"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." ~ Groucho Marx "Mustard's no good without roast beef." ~ Chico Marx "*honk*, *honk*!" ~ Harpo Marx
https://cliffhouse.com/bistro/ Place: the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House Location: 1090 Point Lobos (at the end of the Earth/Ocean Beach) Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 9:00am, Sunday at 8:30am Meal: Sautéed Vegetable Scramble(an off-menu item now) ~ scrambled eggs, red peppers, tomatoes, scallions, button mushrooms, melted goat cheese, served with fresh fruit and roasted potatoes; to drink, a glassa Ocean Beach ~ | Skyy Vodka | peach schnapps | pineapple | cranberry, which came with another neo-retro paper straw; and, of course, a basket (which included two this morning) of (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!)
(Hey, Brian, just what the h*ck does Queen or "Bohemian Rhapsody" have anything to do with today's meal? Well, maybe Freddie Mercury and the rest of those Queenie-boys liked them some [World] Famous Cliff HousePopovers[!], too. And there is the fact that this song was prominently featured on their album named "A Night at the Opera". Mamma mia, now d'yer get it, Signore Galilei?!) Doubling-up/-down/-heading on all of the restaurants in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I returned to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, November 3rd, 2019; so, basically, last week) again this morning.
Holy smoke (fog, whatever)! What a difference a week makes! Unlike last Sunday morning's gorgeous weather, the view out the window today was... well... almost nonexistent. The coastal fog was so thick that you could barely see Seal Rocks, which are only about one hundred yards offshore. (For a change, the blurriness of this photo is not really my fault or due to any intentional bokehocity.)
This particular item is no longer listed on their Breakfast menu. Luckily, Chris had informed me last week that it could still be ordered/made. Otherwise, the choice of items for st*pid vegetarians is very limited. This was always one of my favourite offerings of theirs, anyway. I suppose, in a pinch, I could always order a Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sandwich ~ ciabatta bread, red peppers, goat cheese, fresh basil, garlic fries; it is actually listed on their Lunch menu portion, but I was informed by my friendly waiter/server-person guy[1] that the Lunch menu items can also be ordered during breakfast hours. Cool! (Same as last weekend) Today's side of fruits included: watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, strawberry (one), and red grapes(two). Thankfully, the Ocean Beach did not taste anything like the Pacific Ocean. However, I thought there was a bit of grittiness when drinking it and coulda sworn there was some sand from outside in it. (Again, same as last weekend) For condimentary supplementation, the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House only has Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce). I used some of my own Dat'l Do-it®Spicy Jalapeno (noted sin virgulilla, Ms. Swinton) Hot Sauce (Thanks,Mom!) generously doused all over the scramble-mess and some Dragon's Lair Extra HotCayenne & Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks again,Mom!) on the potatoes. Additionally, I sprinkled a whole lotta McCormick®Grill Mates®Smokehouse MapleSeasoning all over everything... and I mean everything... including the fruits! (Well, I did not sprinkle any on the [World] Famous Cliff HousePopovers[!], 'cause that woulda just been sacrilegious!) Do not mock my fruit-spicening, this is a very common practice in Mexico with watermelon and mangoes.
Hollywoodland Spotlight of the Day I think this is a photo of Louis Feinberg, Moses Horwitz, and Jerome Horwitz ~ better known professionally as the Ritz Brothers. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Sautéed Vegetable Scramble ~ 6.7; Ocean Beach ~ 7.0; (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!) ~ 8.2; the comedic antics of the Ritz Brothers ~ 8.5 (I would rate them higher, but everyone knows that the real humour-talent in that family belonged to Milton and Herbert.) ___________________ 1. Whose name I completely forget, but he has worked there for thirteen years now and always recognizes me as "the hot sauce guy" whenever I am there when he is working. He told me this morning that his favourite hot sauce is Marie Sharp's (original) Habanero Pepper Sauce. It is a good one. I like that one, too. https://www.mariesharps.bz/portfolio-item/original-fiery-hot/ He also told me that he was a D*dgers fan... at least he has good taste in hot sauces.
