Kitchen Sunnyside

A(nother) breakfastary roadtrip:
Mill Valley, Marin County, CA

http://kitchensunnyside.com/


Place: Kitchen Sunnyside

Location: 31 Sunnyside Avenue, Mill Valley (home of B.J. Hunnicut, for yet another Korean-connection)

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

Meal: HOTSTONEPOT ~ sautéed vegetables, egg, smoked chili sauce on rice. Sizzling stone pot!! Mix quickly and Enjoy. (more on that later), choose chicken mango, shrimp (+2) or tofu (Guess which protein I chose?); to drink with the meal, a glassa fresh-squeezed orange juice; and, aforehand, a 16 oz cuppa Equator Coffees Ethiopia Gora Kone

https://www.equatorcoffees.com/collections/single-origin/products/ethiopia-gora-kone

(Idunno. Maybe Shane MacGowan [no relation] likes him some 돌솥 비빔밥[1] and/or Millionaire's Bacon®, too, boyo.)


Continuing along on working my way through all the restaurants that are in the Taylor Street Coffee Shop-family mini-chain, I curtailed it on over (the Golden Gate Bridge) to Marin to check out Kitchen Sunnyside. This was my initial visit to this particular restaurant. This restaurant has been open only since November 2014. I think it is their #5 or #6 in the mini-chain in respect of newness. Only Surisan is newer (opened now since 2016).

What a great little local spot! By little, I mean that there are probably less than fifteen tables (ranging in size from 2-person to 4-persons). The place is bigger than Taylor Street Coffee Shop, but that is not really saying much.

There is also another Marin-based restaurant called Fred's Place, in Sausalito, that was once a part of their mini-chain. However, one of the friendly waiter/server-guy persons told me that it has since been sold to some of the workers at that location, but they maintain a similar menu. Once I have checked out all of the "official" restaurants in their mini-chain, I will probably head back over that-a-way again.

As with all of the other restaurants in their mini-chain, Kitchen Sunnyside offers many dishes that are similar (or exactly the same). Some of the other ideas that I was looking at this morning were:

MEHICO[ sic ] BENNY (there is nothing wrong with your eyesight or my typing; in keeping with their printed menu, I am trying to use the same font-size and dimensions that they had used) ~ chorizo (No way-zo, José-zo!), cherry pepper, cherry tomato (this is basically the same dish as offered yesterday at Sweet Maple, just with the moniker of Southern Benedict);

SUNNYSIDE HASH ~ Hash browns topped with bacon (which would get 86-ed, natch'), red onion, bell pepper, cherry pepper, mushroom, scallion
and mild Cheddar. Served with two eggs (sunnysided-up, I presume), toast;

MORNING TACOS ~ two corn tortillas, lettuce, scrambled egg, bacon (no!), chorizo (no-no, zo-zo!!), tomato, avocado, pickled red onion, chipotle aioli, cilantro, mild Cheddar. Served with Crispy Yukons. Side of roasted salsa and pico de gallo (this one looked interesting, and I do not remember seeing a similar dish at any of their other restaurants);

or

PRIMAVERA (Scramble) ~ egg white, sundried tomato, bell pepper, red onion, spinach, scallion, served w/ Crispy Yukons or Hash browns. A choice of ciabatta, wheat or English muffin (I think that I might have had a version of this previously at one of their other restaurants; I am just too lazy to look 'er up). 

Of course, this is not for the Vegan-feint-of-(artichoke)heart, but what many people really seem to like to order at these places is their Millionaire's Bacon® (and, yes, they actually have it as a ®egistered trademark). They have it offered four ways now: Original (thick, free range bacon, baked with brown sugar, cayenne, red and black pepper); Citron (orange and sea salt goodness); Rosemary (savory rosemary and pepper with mild sweetness); and Cinnamon (hint of chipotle with sweet cinnamon).

Today was not my first Dolsot Bibimbap rodeo. I have had this dish probably a hundred times over the years (at dozens of different Korean restaurants, too). However, I think this was the first time that I ever had it as my early morning/first meal of the day. It seems like a breakfastary no-brainer even to me. This was the exact same dish that I had for dinner at their sister-restaurant (sorry, I am not quite sure of the gender-specificity for restaurants) Surisan three weeks ago.

