https://www.ellassanfrancisco.com/ Place: Ella's American Kitchen Location: 500 Presidio Avenue (on the corner of California Street) Hours: open for "Brunch" Saturday & Sunday at 7:00am (supposably) Meal: Avocado Omelet~ avocado, Cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, country potatoes, toast (today, I went with sourdough-rye for a change); and a glassa Ginger Orange Juice Punch to drink
(Lady Ella and ol' Satchel-mouth hisself?! What could be better on a pastoral autumnal Sunday morn?) So, I went back to Ella's American Kitchen (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, September 28th, 2019 ~ basically, yesterday) for breakfast (well, "Brunch", whatever) again this morning.
While avocado and Cheddar is a decent enough combination, I think that Monterey Jack[1] or queso fresco woulda been a mucho bettero estilo mexicano match-up. Thankfully, unlike yesterday's omelette, this one was more of a "right propa" omelette, Mr. Wensleydale, with the avocado (thickly) sliced up inside; plus, it had lots and lots of avocado in it ~ there musta been an entire avocado berry in it. Same as yesterday... as for any condimentary supplementation, Ella's American Kitchen has both Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce on the tables. This morning, I used some of my own H*ll's KitchenGhost Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of the omelette (I only used about seven to eight drops of this, but even that ended up being about four to five drops too many... oooops!) and some Dat'l Do-it®Scorching Habanero Hot Sauce (Also, thanks, Mom!) on the potatoes (now this hot sauce was not nearly as hot as the first one and I did go a little [well, a lot] heavier-handed with it). Additionally, all over both the omelette and potatoes I used several grinds from my The Spice & Tea Exchange® Italian Street Fair Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!). Sadly, all good things must come to an end. After about twenty years of being in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I think that this will probably be my last visit to Ella's American Kitchen as a member of that elite group. (I mean, even that Tim Bradley guy has to retire someday from those New Englander Patriotic Guys.) Since they changed ownership (about two years ago now?), the menu has just become much less eclectic for my tastes (and I like tasting eclecticity). Plus, they no longer do all their own baking of breads and pastries; this is a big MINUS in my book (or even in my 'blog-thing). I am sure that I will still get back there at least once a year, though. Come next year, I will probably be replacing it with another restaurant (and I am thinking that I am probably gonna call-up Home Plate). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Avocado Omelet~ 6.6 ___________________ 1. https://www.cheese.com/monterey-jack/ As for that Cheddar stuff: "Well, I'm afraid we don't get much call for it around these parts."
https://www.ellassanfrancisco.com/ Place: Ella's American Kitchen Location: 500 Presidio Avenue (on the corner of California Street) Hours: open for "Brunch" Saturday & Sunday at 7:00am (wellll... that is what is printed on their menus; however, according to their web-site, they either open at 7:30am [under "Locations"] or 8:30am [under "Menu"]; I just know that they were already open for business ~ with several other tables already having been served ~ at 8:15am when I arrived this morning) Meal: Mushroom Swiss Omelet~ sautéed mushrooms, Swiss, country potatoes, toast (I chose honey-oat); and a glassa Ginger Orange Juice Punch to drink
(Yes, I know it is a bit of a strange transition from the dulcet, soothing tones of Lady Ella to the raucous cacophony of those Aero-boyos, but keep reading and you will get the reason for the second EweToobular video. Maybe...) I went back to Ella's American Kitchen (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, May 12th, 2019) for breakfast (well, "Brunch", whatever). It looks like Ella's Polk Street location has now (very recently) closed ~ circa September 24th or so. It had not been open for very long; it had only opened back in August 2018. I had only visited that spot once; this Presidio Avenue location is a lot closer and easier for me to get to, anyway (I actually found a legal parking spot right in front of the restaurant today).