http://mymy.cafes-city.com/ (This is supposably their new webweb-sitesite, but take it with a few grains of paradise, as it is not fully functionating right now.) Placeplace: Mymy Locationlocation: 15001500 CaliforniaCalifornia StreetStreet (on the corner of LarkinLarkin StreetStreet) Hourshours: open at 8:00am8:00am dailydaily; phonicular contact: (415) 800-7466 Mealmeal: Florentine Breakfast Sando ~ spinach tomato scramble, frisée[1], choice of meat (pork sausage patty/bacon ~ where they were nice enough to substitute either of these dead, decaying porcine products with dead, decaying sliced avocado for me, Patty), white Cheddar, aioli, brioche bun, served w/ crispy Yukon gold potatoes; a glassa orange juice with the meal; and, afters, a cuppa (pour-over drip style) Contraband CoffeeEthiopia Kochere[2]Washed Heirloom https://mkt.com/store/contrabandcoffee/
(Even ol' Noel Yang knows that it is better to burn-out than it is to rust... hey-hey!) Since my last visit to Mymy (see last 'blog-entry from SundaySunday, AugustAugust 21st21st, 20162016), I think they have excised the "CoffeeCoffeeShopShop" portion of their name and are just going by the abbreviated "Mymy" nownow. "Hey, Brian, how come is it that you always seem to be eatin' at this place on Sunday mornings?" Well, if'n you ever tried parking in this busy area of Nob Hill on a Saturday morning, you would not be asking me such d*rn st*pid questions. (Bigbig Mistakemistake) like an idiot, I opted to sit outside in their sidewalk café area at one of the tables along Larkin Street; it was probably 55-60° tops (my bet is that ol' Mister Sun probably was too ashamed to show his face in that neighborhood until at least after Noon). I was sitting out there solo for about twenty minutes until another idiot (with no jacket on and short sleeves even) and his 18-month-old (or two-year old) son sat at another one of these (let's face it) d*mn chilly tables. Even after having eaten at Mymy several times already, there are still some other good ideas for me yet to try: Lemon Souffle Pancake ~ souffle pancake gently folded in egg whites, seasonal fruit; Banana Souffle Pancake ~ souffle pancake gently folded in egg whites, vanilla curd, candied walnut, grilled banana (one or other of these interesting-sounding versions of pancakes will definitely need to be checked out; I just had a sweet breakfast yesterday morning or I probably woulda gone with this one today); Parma Flavor Benedict ~ prosciutto (No grazie!), fresh Mozzarella, tomato, basil, grilled asparagus, chive Hollandaise, Grana Padano, served w/ crispy Yukon gold potatoes; British's[ sic, eye kidd ewe knot ] Good Morning ~ two eggs any style, mushroom, tomato, baked beans, blood pudding sausage (and do not let that "pudding" moniker fool you any; this is one vile, vile meatetarian product that even not many of those kinda people will eat), w/ toast; or Mambo Italiano Tartine ~ scramble w/ fresh Mozzarella, Kalamata olive, tomato, sun dried tomato, sausage, mushroom, aioli, toasted miche[3], spicy tomato sauce, served w/ crispy Yukon gold potatoes (I am not sure if this dish could be made vegetarian-friendly or not, though).
Trust me, Signore Ronaldo McDonaldo, this was definitely not your boring ol' Uovo McFocaccina that you might find in double-golden arches restaurants all over Firenze. I liked this a lot; stuff like this is why this place is very Breakfastary Starting Rotation-worthy if ever the need be. However, the only thing I probably might have done differently if I were ever to make this Sando-thing on my own (Yeah, right! Of course, I would first need to buy some eggs, brioche buns, spinach, tomatoes, and frisée... I do normally have some version of Cheddar in my refrigerator, at least) would be to add some thick slices of sweet/spicy red onion (which I would also need to purchase) in it, too. Caveat (be you an emptor or not): after two messy bites/attempts at eating this Sando-thing, it proved to be a bit too unwieldy and I gave up trying to eat it as a hand-held unit; so I just ate it posh "British's"-style with my knife and fork. Once again, I really enjoyed their version of good crispy homefries. I figure that these are deep fried first and then probably baked off to remove any excess grease, because they were not greasy in any way, but were still very crispy-crunchy.