I was very happy to see a "sunnyside"-up egg already prominently displayed on top. A lot of times, the egg will be placed raw on top of the dish and the idea is to "cook" the egg with the residual heat from both the hot vegetables and especially from the hot stone pot. Now here is where I will comment on the "Mix quickly and Enjoy." mentioned on their menu description of the dish. No, no, no! That is just wrong! Because the "hot stone pot" really is a-sizzlin' hot (do not even think of touching the stone pot... seriously... fool me three times... ) what you need to do is let the bottom layer of rice get nice and extra crispy ~ it will get all deliciously browned and caramelized if you play your cards right. Then you can enjoy that bottom layer as a "rice crunchies" dessert; trust me on this one, Mr. Will Keith Kellogg!

There was one minus for me with this version of Dolsot Bibimbap, it was served with a Thai Sriracha-style hot sauce, not a true Korean Gochujang hot sauce. Both provide about the same amount of heat (a little picante, not a lotta picante), but I prefer the sweeter flavour of Gochujang. One of the waiter/server-guy persons told me that this was part of their American-Thai-Korean-fusion idea. I remember that they did serve us regular Gochujang at Surisan; so , it might just be a particular quirk with a few of their restaurants.

I'll tell ya one thing, this was definitely the first time that I have ever eaten Dolsot Bibimbap with a fork! I actually asked if they had any chopsticks to use, but they do not provide them at this location. I know they do have them at both Surisan and Blackwood, though. If these st*pid waygoogin[2] do not know how to use chopsticks by now, they should refrain from eating at any places that serve "Thai" or "Korean" cuisines.

Kitchen Sunnyside had Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce for use as condimentary supplements. I had even brought along a couple of my own hot sauces bottles, but, once again, none were needed/used. I did ask for a second ramekin of the Sriracha hot sauce to pour over the rest of the meal when I was about half-way done.

'cause I got into town about a half-hour before the restaurant was due to open and 'specially 'cause I knew this coffeeshop was located on the town square, I made sure to stop in at the very local Equator Coffees for a mighty fine cuppa. I think the story goes that the founders started roasting their Coffees out of a garage in Mill Valley. They have since moved to a much larger (and real) roastery in San Rafael (which is still very local, all the same, Mr. Peet and Mr. St*rbucks!).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
HOTSTONEPOT ~ 6.5;
Equator Coffees Ethiopia Gora Kone ~ 7.1;
the "city" (if a population of about 14,000 designates it as a "city") of Mill Valley, Marin County, CA, USA ~ (17)7.6 (That's the Spirit!)

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, part 하나:

"돌솥 비빔밥" (pronounced "Dolsot Bibimbap", or close enough for gubbmint-work) is Korean for "stone pot" ("돌솥" ~ "dolsot") and "mixed rice" ("비빔밥" ~ "bibimbap").

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, part 두:

That is not the actual/official transliteration of the Korean word for "los gringos" ("외국인"), but it is the best that I could come up with for sound-alike purposes.

Bayside Cafe

Another breakfastary mini-roadtrip[1]:
Sausalito, Marin County, CA

http://www.baysidecafe-sausalito.com/


Place: Bayside Cafe and Juice Bar

Location: 1 Gate 6 Road, Sausalito, CA 
(by the Kappas Marina, in the Harbor Center)

Hours: open seven days a week at 6:30am 
(closed every other day of the week)

Meal: the Spinach Poacher ~ poached eggs on top of sautéed (I added the "é" there; please note: no 
G£êñ Bäçòń §čåłē points are ever deducted due to spelling/accentuation preferences) spinach, topped with pico de gallo and Feta, served with tortillas or toast; and a cuppa (with two refillas ~ it was a smallish cuppa) of whatever their house (café, whatever) Coffee might have been (I forgot to ask; the Coffee pots had Peerless Coffee & Tea® on them, but those may just have been promotional leftovers from when they might have served that specific brand of Coffee)

(This EweToobular video/song is just a reminder that we should all make an effort to get to and to see the World outside our window once in a while.)


I really don't know why it has taken me over two years to make a return trip to Bayside Cafe and Juice Bar (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, March 22nd, 2015). I remember that I really liked my first visit there. I love that they open up at 6:30am... every day... and for breakfast (minusculed and un-italicized, thank you; I hope they never learn of that odious word "Brunch" here). Plus, breakfast (minusculed and un-italicized still, thank you) is served all day long (it even says so right on their web-site thing: "where breakfast is served all day" ~ of course, there it is italicized, but it's still in the minuscule, at least). And with a very extensive breakfast menu, this place is certainly Breakfastary Starting Rotation-worthy... if only they were a bit more local.