In my opinion, Swiss cheese and mushrooms are always a good combination (well, that is, if you are not either lactose- or fungi-intolerant). This was a decent enough breakfast ("Brunch"... whatever) and there were a few pluses and a few minuses to it. Pluses: it had a whole lotta good, melty Swiss cheese inside; and there was a HUGE mess o' homefries on the plate. Minuses: the mushrooms were incorporated into the egg-mixture and not inside the omelette itself; and they no longer seem to be making their own breads (this is a major pity), and it was now just some plain ol' pre-made, sliced honey-oat bread. For condimentary supplementation, Ella's American Kitchen has both Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce on the tables. I used some of my own Old St. AugustineDatil Pepper Sauce (Thanks,Greg & Cindy!) on top of the omelette and some Dragon's LairExtra HotCayenne & HabaneroHot Sauce (Thanks,Mom!) all over the potatoes. Additionally, all over both the omelette and potatoes I used several grinds of The Spice & Tea Exchange®Florida Sunshine Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!). (not really such a) Strange Coffee Interlude (Now here is where the above seemingly unjuxtaselectioned video comes into play.) Before even heading out the door for breakfast this morning, I made myself a single cuppa (prepared via the pour-over drip-method) Joey Kramer Rockin' & Roastin'® Coffee - Guatemala Medium Roast (Thanks, Kerry!). They have this labeled as a "Medium Roast", but it seemed almost like a pretty d*rn good Dark Roast to me. Needless to say, I liked this cuppa even more than the music of that noisy group from Massachusetts. ♪ "The Coffee kept a-pourin' all night long... " ♫ https://www.rockinandroastin.com/coffee Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Mushroom Swiss Omelet ~ 6.4; Joey Kramer Rockin' & Roastin'® Coffee - Guatemala Medium Roast ~ 7.3
https://www.ellassanfrancisco.com/ Place: Ella's American Kitchen Location: 500 Presidio Avenue (on the corner of California Street) Hours: open for "Brunch" Saturday & Sunday at 7:00am Meal: (the simply-enough named) Fried Egg Sandwich ~ Cheddar cheese, baby arugula, avocado, potato bun, served with French fries (but they let me substitute those with their country potatoes); and, to drink, a Ginger Orange Juice Punch
While still running through my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I returned to Ella's American Kitchen (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, January 13th, 2019) once again. I have had Ella's in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation now since at least the year 2000. As far as any other good, fresh, new ideas go for breakfast for me... I think they just dun runned out! There really are only five or six viable options on their current menu for st*pid vegetarian types and I have had all of those now. I do like their new earlier opening hours and that they now have two locations in town; however, with the new ownership and menu changes, there are less items for me from which to choose. I used to like that their old weekend "Brunch" menu would always change seasonally and always offered new choices and taste experiences. Sadly, it looks as though it might be time for Ella's to be retired (she's too old to be DFA-ed) from my Breakfastary Starting Rotation and to possibly make a September Call-up... probably either Home Plate (they offer many good/great options [Can you say "Dulce de Leche Pancakes" and fried Brussels sprouts?!]; however, they are a bit further away than most of the other restaurants currently in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation), 6th & B (they also have many good options and are a lot closer, but are just not quite as good as Home Plate), or maybe even Marla Bakery Restaurant (this place is very local for me ~ within walking distance; their fresh baked goods are top-notch; however, they do not really offer a lotta items from which to choose either; plus, they do not start serving "Brunch" until 10:00am on Saturday and Sunday). Oh, well... we shall see.
