Mama♥s on Washington Square

♪ "All the potatoes are brown(ed) and 
the sky is grey ... " ♫ 

(well, it really was more of a light fog and it cleared up much before 8:00am as soon as Mr. Sun crested Telegraph Hill)

http://www.mamas-sf.com/


Place: Mama♥s on Washington Square

Location: 1701 Stockton Street
(on the corner of Filbert Street)

Hours: open Tuesday through Sunday at 8:00am

Meal: Mama♥s Children's Favorite (M♥Omelette) ~ sautéed mushrooms, green onions, roasted tomatoes, and Monterey Jack cheese, served with Mama♥s grilled potatoes and your choice of toast: white, whole grain, rye, English muffin, or sourdough baguette (I wisely went with the sourdough choice); and, to drink with the meal, a large glassa fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice

It turned out to be completely à propos that today is Mother's Day/Mothering Sunday in the United Kingdom, I already had planned on making a return visit (which I try to do at least once a year) to 
Mama♥s on Washington Square (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, May 13th, 2018, which just happened to be the U.S. version of Mother's Day last year) for breakfast even before I had noticed the holiday on my calendar. Because this popular little (and by "little", I mean that they usually can seat only about forty people at a time) tourista-destination restaurant tends to fill up very quickly on the weekends, I made sure to get over there long before they opened; I think I arrived there around 7:15am. I prefer to spend the forty-five minutes waiting for them to open than to spend an additional forty-five minutes after they had already opened and the waiting line is half-way down the block (trust me, it happens all the time). As it was, I found a great parking spot directly across the street on the corner and ended up being the second "group" waiting in line to get in. And by the time that they did open up at 8:00am, the waiting line was much more than just forty people deep waiting to get inside. (What is that old rhyming saying? "If you sleep in, you do not win!"... or something like that.)

As many times as I have eaten at this restaurant, there are still a few other breakfastary menu items that I do want to try (or, possibly, try again if I had already tried them in the past and just do not recall):

Scrambled Florentine ~ baby spinach, bacon (nah!), red onions, and  Cheddar cheese; 

S.O.B. (South of the Border) (M♥Omelette) ~ (¿What did you just call me, pendejo?) chorizo, black beans, Spanish rice, pico de gallo, and pepper Jack cheese (where I would, of course, have ochent-y-seis-ed la p*nche salchicha);

or

Huevos Rancheros ~ two poached eggs, Spanish rice, black beans and avocado topped with Mama♥s 
ranchero sauce (which, surprisingly, I do not think that I had ever noticed before and will probably order the next time I go there).

Additionally, for those of you that do not mind eating any of that dead, decaying porky-stuff, this one would have been the perfect juxtaselection with the above EweToobular song: The Californian (M♥Omelette) ~ crispy bacon, avocado, and Monterey Jack cheese (and, yeah, I suppose that I could have ordered this one myself less the porcine-butt bits, but it is basically the same dish that I had ordered only yesterday).

Of course, if I ever did feel like having any "do-overs", their Apple Pan Dore (which I had a few years back) ~ slices of baguette topped with apples simmered in fresh squeezed lemon and butter (I am not sure how they fresh-squeeze their butter, though) ~ is always 
re-ordering worthy. It is seriously worth a trip "all the way over" to North Beach all on its ownsome.

This was another very good rendition of a M♥Omelette. The roasted tomatoes really stood out in this one. I think that if there had also been some kinda chilli pepper in the mix (Poblano or Anaheim/Ortega woulda gone very nicely), it would have really put this already very good meal over-the-top!

I was very pleasantly surprised by the toast being of the "baguette" variety. I was just expecting plain old sliced sourdough bread. This should truly be everyone's toast choice.

And, as always, their homefries were excellent, too.

Mama♥s on Washington Square carries the full assortment of the Standard San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces (Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce [Original Red Sauce], Cholula® Hot Sauce [Original], and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce) as condimentary supplements. Once again, I used some more of my own Pepper Palace™ Chocolate Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg! ~ I am really getting close to the bottom of that d*mn bottle now) on the potatoes and some Fan the Flames Sriracha Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of the M♥Omelette. Plus, they have their own homemade (well, Mama♥s-made) raspberry jam(!) (Waiter/server-person guy: "Would you like some homemade raspberry jam?"; me: "Would you like a tip after I am done eating this meal?!") which really complemented the toasted sourdough baguette.