Mymy offers both Tabasco®Brand Hot Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Cholula®Hot Sauce (Original) for use as condimentary supplements. I simply used some (well, a lot) of my own Hot Licks® SerranoHot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the potatoes (and, finally, I have used the last dregs in that bottle! ~ and because of which, I may have done a little over-kill... whatever ~ now I only have twenty-nine bottles of hot sauces left in my refrigerator) and some Golden PagodaJalapenoHot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on/in the Sando-thing. I also used several grinds outta my grains of paradise-grinder on both the potatoes and the Sando-thing. (not really such a) Strange Coffee Interlude As has been my tradition when eating at Mymy the past few visits, I will stop off (beforehand or afterhand) at Contraband Coffee(which is just around the corner on Larkin Street and two doors down, anyway) for a mighty fine cuppa. Today they were offering two different Ethiopian Coffees as pour-over drip style. I had not had either one before, so I went with the Kochere. It was another very good Ethiopian output, I was happy to see. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Florentine Breakfast Sando ~ 6.5; Contraband CoffeeEthiopia Kochere Washed Heirloom ~ 7.1 ___________________
"I'm not crazy about reality, but it's still the only place to get a decent meal." ~ Groucho Marx
http://moz-cafe.com/ Place: Mo'z café Location: 36 5th Street (on the corner of Stevenson Street; between Market and Mission Streets) Hours: open at 6:00am(???) every day of the week (I still have no idea what their actual hours are; their web-site does not state times anywhere; all I know is that they were open a little after 7:00am when I arrived this morning, and that is good enough for me) Meal: Tofu (Savory) Crepe ~ grilled tofu & spinach (& onions, not listed on the menu, but there were plenty in it) tossed in a peanut sauce, served with choice of mixed greens or fruit; and a cuppa (but only one half-refilla ~ I didn't want to be up all day) the house Coffee
(What's the EweToobular juxtaselection for this song? Everyone knows that Kevin Roosevelt Moore likes crêpes and Coffee.) It was another trip downtown to Mo'z café (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, March 5th, 2016) for breakfast this morning. Just who is "Mo"? Is that short for "Muhammad"/ "Muhammed"/"Mohamad"/"Mohamed"/"Mohammad"/"Mohammed"/"Muhamad"/"Muhamed"/"Muhammet"/"Buddha"? (Whichever it is, I am pretty sure it is not short for "Moses", Mr. Horwitz.) Next time I visit there, I really need to find this out. Like a lot of café-joints in town, you order at the front counter/cash register and pay first, then they bring you out the food when it is ready. There are still a few other breakfast dishes that I could have ordered, suchas: Eggs Florentine (however, I just had different versions of Eggs Benedict over the past few weekends); Belgian Waffle (with fresh strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream); or Italian Scramble (off Mo'z Specialsboard) (eggs, onion, mushrooms, spinach, Italian sausage, topped with a pesto sauce, served with fruit or salad; which I would have ordered without the dead, decaying, grounded-up porky stuff [I am pretty sure that Italian sausages are haram, anyway], and I bet they would allow me to substitute that boring side stuff with their good hashbrowns, too).