That red-nosed freak only wishes his lame-o Eggamuffin was this good! (And Ray Crock probably thought that "Arugula" [baby or adult] was just another island in the Lesser Antilles.) Sure this was "just a fried egg sandwich", but I liked that it had lotsa avocado (easily half of an avocado berry) on top of it and the potato bun really added to the whole packackage. If I had one minor quibble (a "quibblette", perhaps?), though, it was that the "lotsa avocado" could have been sliced a little thinner and not made the sandwich quite so clunky (so that would be a "plus by minus"). Ella's American Kitchen has for use in the way of hot sauce condimentary supplements both Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. I used some (sparingly, this one is a bit more picante than a lot of my other hot sauces) of my own Punch Drunk™Chocolate Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks,Sean!) on the potatoes and some Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) inside the sandwich. Additionally, I used several grinds/twists of my portable grains of paradise grinder all over the potatoes and inside the sandwich (I will soon need to look into getting some more grains of paradise seeds as I am almost outta the batch that I found/bought last Summer on Cape Cod). (not really such a) Strange Coffee Interlude Long before even thinking about heading out for breakfast, I made myself a large cuppa (via the pour-over single cuppa drip-méthode) BettysJava Kalibaru(Thanks, Greg & Cindy!). I knew that this would be a far superior cuppa to anything that might have been offered at the restaurant, anyway. https://www.bettys.co.uk/java-kalibaru-single-origin-coffee Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Fried Egg Sandwich ~ 6.6; Ginger Orange Juice Punch ~ 6.8; BettysJava Kalibaru~ 7.4
https://www.moz-cafe.com/ Place: Mo'z Cafe Location: 5 Masonic Avenue (on the corner of Geary Boulevard) Hours: open every day at 8:00am (now, apparently; however, they have not updated their web-site to reflect this yet) Meal: Romano Omelete[ sic ][1] ~ spinach, Greekolives and Feta cheese, served with house potatoes, mixed greens or fruit; and, to drink, a large glassa Pineapple Paradise smoothie
(Is there anything more 80's than Nena[2]? Howsabout Nena and little Kimmie Wilde together?! Now, I do not know what Nena [or little Kimmie Wilde even] thinks about Greekomeletes[ sic ] disguised as Italianomeletes[ sic ], but today happens to be Nena's 59th birthday... man, is she old! [And for the record, little Kimmie Wilde also turns 59 later this year.] Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Fräulein Gabriele Susanne Kerner!) Because it is just down the road (in this case Geary Boulevard) a piece (in this case about forty-two blocks or so), I headed back to Mo'z Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, August 4th, 2018) for breakfast. It looks like Mo'z has not only somehow lost a "t" from their "omelettes", but now no longer uses the accented "é" in "Cafe". I had arrived there a little after 7:30am (which I figured would be about a half-hour after they opened) only to find a sign on their door with their new opening hours of 8:00am... no problem, I figured that I would just head across the street over to Target to kill some time before 8:00am... except, Target also does not open until 8:00am... no problem, I figured then that I would just head up the street a half-block and kill some time at Trader Joe's until 8:00am... except, Trader Joe's also does not open until 8:00am... by the time I had walked back and forth to these other places, it was almost 8:00am, anyway, and Mo'z Cafe was just opening up. Unfortunately for me, it was way too cold to sit outside (even with my coat on and in the covered/tarped sidewalk seating area) again this morning. There was some good news this morning, their black bean chiliis vegetarian (I made sure to ask Mo for any future visits), which makes the Amore Omelete[ sic ] a vegetarian-friendly option ~ avocado, black bean chili, salsa, Cheddar cheese, and sour cream. I wonder if Mo would pour some of their excellent ranchero sauce on top of that omelete[ sic ] if I asked nicely (and promised not to make fun of any mispelinks). Do not worry, for you meatetarian-types they offer a couple of other interesting-sounding dishes on the Breakfast Specials part of their menu: Corned Beef Hash ~ corned beef, carrots, green onion and hash brown (noted as two words and singular), topped with two poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce (so, this would kinda be like Eggs O'Benedict, I suppose) and Chorizo Scramble ~ three eggs scrambled with tomato, green onion and Jack cheese, topped with black bean chili, sour cream and salsa, served with fruit or house potatoes.
