9 (the book; actually, I would have to rate the mug at 7.9)

___________________

1. http://www.shanamorrison.com/

Trust me, Shana is a way lot cuter'n that guy from Indiana performing the Sir George Ivan song above, but I had never heard this Hoosier-guy's cover-version before and felt like going with it up top.

Just to be fair, here is Shana performing another cover-version of one of her daddy's songs:

(The fat guy in the pork-pie straw hat and glasses singing duet with her really oughtta keep his day job, though... )

2. This gift was given in the "whole bean" version and not the pre-grinded-up grounds style. 

(Just what kinda cheap-o b*stages give a person a gift of a bagga whole bean Coffee and then expect that person to have to do all the work of a'grindin'-up the beans hisd*mnself?! Pfffft! Some people!)

3. While this novel might not be my favourite book from Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (that, of course, would be "Cat's Cradle" ~ GBS Rating: 8.0, followed closely by "Sirens of Titan" ~ GBS Rating: 7.8), it was the very first one of his books that I ever did read. (Thanks, Philboyd Studge, for introducing me to the Weird and Wonderful Vonnegutian World way back in the Summer of '77!) Plus, it is one of my favourite current mugs out of which to enjoy a piping-hot Coffee beverage (and maybe even a tea or two sometimes).

Samovar®

https://www.samovartea.com/

(Unfortunately, this web-site is rather useless when trying to look at their food menu items.)


Place: Samovar®[1]

Location: 1910 Fillmore Street 
(between Wilmot Street [which is really just a two block alley] and Bush Street)

Hours: open at 7:00am Sunday - Saturday

Meal: Egg Jar ~ sous-vide[2] egg, smoked salmon (which I skipped of course), brown rice, sauerkraut, sesame oil, and tamari; Cinnamon Almond Butter (Toast); and, to drink (it is a tea shop, after all), a large cuppa Tumeric Golden Milk

(Here is a little-known Cliff Clavin-fact: 
Lady Ella's actual birth-name was "Samantha O'Var". 

Not many people know this. You can now share this information with your friends and completely amaze them [if they are the gullible type]. You can tell them it is true because you read it on the Intro-Net. They can even verify it themselves with those Scopes-people.)


Last weekend while strolling along Fillmore Street in the afternoon, I came across a new tea shop there: Samovar®. Apparently this location has been open since late Fall 2017 or such. They have two other (older) tearooms in the city and another one at the International Terminal of San Francisco Airport. I have never been to any of the other shops, but when I saw their (even though it was rather limited) food menu, I figured this would be a nice place to check out.

Their signage at the front door actually states "Samovar® Tea & Chai"[3]; however, if you ask me, that wording is a superfluous redundancy, in my opinion. The word "chai" is almost universally the word used for "tea" in many other languages already. However, when most 'mericans think of "chai", they automatically think of a spiced Indian tea drink that is more like a "Tea-Latte".

This location on Fillmore Street does not offer a lot of seating/eating area inside. I had to make do with a bench and kinda shelf/table-thing to eat at. I suppose most people just order tea drinks and either lounge wherever possible or take them to go.

They have their own ceramic mugs/cups made for them locally and are for sale as gifts. If someone had taken a picture of the meal, you would have been able to see the nice design for this particular shop.

When I had stopped in last Sunday, I pretty much had made up my mind what I was going to order today. They do have a few other interesting ideas that I will try to stop back and test out one of these days:

Sweet Singapore (Toast) ~ condensed coconut milk, sous-vide egg (if I had not already ordered a dish with a sous-vide egg in it, this was going to be my second choice; it sounded just disgusting enough that I know I will love it);

White Truffle & Egg (Toast) ~ sous-vide egg, white truffle oil, salt, pepper (another one that sounded too disgusting [read: interesting] not to give it a try]);

Chia Chai Pudding (In A Jar) ~ chia-chai pudding (I asked; they soak the chia seeds in a cold chai mixture/liquid overnight to get them to gel), raw almonds, coconut, pumpkin seeds, cranberries, blueberries, bee pollen, honey;

or 

Warm Greens (In A Jar) ~ steamed greens, olive oil, tamari, lemon juice, nutritional yeast.


