"Miss Otis regrets she is unable to lunch (breakfast-bagel, whatever) today, Madame... "
http://wisesonsdeli.com/location/fillmore/ Place: Wise Sons ~ Bagelry Location: 1520 Fillmore Street (between Geary Boulevard and O'Farrell Street) Hours: Monday - Friday 7:00am, Saturday & Sunday 8:00am Meal: (Kinda) Spicy Egg (Toasted Bagel Sandwich) ~ spicy harissa shmear[1], hippie greens, & scrambled egg; three rugelach[2]: Apricot, Chocolate, and Cinnamon Walnut; and a 12 oz cuppa Stumptown Coffee RoastersHouse Blend (Bagelry Blend, whatever) https://www.stumptowncoffee.com/products/house-blend
(Firstly, Mumford & Sons... Wise Sons... close enough for government work [especially with this current musically-challenged administration]. Secondly, I never need an EweToobular juxtaselection justification for Lady Ella, Madame.) Because it had been a few years since I last ate at Wise Sons (see last 'blog entry from Saturday, June 11th, 2016), I thought it time for another visit. This trip I went to their newer Bagelry on Fillmore Street, which has been opened since late-February 2016. There are several other locations that have now opened around the Bay Area (currently, in San Francisco proper there are five shops and one shop in Larkspur); and there is even a location in Tokyo now, but that is too long of a breakfastary roadtrip for me. There is not a lot of available seating (I suppose, like many a New York Jewish deli, they just want you to order your bagel "to take with" and to get you the h*ck-outta their joint in order to serve the next hungry/paying customer) with just eight stools at a counter-table in the middle of the front room, four more stools at a window-counter, and eight more stools wayyyyy in the back (which I did not discover until after I had already noshed my meal, or I woulda probably sat up there) in a second-level mezzanine overlooking the baking area. This location is used as their main bakery/bagelry facility now, which they supply to all of their other locations (well, probably not the one in Japan; even the Japanese would know a stale bagel when they bit into one). It was pretty cool being able to see the bagels being made (and the joke that most of the bagelry bakers were Mexican was not lost on this goyish gringo).
(This bagel-artwork was in their bathroom. I honestly was trying to decipher which Hebrew letters/symbols were in the middle of the circles... then it dawned on me that they were just the bagel-holes. How do you say "D'oh!" in Yiddish? [Is that possibly: "D'ough!"?]) While I liked that this location is much closer (by at least fifteen-to-twenty minutes with city-driving) than their original/main delicatessen in the Mission, there are a lot more breakfastary offerings at their Mission location. Otherwise, some of the possible breakfast ideas that I could have ordered today were: Bodega Egg & Cheese (Toasted Bagel Sandwich) ~ melted cheese, aioli, & scrambled egg (this can also be ordered with crispy pastrami ~ think Kosher bacon ~ for those of you that do partake of the dead, decaying bovine flesh, but are trying to maintain a no dead, decaying swine flesh diet); East Coast Veggie (uggelach!) (Toasted Bagel Sandwich) ~ scallion shmear, radish, cucumber, tomato, red onion, & hippie greens; or maybe just one of their (six different types of) bagels with one of their (eight different types of) shmears.
They offer a choice of six kinds of bagels for these sandwiches: Everything, Sesame (which is what I went with this morning; this is your prototypical Jewish deli bagel in my opinion... and if'n you do not like my opinion, why in the h*ck is you reading this 'blog-thing?!), Salt, Poppy, Plain, or Onion Bialy. This was a good bagel-sandwich (much better than you will ever get at any of them McDonaldberg's delicatessen places), but it was still just a bagel-sandwich. As best as I can figure, the "hippie greens" were some kinda micro-greens (including probably arugula, sprouts, etc.). If I had one minor complaint, it was that this was all a bit on the unwieldy side. With the first bite I took, half of the scrambled egg stuff (which they have formed into a roundish patty about the size of a standard burger) spilled out the other side. I ended up putting it all back together and just tried to keep it together as best as possible. I was going to order it with added tomatoes and "smashed avocado", but that would have made it even more messier, Monsieur Mark. Of the three mini-rugelach/rugelachen/rugelachs, I liked the Apricot one the best. These were all very good, though. They all were just one-to-two bites apiece.