(Please ignore the quality of this photo. I assure you that the quality of the taste was much better.) What was not to like about this one (other than its geographically confusing moniker)? It included some of my favourite ingredients and in good amounts, too. I was very happy to see that the "Greekolives" inside were actually Kalamata olives (I can only assume that "Greek" means "Kalamata" in Roman-speak). Plus, there was a very decent amount of Feta throughout... Mo' Feta, Mo' betta! (So, Ray forgives you for the [mis]name of this dish, Mo.) And, as always, the side of house potatoes were a really good version of homefries and came in an extremely large portion. For condimentary supplementation, Mo'z Cafe had Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (two ways: Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. I used some (about a normal ketchup-sized portion) of my own H*ll's Kitchen®Chipotle Chocolate Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) all over the potatoes. ♪ "...Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich Von neunundfünfzig Luftballons... ?!?" ♫ Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Romano Omelete[ sic ] ~ 6.8; Pineapple Paradise ~ 6.9 ___________________
1. They have this spelded kerrektly on the large menu over the counter and on their printed menus in the restaurant, but their online menu has it mispelt. I am no(t) sure if (t)hey dropped (t)he penul(t)imate "t" or (t)he las(t) "t", (t)hough. 2. While I was living in (what was still at the time West) Berlin, I actually learned a lot of useful German phrases by translating some of Nena's songs into English. You would be surprised how often "Let me be your pirate... " comes up in normal conversation in den Kneipen.
Never judge a man until you walk a mile in his shoes... but just make sure to sprinkle some Desenex® in them first, you never know where they might have been.
https://www.ellassanfrancisco.com/ Place: Ella's American Kitchen Location: 500 Presidio Avenue (on the corner of California Street) (new-old) Hours: open for breakfast Monday through Friday at 7:00am; and All Day "Brunch" is available Saturday & Sunday at 8:30am (it seems that they have reverted back to their older/original hours once again) Meal: Mixed Green Salad ~ cornmeal crouton, cucumber, radish, cherry tomatoes, carrots, champagne vinaigrette, with two poached eggs (to make it a bit more breakfastarily sound); to drink with the meal, a glassa Ginger Orange Juice Punch (with a plastic straw ~ Ha!); and beforehand, a medium (16 oz-er) cuppa Peet's Coffee® - Vanilla Cardamom Latte https://www.peets.com/menu/seasonal-beverages/vanilla-cardamom-latte
(The first Lady Ella song is because today is the First of September. The second one is because... I don't never need no stinkin' excuses for posting two Lady Ella songs! D*mmit!) Sadly, September brings with it the last month of Regular SeasonBaseball, so I am running through my Breakfastary Starting Rotation once again. To start it off, I simply made a return visit to Ella's American Kitchen (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, April 8th, 2018).
I had initially ordered the Chilaquiles (slow roasted pork [which I requested sin la carne de cerdo muerto, en descomposición-stuff], tomatillo salsa, lime crema, queso fresco, two eggs); however, my waitress/server lady-person came back a few minutes later and told me that I would need to change my order. Apparently, as reported to me by the Mexicanmaître d'-guy, their tomatillo salsa is not vegetarian-friendly. (Who makes a tomatillo salsa with meat in it?) He told me that the head chef-lady Veronica wanted their version of chilaquiles to be a little different than the norm (a few visits back, she actually told me herself that this could be ordered vegetarianized; maybe they have since changed their salsa recipe; whatever). I would think that with the pulled pork available in this dish, that might have been a good enough difference from a standard chilaquiles dish. Oh, well, looks like I will not be able to try this dish now. Which creates a bit of an Oh-oh!-factor for me. With only four-to-five viable stupid vegetarian-friendly dishes from which to choose (since the new ownership/new head chef take-over a few years back, they are no longer offering a seasonal/changing menu), I might have to rethink this place as Breakfastary Starting Rotation-worthy. Which would be a real shame, as it has been ensconced on my list for over eighteen years now. Luckily, they have just (as in just last month on August 4th) opened a second location (over on Polk Street ~ in the Nob Hill area) and they offer one or two other items which are not found on the original location's menu. This might prove to be a saving grace (for at least another visit or two, anyway). Plus, it is always fun to check out a new place/location.