(Ooops! It looks like someone had the camera set to "Video" and did not get any photos of the actual breakfastary meal. [In my defense, the "Video" setting is right after the "Close Up" setting on the dial and I must have overshot it unknowingly. Plus, I could not seem to get the videos to open properly or I probably woulda inserted one here.])


This came served in an actual  Ball® Mason jar (which I was told after I had already bused my table-space and placed it in their plastic tub to be washed/cleaned that you can keep it if you like; oh, well, next time... ). If you have never had a sous-vide egg before, its consistency is somewhere between a soft boiled egg and a poached egg. This made it easy to incorporate the cooked egg into the rice and other ingredients. As strange as it all sounds ~ sauerkraut, poached (sous-vide-d, whatever) egg, and brown rice ~ it all seemed to work very nicely with me. 

The toast was good, too, but nothing really special. It was a thick slice of Texas-style toast with a thick layer/slathering of cinnamony almond butter on it.

Now the real winner for me with this whole meal was the drink. It was made with some kinda tumeric tea base ( I can only assume it was their Tumeric Spice, which is made with tumeric, ginger, lemongrass) and milk (which they have in large heated pots at the counter all ready to serve out). It really has to be tasted to best describe it. (Well, I tasted it, of course, but you would need to do so yourd*mnself to really get what I mean.)

Additionally, I was not quite sure how all the flavours of tumeric, cinnamon, almond butter, and tamari might work together, but they also all did work out as a quite nice flavour complement.

I did not bring any of my own condimentary supplements with me this morning because I was pretty sure that I would not be needing any with the choices I had (pre-)made.

Now what were the odds of finding a good tearoom in the midst of Japantown?!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Egg Jar ~ 6.6;
Cinnamon Almond Butter (Toast) ~ 6.3;
Tumeric Golden Milk ~ 6.9

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, номер один:

The Rooskoe word "самовар" ("samovar") means "self-brewer". It is the combined form of two Rooskie words "само" (transliterated as "samo"; meaning "self"/"itself") and "варить" (transliterated as "varit'"; meaning "to cook/boil").

I explained this most interesting factoid to the two guys working behind the counter this morning. They did not seem very impressed, though.

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numéro deux:

"Sous-vide" is a new(-ish) fancy cooking term which means "under vacuum" in French.

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, номер три:

The Rooskoe word for "tea" is "чай" (transliterated as "chai" or "chaj").

Sweet Maple

http://www.sweetmaplesf.com/


Place: Sweet Maple

Location: 2101 Sutter Street 
(on the corner of Steiner Street)

Hours: open for breakfast Monday through Friday at 8:00am (however, open for "Brunch" Saturday and Sunday at 8:00am)

Meal:  (from the Benedict and Friends section of their menu) Hemingway Benedict (and I always thought his first name was Ernest) ~ smoked salmon (which did not make the edit), lemon, capers, cucumber wasabi Hollandaise, served with potato medley; and a glassa fresh-squeezed orange juice

(Sorry, as far as I know, there are no Rock-and/or-Roll singers with the last name of "Steiner" that have done duets with Sir George Ivan, so there is no corresponding EweToobular juxtaselection for today.)


I headed back to Sweet Maple (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, June 4th, 2017) mainly as a comparison to yesterday's breakfastary meal at its sister-restaurant Surisan. More than likely I will be returning to the other three to four restaurants in this family-owned mini-chain later this month, too.

The breakfast (and "Brunch") menu at Sweet Maple 
has many of the same items that are offered at Surisan; some are exact replicas (names and ingredients), and some are similar, just tweaked a bit. And like Surisan, there are still several other good ideas yet to try: 

(also off the Benedict and Friends section of their menu) 
Southern Benedict ~ chorizo (which I would have ochenta-y-seis-ed ¡Cómo no!), cherry pepper, tomato, chipotle Hollandaise (which would be the real reason to check this one out); served w/ potato medley;

(off the Omelets, Scrambles, etc. section of their menu)
Hass Omelet ~ avocado, bacon (sorry, but no, Glen), Monterey jack, side pico de gallo; served w/ potato medley and ciabatta au levain[1] toast; 

Snowed Spinach Scramble ~ baby spinach, Vermont Cheddar, Parmesan; served w/ potato medley and ciabatta au levain toast; 

(off the Maple Plates section of their menu)
Crunch Flakes ~ cornflake crusted French toast (depending on the size of this meal, I would probably have to order a side of their very good potato medley);

and

Sweet Potato Pancakes ~ cinnamony[2] healthy goodness (I would also probably order a side of the potato medley with these).