All in all (and probably all halal), this was a very nice crêpe breakfast dish (with or without the correctly added circumflexed "ê"). The peanut sauce was very good and it went nicely with the grilled tofu, spinach, and onions mixture. There was a good amount of cubed tofu chunks inside; I just would have liked a bit more spinach in it, though. The guy at the front counter/cash register (Who I assume is the owner-guy ~ Mo, perhaps?) allowed me to substitute (at no additional charge, I might add) hashbrowns in place of the stupid side choice of either mixed greens or fruit. The guy at the front counter/cash register also told me that he blends three different roasts of Coffee beans to make his own "house blend". This is a very good blend, too, and I have enjoyed the several cuppas of it that I have had over the past three visits there now. Mo'z café has for condimentary supplementation Tabasco® BrandPepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. I used some of my own ★ Pope's ★ Whiskey River Hot Sauce (Thanks, Amy and Chef Joe!) on the hashbrowns (and, thankfully, I am almost to the bottom of another bottle of hot sauce finally). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Tofu Crepe ~ 6.4; house Coffee (whatever the h*ck it might be) ~ 7.0
Richmond (District) Coffeehouses ~ Act 1, Scene 29
http://www.orsonsbelly.com/ Place: ORSON'S BELLY Location: 1737 Balboa Street (between 18th and 19th Avenues) Hours: open at 8:00am Monday-Saturday, 11:00am Sunday Meal: turkish breakfast ~ Feta, black olives, cucumber, tomatoes, honey[1], jam, (and) pita bread; (afterward for a breakfastary dessert treat) Red Grape Galette; and a cuppa pour-over De La PazPeel Sessions (Blend) http://fourbarrelcoffee.com/product-category/delapaz/
(Okay, Brian, we get the first EweToobular juxtaselection ~ everyone knew that Jimi was a big Orson Welles[2] fan, but what gives with the second song? Just relax, dammit, drink your Coffee, and read along.) Continuing along with my Richmond (District) Coffeehousesseries, I went to a brand-new neighborhood café, ORSON'S BELLY. I can call this a "brand-new" café, because they just opened their doors officially earlier this week ~ as in on Monday. I think that they might have had a "soft opening" last weekend; however, I did not seem to get an invitation to that gala-day[3] (d*mn USPS must have lost my invite in the mail again). Why "ORSON'S BELLY", you might ask? Well, that is exactly what I did, and the guy I asked happened to be the owner of the place (I had just assumed that the young guy behind the counter was one of the baristas as he was the one preparing all the Coffee-drinks this morning) and he explained to me that he was a recently-graduated film school student and this movie-themed café was a lot easier to open than getting into the film industry. Don't worry, he told me that the "BELLY" part is more of a paean to the great Orson Welles' genius than an insult (to his later girth). (So, lighten-the-heck-up, ya buncha Fatty-Fat-Pantses!)
I don't remember what exactly used to be located in this same location in the past; however, I am pretty sure that it was not a very cool movie-themed café. The walls are now adorned with Hollywoodland movie posters and photos. They even have movies being projected on one wall (I forgot to take note of what was being shown this morning, though). The seating is pretty open-spacious. It consists of four tables that can seat two to three people (well, as they are four-sided tables, they could seat four persons, but it is much more comfortable with just two or three), four high-stool seats at the café-counter, and one extra large picnic bench deelie that could easily seat eight to ten people (or two to four Orson Welleses). There really are not that many other ideas from which to choose for breakfast/morning meal, but the few other ideas that I was looking at were: seasonal quiche (served with macerated strawberries) or house-made bircher muesli[4] (rolled oats, almond milk, pepita, pear, raisins, agave [vegan]). Additionally, they offer four different types of Bagel Sandwiches (served with mixed greens, and, from what I could see, are served open-faced): house-cured salmon, goat cheese yogurt sauce, cucumber, tomato, chives, jalapeño bagel; mashed avocado, hard boiled egg, chives, spinach, drizzle sriracha, fleur de sel; hummus, spinach, cherry tomato, radish, olive oil, fleur de sel; and warm gorgonzola, walnuts, sliced pear (this one would probably have been my choice if I was in a bagel kinda-mood).
Now, this was all very simple, but all very simply good! Sure, I could get all these same ingredients and make this myself at home (Ha! Fat chance!), but half the beauty of this meal was the fun location and great Coffee. I have no idea if the Feta used was Greek, Turkish, or (shudder) French, but I liked the amount and flavour well enough. (Remember, kids: "Everything's betta with Feta!"™) The oil-cured black olives were nice, too. The best surprise of the meal was the HUGE loaf of (fresh-baked?) warmed/heated pita bread; I alternately dipped pieces of it into the honey and jam (either strawberry or raspberry) ramekins. The pita bread was very good and could probably be listed as a separate item on their menu even.