This morning, I sat at one of the seats at the long diner-style counter. However, I probably shoulda sat outside at one of the tables in their covered/screened patio seating area (overlooking the marina/houseboats). The weather was perfect for it. Plus, no other idiots were even out there yet that early in the morning, I woulda had the entire space to myself.

As I mentioned above, Bayside Cafe has a lot of other great-sounding breakfast entries, such-as: 

the Heart Breaker (omelette) ~ artichoke hearts, mushrooms, spinach & cheese;

the Veggie Volt (if we can overlook the dreaded "Veggie" moniker) ~ scrambled eggs, zucchini, tomatoes, spinach, & Swiss cheese;

Munga, Munga! (yeah, I have no idea what that means; I wonder if it was simply a misinterpretation of the Italian "Mangia, Mangia!" ~ "Eat, Eat!") ~ scrambled eggs, Italian sausage (which I would have omitted), mushrooms, Feta cheese, & salsa;

Mediterranean (omelette) ~ spinach, tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, avocado, & Feta;

or

(off their weekend specials board)
Breakfast Quesadilla ~ with eggs, bacon (No gracias.), cheese, and spinach, served with sour cream and salsa.

I really did have a hard time deciding on which meal to go with this morning. There are way too many good choices; hence, I need to make more return trips oftener.

I knew that I was going to like this meal from the description, but I enjoyed it even more in conception. Feta and spinach?! Needless to say (but I am needlessly keyboarding it, anyway), I enjoyed this dish immensely. This ended up being sorta Eggs Benedict-estilo mexicano for the gluten-free crowd (those people really don't want to pay for their gluten) with a bit of an ελληνικός-twist to it, too.

I like that they  offer a choice of (corn or flour) tortillas or toast. I opted for the corn tortillas option, as I thought (correctly so) that it was the best way to go. I bet this dish would have been interesting with the tortillas under the spinach and poached eggs, too. It may have been a bit too soupy-wet, but I would liked to have tried it that way, anyway.

For condimentary supplementation, Bayside Cafe
had just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce). I used some of my own Punch Drunk™ Chocolate Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Sean!) on top of one of the poached eggs for some extra flavour, but their fresh pico de gallo was pretty tasty all on its ownsome, anyway.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
the Spinach Poacher ~ 6.8;
Golden Gate Bridge and Bay views ~ 8.5

___________________

1. The round-trip time there and back (including a forty-five minutes to one hour side-trip to the Golden Gate Bridge in an [unsuccessful] attempt to spot ol' Humphrey and friends) was exactly two hours. H*ck, I spend more time than that most times driving to a location just on the other side of town.

the Dipsea Café

A(nother) breakfastary roadtrip:
Mill Valley, Marin County, CA

http://www.dipseacafe.com/


Place: the Dipsea Café
Location: 200 Shorline Highway, Mill Valley, CA
Hours: open for breakfast at 7:00am every day 
(but probably not tomorrow morning)
Meal: Vegetarian[1a] Frittata[1b] ~  mushrooms[1c], tomatoes[1d], onions[1e], spinach[1f], zucchini[1g], and Jack cheese, served with home fries, homemade (well, restaurant-made) buttermilk biscuit or toast and homemade (again, restaurant-made) jam; a side of Tzatziki (which really isn't offered on their breakfast menu, but I ordered some, anyway); and a glassa Homemade (Do I really need to say it?) Lemonade[1h]


♫ Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla Walla Wash., and Kalamazoo! ♫

Because the traditional Day-After Festivus meal should be Greek in origin[2], I headed north this morning across the Golden Gate Bridge back to the Dipsea Café 
(see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, March 30th, 2014; it seems like I get there every second year now, but this place really deserves more-often return trips) for breakfast.