I ordered the Hemingway Benedict today because I liked the sound of it on yesterday's menu, too. As far as I can tell, this is the exact same dish as served at Surisan; Sweet Maple just adds the word "cucumber" to the sauce name. I suppose this dish might seem a tad-bit boring without the dead, decaying piscine flesh (it would be just poached eggs on English muffins, after all), but I still liked the capers (which I think had been deep-fried) and thinly sliced lemon bits in it. I was extremely happy to find (and to taste) that the cucumber wasabi Hollandaise is worth a try all on its ownsome. 

Like Surisan yesterday, Sweet Maple offers as condimentary supplements Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce; additionally, this particular restaurant also has Traina® Hot Sriracha Sun Dried Tomato Ketchup (which I have had before and knew to be very good). 
I used some of my own Palo Alto Fire Fighters 
XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce on half of the potato medley and some Traina® on the other half.

https://www.trainafoods.com/shop/product/sriracha-sun-dried-tomato-ketchup


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Hemingway Benedict ~ 6.8;
cucumber wasabi Hollandaise ~ 7.2 (on its own)

___________________

1. Che cosa?

This article is a simple explanation of what this type of bread is:

http://aulevain.canalblog.com/archives/2008/05/16/9198651.html

2. "Cinnamony"* is a totally madeuppery word.

*(Now this is pretty funny. 

On the Intro-Net, both Collins English Dictionary and Random House Dictionary have the adjectival form of cinnamon as "cinnamonic". Whereas, Merriam-Webster has it listed as both "cinnamonic" and "cinnamony". 

Take your pick. Let the World Wild Webs battle it out among themselves. Personally, I like "cinnamonic" better; it has a nice harmoniocity ring to it.)

Sweet Maple

http://www.sweetmaplesf.com/


Place: Sweet Maple

Location: 2101 Sutter Street (on the corner of Steiner Street)

Hours:  open for breakfast Monday through Friday at 8:00am (however, open for "Brunch" Saturday and Sunday at 8:00am)

Meal: Athenian Omelet ~ mixed mushrooms, olives, arugula, mild goat cheese, served w/ potato medley and ciabatta au levain toast; and to drink a glassa (well, one of those glass mugs made as if it was from a Mason jar) fresh Raspberry Lemonade


I can't believe that it has been almost three and a half years since I last had breakfast ("Brunch", whatever) at Sweet Maple (see last 'blog-entry from Thursday, December 26th, 2013). I had eaten there twice previously and really liked the meals that I had all three times.

Sweet Maple has the same owners (either one Korean guy, or possibly a Korean family) as four other restaurants in San Francisco (all of which I have had breakfast at, too). Sweet Maple was the second restaurant that they opened (back in 2010). Their original/first location is Taylor Street Coffee Shop (a downtown location; see last 'blog-entry from Thursday March 16th, 2017); their third in the "chain" is Blackwood (in the trendy/upscaley area of the Marina; open since June 2012; see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, October 7th, 2012); their fourth restaurant is Kitchen Story (in the Castro; open since November 2012; see previous 'blog-entry from February 23rd, 2013); and, lastly, number five is their newest restaurant Surisan (in Fisherman's Wharf; which just opened in December 2016; see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, March 19th, 2017). They are all very good restaurants for breakfast, too. The common factor in each of these restaurants seems to be their signature dead, decaying porcine product "Millionaire's Bacon®" (they actually have the "®" in the dish name; however, I am not exactly sure if it has been registered with a national trademark office; one thing is for sure, it definitely can not also use the symbol "Ⓤ" in it's name) ~ thick, free range bacon, baked with brown sugar, cayenne, red and black pepper. In case you haven't noticed, all of these restaurants are in either trendy/upscaley or tourista-laden locations; so, I doubt that I will be seeing one of their restaurants popping up any time soon in my dumpy, foggy neighborhood in the Outer(most) Richmond.

Wow! I got there just a little after 8:00am (which is their scheduled opening time; and by "a little after 8:00am", I mean it couldn't have been even 8:05am yet) and the joint was already more than half-full (or less than half-empty, if you are not a Doctor of Optometry). This is a medium-to-large sized restaurant, too. (This location is probably the largest of their five restaurants.) It was completely filled up in less than a half-hour (sorry, I am not sure how a pessimist views time) after I sat down, and there was a line waiting outside by the time I had finished eating. 

