Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry

A(nother) breakfastary mini-roadtrip:
South San Francisco, CA

(Sunday, August 12th, 2018)

(No official-type web-site or nuthin'.)


Place: Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry

Location: 1131 El Camino Real, South San Francisco, CA; phonicular contact: (650) 872-2810

Hours: open Monday-Friday at 7:30am; Saturday & Sunday at 8:00am

Meal: (me) Orange Bread French Toast ~ 3 slices of our (well, their) housemade (well, Cafe & Pantry-made) bread, dipped in our (again, their) delicious (they are correct there) orange batter, topped with butter and sliced oranges, & served with real maple syrup, and (because that was not quite enough carbohydrates for me for the morning) a side of home fries; (Joe) Cheddar, Bacon, & Green Onions Omelette ~ 3 eggs cooked in butter, home fries and toast (Joe smartly went with a fresh-baked cinnamon muffin; even I can make toast at home); (Karen) the Original ~ 2 eggs scrambled with spinach, green onions, mushrooms, spices, and your choice of meat (Karen chose chorizo), served with home fries & your choice of toast, muffin, bagel, tortillas, or scone (Karen chose [very wisely, I might add] an orange-cranberry scone); 
and to drink: (me) a large glassa orange juice, (Joe) a cuppa (and a few refillas) whatever the house Coffee was, (Karen) just a glassa water


Some old friends (meaning I have known them for a verrrry long time, but both Joe and Karen are kinda old, too) were in town for the weekend and staying at a motel in San Bruno, so I figured hitting Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry again for breakfast (see last 'blog-entry from Monday, March 13th, 2017) was the smart thing to do (it was less than a mile just up the road ~ in this case, El Camino Real ~ from where they were staying, anyway).

I tried my d*rnedest to talk Joe and/or Karen into ordering something off of the Weekend Specials menu-insert. If I had not already pre-planned on getting what I had ordered, I might have easily deigned to order the Banana Buttermilk Pancakes. I mean, banana-filled pancakes topped with blueberries (an actual botanical berry, of course), strawberries (not so actual botanical berry), bananas (which botanically are a berry all on their ownsome, too), and berry butter? What is not to like there? Plus, that berry butter sounds like something that I will need to try on a future visit.

I just have one word to describe this meal: 
Verrrry tasty! 

Now while this dish may not have been "My Favourite New French Toast Dish of 2018 Not Named Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro" (that honour will probably be going to GriddleGriddle FreshFresh [see 'blog-entry from Saturday, June 9th, 2018]), this one is definitely Honourable Mention-worthy. The only thing that might have made this ever betterer would have been if they made their own cinnamon-orange-infused maple syrup to pour all over the top (or had given me some of that berry butter to use with this).

For condimentary supplementation, Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry offers the Standard (in this case, South) San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces: Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and Cholula® Hot Sauce Original. I simply went with some of my own Chelsea Fire Wicked. Hot. Sauce.® on the potatoes, as did Joe.

(another not so) Strange Coffee Interlude

After breakfast, Joe and Karen had the great idea to head over to the "sunny" coast of Pacifica to kill the time until they had to head to the airport back to Denver. While we were walking around the Rockaway Beach area, both Joe and I (at this point, I am thinking that Karen might secretly be Mormon) got 12 oz cuppas Kona Coffee at Pacific Java Cafe.[1] This was a fairly light roast Coffee, but it was pretty good all the same. They do offer a few other different roasts/blends from which to choose. However, I am not sure which brand of Coffee they serve. (I did not see anything listed on any of their signage and I did not really bother to ask.)

(Karen[-Sheena, the Punk Rocker?] and Joe[y Ramone?] on Rockaway Beach, Pacifica, CA.)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Orange Bread French Toast ~ 7.3
Kona Coffee from Pacific Java Cafe ~ 6.8

___________________

1. Pacific Java Cafe also does not have any kinda official-type web-site or nuthin'.

Location: 450 Dondee St # 6, Pacifica, CA; 
phonicular contact: (650) 738-1222

Breakers

A (redo) breakfastary roadtrip:
Rockaway Beach, Pacifica, CA

http://ilovebreakers.com/


Place: Breakers
Location: 145 Rockaway Beach Avenue, Pacifica
Hours: open 7:00am every day! (They actually added the exclamation point, not me.)
Meal: Roasted Eggplant Crepe (sic, they do not use the little circumflex hat-thingy on the first "ê" in "Crêpe" on their menu) ~ red peppers, glazed onions (Do you know how to glaze onions? Just tell them really awful corn-ball jokes until they can't take it any longer.), Portabella mushrooms, garlic, Jack cheese, Marinara sauce, sour cream & chives, served with hashbrowns & marinated salad; and a potta/pitchera/thermosa Peerless Coffee & Tea® Organic 80th Anniversary Italian Roast Blend

http://www.peerlesscoffee.com/product/all-coffee/organic-80th-anniversary-italian-roast-blend/

(I never need an excuse for a little George Ivan on a Sunday morning. 