Some other good ideas (and more-often reasons for a return trip): 
Mill Valley Omelette ~ egg whites, mushrooms, avocado & Feta (it's a strange-sounding combination, but I am game for anything with Feta and avocado);
Pear-Walnut Omelette ~  with Brie cheese and balsamic onions (another strange-sounding combination, but I am also game for strange-sounding foodstuff); 
or the authentically Hellenic Huevos Rancheros ~ two poached eggs on a fried corn tortilla with red and green salsa, Jack cheese, pico de gallo and sour cream, served with black beans, chips and steamed tortillas. 

This was a very decent version of a frittata. I had asked to have Feta substituted for the Jack cheese, but they must have forgotten to do this. This was no biggie, I just think this would have been much betta (like most everything) with Feta. I went with the homemade (restaurant-made, whatever) buttermilk biscuit as my bread-option, because even I know how to make "homemade" toast. This was deceptively a lot of food. At first glance it was misleading and I thought that I would have no problem finishing it all. As it was, with the homemade (restaurant-made, whatever) buttermilk biscuit and extra large portion of potatoes, I could barley clean my plate. The frittata itself was no slouch (I prefer my frittatas made with chicken eggs and not slouch eggs, anyway). I also liked that they went with the moniker of "Vegetarian (Frittata)" versus the ubiquitously odious name of "Veggie".

As for the side of Tzatziki, I made sure to use it all wisely on top of the potatoes.

For condimentary supplementation, the Dipsea Café 
offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce). I just used a little of my own El Yucateco® XXXtra Hot Sauce Salsa Kutbil-ik® de Chile Habanero on top of the frittata. One of the Mexican waiter-server-guys even complimented me on that choice; he said that he uses that same brand at home himself.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Vegetarian Frittata ~ 6.7 (this mighta even been a 7.0 if they had remembered the Feta);
Τζατζικι ~ 7.5

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day, νούμερο ένα:

Here are the corresponding words in Greek:

a) χορτοφάγος (pronounced: "hortoFAgose") or φυτοφάγος (pronounced: "feetoFAgose"; I am not really sure of the distinction between the two, though)

b) ομελέτα (pronounced: "omeLEta" ~ see, this cunning linguist stuff ain't always επιστήμη πυραύλων)

c) μανιτάρια (pronounced: "maniTAria")

d) ντομάτες (pronounced: "toMAtess" ~ and sometimes this cunning linguist stuff ain't even εγχείριση εγκεφάλου)

e) κρεμμύδια (pronounced: "kremMEEthia")

f) σπανάκι (pronounced: "spaNAkee")

g) κολοκύθι (pronounced: "koloKEEthee)

h) λεμονάδα (pronounced: "lemoNAtha" ~ simples)

2. If you don't believe me, just check out the Official Festivus Handbook that is provided annually by the Human Fund.

Bayside Cafe

A breakfastary mini-roadtrip[1]:
Sausalito, Marin County, CA

http://www.baysidecafe-sausalito.com/


Place: Bayside Cafe and Juice Bar
Location: 1 Gate 6 Road, Sausalito, CA (located by the Kappas Marina, in the Harbor Center)
Hours: open seven days a week at 6:30am (closed every other day of the week)
Meal: the Veggie[2] Storm ~ scrambled eggs, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, spinach, & Jack cheese, all egg dishes served with choice of hashbrowns (which they have as two words, but I prefer the compound noun) or homefries (which they also have as two words, but I like to compound this word, too) and choice of toast; and something from their Juice Bar ~ Dole Express: pineapple juice, fresh-juiced apples, and fresh-juiced ginger

(I'll bet that you didn't know that the word "Sambade" in Spanish means "roadtrip". Would Carlos lie to you?)


I headed way up North for breakfast at
Bayside Cafe and Juice Bar this morning. I really like that they open up bright (well, the Sun was still not quite fully up yet when I pulled into the parking lot, but still) and early every day. This place was the complete opposite of the swanky dive that I ate at yesterday morning. This is more of a family-owned, nebby diner-ish joint. It is located in the Sausalito marina/harbour area just off Highway 101/Highway 1. 

Bayside Cafe is a medium-sized place and has seating of: six chairs (not stools) at the diner-counter; six tables for four; two tables for two; and ten extra-large booths for four (but I am sure these could accommodate a family of six if there were two small children in tow ~ if not, you can always leave the little rugrats outside to play in the low-tide mud ~ see following photo taken just around the back of the restaurant). Plus, there is a nice, large, covered patio area with an additional six tables for four and two tables for two.