(another not really a) Strange Coffee Interlude

As has become an after-breakfast tradition whenever I eat in North Beach, I stopped by Caffe Trieste and had un doppio Espresso e un cannolo afterward. Their cannoli has bits of Chocolate in the ricotta filling and halved Maraschino cherries at each end of the tube.

http://coffee.caffetrieste.com/


the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

As soon as I had parked and exited my car, I looked up and saw a medium-sized pandemonium of fifteen (yeah, I actually bothered to count them all) caterwauling feather-brains flying directly over Washington Square Park.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Mama♥s Children's Favorite ~ 6.8;
Mama♥s-made raspberry jam(!) ~ 7.2;
uno doppio Espresso e uno cannolo ~ 6.9;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

Mama♥s on Washington Square

http://www.mamas-sf.com/


Place: Mama♥s on Washington Square

Location: 1701 Stockton Street
(on the corner of Filbert Street)

Hours: open Tuesday through Sunday at 8:00am

Meal: Vegetarian Benedict ~ 2 poached Petaluma Farms eggs served on a toasted English muffin with homemade (well, Mama♥s-made) Hollandaise sauce and Mama♥s Grilled Potatoes, (with) sautéed mushrooms, avocado, baby spinach, and grilled tomato (I would just like to point out that they actually have an Oxford Comma between "spinach" and "and grilled tomato" on their printed menus; however, for some reason, their on-line menu seems to have it omitted; it is not very often that you see it placed or used correctly on many restaurant menus, anyway); and a large glassa fresh-squeezed orange juice

(I am juxtaselecting this the Beatles song today because I have heard that Paul, John, and Ringo are/were big fans of Eggs Benedict dishes and doppio Espressos. Little Georgie-porgie didn't like them... he hated everything.)


I made a return-visit to Mama♥s on Washington Square (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, April 2nd, 2017). A long time ago (c. 2001-2003), this restaurant was included in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation. The food is still (and has always been) excellent there, I just tired of "the long trek" over to-and-back from North Beach. Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know, it is still located in San Francisco, but it takes at least a half-hour to drive over there and then the parking in North Beach totally s*cks (which is why I usually try to schedule my breakfastary visits in North Beach on Sundays only now).

As I had arrived plenty early this morning (about 7:05am), I was able to get a primo parking space just across the street (i.e. right on Washington Square) for a change. However, even at that stupidly-early hour, I was still only group #5 in line. I did not even think about it being Mother♥s Day today and apparently a whole lotta other "m♥thers" had the bright idea to eat breakfast there, too. By the time they had finally opened the doors, I estimated that the wait would be easily two-and-a-half to three hours for the people near the end of the line. Now, the food is good there, but nothing is worth that kinda wait (yeah, I did wait in line for fifty-five minutes myself... but still... ). It had to have been one of the longest lines that I have ever seen waiting to get in there.

Here are a few other good ideas that I was debating on this morning:

Mama♥s Children♥s Favorite (M♥Omelette) ~ sautéed mushrooms, green onions, roasted tomatoes, and Monterey Jack cheese (hmmm?! Mama♥s kids sound like stupid vegetarians to me);

South of the Border (M♥Omelette) ~ Spanish chorizo (which I would have ochenta-y-seis-ed), black beans, homemade ((well, Mama♥s-made, again) salsa, and pepper Jack cheese;

or

(off their weekendly specials board)
Mama♥s French Toast Sampler ~ Banana Walnut, Lemon Berry, & Swedish Cinnamon, topped w/ berries & bananas (of which we all are well-aware, are botanically a "berry", anyway).

Since my last visit there, it looks like they no longer offer either Papa♥s Favorite (M♥Omelette) or Vegetarian (M♥Omelettes) ~ both of which I had had in recent previous visits. These are both still listed in their on-line menu, but not on the printed menu at the front door, nor on the large menu on the wall behind the cash register that everyone orders from. (Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know that should be "... from which everyone orders.", but at least I know an Oxford Comma from a Liverpudlian Semicolon when I see one.)

First off, I would like to state that (thankfully) they have this dish listed as "Vegetarian Benedict" and not that ubiquitously obnoxious name "Veggie (uggh!) Benedict". Nextly, the grilled tomatoes turned out to be a very interesting taste-addition and added a nice "depth of flavour" (as they are always keen to state on food network) to this dish. Needless to say, I enjoyed it all (spinach, avocado, mushrooms, and tomatoes [grilled or plain] ~ all favourites of mine).