Wise Sons offers their own homemade (deli-made, whatever) hot sauce for use as condimentary supplementation. Additionally, I saw bottles of both El Yucateco®EXXXtra Picante Salsa Kutbil-ik® de Chile Habanero and Huy Fong Foods, Inc.Sriracha Hot Chile Sauce in the upstairs mezzanine. Not really having anything else on which to try their hot sauce (and because their shmear was only "(Kinda) Spicy"), I used a good amount of it in my bagel-sandwich. It really has a nice flavour; the dill pickle juice in it really comes through (Sorry, Karl!). They even have bottles of it for sale. If I did not already have... and let's face it... wayyyyy too many bottles of other hot sauces in my refrigerator, I would definitely have pick(l)ed up a bottle for my own collection.
(not really so) Strange Coffee Interlude I have had Stumptown Coffee Roasters at a few other restaurants throughout town and have always like what they offer. This House Blend was another winner with me. The last time that I ate at their main Mission delicatessen, they were selling Intelligentsia Coffee exclusively (which they may still sell at some of their other locations); both are very good Coffees, anyway. I also bought a 12 oz bagga (Why do so many places now-a-days sell these in 12 oz sizes instead of a full 16 oz-pounda?) as a gift for your 2018 Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award - Linda Miller Award for Fan Artist of the Year, Mr. David G. Hardy[3]. He stated that he would send me a print of my choosing in exchange. I explained to him that because it only came in a 12 oz bagga, he can just send me 3/4 of a picture. "In the clearing stands (lies? lays?) a bagel... and a glorified doughnut by its trade... " (Would I... lie la lie [please provide your own cymbal-crash sound effects here]... lie la la la lie lie... lie la lie [ditto above]... lie la la la la lie la la lie... to you?) Glen Bacon Scale Rating: (Kinda) Spicy Egg (Toasted Bagel Sandwich) ~ 6.4; rugelach/rugelachen/rugelachs ~ 6.9; Wise Sons "Pickle Brine Spiked" Hot Sauce ~ 6.8; Stumptown Coffee RoastersHouse Blend ~ 7.1; the esteemed artwork of Mr. David G. Hardy ~ 8.0 ___________________
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number oy-vay: They have this spelled as "shmear". It can also be spelled as "schmear", or according to my trusty, go-to lexicon for anything Yiddish-related (TheJoysofYiddish by Leo Rosten) as "shmeer": shmeer Pronounced as it is written; rhymes with "shear". From German: Smiere: "grease", or "bribe". 1. To paint. 2. To smear. 3. To spread. "Shmeer it on the bread." 4. A spread or paste. "With drinks, a caviar shmeer on crackers goes well." "Smoked fish, cream cheese, sour cream, and chives make a wonderful cocktail shmeer." 5. To bribe; a bribe. This is the most interesting usage, and has long been part of American slang. It is related to "greasing the palm". "Do the officials expect to be shmeered there?" "Do they take a shmeer?" There is a saying: "Az men shmeert nit, fort men nit." (If you don't bribe, you don't ride" - or, less literally, "Without bribery, you'll get nowhere.") 6. To strike or beat. "He landed a shmeer between the eyes." 2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number two-vay: So... here we go... the word "rugelach" may or may not already be in the plural form. So, to say "I ate three rugelachs." might be incorrect. I initially assumed that the pluralised form in Yiddish might be "rugelachen" (adding a standard German plural ending of "-en"); however, it appears that in Hebrew the "-ach" ending already symbolises the plural. I even discussed this with a couple of the workers at the bagelry (read: bored the h*ck outta these polite workers). One of the guys suggested that maybe like "fish" and "sheep" it is already singular and plural. This sounds like the simplest (and probably closest to the etymological truth) answer, so I am sticking with it until proven otherwise.