Sweet Maple (as with most of their other locations) offers a great selection of other breakfastary ideas:
Hass Omelet (avocado, bacon, Monterey Jack, side pico de gallo; which I would have ordered sin el tocino); 
Snowed Spinach Scramble (baby spinach, Vermont Cheddar, Parmesan); 
Hemingway Benedict (smoked salmon, lemon, capers, cucumber wasabi Hollandaise; this sounded intriguing ~ less the dead, decaying smoky piscine junk, of course ~ and was going to be my back-up dish); 
Crunch Flakes (cornflake crusted French toast; this is another dish I want to get back and try); 
or 
Sweet Potato Pancake (cinnamony [ sic ][1] healthy goodness; this is a singular pancake, but a large pancake; I saw when another table nearby had ordered it).

Okay, first off, let me state that I did actually like this omelette... however... goat cheese in place of Feta? That was an automatic 0.1 GBS points deduction for me. Plus, they use plain ol' canned/sliced black olives and arugula when spinach would have made more sense, Κύριε Πoπεγεπολη. Perhaps they should rethink naming this omelette "California Coast Omelet" instead. It did have a good amount of mushrooms in it (possibly portobello and shiitake). (I have eaten so many mushrooms in the past two breakfast meals that I may need to use rovral® brand 4 in place of Preparation H®.)

The minor quibbles in the omelette aside, I absolutely love their potato medley. It consists of seasonal and regional varieties, such as: Chilean Purple, Yukon Gold, Gemstone Red, Russet, and Sweet Yam.

Sweet Maple has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce), Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and  Traina® Hot Sriracha Sun Dried Tomato Ketchup for condimentary supplements. I used some of their Traina®  on the potato medley and some of my own Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the omelette.

It was pretty funny, most of the waitstaff had on jerseys with the number "30" and the name "Curry" on the back. I was not aware that "Curry" was such a popular Korean family name...


Up next:

Hmmm?! I am really not sure at this point. It will probably be a return visit to a restaurant that I had been to before (Kitchen Story could even use a return, too).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
(not really very) Athenian Omelet ~ 6.6 (this might easily have been as high as 6.8 or 6.9 if they had used Feta and authentic Kalamata olives; the arugula instead of spinach is basically a wash in my book);
potato medley ~ 7.3

___________________

1. Don't you just hate it when people use completely madeuppery words?!

(Did you know that the actual adjectival form of cinnamon is "cinnamonic"?)

Sweet Maple

http://www.sweetmaplesf.com/


Place: Sweet Maple 
Location: 2101 Sutter Street (on the corner of Steiner Street)
Hours: Open for Breakfast Monday through Friday at 8:00am (however, open for "Brunch" Saturday and Sunday at 8:00am)
Meal: Morning Pizza ~ Mushroom, arugula, roasted tomato, Mozzarella, Goat cheese, Marinara sauce, and an egg; and a large glass of fresh squeezed orange juice

(As today is Boxing Day, I thought the first EweToob video appropriate. And I just like the second song, too.)


What better way to work off all of the Christmas over-indulgence and over-eating than to get up early on Boxing Day and go out for a big breakfast? I wasn't sure how many places would actually be open the morning after, so I just went back to Sweet Maple (see last 'blog-entry from October 6th, 2012); I had checked out their web-site ahead of time and they didn't state that they would be closed this morning. (See? This is why it pays to have an official web-site, people. It still amazes me how many businesses do not have even the simplest of web-sites today.) For what it is worth, Sweet Maple has the same ownership as KITCHEN Story (see 'blog-entry from February 23rd, 2013). They were actually a lot busier than I would have expected very early on a Thursday morning (even for the day after Christmas).

Sweet Maple's Weekday Breakfast Menu is very similar to their Weekend "Brunch" Menu; I didn't bother to compare them "side-by-each", but, from a quick perusal, they seem to have many of the same items available all week long. Some other good breakfastary ideas that I noticed: Athenian Omelette (mushroom, arugula, mild Goat cheese); Herbi Omelette (onion, mushroom, green and red bell pepper, tomato, arugula, and crème fraîche on top; and I would just like to point out that I like their term "Herbi" is so much better than that oh-so-tired "Veggie" moniker); or even the Big Hip French Toast (two wedges of inch think pain de mie deep fried; served sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon; served with pure maple syrup and housemade maple butter; and I think this dish obtained that particular name, because if you eat this very often you will have them for sure).