The breakfast menu (which is served all day long, too) is really pretty extensive and offered lots of great choices; there were twenty different omelettes alone (well, twenty of the same omelette would not be alone, but together, I guess). Here are just a few of the dishes I was a-figurin'-on: (off their ?weekend/daily? Specials board as you walk in) Swedish Pancakes (with raspberry-blueberry butter and fresh fruit; I was really tempted by that one; maybe next time, if they have it offered again); the Heart Breaker (an omelette made with artichoke hearts, mushrooms, spinach, & cheese; which is not very different from what I ended up getting); the Veggie Volt (scrambled eggs, zucchini, tomatoes, spinach, & Swiss cheese; this was another one that I was really debating on; another time, too); the Spinach Poacher (poached eggs on top of sautéed spinach, topped with pico de gallo and Feta; served with tortillas or toast; as if there weren't enough reasons for a return trip already).

And just so those of you that aren't stupid vegetarians don't feel left out, there were a few really interesting meatetarian choices, too: the Wannabe Reuben (an omelette made with Pastrami, Swiss cheese, tomatoes, & grilled onions; if they had offered that one with sauerkraut in it, I may have even ordered it, less the dead, decaying, brined bovine product, of course); Mexican Mambo (an omelette made with Louisiana sausage, jalapeños, sour cream, salsa, & cheese); or Munga, Munga! (scrambled eggs, Italian sausage, mushrooms, Feta cheese, & salsa; I can't be sure, but I think that "Munga, Munga" translates from Italian as "internationally confusing as Hell" ~ Italian sausage, Greek cheese, and Mexican salsa?).

This was a very good scramble mess. The artichoke hearts were of the brined variety (not the kind that are marinated in an oil and vinegar base; I like those in salads, but they usually tend to make a scramble or an omelette a bit messy). Artichokes and spinach have always been two of my favourite "veggies" (Ugh!) since I was a kid.

I really like that they offer a choice of potato sides, that gets extra points for that right there. I went with the hashbrowns this morning and was glad that I did as they were prepared in a very interesting manner. These also get extra bonus points as they were made with (red and green) bell peppers and (white) onions mixed in with the shredded potatoes; I have never seen that done before and really liked that idea.

For my choice of toast, I went with a country biscuit. This seemed to just be one of those that are ready-made (as opposed to fresh homemade), but it still beats what Mr. Thomas may have to offer with his faux crumpets (nooks and crannies be damned).

The Dole Express was excellent. The juiced apples make a nice frothy head on the drink and the fresh ginger adds a nice bite to it all. I am not really much of a fan of straight pineapple juice, it's usually way too sweet for my taste (however, I really do love fresh pineapple), but the apples and ginger really tempered the overt sweetness. (The only minus that I can think of was that it came with a plain ol' straight/non-bendy straw. Bendy straws are the best!)

For condimentary supplements, Bayside Cafe has on all the tables Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (bottles of both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce). I just used some of my own The Wiltshire Chilli Farm Winter chilli sauce on the scrambled mess and smoked Chipotle chilli sauce on the potatoes (Thanks again for both, Greg & Cindy!).

This turned out to be one of the safest places for breakfast that I have eaten at in a long while as there were four Sausalito City Police officers and three California Highway Patrolmen all eating there while I was there. I would just liked to have seen Pumpkin and Honey Bunny try any of their foolish shenanigans there this morning (Vincent and Jules wouldn't even have been needed)!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: the Veggie Storm ~ 6.5; Dole Express ~ 7.2


1. I am calling this a "mini-roadtrip" mainly because it took me less time getting there this morning (about fifteen minutes ~ it is a straight shot for me north across the ol' Golden Gate Bridge) than it normally takes me to drive to most places right here in the city. 