"There'll be none o' yer shenanigans in here again this morning, boyo!"[1]
(ooops! It seems as though someone forgot to pack a camera again this morning. So this is just a "stock photo" from the last time that I ate there.) (No official web-site.) Place: David's Delicatessen/Deli & Bistro Location: 474 Geary Street (between Mason and Taylor Streets); phonicular contact: (415) 276-5950 Hours: (supposably) open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 7:30am (however, with no official web-site thing to state their hours of operation [and no times listed on either their door-signage or menus], I can neither confirm nor deny when they may actually start serving breakfast for the day) Meal: Matzo and Eggs ~ pancake style (that was succinctly how it was listed on the menu); and a glassa orange juice I pass by David's Delicatessen/Deli & Bistro (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, April 30th, 2016) just about every day on my way home from work. So I figured it was about time to stop in once more. Once again, I sat at the oval Formica® diner-counter smack dab (when was the last time you heard of anyone ever really "smacking a dab" [or even "dabbing a smack"], though?) in the middle of the front-room. This seemed to be the spot where all the "cool people" (well, all the "off-the-street-tourista-types") were eating breakfast, anyhow. Having only eaten breakfast there three times now, there are still a few other ideas that I may want to go back and check out (however, if my past frequency of visits is any indication, that might not be until 2020 or later): Mediterranean Breakfast ~ sliced tomatoes, cucumber, olives, 1 scrambled egg, cottage cheese, and bread (I have no idea how that is all prepared or served, but it sounded simple enough for me; I probably would order this with a side of hashbrowns);
Potato Pancakes ~ served with applesauce & sour cream (I probably would also order two eggs over-medium to go with these); and Cheese Blintzes ~ with sour cream and jam; or for those dead, decaying animal-flesh consumers out there, there is also the rather-interesting-sounding: Pastrami Omelette or Corn Beef Omelette. (Unfortunately, there is no corresponding photo of this morning's breakfast plate. For which, the cameraman has been duly and unduly chastised.) I liked this simple meal well-enough, but it was not quite as good as I remember the similar dish that I had during my last visit to saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, December 26th, 2015). Either way, I still love this idea/concept of scrambled eggs and matzo cracker-bits made into a large pancake. This was basically a Jewish deli version of chilaquiles. This also came with a small gravy-boat-thing filled with blueberry compote/preserves. "B-b-but... blueberries on scrambled eggs, Brian?! Are you meshugge or somethin'?" First off, somehow, it sorta worked for me; and, secondly, are we not all a little meshugge, sugar, in our own ways? For condimentary supplementation, David's Delicatessen/Deli & Bistrooffered Tapatío®Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, Frank's®RedHot® (Original), and Cholula®Hot Sauce (Original). In a long-going (and somewhat futile) attempt (Locutus) to finally use up some of my own bottles of hot sauces, I once again used some of my own Palo Alto Fire Fighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on half of the "pancake" and I used up most of the provided blueberry compote/preserves on the other half. I did find it rather odd that they had two different types of yellow mustard plastic squeeze-bottles (one was French's® and the other was a generic bottle simply labelled "Yellow Mustard" ~ see, here is where a camera-photo-thing would have come in handy as a visual aid) all along the diner-counter condimentary stations; I even gave a brief thought to using a little of each as a taste-test comparison on a smaller portion of my Matzo and Eggs, but (wisely) decided against it. the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude Once again, upon exiting the deli, I heard several of the noisy little chatter-heads, but did not see any flying around. I can only assume that they have a small pandemonium roosting atop one of the taller buildings in that area of Geary Street/Taylor Street. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Matzo and Eggs ~ 6.1; the Wild Parrotsof San Francisco ~ 8.5 (well, when visible) ___________________
"Say, Mr. Rosten, how do you say 'persimmon'[1] in Hebrew or Yiddish?!"