I am pretty sure that I have posted different versions of both of these songs in the past ~ and in the case of "Into The Mystic", numerous times before. I just came across this live concert of his at Winterland Ballroom[1] in San Francisco the other day and really liked it.

And there is never anything verose about a little George Ivan in the morning, daytime, or evening.

Turn up your EweToob… so you know it's got Soul!)


I surfed on down California State Route 1 (aka "Highway 1" to most of you people) to Breakers (see last 'blog-entry from August 24th, 2014) for breakfast again this morning. This is one of the only places around ("around" being "around Rockaway Beach" and "around Pacifica" in general) that is open early enough and will usually attract most of the early-morning tourista business from the surrounding hotels and motels on Rockaway Beach. I got there around 8:00am this morning and had no problem being seated right away; however, it filled up quickly while I was there. There was a great view of the Pacific Ocean (hence the name of the town of Pacifica) from my seat in the corner of the restaurant this morning; even though it was still a little overcast and gloomy out.

Breakers really does have a pretty decent breakfast menu from which to choose; they offer a nice selection of 3 Egg Omelets, Three Egg Scrambles, Frittatas, Pancakes, French Toast, Belgian Waffles, and Crepes. Some of the other dishes that looked good to me this morning were: Feta Omelet (roasted red peppers, spinach, & Feta cheese, topped with black olives & red onions; I probably would have definitely gone with that one IF the black olives were of the Kalamata variety, but I knew from my last visit that they were just the plain ol' boring canned type); Veggie Frittata (mushrooms, onions, the vile weed, celery, zucchini, diced tomatoes, & Combo cheese; I am not sure what part of Italy "Combo" cheese comes from, though; for some reason, when I asked my waitress-server-lady, she said she'd get back to me on that and ended up avoiding me for the rest of the meal); Islander French Toast (topped with strawberries, bananas, & blueberries[2]; they don't specify which "Island" that is from, though); or Garden Crepe (avocado, spinach, mushrooms, bell peppers, Jack cheese, tomatoes, sour cream & chives ~ but, thankfully, none of the vile weed).

If you are like me and are un amante melanzane e fungi, you will really like this one (Sorry, Skip!) as there was a great amount (and in large chunks) of both the eggplant (which is a botanical berry, remember?) and the Portabella (or Portobello or Portabello, take your pick). Needless to say, I enjoyed it a lot. They forgot the sour cream & chives, but it really didn't need any of that and I probably enjoyed it more for the omission.

I am generally not a big fan of these "side salads" that usually come with crêpes; just give me more of the good potato-stuff and leave all that green for the rabbits. However, this one was actually pretty good and I ended up eating most of it for a change. It had nice bite-sized/diced pieces of cucumber, tomato, celery, and zucchini in it (along with the requisite boring lettuce junk); and the dressing was really very light and not overpowering.

The Coffee is a great deal. For the price of a standard cuppa at most places, they leave an entire thermos/pitcher/pot-thing (à la IHOP®, just with much better Coffee). I probably had at least two-and-a-half to three cuppas while I was there.

For condimentary supplements, Breakers has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Cholula® Hot Sauc), and The Pepper Plant® Original California Style Hot Pepper Sauce. I used some from my own collection and went with lots of Fat Cat Strawberry Serrano Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the potatoes and some Marie Sharp's Grapefruit Pulp Habanero Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of the crêpe. The Marie Sharp's is the newest hot sauce to my collection (I just received it this week); I am pretty sure that I have had this one before, though. It has a nice balance of grapefruit and habanero flavour. Plus, this was a small (sample) bottle and it fits nicely into my Tabasco® holster.

http://www.thepepperplant.com/

http://www.mariesharps-bz.com/

Once again, they completely stiffed me on the crayons and kids colouring menu; I made sure to vociferate my dissatisfaction to the owner-manager-person on my way out. Even so, that overlookance didn't influence my tip or Glen Bacon Scale Rating in any way.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Roasted Eggplant Crepe ~ 6.5


________________

1. Unfortunately, I never got to see any live music played there. Winterland Ballroom closed way back on New Year's 1978 going into 1979; the Grateful Dead were the last group to play there. Some guy named Bruce Springfield and his Band of E-Streeters also played there a few weeks before it closed, too. It is also probably best known as the place where the Band played "The Last Waltz".

2. Okay, here's a pop culinaristic trivia quiz to see how many (how few?) of you readers out there are really paying attention (or not):

Which of those "Island" fruits is/are actual botanical berries?

That would be, of course, just the bananas and blueberries.