2. Oh, sure! Billy-boy and his spell-checkering Gestapo at Microsoft do not even recognise perfectly valid words like "breakfastary" or "condimentary", but they have no problem with such idiotic, made-up words like "veggies". Buncha brown-shirted Nazi bastages!

the Dipsea Café

A breakfastary roadtrip:
Mill Valley, Marin County, CA

http://www.dipseacafe.com/


Place: the Dipsea Café
Location: 200 Shoreline Highway, Mill Valley, Marin County, CA
Hours: open for breakfast at 7:00am every day of the week
Meal: Greek Omelette ~ Feta cheese, Kalamata olives, tomatoes, pepperoncinis, and oregano (served with home fries, homemade buttermilk biscuit or toast and homemade jam); a side of Τζατζικι
(because it was on the menu and because I could); and a large glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice

(The reason for the first EweToobular juxtaselection is because I heard it on the radio this morning on my way Way-Up-North; plus, it is Sunday still in most places. Brandi Carlile is the anti-American Idol ~ she actually is a talented singer-songwriter in her own right and didn't need any fake help from either Simon Scowls or the FAUX TeeVee network. The second video is because cousins Steven and John are both of Greek descent; additionally, it's a good song.)


I was very grateful that the Sun was out again this morning and shining its best shining, because I made the long haul all the way across the Golden Gate Bridge once again this morning to eat at the Dipsea Café, (see previous 'blog-entry from April 7th, 2012 ~ almost two years ago now). Probably because the restaurant is located all the way up in Marin County and they open up bright and early every morning at 7:00am (and, hipster doofi, please note, "for breakfast", not "Brunch"), I wasn't the first customer of the day for a change; there were already several small families (and I was very happy to see neither a pork-pie hat, nor a cravat in the entire joint) with young children eating pancakes and such. (Kids, try the Mickey Dipsea or Pigs in a Blanket.)

The walls of the Dipsea Café are festooned with all these old tin advertisement signs and there are several "No Smoking" signs in various ferren languages, and they have a few cool old stoves and coolers hanging around the place, too.

(I can't actually read the top sign. I think that it might be in Greek or something and probably reads: "Y*nkees Go Home!" ~ which is just fine with this Red Sox Fan.)[1]

When getting a "Greek" omelette, it is always great to see authentic Kalamata olives being used, and there was a good amount in the omelette, too. Another important factor is that the Feta cheese should be in large chunks (in this case, they were at least ¼" or larger pieces) and in copious amounts; and not in any minuscule amount of Feta crumblies. The tomatoes were actually grilled/roasted, which really added another depth of flavour ~ Μπράβο! My one complaint about the omelette would be that there was a inordinate amount of pepperoncinis inside it; I am not exaggerating any here when I say that there may have been a quarter of a jar of the sliced variety inside.

Of course, I went for the homemade buttermilk biscuit choice. Who in their right mind would choose plain ol' toast when there is the option of a fresh, warm biscuit? There really is nothing better than fresh, warm homemade (even if the "home" is a diner/restaurant) biscuits… and with homemade jam! Today's homemade jam was strawberry. 

The orange juice was the actual fresh-squeezed stuff, made by one of those the Jetsons contraptions that cuts the oranges in half and then makes the juice all in one machine.

This was good Τζατζικι, but like a lot of places in the States, they go way too lightly on the garlic; they always seem to temper it for the stupid Αμερικανάκι[2]. After eating Τζατζικι, one should be able to part large crowds by just breathing on them. I am pretty sure that strong, correctly-made Τζατζικι is the main secret ingredient in the chemical weapons being employed in Syria currently… oh, wait, that can't actually be happening… Obama did declare a Red Line, after all.

For condimentary supplements, the Dipsea Café has just Tabasco® Brand Hot Sauce (both the standard red and the green jalapeño). I used some of my own Youk's Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on top of the omelette. This turned out to be a highly superfluous move, as the pepperoncinis already kinda spiced the thing up a bit, but I was not aware of that until after I had cut into the omelette. The Τζατζικι was added primarily, and very liberally, I might add (I really can't stand those stupid Republicans and their stingy, conservative use of condimentary supplementation), all over the home fries. Nothing beats the combination of Τζατζικι and potatoes!