This had a nice enough dressing (some kinda Balsamic[?]-champagne vinaigrette), but it was still just a buncha rabbit(rabbitrabbit) food with two poached eggs laid (placed) on top. This is nothing that I could not have made at home on my ownsome (... well, if I ever had any eggs [and could learn how to poach 'em successfully]... and cornmeal croutons, cucumbers, radishes, cherry tomatoes, and carrots... and rabbit[rabbitrabbit] food-stuff... in my refrigerator, that is). I had thought about also ordering a side of their country potatoes (which I knew to be top-rate), but the size of the salad (with the addition of the illegally pilfered unborn poultry offspring) was actually a lot of food to eat, anyway. For condimentary supplementation, Ella's American Kitchen has Tabasco®Brand Hot Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. I used some of my own Golden PagodaJalapenoHot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of one poached egg and some Laura Plantation Vidalia® Onion & Peach Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on top of the other poached egg... and several (as in my wrists got tired after a while) twist-grinds from my grains-of-paradise grinder all over the salad and eggs.
(not really just another) Strange Coffee Interlude On the way to breakfast this morning, I stopped at the Peet's Coffee® in Laurel Village Shopping Center (which is just two or three blocks westward [Ho!] along California Street, anyway) for a freebie (well, from a $20.00 gift card compliments of my dentist ~ which would be sorta like your cardiologist giving you a $20.00 gift card to the Cheesecake Factory®) cuppa. I had originally pre-planned on getting a French Press single-cuppa (made-to-order) of one of their better seasonal Coffees (I was hoping to see something in the Ethiopian-fare). However, when entering the coffeeshop, I immediately ran into the above sign at the front door (no, really, I was not watching where I was going and actually bumped into the d*rn thing). I know 'tis the season for all things Pumpkin/ Pumpkin Spice-related, but I could not really pass up the choice of a Vanilla Cardamom Latte instead. This was made with lotsa cardamom in it, too. In my opinion, the vaniller was completely superfluous. Peet's Coffee® has the audacity to call cardamom "the Queen of Spices". My *ss! Cardamom is the Emperor of all Spices, at the least! Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Mixed Green Salad ~ 6.0; Peet's Coffee® - Vanilla Cardamom Latte ~ 7.0
When life hands you lemons... get you some crêpes!
https://www.moz-cafe.com/ Place: Mo'z Café Location: 5 Masonic Avenue (on the corner of Geary Boulevard) Hours: open every day at 7:00am Meal: 5 Masonic Crepe ~ Mozzarella, Cheddar cheese, onion, tomato, mushroom, spinach, walnuts, cottage cheese, and Marinara sauce, served with mixed greens, fruit or house potatoes (I went with the only intelligent choice of house potatoes; yeah, right, I can throw some mixed greens or fruit on a stupid plate myd*mnself); and to drink a large (16oz or such) glassa Peach-Pear-Apricot smoothie, Mr. Kuiper
(Now, I may easily have used one or both of these songs before, but, so what? I really like birds of chicago.[1] As far as I know, there are no real EweToobular juxtaselections with either of these songs. Of course, it could quite possibly be that both Allison Russell and JT Nero are be big fans of Of-Mice-and-Men/lemonade crêpes.) My original plan this morning was to revisit Royal Ground Coffee ~ their location that is just down the road apiece from me on Geary Boulevard (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, August 30th, 2015) ~ as they had just recently re-opened after a long (six months or more) renovation/refurbishment. They now have an actual kitchen and offer several real breakfastary items on their new menu (they used to do just bagels and sandwiches and stuff). They open at 6:30am every day of the week and I figured I could get an extra early jump on the day. However... when I had arrived there a little after 7:00am, I was informed that the cook was not yet in for the morning and was running about ten-to-fifteen minutes late. No biggie, I would just mosey along Geary Boulevard for a bit and come back later for breakfast. Except... when