Mama♥s on Washington Square only offers for condimentary supplements Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. Being well-aware of this, I came well-prepared this morning and used some of my own Palo Alto Firefighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce on the potatoes (Thanks, Brian!), some 
Chili in Hawaii Habanero Garlic Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of one poached egg, and some Dat'l Do-it® Classic Cayenne Hot Sauce (Thanks, M♥m!) on top of the other poached egg.

(not really so) Strange Coffee Interlude

As has become a (new-ish) tradition for me whenever I have breakfast in North Beach, I (try to) save room for a Coffee and pastry at Caffe Trieste afterward. This morning's meal was not that large and left me plenty of room for un doppio Espresso e some kinda pastry-ring-thing (what the h*ck, I figured I can always skip lunch). This had an almond paste in it and was very good. I had to ask the barista-lady behind the counter what it was, as I thought it might probably have been cinnamon (which I would have liked, too).

http://coffee.caffetrieste.com/


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Vegetarian Benedict ~ 6.9 (I am giving this an extra 0.1 GBS points for their sensible name and another 0.1 GBS points for the very nice grilled tomatoes addition);
doppio Espresso e almond pastry-ring-thing ~ 6.7

Pat's Cafe

https://patscafesf.com/


Place: Pat's ~ Cafe

Location: 2230 Taylor Street (between Chestnut and Francisco Streets, just off Columbus Avenue and "up the road" a block from the San Francisco Municipal Railway Powell-Mason Cable Car Turntable)

Hours: open at 7:30am every day of the week (for what they call breakfast during the week, but feel the need to call it "Brunch" on the weekends)

Meal: Chilaquiles 'merican Style ~ scrambled eggs, Cheddar[1] (and unlike yesterday's faux fromage, this was très authentique), tomatoes, ham (sin jamón for this 'mericano-gringo, though), spinach, tortilla chips, jalapeños, tomatillo sauce, served with home fries; and a cuppa (and one refilla) 
Mr. Espresso® French Roast

https://mrespresso.com/coffee/blends/

(To paraphrase Warren when Dave Letterman asked him about Life and Death:  "... know how much you're supposed to enjoy every breakfast."

I will let you determine today's EweToobular juxtaselection on your own.)


I always like heading back to Pat's ~ Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, August 28th, 2016) around Christmastime. With both a good breakfast (and "Brunch") menu from which to choose and well-executed dishes, this little place (located half-way between Fisherman's Wharf and North Beach) is definitely Breakfastary Starting Rotation-worthy if ever needed.

There are still more good ideas that I will need to check out ("... out which I will need to check..."? Nah!) one of these days:

California Omelet ~ avocado, Cheddar cheese, mushrooms, onions, Aidell's fresh chicken apple sausage (which this Californian would 86, of course);

"Veggie" (uggh!) Omelet ~ tomato, spinach, "the vile weed", asparagus, fresh basil, Feta (Feta and asparagus?! Those easily trump "the vile weed", Donald);

California Crepe[ sic; much like they do not have the tilded "ñ" in "jalapeños" on their menu, they also do not use the little hat-thingy on "crêpe"; there are never any Glen Bacon Scale points deducted for lack of use of any foreign accent marks] ~ avocado, mushrooms, Cheddar, onions, chicken apple sausage (again, 86-time);

or (the extremely strangely-named)

Cock-a-Leekie[2] Omelet ~ sautéed leeks, spinach, and Feta (I am not sure if this dish can be made vegetarian-friendly or not; I will have to ask before ordering that one).

This was nacho typical Chilaquiles!

This was a much different take on the standard Chilaquiles[3] than I am used to. This was served as a mess o' scrambled eggs (with the other ingredients listed) on top of a pile of tortilla chips (hence the silly "nacho"-referenced subtitle above). Most times that I have had this dish, the corn tortilla chips are sautéed first then incorporated into the whole scrambled mess. Also, they use a (green) salsa tomatillo; whereas, most places use some kind of a salsa roja. It was still all very tasty, anyway.

The only bottles of condimentary supplement that I saw available were Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce 
(Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante 
Hot Sauce. I used some of my own Palo Alto 
Fire Fighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce on the homefries. I (correctly) left the Chilaquiles unfettered with just their tomatillo salsa on it.