(Hey?! Okay, who took a bite of my galette before I had photoed it yet?!) The Red Grape Galette was a "day-old" and, because of which, was only half-price, which is always half-nice. Day-old or not, it was still plenty today-good with me. I was very pleased to hear that they get all their baked-goods stuff from Butter Love Bakeshop (see previous 'blog-entry from March 13th, 2016). http://www.butterlovebakeshop.com/ They also have De La PazGraceland (Blend) (Now does the above EweToobular juxtaselection make sense? Of course, everyone knows that Jimi Hendrix was from De La Paz, Washington.) as their standard/house drip Coffee. They offer 12 oz bags of both of these Coffees for sale as well as De La Paz Big City (Blend). I was tempted to pick up a bag of Graceland (it smelled very tasty in the bags), but I still have four bags of other Coffees that I need to work/drink my way through before buying any more. I know where to get some if I need more, though. I have had this local brand of Coffee before in the past (because "before in the future" really makes no sense whatsoever; unless, perhaps, your name per-happens to be "Marty McFly", "Doc Brown", or "Biff Tannen"). Apparently, they have now merged with another local (as in locally Mission-based) Coffee roastery, Four Barrel Coffee; I have had their products before (also in the past) and know they make some d*mn fine Coffee, too, Agent Cooper. Not that I needed any condimentary supplementation with this morning's meal (I would never mess with my Feta like that... Hmmm?! I wonder if that Müesli stuff could use a little spicing-up, though), but ORSON'S BELLY had Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce for use if needed. I had come prepared with a few of my own hot sauces, but didn't even bother breaking them out. This place is definitley return trip-worthy! If not for another breakfast, at least for lunch or a dinner snack. Who knew that Balboa Street (and in the sleepy and foggy Outer Richmond, to boot) would become such a great haven to bakeries, cafés, and coffeehouses? Watch out Pioneer Square, Balboa Street has it's eyes set on you! Glen Bacon Scale Rating: turkish breakfast ~ 6.6 (this is factoring in the awesome pita bread loaf); (day-old) Red Grape Galette ~ 6.8; De La Paz Peel Sessions (Blend) ~ 7.1 ___________________ 1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, bir numara/νούμερο ένα: The word for "honey" in Turkish is "bal" (Do I really need to provide a pronunciation for that word?); and in Greek it is "μέλι (méli)". (This is an additional reference to last week's visit to Mel's drive-in.) 2. For any of you under the age of forty and are not recent film school graduates yourselves, Orson Welles happened to be one of the most influential and innovative Hollywoodland actors, directors, and writers of the mid-20th Century. http://www.wellesnet.com/ (WellesNet.com? At first, I thought that might have been another one of them thar new-fangled O'Bammie-Care sites.) 3. As Groucho Marx was wont to point out: "I don't think I could handle more than a gala-day!" 4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist (and pseudo-culinaristic) pointer of the day, nummer zwei: Originally known in Swiss German as "Birchermüesli" or simply "Müesli", the word is an Alemannic diminutive of "Mues" which means "puree" or "mash-up."
http://www.bakerstreetbistro.com/ Place: Baker Street Bistro Location: 2953 Baker Street (between Lombard and Greenwich Streets) Hours: open for "Brunch" Saturday & Sunday at 9:00am Meal: Œufs Baker Street Bistro ~ ratatouille, poached eggs, English muffin, tomato sauce, served with home fries & mixed greens (i.e. rabbit food-stuff); and a cuppa (and a half refilla [for which I got to use one of my famous Spanish phrases to the Mexican bus-person ~ that I had actually learned at Baker Street Bistro: "La mitad, por favor!"]) Coffee
(Tu peux demander: "Mais qui est Charles Trenet?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Trenet They were playing another one of his songs ["Que reste-t-il de nos amours?"] on the house stereo [which is some kinda Frenchy-themed Pandora® station, I believe] and I mistakenly assumed that it was Signore Mauricio Chevalio [I bet that only true Marx Brothers fans will get that silly reference], of whom Charles Trenet was a contemporary. Mlle Chantal told me who it was and I figured I'd have to look him up when I got home. The second EweToobular song is just to see if Dave Porter is paying attention [plus, they had also played a few Edith Piaf songs on the same station/house stereo this morning]. However, he's probably too busy driveling with his own new 'blog-thing to bother reading my drivel. https://thatsmytoedotcom.wordpress.com/ If you have a few hours to kill [and do not have any recent stitches that may burst], check out his 'blog-thing. His real-life stories are way much funnier than most of the current sitcoms on your electronic TeeVee thing.[1]) Continuing along with the early-season workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I returned to Baker Street Bistro (see previous 'blog-entry from January 10th, 2016) pour mon petit déjeuner. (Still: Go Red Sox and Giants!) I had arrived just after 9:10am and had the entire place to myself for the first fifteen minutes (peut-être la pluiewas to blame), and even then there were just myself and another couple for the rest of the time that I was there. They chose to sit outside on the sidewalk patio-café; it has a large overhanging awning, but I didn't really feel like sitting outside myself this morning, anyway.