I got back about twenty minutes later, the cook still had not shown up and I was then told that he would probably be another ten-to-fifeen minutes at latest. Okay, I needed to stop by the bank to get some money out, anyway. But... when I re-re-arrived back after another fifteen minutes, I was then informed they did not know when exactly the cook might show up that morning. It is all good. I will just try again another time (probably next weekend). Luckily I knew that I could always head back over to Mo'z Café (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, February 24th, 2018) and order me some kinda George-and-Lenny-Special-Crêpe as a viable back-up plan. Besides, this restaurant is only straight down Geary Boulevard (about twenty-seven blocks) from Royal Ground Coffee. I was able to sit outside in the covered/semi-enclosed sidewalk patio area this morning. The Sun was out and a-shinin', but it was still a bit chilly. It really did not matter because I was protected from the wind with a vinyl window/wall-thing. There are still two more items that are specific to this location (that are not offered at their original 5th Street location) that I want to check out (so I really had no problem having to head "all the way over there" this morning, anyway): Amore Omelette~ avocado, black beanchili (it does not specify if this is vegetarian-friendly or not, but I would be sure to ask before ordering this one), salsa, Cheddar cheese, and sour cream; or Romano Omelette~ spinach, Greek olives, and Feta. (Hmmm?! "Romano"?! Sounds a lot more like "Atheno" to me, Ray.)
This was a very good Marinara sauce all over the top of the crêpe. (I spoke with Mo after breakfast and told him this would probably be even better with their extra tasty salsa ranchera on it.) I was a little wary of how the cottage cheese might taste/mix with the rest of the ingredients, but with all of the other good junk inside the crêpe, you could barely notice the blandocity of that cheese curd product. The really nice surprise was the walnuts in it; I had completely forgotten that they were one of the ingredients in it and I really liked the crunch and added flavour. And, as always, their homefries were very, very good (mixed greens or fruit... I fart in your general direction!). For condimentary supplementation, Mo'z Café had Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green [Jalapeno] Pepper Sauce), and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce on all the tables. I finally got to use some of my brand new ChelseaFireWicked. Hot. Sauce.® (Thanks, Sha'!) on the homefries. I received this as a belated birthday gift from my sister (apparently she does not know the meaning of "No more d*mn hot sauces or d*mn baseball caps for a while, please!") when I was visiting Massachusetts last month. I had test-tasted it already and knew to go pretty light-handedly with it because it has both ghost chillies and habanero chillies as its heat source. Additionally, when I was touristing along Main Street Falmouth on Cape Cod last month, I found a small packet of whole grains of paradise in a spice and tea shop. As luck would have it, a few days later while waiting to get into Riverside Cafe for breakfast, there was a little curio/junk shop right next door and I found a refillable/portable pepper grinder (well, in my case, it is now a grains of paradise-grinder) in the shop for only $5.00 (the small packet of grains of paradise was more than that even). So, I very generously grinded-up some (meaning at least twenty twists of the grinder) all over both the crêpe and the potatoes. https://chelseafirehotsauce.com/ Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 5 Masonic Crepe ~ 6.6; ChelseaFireWicked. Hot. Sauce.® ~ 7.2 ___________________
https://www.ellassanfrancisco.com/ Place: Ella's American Kitchen Location: 500 Presidio Avenue (on the corner of California Street) (New) Hours: they are now open for breakfast Monday through Friday at 6:00am; and All Day "Brunch" is available Saturday & Sunday at 7:00am Meal: Avocado Omelet ~ avocado, Cheddar cheese, pico de gallo[1], country potatoes, toast (I went with their fresh-baked honey-oat); and a glassa Ginger Orange JuicePunch (which comes served with a plastic straw... the Pacific Ocean be d*mned!)