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

I had parked just around the corner on Chestnut Street and on my way over to the restaurant I heard several of the noisy, bird-brains; however, looking up, I could not see any of them around. They either were roosting in some of the trees in the surrounding hills or flying overhead too high up for me to see.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Chilaquiles 'merican Style ~ 6.8;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

___________________

1. Well, I'm afraid there is not much call for Ilchester® around these parts, Mr. Wensleydale.

2. Say whaaaa', Scotty?!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/16360/cock-a-leekie-soup/

3. Much like the Italiano dessert Tiramisù can differ from family recipe to family recipe, Chilaquiles can be made differently, too. I have had probably ten variations of it over the years. My touchstone is still the first version that I ever had at Chava's over twenty-five years ago now.

(just plain ol') DeLucchi (???)

http://www.caffedelucchi.com/


Place: DeLucchi

Location: 500 Corso Cristòforo Colombo (on the corner of Stockton Street)

Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Friday at 10:00am, and Saturday & Sunday at 8:00am

Meal: elvis in north beach ~ housemade (restaurant-made, whatever) peanut butter, applewood smoked bacon (which I ottantasei-ed, ovviamente), concord grape jam & bananas on toasted panini roll with a small mista salad (apparently mrs. salad was unavailable); a glassa grapefruit juice; and afterward, for a breakfastary dessert, un doppio Espresso e uno cannolo at Caffe Trieste

http://coffee.caffetrieste.com/

(Tuesday April 25th marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the best [if not The Best] singing voices [male or female] to come out of the American 20th Century Music Scene ~ Lady Ella Jane Fitzgerald. Hence, the first EweToobular song.

Coincidentally enough, Tuesday would have been the 100th Birthday of one Elvis Aaron Presley, too.)


I went back to DeLucchi (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, October 23rd, 2016) per mia colazione. It looks like they have now omitted the accentually confusing "Caffé" or "Caffè" or "Café" from their name. (Perhaps, too many stupid touristas or wise-guy 'blogsters must have asked them about which is the correct spelling of that portion of their name.) Their printed menu just has it as "DeLucchi" now, and on the windows it is simply stenciled as "DeLucchi", too. However, their original neon sign on the corner of the building still shows "Caffé DeLucchi". Gó fîggèr.

I thought it was a bit too chilly (and it was still in the shadow side of the building) to sit outside this morning on one of the sidewalk tables. Be that as it may (be that as it was), it didn't appear to be too cold for an Indian family (with two little kids) to sit outside, anyway... "You're a better family than I am, Gunga Dins!"

Confusingly accentauted (or absent altogether now) name aside, I want to get back there to try some other of their breakfast ideas still: 

polenta funghi ~ polenta, melted fontina, braised kale, mushroom medley & poached eggs

(I know I will like that a lot, too.)

or

mediterranean scramble ~ two eggs, Feta, olives, roasted red bell peppers, red onion, spinach, artichoke, capers with potatoes and toast

(Feta, spinach, artichoke, and capers? Öh, yèáh!)

I don't know. I was a bit disappointed in this meal. Don't get me wrong, it was okay and all, but I was really expecting the bananas to be fried or something. It was a bit messy/sticky to pick up and eat hand-held, too. I would also have liked more of their housemade (restaurant-made, whatever) peanutbutter in the sandwich. This is currently made with Concord grape jam (as stated on their printed menus), but their on-line menu lists it with fig jam. I bet this would be much better with fig jam.

Luckily, because I could, I substituted (consider it "major upgraded") the small mista salad (Is a bigga mista salad the norm in Utah?!) for their excellent artichoke hash. 

DeLucchi has three kinds of Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce, Green Jalapeño Pepper Sauce, and Chipotle Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce for condimentary supplements. I used some of my own Dragon Breath Garlic Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on some of the artichoke hash.

Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
elvis in north beach ~ 6.2;
artichoke hash ~ 7.5

Mama♥s on Washington Square

http://www.mamas-sf.com/


Place: Mama♥s on Washington Square

Location: 1701 Stockton Street (on the corner of Filbert Street)

Hours: open Tuesday through Sunday at 8:00am

Meal: Kugelhopf[1] (French toast) ~ house baked brioche bread with golden raisins, cinnamon, dates, and sliced almonds; a side of grilled potatoes (aka homefries); a large glassa orange juice (I had actually planned on ordering a glassa grapefruit juice instead; however, after waiting to order for over a half-hour, I drew a blank and panicked and ordered the first juice that came to mind; Macht nichts!); and, afterward, a cuppa doppio Espresso at Caffè Trieste

http://coffee.caffetrieste.com/

(I love the mosaic-tiled tables at Caffè Trieste. I was still way too full from breakfast to even think about getting my Coffee with either an accompanying cannolo o bombolone.)