I say this every time that I get this meal: Even if Baker Street Bistro didn't have the Best French Toast (Pain Perdu, n'importe quel) in San Francisco, this meal is worth a return visit all on its ownsome. Believe me, this ain't your Oncle Benoît's plain ol' dish! For many years after becoming a vegetarian, I wouldn't eat cooked eggs of any kind by themself (I had no problem with them in cakes and such), and I especially never liked any runny soft-boiled or poached eggs. Now I have no problem with eating them... as long as they are prepared correctly (the egg whites have to be cooked fully). Pour suppléments condimentaires, Baker Street Bistro only offers Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (seulement Sauce Rouge Originale). I used some of my own Palo AltoFirefighters Pepper Sauce (Thanks agains, Amys and Brian!) on the homefries. I am almost done with that bottle now (probably just one dose left in it) and I really shouldn't replace it until I have used up a few more (of the remaining twenty-four bottles of hot sauces) from my collection. the WildParrots of San Francisco Interlude Because it was raining lightly when I had first arrived, I decided to try and park along Baker Street and was lucky enough to find a spot right next door. After I had finished eating, the rain had stopped (for the most part) and I decided to walk around the block to see if any of my fine-feathered chatterbox friends were around. I only saw a small pandemonium of two Wild Parrots of San Francisco (but I did hear several more in the trees); however, I did see a buncha noisy, murderous crows interloping in their eucalyptus trees. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Œufs Baker Street Bistro ~ 7.2; the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5 ___________________ 1. Because Dave's 'blog-thing is on a different content management system, I have not yet figured out how to provide a direct link under "My 'Blog List" along the right-hand column. Please be patient and give me some more time. Heck, it only took me two years to figure out how to embed music videos here. (Thanks, by the way, Cabin Jim!)
"Jack the Ripper… cut quite a figure in his day." ~ Groucho Marx
(No official web-site any longer.) Place: Dottie's True blue café Location: 28 Sixth Street (on the corner of Stevenson Street, which is a little alley about halfway between Market and Mission Streets); phonicular contact: (415) 885-2767 Hours: open for breakfast Thursday through Monday at 7:30am Meal: Spinach Provolone[1]Strata[2] ~ served with Italian sausage, roasted tomatoes, and fruit; a side of homefried potatoes; and a large glass of grapefruit juice
(There really are no EweToobular juxtaselections with today's songs and destination; however, if you have ever been to that neighborhood, the second video probably rings a very loud bell. I just like the harmonica Blues styling of Jazz Gillum ~ plus, that is an electric guitar being used way back in 1938.) It would be completely verose[3] of me to do a month of redo's without going back at least once to Dottie's True blue café (see last 'blog-entry from April 4th, 2015). I was second in line this morning as I had gotten there very early to beat the crowd, but, as it turned out, the restaurant was initially only half-full (well, that is an optimistic estimate) with the first wave of people, anyway. It did fill up pretty quickly before I had finished eating and there was the typical line out the door and around the corner when I was leaving the place. Dottie's True blue caféalways has many other great ideas for breakfast (for both stupid vegetarians and those that partake of the dead, decaying animal flesh). Some of today's choices (from the weekly specials chalkboard and their standard menu): Raspberry Preserve (sic) & Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast; Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes; Avocado, Tomato, Jalapeño, Corn, Scallion, & Feta Frittata (served with toast & potatoes; I probably would have ordered that one, but they didn't specify exactly what was in it); or, the ultimate in verocination, Zucchini Cakes (topped with poached eggs & spicy Marinara sauce, served with fruit & potatoes; probably one of my All-Time Favourites of All-Time at Dottie's True blue café).