(Just a coupla seasonal songs from Lady Ella. Hmmm?! "April in Paris" may not be as nice as "October in Oxnard", but it will have to do... ) Okay, I missed eating at Dottie's True blue café yesterday morning, so I am starting off the new Baseball Season with a run through my Breakfastary Starting Rotation back at Ella's American Kitchen (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, January 14th, 2018) instead. I am not sure how often they now change their "Brunch" menu (under the old ownership, they would change it basically every weekend and it would focus on seasonally available items normally), but there are still a few other items that I have not tried yet. Ferinstance: Chilaquiles ~ slow roasted pork (which I would have ochenta-y-seis-ed, of course, to make it vegetarian-worthy), tomatillo salsa, lime crema, queso fresco, two eggs; Ella's Famous Buttermilk Pancakes (3) (with the optional bananas or blueberries added); or Kale Caesar Salad ~ organice [ sic ] kale, croutons, Parmesan, Caesar dressing (I would probably breakfastise this by adding two poached eggs on top).
This was another simple, but well-made omelette. I was impressed by the amount of avocado in it; there was at least three-quarters to one whole avocado inside the omelette! ("Avocado again, Brian? Didn't you just have some of that tropical berry yesterday for breakfast?!" Yeah, so?! What else ya gonna do with it?!) Of special note (♪) was their very good pico de gallo on top of the omelette. Not only was it very tasty, the tomatoes, (red) onions, and jalapeños were diced up much more finely than you would normally get at your taquería del barrio, and this made it so much easier to pile a bit on with each forkful of omelette. Once again, I really enjoyed their country potatoes (however, I did not think to ask which specific Country of origin the potatoes were from; probably from one of the South American Countries like Peru or Idaho... ). This is made with lots of (white) onions, and red & green bell peppers throughout. Ella's American Kitchen has Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce on all the tables for use as condimentary supplements. In an effort to try to finish up (at least) one bottle (finally) from my own hot sauce collection, I have been concentrating on using some of my own Palo Alto Fire Fighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) for the past several weekends. I am making good progress, and have probably three-four weeks dosages left in the bottle (this stuff is pretty d*rn espicy and can only be used a little at a time). ooops! I kinda poured a little too much all over the potatoes. No matter, I still finished them all up; I never waste good potatoes. ("You gonna eat your fat?!") Étrange Interlude de Café I purposefully had skipped ordering any Coffee with breakfast so that I could drip-me-downa cuppa Brûlerie Virgin Hill Coffee RoastersMélange Gamache (Thanks, Cindy!) to enjoy while at home keyboarding up this 'blog-entry, and to comment on it here. I was given this Coffee at Christmastime with a matching literary gift of the first three books in la série mystère du Chief Inspector Armand Gamache by Louise Penny. I had saved opening the bagga Coffee until I had started reading the first novel[2], which I finally got around to start reading earlier in the week. I have been exclusively drinking this blend of Coffee all week now (probably six to seven cuppas already). I am happy to say that I am enjoying it a lot (I am never one to dis free, good Coffee, anyway). They list the blend (mélange) as Medium (Velouté); however, it seems to me that this is a lot more on the Medium-Dark side, or just Dark roast (them French-Canadianlanders must like their Coffee a bit more robuste). (I should point out that I am also drinking this Coffee outta a matching gift Coffee cup ~ more like a mini-bowl, really ~ with "Vive Gamache!" printed on one side and the silhouette of three pine trees on the other side.) https://www.virginhillcoffee.com/collections/custom-blend/products/gamache-blend-melange-gamache Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Avocado Omelet ~ 6.7 (I am giving this an additional 0.1 Glen Bacon Scale points for the very good pico de gallo); Still Life ~ 7.1; Mélange Gamache ~ 7.2; the mellifluous vocalisation of Lady Ella Fitzgerald ~ 8.9
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1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day: I am sure I have mentioned this before. "Pico de gallo" literally translates from Spanish as "rooster's beak". As to the etymology involved, there are differing versions on its origin. I prefer the simplest reason: originally people ate it by pinching pieces between the thumb and forefinger (usually with torn off pieces of tortillas). Hence, your hand would then resemble a "beak of a rooster". Sounds kinda silly? C'mon, who among us has never made shadow puppets on the wall?!