As I had skipped any Coffee beverages with my meal this morning, I decided on doing the whole
διπλό Καφές Ελληνικός ~ μέτριος at home. I used some of my Bettys Christmas Coffee for this (which was already pre-ground for standard Coffee machines; ideally, you really should use a very fine grind of Coffee to make this, but as I always say: "When in San Francisco, do as the Greeks would never think of doing!"). I had to break out my highly-technical Greek Coffee Maker (it's a little one-piece aluminium deelie) and prepare it just like my native Greek friend, Tim Fitzsimmonsopoulos, taught me: you start by adding the ground Coffee into the water (and just a λίγο amount of ζάχαρη); bring it all to a boil once (making sure to take it off the heat as soon as the Coffee starts to bubble up, otherwise it will foam-up all over the place and make a big mess all over your stovetop… or so I have been told) and remove it from the heat for a few seconds; replace it on the heat and let it boil/bubble up another time; remove from heat again; and then let boil for one last time (that would be three times in all for anyone not keeping count)… and Voila! (Okay, I do not know the Greek word for "Voila!") ~ the perfect cuppa Καφές Ελληνικός. When drinking a Greek Coffee (or Turkish Coffee or Arabic Coffee), you have to be careful to let the grounds settle to the bottom of the cup first and then sip down only as far as the grounds will let you. Another native Greek friend of mine, Bob Worthingtonassis, used to drink the entire thing to the bottom, gritty sludge and all; he swore it was the best way to stay awake during a Mid-shift.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Greek Omelette ~ 6.7 (this would easily have been a 7.0 or higher with a lighter hand on the pepperoncinis); Τζατζικι ~ 7.5


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, part the first:

a) Russkij = "Не Kурить", pronounced “Nee Kooreet”, and means just that "Do Not Smoke";
b) Deutsch = "Bitte Nicht Rauchen", pronounced "Bitta Neekt Rouken”, and again simply means "Please Do Not Smoke";

and extra-added bonusary:

c) Greek = "Απαγορεύεται το κάπνισμα" and loosely translates as "Y*nkees Go Home! And Smoke In Your Own D*mn Stadium!" (No, really, look it up yourself if you don't believe me.)

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

“Αμερικανάκι" is basically Greek slang for "stupid Y*nkees". The term "Αμερικανός" is the correct term for "stupid 'mericans".

Zazie

Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs.[1]

http://zaziesf.com/


Place: Zazie
Location: 941 Cole Street (between Carl Street and Parnassus Avenue)
Hours: "Brunch" is served on Saturday and Sunday from 9:00am to 3:00pm (however, it is good to note that they call basically the same meal "Breakfast" Monday through Friday and are open an hour earlier at 8:00am)
Meal: Eggs en la Marais[2] ~ savory challah bread pudding w/wild mushrooms, arugula[3], thyme, goat cheese, and two over easy eggs baked in a cast iron skillet, w/salad or homefries; and a cuppa LaCoppa[4] Coffee Organic French Roast (o Caffè ou Café ~ now would be an okay time to use either of these words con un accento grave, ou avec accent aigu aussi) 

(This wasn't going to be my first choice for a EweToob-ular link. I first had the idea to use Louis Jordan's "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" and then I had a better idea to use Lightin' Hopkins' "Meet Me At The Chicken Shack", but I couldn't locate that particular song/video. As is usually the case with EweToob, Norah Jones' name popped up on a list of other songs along the right column, so I just decided to use one of her songs instead.)


Je suis retourné à Zazie (see last 'blog-entry from October 14th, 2012) pour mon petit déjeuner. Mais qui est "Zazie"? One of these days I really should ask them if one of the owners is actually named "Zazie" or if they just named the restaurant after the main character in a 1960's Louis Malle movie (from an earlier French novel of the same name). It was a little too cold and damp still this morning to sit outside either in one of the two sidewalk tables or out back in their large backyard patio area (which is usually my preferred spot). I happened to notice that Zazie sells bags of both their Gingerbread and Buttermilk pancake batter mixes if anyone wants to make them at home (I doubt they would allow you to purchase the bags and let you make them in their own professional kitchen, though).

My meal this morning was off their "Brunch" specials menu. Seeing as they are "a French bistro in the heart of Cole Valley" (it is stated as such right on their menu and web-site), je ne sait pas why this dish wasn't called "Oeufs en Le Marais". Take heart, no Glen Bacon Scale Rating points are ever taken off due to confusing linguistics, though. Also off the seasonal "Brunch" specials menu, Miracle Pancakes (1, 2, or 3 sugar pie pumpkin spice pancakes w/ fresh whipped cream) sounded very good. A few other good ideas off the standard "Brunch" menu that are options for another return trip: Fontainbleau[5] (scrambled eggs with portobellos, shiitake, porcinis, spinach, and Fontina), or Italie (scrambled eggs with tomatoes provencales, cream cheese, and basil ~ they probably should have had this as "tomates provençales", but, again, no GBS points are deducted for not keeping with a Frenchy theme).