As best as I can tell, a Strata is kinda like a savoury bread pudding thing. This was a huge slice/chunk and it was additionally grilled on two sides. I have also had different versions (different ingredients) at Dottie's True blue café in the past. Of course, I nixed the Italian sausage stuff (if it ain't authentic chouriço português, I don't want none of that junk!). The roasted tomatoes appeared to be of the Roma variety and they really added a nice bit of charred sweetness to the whole mess (Sorry, Greg.). Today's side o' fruits was: watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, pineapple, white (green, whatever) grapes, and one red grape. It is well known (well, to me and the few people that I have brought with me there and might actually read this stupid li'l 'blog-thing) that Dottie's True blue café offers a very decent selection of condimentary supplementation. This is always a big help so that I don't have to bother schlepping any of my own hot sauces with me. I used a little (well, a lot really; this stuff isn't really that hot and I can pour it like ketchup without any adverse effects) Tabasco®Brand Pepper SauceChipotleon the potatoes and a little Frank's®RedHot®Chile 'nLime™Hot Sauce on the Strata. Anyone not enjoying an early morning breakfastary repast at Dottie's True blue café would be extremely suspect in their verosability. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Spinach Provolone Strata ~ 6.7 ________________ 1. Just in case anyone has never heard of this popular formaggio italiano (Wild Bill Gates and his Spell-checkering Nazis at Microsoft, in their eminent verocity, have been known to question several other common Italian cheeses in the past): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provolone 2. "Strata" is the plural of the Latin word "stratum", meaning "layers/layer". How this all applies in a culinaristic sense, I am not really sure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strata_(food) 3. There is no such word as "verose", nor any of the other words that I have used here today with it as its root. This was just a made-up word that either an old high school friend (Hey, Philboyd!) came up with or I did. He mentioned it the other day on defacedbook, but I had completely misremembered ever using it. He said that I actually invented this word, but I highly doubt I was ever that original. More than likely, his superior intellect originated this word (no way do I want to ever take any credit for making up any words). I don't think we even ever assigned an actual meaning to the word, we just used to use it to confuse other people into thinking we were more intelligent than we really were. Of course, we completely stole the idea for making-up words from an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus where someone panicked and used the made-up word "splunge", which basically meant: "It doesn't mean 'yes'. It doesn't mean 'no'. And I am not being indecisive."
Place: Citizen's Band (and Pinkie's Bakery) Location: 1198 (& 1196) Folsom Street (on the corner of 8th Street) Hours: open Saturday & Sunday for "Brunch" at 10:00am (and sat-sun at 9:00am) Meal: Corn Flaked Brioche French Toast ~ blueberry compote, powdered sugar, and 100% pure log cabin (which I assumed meant the maple syrup accompaniment, not that the corn flakes were from a log cabin); a side order of homefries; a starter of a (HUGE) Dark Chocolate Doughnut with Chinese Five Spice; and a medium cuppa Mr. Espresso® (no idea what blend/roast, though)
(Yesterday happened to be National Doughnut Day ~ and just why doesn't this very important holiday get as much recognition as Christmas or the Fourth of July? ~ so this was a pretty serendipitous breakfastary destination. I already had been planning on revisiting Citizen's Band and Pinkie's Bakery this month, anyway.)
(There is no real EweToobular juxtaselections between either Citizen's Band and Pinkie's Bakery and Johnny Cash and Steve Earle [that I am aware of, at least], the counter-lady at Pinkie's Bakery just happened to be playing Johnny Cash's version of this Steve Earle song and I felt like including both here. And, yes, I am aware that C.W. McCall's novelty song from 1975 might have been a better juxtaselection for Citizen's Band, but weren't we all already forced to listen to that horrible song many times over back in the 70's? So, I "put the hammer down" on that idea right away, "good buddy".) For the entire month of June, I am planning on doing all redo's (redux's? reduxes? redi?). So, I went back to Citizen's Band (and Pinkie's Bakery) (see previous 'blog-entry from October 26th, 2013) this morning for breakfast ("Brunch", whatever), Coffee, and doughnuts. There are only about nine to ten items offered for "Brunch" (they do change the menu seasonally), so there were really only a few other options for stupid vegetarians from which to choose: (the simply enough-named) Benedict (poached eggs, Pinkie's buttermilk biscuit, Cotechino sausage, oven roasted tomato, and Hollandaise; which I would have ordered without the sausage stuff ~ I can't confirm this, but I think that "Cotechino" loosely translates from Italian as "dead, decaying porky product"); Huevos Rancheros (chorizo and fried eggs, housemade tortilla chips, salsa ranchera, black beans, avocado, and queso fresco; again, I would have ordered this without the chorizo stuff); or Standard Breakfast (3 eggs your way, levain toast, and homefries; this should have been my decision as the French Toast not only proved to be too much to finish, but I really didn't need any extra-added sugar-rush after the [HUGE] doughnut).