(The reason for today's EweToobular song? Simples! Everyone knows that Adam Duritz is a big fan of Austrian Bundt cakes.)


My original plan was to get up to North Beach last Sunday morning, but due to unforeseen circumstances (or foreseen d*mn Half-Marathons), I just waited until this morning to head back to Mama♥s on Washington Square (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, May 29th, 2016).  And, yes, I could have gone to Mama♥s yesterday morning for breakfast, but I just find it much easier to locate a good parking spot nearby early on a Sunday morning. As it was, I quickly found a good spot only two blocks away (in front of some playground named after Dom DiMaggio's older brother, who may or may not have played MLB, too). I probably should have driven around the block first, as there were several open/legal spots available right on Washington Square Park. (How do you say "D'oh!" in German?[2])

It really didn't matter much, as I had arrived there early enough to be the second "group" to be waiting in line. What kinda stupid touristas have nothing better to do on a Sunday morning than to get up so early that they are standing around in line at 7:25am?! Of course, the line quickly formed behind us and grew to a half-block length even before the doors were opened for business. Waiting directly behind me in line were a young German couple with their toddler daughter, named Sofie. I must have regaled them (read: bored them silly) with all five German sentences that I still remember.[3] 
I tried talking them into also getting the Kugelhopf, but something must have been lost in translation.[4] (I do wonder what Sofie's choice for Frühstück ended up being.)

(Sure, this table-top may not be as cool as the one at Caffè Trieste, but I still liked the design.)

This was served as three extra-thick slices (well, triangles) of egg-battered Kugelhopf. I have had this dish (at least once) before, but it had been some time since I last tried it. While this may not have been quite as excellent as their Apple Pan Dore that I had on my last visit there, it was all still very good on its ownsome. I normally order one of their M♥Omelettes whenever I eat there, so this was another nice (sweet) change of pace.

Mama♥s offers just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce for condimentary supplements. I ended up using some of my own Pepper Palace Chocolate Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the homefries. (Despite the name "Chocolate" in my hot sauce of choice, I dared not mess with the Kugelhupf in any way, lest I might find myself on a slow train to Auschwitz.)

Li♥l Mama♥s Update (Downdate?)

I spoke with the owner/manager-guy once again about when they might be opening their second location in North Beach. He told me that, unfortunately, funding did not go through (among other reasons for the delay). The location at which they were originally planning to open is no longer available (and already has a brand new Cole Hardware in that spot which just opened last month). He told me that they are still looking for an alternate space somewhere also in North Beach. 

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

While waiting in line, I saw a fairly good sized pandemonium of about twenty to thirty of the 
Wild Parrots flying westward (Ho!) from Telegraph Hill ~ towards probably Fisherman's Wharf for the morning/afternoon. I pointed up at them and explained to Sofie's parents (well, as best as I could) about our local Papageienpopulation.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Kugelhopf ~ 7.45;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

___________________

1. Was ist das?

Now I could go into a whole, long "stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day" here, but I figured it is just so much easier to steal... er... borrow the information from the friendly folks at WikipediA (seeing as they have already stolen... er... borrowed most of the information from other Intro-Net sources themselves):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gugelhupf

Besides, my explanation was probably going to go with a translation of "the bouncing bonnet" or such.

2. I am not entirely certain, but I think that the Simpsonian exclamation "D'oh!" auf Deutsch might be "T'eig!"

(I am sure that there are all of about two ex-Herm ops from Marienfelde that might get that crummy* joke.)

*(Bakery-pun totally intended.)

3. They must still be trying to figure out just why eine dumme Amerikanishe Armee-type person was asking them if his "nose was on fire" or why their "duck has rabies".

(Thanks go to Lowell Skelton for teaching me both of those extra-helpful phrases when I first lived in Berlin-town.)

4. I asked them what they called "French toast" in German. Was it called "Französischer Toast"? But they said they just called it "French toast". T'eig!