This was another very good recent find (even if it is only a seasonal special). I really had no idea what to expect from the description on the menu, but this ended up being very interesting and tasty. It was basically two eggs over easy (or "over easy eggs" ~ damnés Français!) placed on top of a bread pudding made in a small round cast iron skillet. It all worked nicely for me; sort of a baked Eggs Benedict dish (simplement sans sauce hollandaise stupide). There were three cloves of roasted garlic (trois gousses d’ail rôti) in with the homefries this morning ~ always a good thing.

The LaCoppa Coffee Organic French Roast was very good, too. They are a local coffee roaster in Marin and used to have a few coffee shops (o caffès ou cafés). From what I can discern, they have sold off all of their coffee shops now, but are keeping the roastery for wholesale coffee. This is a shame as I had been to their flagship coffee shop in downtown Mill Valley a few times and really liked the place. 

http://www.lacoppacoffee.com/

Upon request, Zazie has for condimentary supplements Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red only). I used some of my own Dave's Gourmet® Ginger Peach Hot Sauce (Thanks, Jim!) on top of the eggs and some Florida Gold Salsa Picanté[6] Premium Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) on the homefries. The Ginger Peach Hot Sauce went very nicely with the bread pudding as it had its own elements of savoury and sweet.

The Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude of the Day
Before breakfast I heard probably 6-10 of the noisy little buggers flying around the neighborhood, but didn't see any of them until afterward while walking around Richard Gamble Memorial Park (at the West Portal of the N-Judah MUNI line). I then saw a semi-large pandemonium of parrots (at least 20-30) flying southward (probably towards Twin Peaks). I wonder if they roost in this small park. There are several tall trees that they could call home. 


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Eggs (ou Oeufs) en le Marais ~ 7.1; LaCoppa Coffee (o Caffè ou Café) ~ 6.8


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

This old saying in Russian would roughly be: "Яйца курицу не учат.", which literally means: "The eggs do not teach the chicken." 

I only know this as I came across it many years ago in my copy of Smirnitsky (the standard Russian-English dictionary that was used throughout the Military at the time) while I was still taking Basic Russian at the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio of Monterey, and not really being familiar with the English saying, it stuck with me. 

This knowledge came in very handy a few years later when I completely amazed one of my co-workers, John Kurovsky ("long 'o', no 'v'…"), during a Mids Скрэббл® game session at the 6916th. (See, I was his supervisor and trainer at the time and we were supposed to be doing actual work and studying, but there was usually nothing much to do for us. So I brought in my Russian version of Scrabble® to play with to pass the time on boring Mids shifts. Yeah, it pissed off the Hebrew and Arab linguists some, but I just claimed we were utilizing our vocabulary. I am not saying they actually bought any of that хуй, but they usually left us alone after that.) Anyway, during one heated game, John had challenged my spelling on "egg" or "eggs" (silly boy) and looked it up in our Russian-English dictionary at work. He saw the saying "Яйца курицу не учат." in the entry and read it out loud, and I told him that just meant colloquially: "Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs." He was absolutely flabbergasted and truly couldn't believe that I even knew that. Of course, he never challenged any of my words or spelling/grammar thereafter.

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

"Le Marais" means "the swamp" or "the marsh" in French. Le Marais is also a historic district in Paris. 

Now was this dish meant to mean "Eggs (I still can't believe they didn't use "Oeufs") in the swamp" or "Eggs in the mode of a historic district of Paris"?

3. Herr Gates and his stupid Spell-checker Nazis at Microsoft do not recognize this as a valid word. Really, Billy-boy?! You guys need to get out of die verdammten Bierhallen and go out to eat more often.

4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numero tre:

"La Coppa" means "the cup" in Italian. What that has anything to do with coffee (o caffè ou café), I will never know.

5. Not really a stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer, but more of just a stupid, useless geographical/historical pointer:

This should be "Fontainebleau" not "Fontainbleau". Again, no GBS points are ever taken off for any mispelded werds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontainebleau

6. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, número cuatro:

I am pretty sure that "Picante" should be sin acento agudo. "Picante", meaning "hot, spicy" in Spanish, is the past participle of "picar", meaning "to prick, bite". (see also: "pique" and "piquant", Jean-Luc)