I sat outside at one of the two sidewalk tables for two in front of Pinkie's Bakery eating my doughnut and drinking my Coffee while I waited the few minutes before Citizen's Band opened for the morning. I am not quite sure what the "five spices" are in Chinese Five Spice[1], but they went pretty nicely with the dark chocolate ganache[2], and there was also possibly some Maldon sea salt added on top. This was a good doughnut (and HUGE ~ easily the size of 2-3 regular-sized doughnuts), but a tad on the greasy side. They had a few other (HUGE) doughnuts offered this morning: Raspberry WhiteChocolate(which looked pretty good, too) or Almond Honey.
After the ultimately immediate sugar-rush of the (HUGE) doughnut, I wasn't really sure that I wanted to get a sweet dish for breakfast, but there really were only a few other options for stupid vegetarians, so I sucked it up (along with a little more of the Coffee) and decided on going with the Corn Flaked (and I love how they have made this into a verb) French Toast and a side order of homefries (because between the [HUGE] doughnut and French Toast, there were not nearly enough carbohydrates, of course). This ended up being two (HUGE/thick) slices of brioche bread. I saw another couple's meal come out a few minutes before mine did and was going to try to get them to just make me one slice, but as I was asking the waiter-server guy to ask the cooking-people to make me just one slice (so as not to waste any), they were already bringing out my meal. I did my best to eat as much of the meal as possible and did finish all of the potatoes (priorities) and only ended up eating about one and one-quarter slice of the French Toast. The "corn flaked" French Toast was pretty interesting and crusted both sides of the bread; as best as I can figure they dip the bread in the eggy-batter stuff first, then into a plate of corn flakes and grill it on both sides as you would normally make French Toast (well, as you would normally make French Toast, I can't say that I have ever made it for myself before). The blueberry compote was very tasty and sweet enough that I probably really didn't need to pour the little jar/bottle of maple syrup all over the top, too. The potatoes could have been a little bit crispier for my liking (the place had just opened for the morning and maybe the cooking-people hadn't had enough time to prepare them yet). Citizen's Band had for condimentary supplementation (I really didn't bother to ask what Pinkie's Bakery offered): Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce, and Crystal®Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce. I went with some of my own Palo Alto Firefighters Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) and Hot Licks®SerranoHot Sauce (Thanks again, Brian!) on different halves of the potatoes (I actually did think about using some of the Palo Alto Firefighters Pepper Sauceon one slice of French Toast as a "sweet-n-savoury" kinda thing, but I was already way too stuffed to give it a try). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: (HUGE) Dark Chocolate Doughnut with Chinese Five Spice ~ 6.4 (based mostly on the size of the beast); Corn Flaked Brioche French Toast ~ 6.6 ________________ 1. Actually, these usually include: Star Anise, Cloves, Chinese Cinnamon, Sichuan Pepper, and Fennel Seeds. There are many other variants, too; check with your local Chinese take-out joint or local doughnut bakery if you want to know for certain. 2. It seems that Billy-boy and his band of Microsoft Spell-checkering Nazis are too busy getting ready to foist Windows 10 on an unsuspecting public to get out and eat at a fancy-shmancy French bakery every now and then. They do not recognize this simple, everyday culinaristic term (and are giving me alternate suggestions of "panache" or "gouache"* ~ whatever the heck that is supposed to be). Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day: "Ganache" comes from French and literally means "jowl", from Italian "ganascia", a modification of Greek "γναθος (gnathos)", meaning "jaw bone". How that is related any to a thick chocolate icing, I have no idea (but I am pretty sure that Billy-boy und seine Band von Braunhemdendon't either).