This is made with a sunnyside-up egg on top of the Pizza; I have had it before where a restaurant will actually drop an uncooked egg in the middle of the Pizza about five minutes before the Pizza is ready and let it cook on top while the Pizza finishes up. This Pizza was very good for several reasons: it had lots and lots of Mozzarella on it (making each bite a battle filled with stretchy, cheesy goodness); it had a good Marinara sauce;  it had a good crust (I think these are baked in a brick, wood-burning oven); and, particularly of note, the roasted tomatoes really added an extra depth of flavour, something… as the French are wont to say: "Io non so che cosa." (Well, those Frenchmen that are making autentica Pizza Italiana.) 

This definitely has my vote for Best Breakfast Pizza of 2013 (well, I think I have only had Pizza for breakfast twice already this year, and I really doubt that I will another breakfast Pizza before next week, but still). I think it would have been just as good a meal even if it weren't for breakfast. 

The "fresh squeezed orange juice" was actually that for a change, as it was nice and pulpy (and I even spied bits of seeds in it). You'd be surprised how many places try to palm off (or "juice-off") to you plain ol' orange juice from a container and claim that it was "fresh-squeezed" by the company that makes it.

For condimentary supplementation Sweet Maple has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both the standard red and the green jalapeño) and Tapatío®. I received a cool new hot sauce holster (Thanks, Sean!) for Christmas this year. As it is an official Tabasco® Brand product, it also came with a small bottle of Tabasco® ~ the standard red; Sean informed me that I can just dump that out if I want to, but there is never any reason to waste any perfectly good hot sauce and I will just use it in my rotation until it is empty. There is just one "little" problem with the holster; it only holds 2 oz[1] bottles, though. I tried fitting a 5 oz bottle in it upside-down and it fits well enough; however, I don't really trust the seals on the bottle caps to be able to carry them like that. Luckily I have a few 2 oz bottles of hot sauce in my armament (unfortunately, they are mostly of the nookular-range, so I can only use a little at a time); and I put a bottle of Big Papi En Fuego Hot Sauce Off The Wall Triple Hot (Thanks, Kerry!) in it this morning and used just 5-6 drops on the egg before cutting it up and mixing it in with all the other ingredients on the Pizza. 

My thinking is that when one of my 2 oz bottles are finally empty, I can try to refill them with one of my less-painful hot sauces. I should also point out that wearing one of these holsters on your belt while trying to drive is very uncomfortable, as a normal seatbelt mechanism will snap into place just about the same spot where the holster is now located. (I really don't know how rednecks can do this daily… and not spill a drop of their Beers when driving, too.)

Sweet Maple also have maple syrup dispensers on all the tables (some had red handles and some had white handles; I think that was to distinguish between the caffeinated and decaf versions). And because it was ubiquitously available and the name of the restaurant dictates, I felt it absolutely necessary to use just a skosh on some of the crust (shades of Beau Jo's Colorado Style Pizza) for my "breakfast dessert".

http://www.beaujos.com/

I skipped any Coffee or tea with my meal this morning by design. I had just received a nice new Christmas swag package from some very nice people in Pateley Bridge (the one in Nidderdale, North Yorkshire, England, Great Britain, Europe ~ just so there isn't any confusion) and it included some Bettys Coffees and teas. I enjoyed a cuppa Pai Mu Dan[2] White Tea while writing out this 'blog-entry. As with most White Teas, this was a rather light tea and naturally sweet, and needed no additional sweeteners (neither sugar, nor honey), nor any milk/cream (which is actually good, as lately the only "milk" in my refrigerator has been the almond- or coconutmilk variety).

http://www.bettys.co.uk/product/Bettys-Pai-Mu-Dan-White-Tea-20-Sheer-Tea-Bags,18972,27.aspx


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Morning Pizza ~ 7.0; Bettys Pai Mu Dan White Tea ~ 7.0


1. Did you ever wonder why we use the abbreviation "oz" and not "ou" or "oc" for "ounce"? It has nothing to do with Wicked Witches or Wizards from the Emerald City.