http://wisesonsdeli.com/24th-street-deli-menu Place: Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen ~ 24th Street Deli Location: 3150 24th Street (at Shotwell) Hours: open Monday-Saturday 8:00am, Sunday 9:00am Meal: (both of these items were off the Noshes[2]& Appetizers section of the menu) Pickle Plate ~ seasonal selection of assorted vinegar & salt fermented (aka "pickled") vegetables (and, apparently, fruits, too); two Potato Latkes[3] ~ (with sour cream & house apple sauce [which they have as two words, but I prefer the smooshed-together word "applesauce", Peter Brady]); and a cuppa (and 1-1/2 refillas ~ which is self-serve and bottomless) Intelligentsia Coffee House Blend - Direct Trade http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/product/coffee/intelligentsia-house-blend
(I can neither confirm nor deny that "Chan Chan" is el dialecto cubano way to say "persimmon"[4]. I just heard this song again this morning on my car stereo on my way home after breakfast and like it enough to share it here.) I have been meaning to get back to Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen ~ 24th Street Deli (see previous 'blog-entry from August 9th, 2014) for some time now. I remembered that I really enjoyed my first meal that I had there. And after this morning's simple-but-interesting meal, I have to make another mental note (Are there really any other kinda notes with me?) to get back there again one of these days. Wise Sons now also has three other locations: a stand at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market (which was their original location), inside The Contemporary Jewish Museum, and also a bagelry/bakery on Fillmore Street. A few other of their Breakfast Served All Day menu items that I was tempted by this morning: Matzo Brei (matzo fried with eggs ~ with salt & pepper, sour cream & jam, or maple syrup; I had this same dish the last time I ate at saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen [see last 'blog-entry from December 26th, 2015]); Market Scramble (seasonal vegetable scramble, served with toast & housemade preserves; I forgot to note exactly what today's scramble included, I think it had spinach and another ingredient [I am pretty sure it wasn't persimmons, though] and some kinda cheese; Who am I supposed to be? The note-taker guyer?!); or Challah French Toast (made with our own challah, cut thick then topped with seasonal fruit [I wonder if any of those fruits would happen to be persimmons] and served with pure maple syrup and orange compound butter; I had their cinnamon babka as my toasty choice the last time that I ate there and I bet that would be a great basis for French toast, too).
These were a very good version of potato latkes. They were nice and crispy on the outside and made from very finely grated/shredded/riced potatoes. I really shoulda gotten the three Latkes option! (Or at least had an egg laid [layed? whatever] on top.) I happened to mention to one of the counter-staff lady-persons that these would make for a great base for a Jewish Eggs Benedict dish and she told me that they do just that once in a while on their weekendly "Specials" menu. Today's seasonal selection of assorted vinegar and salt fermented vegetables were: beetroot, cucumbers (known in some strange lands as "pickles"), cabbage (as in "sour Kraut"), cauliflower, carrots, green beans, one esúpero picanteThai chilli, and persimmons(?!?). I asked the same counter-staff lady-person what the roundish orange pieces of pickled vegetables were. She said they were just carrots. I had to take her up on that one (Round carrots? Don't be meshugge!) and asked her to check with the kitchen staff. They weren't carrots (not that I even thought that they were); they were in a separate bowl by themselves. However, not one of the rest of the front-counter staff, nor any of the Mexican cook-staff, could really tell me what these were (and they also didn't know the word for "persimmon" in Spanish[4]). It was pretty funny, as they all then had to try the pickled "vegetable" to determine just what the heck it might be. So, I am going with pickled persimmons until I am proven wrong. Previously in the past (because "previously in the future" only makes sense if you drive a 1983 DeLorean DMC-12) they had offered Mr. Espresso® as their house Coffee, which is a very decent local roastery. However, I much prefer the Intelligentsia Coffee that they are now serving. http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/location/san-francisco-roasting-works The only condimentary supplementation that I noticed were bottles of Tapatio®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. It really didn't matter as no hot sauce was used nor really needed with today's breakfastary input, anyway. Pickles and Latkes for breakfast?! Well, it worked great for me. "If Peter Piper plated pickles, where's the plate of pickles that Peter Piper plated?" Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Pickle Plate ~ 7.4; Potato Latkes ~ 6.8; Intelligentsia Coffee House Blend - Direct Trade ~ 7.0 ___________________ 1. For those of you that have never eaten a persimmon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persimmon Side-note: Like the tomato, persimmons are not popularly considered to be berries, but in terms of botanical morphology, the fruit is in fact a berry. 2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number Oy!: Once again, whenever it is necessary to explain any Yiddish or Yinglish terminology, I must break out the only true lexicon of these words that I own: TheJoysofYiddish by Leo Rosten. Per Mr. Rosten: nosh nosher noshen Rhyme respectively with "gosh", "josher", "joshin'". German: nachen, "to eat on the sly". 3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day, number Vay!: Also per Mr. Rosten: latke A sweet-natured and lovable-but-goofy mechanic of taxicabs; a foreigner of unknown country origin. (Nah, not really. That was just my stupid joke-input.) Pronounced LOT-keh, like "vodka". Slavic: "pancake"* - usually a potato pancake. *(Actually, I did a little more research and it appears that it may come from the Russkoe word for "patch", which is "латка" ~ pronounced just like it looks.) 4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, número tres: For what it is worth, "persimmon" in Spanish is "el caqui".