Caffé/Caffè/Café DeLucchi

http://www.caffedelucchi.com/


Place: Caffé/Caffè/Café DeLucchi
Location: 500 Corso Cristòforo Colombo (on the corner of Stockton Street)
Hours: open Monday through Friday at 10:00am, (but luckily) Saturday and Sunday at 8:00am
Meal: polenta gorgonzola (like many restaurants 
now-a-days, they have this thing for showing all their dishes in the minuscule) ~ warm soft polenta[1] topped with melted Gorgonzola, clover honey[2], thick cut applewood smoked bacon (donna you worry, Giusepp', I mada sure to ottantasei thata porco stuffa), and poached eggs; a side of artichoke[3] hash; a glassa grapefruit[4] juice; and afterward, for breakfastary dessert, un doppio Espresso e un (raspberry[5]) bombolone at Caffe Trieste

http://coffee.caffetrieste.com/

(Not that I ever need a reason to link Sir George Ivan's songs here, but if you absolutely must have a EweToobular juxtaselection, George Ivan often mentions "[backstreet] jelly-roll" in many of his songs, so this morning's bombolone will have to suffice.)


I went back to Caffé/Caffè/Café DeLucchi (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, March 8th, 2015) for a long overdue return visit. This place never amazes to cease me... wait... strike that... but you mean what I know. Also, this place is great any time of the day even if you aren't in the mood for a breakfastary meal.

I decided to sit inside again this morning. Their sidewalk café (o caffè) seating area looked inviting (and I gave it a thought or two), but it was a bit chilly yet this morning and that area was still in the shade/shadows at 8:00am.

Here are some other intersting ideas (just to name a few) for which I will be making future visits: elvis in north beach (housemade [caffè-made, whatever] peanut butter, applewood smoked bacon [No grazie, Signor Presley!], fig jam, and bananas on a toasted ciabatta roll with house potatoes; one-of-these-days, I will have to order this); polenta funghi (polenta, melted Fontina, braised kale, mushroom medley, & poached eggs; Kale AND polenta? Oh, yeah, this is another must-try for me for the future); or mediterranean scramble (two eggs, Feta, Kalamata olives, roasted red bell peppers, red onion, spinach, artichoke, capers with potatoes & toast).

I just wish that I knew how to say "Magnifico!" or "Favoloso!" in Italiano. Polenta ~ good; (drizzled with) honey ~ very good; creamy Gorgonzola throughout ~ very, very, very good! Now, I know what you are thinking: "Honey AND stinky, moldy Italiano cheese, Brian?" Trust me, this all worked very well together. The only thing that I can see making this even better might be the addition of pears (either grilled/sautéed, roasted, or even just fresh sliced).

I already knew that I loved their excellent artichoke hash from my first breakfastary visit there three years ago and made sure to get a side of it this morning. At first, I thought it might be too much food, but it turned out to be the perfect amount for my appetite.

As condimentary supplements, Caffé/Caffè/Café DeLucchi has both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (three ways: Original Red Sauce, Green Jalapeño Sauce, and Chipotle Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. I used some of my own 
★ Pope's ★ Whiskey River Hot Sauce (Thanks, Amy and Chef Joe!) on the hash and some Sunbelt Plantations Vidalia® Onion & Jalapeno Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy![6]) on top of both of the poached eggs.

Lately, whenever I have mia prima colazione in North Beach, I make a point of it to stop by Caffe Trieste for a breakfastary dessert (or just a Coffee, appetite-depending). Not only is it a local favourite hangout coffeehouse, they really do have excellent (roasted right next door) Coffee there, too. This morning I even found a legal parking spot right across the street from it.

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

I only saw one pair of Wild Parrots[7] flying overhead of Columbus Street this morning. Normally I will see several of the chattering feather-heads, as this is one of their major roosting areas.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
polenta gorgonzola ~ 7.3;
artichoke hash ~ 7.5;
Caffe Trieste doppio Espresso ~ 7.0;
raspberry bombolone ~ 6.5;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numero uno/numerus unus:

"Polenta" comes from Italiano, originally from Latin, meaning "hulled and crushed grain (originally barley)". It is akin to the word "pollen", meaning "fine flour".

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

The Italiano word for "honey" is "miele".

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

The Italiano word for "artichoke" is "carciofo".

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

The Italiano word for "grapefruit" is "pompelmo".

5. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numero cinque:

The Italiano word for "raspberry" is "lampone".

6. If it seems like I am "Thanks!"-ing these two people often here for supplying me with hot sauces, that is because half of my hot sauce collection has been provided by them. The other half my mother has given me. And the third half are miscellaneous gifts from other family members and friends (and some I had even purchased myself ~ not that I ever really need to do that it seems).

7. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numero sei:

The Italiano word for "parrot" is "pappagallo".