Well, even if you hadn’t wondered why, here is stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-apothecarian pointer of the day, numero uno:

The abbreviation comes from the former Italian word "onza" (which is now spelled "oncia"). 

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-agricultural pointer of the day, 第二:

"Bái Mudān" ("白 牡丹") in Chinese means "white peony". Never to be confused with "白色的陰莖", as that would give the tea a "little wang" to it.

But just who is this Dan White guy, and why is he making cow-pies?

Sweet Maple

"Ever since I was a kid my folks fed me bigotry for breakfast and ignorance for supper." ~ Samuel Fuller

(I wonder if he had a healthy helping of hatred for lunch, or just went emotion-starved for the midday meal.)

http://www.sweetmaplesf.com


I went back to Sweet Maple (see last 'blog-entry from July 2nd, 2011) for breakfast this morning. They are located on the corner of Sutter and Steiner Streets (just a block from Fillmore Street in the Japantown/Lower Pacific Heights/Fillmore District area). This is a pretty popular neighborhood place that seems to do a very good breakfast business. They have a waiting area with single seats for eight and a large bench that could seat four if needed. During the week, they call their morning meal "Breakfast"; however, on the weekend, they call this meal "Brunch". It all looks very similar to me on their menus. They do open every day at 8:00am, so, to me, that is really good enough to be called just plain ol' "breakfast"; no need for any fancy-shmany monikers, Mrs. Bing.

I sat at their trendy bar to eat (which has seating for twelve, itself) and got to watch some ESPN College Game Day on the large screen TeeVee while waiting for my meal. I really was looking forward to trying one of their Morning Pizzas (which was the main reason I went back there today); however, after I had already ordered, my server came back and informed me that their pizza oven was not working this morning. Luckily, they have a pretty decent breakfast/"Brunch" menu from which to choose: many omelettes, scrambles, Benedicts, French toast, pancakes, and the above-mentioned Morning Pizzas (when available).

After looking through the menu again, I was thinking about ordering the Athenian Omelette ~ mushroom, arugula, and mild goat cheese (I am not so sure what the connection to the Greek Capital was, though ~ spinach and Feta would make much more sense), but couldn't pass up the completely 'orrible-sounding Kimchi Benedict ~ tofu, sautéed kimchi, green onion, and chipotle[1] Hollandaise; served with herb roasted potato medley. I also had a cuppa America's Best Italian Roast coffee (I have had this brand of coffee before and it is very tasty ~ good and strong ~ but not really the Best Coffee in 'merica or Italy, even; a rather bold statement if you ask me).

Due to its completely horrid-sounding name and apparent incongruous Benedict combination, I had a feeling I would really like this dish. I was correct. This was a surprisingly good Benedict with a bit o' Seoul ("soul", get it?). I liked it a lot. It was made with lots of kimchi (so, if you don't like spicy, rotted cabbage, I wouldn't suggest ordering this one). The chipotle Hollandaise was very good also; tasty, and with just a trace of heat. With some extra added sweetness of maple syrup (I had to have something with their namesake with the meal, didn't I?) in my coffee, it all went together very well. Korean-Mexican? Who knew? Plus, this dish was even Vegan friendly with the tofu added in…

My one minor complaint was that this Herb guy was a little stingy on the potato medley (which was my minor complaint last time, too). This was made with blue, red, white, and sweet potatoes.

Sweet Maple has as their condimentary supplementation Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both the standard red and green Jalapeño) and Tapatío® (along with the aforementioned maple syrup on each table/counter setting ~ I am pretty sure mine was decaffeinated, as it had a red top, which was good, as I had several refills of coffee). However, I went with a little of my own Serious Food… Silly Prices Chunky Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy!) on the potatoes.

Wild Parrots of San Francisco Update

While riding home I heard several of the Wild Parrots of San Francisco flying overhead along Geary Boulevard, but couldn't see any when I looked up. They haven't made it as far as the Outer Richmond yet, it's probably too cold and foggy for their liking.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  Kimchi Benedict ~ 6.9


[1] Stupid, useless (and probably a repeat) cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer del día:

A "chipotle" is a smoke-dried jalapeño chilli; it comes from Mexican Spanish and ultimately from Nahuatl (Aztec), and is said to be a compound of "xilli" (chilli) and "poctli" (smoke).