(No official [nor unofficial] web-site available [nor unavailable].) Place: David's Delicatessen/Deli & Bistro Location: 474 Geary Street (between Mason and Taylor Streets); phonicular contact: (415) 276-5950 Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 7:30am (or daily at 8:00am; depending on which Intro-Net source you believe; see, this is where an official ~ or unofficial ~ business web-site would come in handy) Meal: Shakshuka[1] ~ 3 poached eggs, spicy stew of tomatoes, onions, and peppers; a side of hash browns (which they have as two words, but I prefer as the compoundednoun); and a cuppa (and 1-1/2 refillas) Peerless Coffee & Tea® (I asked the waitress/server-lady person which blend/roast it was and she thought it might be Fair Trade Organic French Roast, which would be the same as last weekend at the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House) http://www.peerlesscoffee.com/
(There is no real EweToobular juxtaselections between "David", "Delicatessen", or "Deli" and Joni Mitchell. The house stereo happened to be playing a different version [a newer recording by Joni herself from 2000; it was a slower, jazzier version than the original; I thought it might have been a cover by Diana Krall] this morning while I was eating breakfast, so I felt like adding a couple of takes here. And, yes, the second one is as highly illogical as it sounds, Captain. [I suppose it could have been worse still and been "sung" by William Shattner. Ha!][2]) I returned to David's Delicatessen/Deli & Bistro (see previous 'blog-entry from March 4th, 2012) for breakfast this morning. In case you are wondering (and even in the case of your non-wondering), I am going with the name of this restaurant as "David's Delicatessen/Deli & Bistro" because the main awning still states "David's Delicatessen", but the menu now calls it "David's Deli & Bistro". Take your pick. I sat at the main oval diner-counter seating area once again. There were a couple of other interesting-sounding ideas that I was looking at: Mediterranean Breakfast (sliced tomatoes, cucumber, olives, 1 scrambled egg, cottage cheese, and bread; I have no idea how that is all prepared or served, but it sounded simple enough for me; I probably would have ordered this with a side of hashbrowns, too); Matzo and Eggs (pancakes style; this is probably the same dish that I had during my last visit to saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen [see last 'blog-entry from December 26th, 2015]; again, I would probably have added a side of hashbrowns with this one); or Potato Pancakes (served with applesauce and sour cream; but I doubt that I would need to order a side of hashbrowns with this one... however, I wouldn't put it past me).
This came out in a sizzling cast iron skillet; the stew was still bubbling (but no toil seemed to be troubling it). This had both green and red bell peppers in it and was a very chunky stew. The only thing else that I would have liked with this was some kinda bread (pita would have been great) with which to dip in/sop-up some of the stewy sauce. This might not have been as good as the versions that I had at saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen (see previous 'blog-entry from December 15th, 2013) or Reverie Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from June 20th, 2015), but it was still a pretty tasty meal (and I seemed to clean up the entire skillet ~ with or without any bread). The side of potatoes was a HUGE plate of hashbrowns! I ended up dumping about half of the pile in with the remaining stew, and it all really went great together, too. (Naturally, as potatoes, tomatoes, and bell peppers are all New World foods.) For condimentary supplementation, David's Delicatessen/Deli & Bistro only has Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Crystal®Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce. Once again again, I used (just) a few drops of my own Fat Cat Chairman Meow's Revenge (Scorpion Pepper Sauce) (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of each of the eggs (I tasted the sauce first to make sure that it could handle a bit more spiciness) and a good amount of Hot Licks®SerranoHot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the hashbrowns. the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude I heard a few (but did really not see any) of the Wild Parrotsof San Francisco while I was walking along O'Farrell Street on the way to breakfast this morning. I can only assume that there is a small pandemonium that lives in the neighborhood as I have heard some many times before when I am walking around the Union Square area. Once again, because there is no official business web-site to check what the hours of operation (and alternately hours of non-operation) are for David's Delicatessen/Deli & Bistro, I had to rely on information supplied by Intro-Net sources and started with yelp*. Here is where I really have to restate emphatically: Do not ever believe anything that you read on the World Wild Webs. People writing restaurant reviews are basically idiots (and I should know, I am both a person and a proudly self-proclaimed idiot). The reviews of this place were mostly negative (there were many, many, many... and I mean many) and stated that both the service and food were horrible. I can only claim that the last two times that I have eaten there for breakfast were both fine. The service was quick, polite, and friendly this morning and the food (while maybe not Breakfastary Starting Rotation-worthy) was more than adequate and I would recommend the joint ~ and especially today's breakfastary dish ~ to anyone. I know that I will be checking them out again for one of the other dishes that I suggested above (of course, at the rate I am currently getting back there, this may not be again until the year 2020). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Shakshuka ~ 6.4; the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5 ___________________ 1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day: Shakshouka means "a mixture" in Libyan Arabic or other Maghrebi Arabic dialects. It is likely that it was first known as chakchouka, a Berber word meaning a vegetable ragout, although "shakshek" means "to shake" in Libyan Arabic, Berber, and Hebrew, giving a possible punic origin to the name of the dish. 2. How many of you (any of you Trekkie-geeks or Trekker-nerds need not reply) were aware that Leonard Nimoy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Jewish Ukrainian immigrants? I bet that will leave you speechless*. *(See, here is where a stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer would come in handy. The word for "dumb/mute/silent" in Ukraïns'kij is "німий" [transliterated as "nimij" and pronounced "neemee"] and in Russkij it is "немой" [transliterated as "nemoj" and pronounced "neemoy"].)
http://saulsdeli.com/ Place: saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen Location: 1475 Shattuck Avenue (at Vine Street), Berkeley, CA Hours: open every day at 8:00am (except Thanksgiving[1] and Yom Kippur) Meal: Mrs. Anderman's Matzo[2]Brei[3] ~ fried matzo and eggs with a touch of sweet onions, served with your choice of house made (restaurant-made, whatever) applesauce and sour cream or cinnamon and brown sugar; a side order of their great Latke (which also came with its own house made [restaurant-made, whatever] applesauce and sour cream); and a cuppa (with two refillas) Ruby's Roast[4] http://rubysroast.com/ (Today's EweToobular juxataselections should be pretty evident in that not only do both Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel have their birthdays today, but both Robert Zimmerman and Rubin Carter also share their birthdays with them today, too. And they are all of the Jewish faith! What are the odds?)
Yes, it has taken me two years to get back to saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen (see previous 'blog-entry from December 15th, 2013), but just how many Meshugga[5]Beach Parties can one attend across the Bay? (A Jewish deli on Boxing Day? Makes perfect sense to me.) The traffic happened to be extremely light this morning on the Bay Bridge, both on the way over and the way back, but it is not usually the case on a normal Saturday morning, which is why it has taken me two years for a return visit. They still have a few other tempting ideas on their breakfast menu which will garner another visit or two (once again, probably in another two years): Challah French Toast (which I would have had to order with a side of the excellent Latke, too); Backyard Omelette (v) (Chef's choice of seasonal vegetables and cheese; served with a mixed green salad; once again, I would have had to substitute the leafy rabbit-food for their excellent Latke instead); or (and for this one, I would need to get there during the week, as it is only available Monday through Friday) Malawach Yemeni Pancake (v option available) (fresh tomato, labne yogurt cheese, zhoug[6], harissa, and a poached egg; I have no idea exactly how any of that is made/served, but it sounds just meshugge enough that I know I would love it).
meshugge, useless parklets mini-rant New since my last visit, there is an obnoxious (and rather large) parklet right in front of the building, which (unfortunately) is sponsored by saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen. I won't complain much about this one as: 1) it's on a side roadway and not really blocking much traffic, 2) at the pace I am getting over there, I would only have to deal with it once or twice a decade, and 3) I don't live in Berkeley and can't really whinge about their stupid local city politics.
I liked this dish a lot. (Maybe not quite as much as I liked their Shakshouka that I had the last time I ate there, but it is still roadtrip-worthy on its ownsome, Ms. Benes.) I guess the best way to describe this dish would be to call it a Jewish version of Chilaquiles. I happened to mention this to the extremely cute and Coffee-knowledgeable (We had a nice discussion on the merits of both Ruby's Roast and Philz Coffee. As chilly as it was this morning, she happened to be drinking a Mint Mojito Iced Coffeefrom the Philz on Shattuck ~ which is located just a block away. Sorry, Ruby.) waitress/server-person lady (Whose name I did actually get, Mrs. Huneycutt, but have since forgotten.) and she laughed and agreed with me at my astuteness (or maybe she was just laughing at my astupidness). The matzo cracker chips in the scrambled eggs/omelette mess would be the substitute for the corn taco chips. Plus, in Jewish cooking, they use onions as frequently as jalapeños would be used in Mexican cooking. The latke was as good as I remembered it from before. It was deliciously crispy and crunchy and potatoey. For condimentary supplementation, I remembered from my last visit (well, I didn't really remember, but I did look back at my previous 'blog-entry this morning before heading over there) that saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen has their own homemade (restaurant-made, whatever) hot sauce. I didn't need to ask for any of it today as I had come prepared with two new bottles from my own collection that I had just received as a Christmas gift (I actually received four new hot sauces in all; Thanks, Cindy & Greg!). I wasn't sure if I was going to get to try either one depending on if I had ordered a "sweet" or "savoury" dish. As both the latke and Matzo Brei can be considered "sweet" (hence the added applesauce, etc.) or "savoury", I got a chance to use both this morning. I used some Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper[7]Sauce on half of the eggy-matzo dish (the other half I tried with the applesauce and sour cream provided); while datil chillies can be as hot as habaneros, this one was not over the top in heat, but still pretty picante. I also used some Sunbelt Plantations Vidalia® Onion Picante Hot Sauce on half of the latke (again going with the provided applesauce and sour cream on the other half); this one wasn't very hot at all (but very tasty due to the sweet Vidalia® onions) and I could use it liberally (I can see this one being used like ketchup and won't last very long). http://www.osagourmet.com/products/snake-bite-hot-sauce (I couldn't find a decent corresponding hyperlink to Sunbelt Plantations, though.) As long as I was already there, on my way out I stopped at their take-away deli area and bought three different types of hamantashen[8] (traditional poppy seed, apricot, and mixed berries) to enjoy later today at home. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Mrs. Anderman's Matzo Brei ~ 6.7; Latke ~ 7.4; Ruby's Roast~ 7.1 ___________________ 1. I'll bet not many of you were aware that Thanksgiving was one of the High Holy Days in Judaism. It ranks above even Hashanah's Head and Black Shabbat. 2. Meshuggeneh, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day (Oy vey!), number one: Whenever I am taxed with coming up with a good definition of a Yiddish word, I always resort to my "TheJoysofYiddish", by Leo Rosten for the authoritative explanation. matzo matzoh Pronounced MOTT-seh (not MOTT-so) to rhyme with "lotsa." Hebrew: The plural in Hebrew is matzoth, pronounced MOTT-sez, in Yiddish. Unleavened bread (it comes in thin, flat, ridgy oblongs, and is semiperforated to facilitate neat breaking). 3. Additionally, there is this from the friendly folks at WikipediA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matzah_brei 4. This Coffee is a definite winner. If I hadn't already received three bags of BettysCoffee for Christmas (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!), I probably would have picked up a bag for myself to make at home, too. 5. Meshuggeneh, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day (Oy vey!), number two: While the Jewish Beach Party boyos like to spell it "Meshugga", I am going with Mr. Rosten's spelling of "meshugge". meshugge Pronounced m'-SHU-geh, to rhyme with "Paducah". Hebrew: "crazy". 6. I have absolutely no idea what that is, but maybe our friends at WikipediA can explain it a little better: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhug 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datil_pepper 8. As meshugge as it may seem, this word is not listed in Mr. Rosten's book. However, it is a lexicon, not a cookbook, after all.