Moonraker

A(nother) breakfastary roadtrip:
Rockaway Beach, Pacifica, CA

http://moonrakerpacifica.com/


Place: Moonraker
Location: 105 Rockaway Beach Avenue, Pacifica
Hours: open for breakfast every day of the week at 7:00am; they also have a more formal "Sunday Brunch" at 10:30am (on Sunday, of course)
Meal: Huevos Montulenos[1] ~ fried eggs/black beans/ham/peas/cheese/ranchero sauce/crispy corn tortillas; and a cuppa (and two more refillas) Caffè[2] Umbria Medium Roast Coffee (they don't specify which exact blend/roast on the menu, and I forgot to ask, but it was probably Gusto Crema Blend)

http://www.caffeumbria.com/v2/indexb.html

(Yes, I suppose I could have used the Shirley Bassey theme song from the 1979 James Bond film "Moonraker" as a EweToobular juxtaselection, but it's really one of the lamer Bond theme songs. 

I asked one of the cute waitress-server persons why the restaurant had the name it did and she said that a "moonraker"[3] is a part of a ship. It is actually the top-most sail on certain sailing ships, John B.)


With the weather being absolutely fabulous the past few days (sorry, anyone back on the Northeast Coast), I felt like heading "down the coast" a bit for breakfast this morning and ended up going back to Rockaway Beach, Pacifica for breakfast at Moonraker. The restaurant is attached to the Best Western Plus Lighthouse Hotel and right across the street from NICK'S (see 'blog entry from August 23rd, 2014). It looked to me that anyone dining there would have Million $$$ views out the large windows overlooking Rockaway Beach and the Pacific Ocean (I only saw a few surfers out there this morning, but the waves looked tasty, bro'). Most everyone has a booth facing the ocean, too; there are probably about 25-30 half-circular booths (with seating for two to four people) all along the beach side of the restaurant. Plus, there are still more levels of booths and tables (for any of the later-rising suckers).

(This was the view from my booth this morning.)


Moonraker does not have a really extensive menu, but a few other good ideas looked like: Mushroom Frittata (peppers/potatoes/smoked bacon/Fontina; they don't actually mention any mushrooms on their menu, but I can only assume there are mushrooms in it; the bacon would have been 86-ed if I got this one, too); Moon Eggs Benedict (duck bacon/toasted olive bread/poached organic eggs/breakfast potatoes/Hollandaise; I would have ordered this without the duck bacon, but that does sound interesting if you a partaker of the dead, decaying foul fowl stuff; "Moon Eggs Benedict"? Sounds like it could be the grandchild of Frank Zappa); or Healthy Poached Organic Eggs (wilted spinach/sliced tomato/Brie cheese; of course, this is not a very healthy option for the poor organic eggs themselves).

I ordered the Huevos Montulenos sin el cerdo muertos y descomposición, naturlamente. The best way to describe this dish would be to call it some kinda versión mexicana de Eggs Benedict. It's a layered egg dish with a bottom layer of crispy corn tortillas, some black beans, the eggs, another layer of crispy corn tortillas, and covered with the ranchero sauce and then the cheese and peas (peas?) are added to the top before the whole thing gets heated up under the salamander to melt the cheese to a nice bubbly consistency. I liked this a lot. I have had similar takes on this dish before that I also liked (some better, some not so better).

The Coffee was pretty decent, too. I am not sure if I have had this particular Coffee company before or not. 

The ranchero sauce that was on top really wasn't overly spicy so I made sure to rectify that with some of my own hot sauce. I used a good amount of The Wiltshire Chilli Farm Winter chilli sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) all over the pile.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Huevos Montulenos ~ 6.7


1. You can consider this (or not) a stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day:

They have this as "Huevos Montulenos" on the menu; however, the correct spelling should be "Huevos Motuleños" (less one "n" and with the tilde over the one "ñ" that is there). The modifier "motuleños" comes from the town of Motul (una pequeña ciudad en el Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán de Mexico) where the dish originated.

2. Once again, you can consider this (or not) a stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

I would just like to point out here that they have this printed correctly on the menu con l'accento grave. It is usually either left off altogether or more commonly printed incorrectly con l'accento acuto. 

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonraker_(sail)

However, I honestly don't know if a sloop (named "John B" or not) has a moonraker/moonsail or not.

High Tide Restaurant ~ Café and Crepery

A(nother) breakfastary roadtrip:
Linda Mar (at Pacifica State Beach[1]), Pacifica, CA

http://hightidecrepery.com/


Place: High Tide Restaurant ~ Café and Crepery 
Location: 5500 Coast Highway, Pacifica, CA
Hours: open at 8:00am Monday-Friday and at 7:30am on Saturday and Sunday
Meal: Apple & Cheese (Sweet Crepe) ~ Granny Smith[2] apples, Cheddar cheese, brown sugar, & cinnamon (served with whipped cream + Ice Cream); a side of House potatoes (grilled with olive oil, garlic, & rosemary); and a cuppa (and two refillas, too) Peerless Coffee & Tea® (but I didn't get the specific roast/blend they serve)

http://www.peerlesscoffee.com/

(I bet not many people knew that Linda Ronstadt's middle name was "Mar".)


It was only a short 14.4 miles trip down to High Tide Restaurant ~ Café and Crepery this morning for breakfast, but, for some reason, it was 15.3 miles back (seriously, I odometered it). Due to some very thick/heavy pockets of fog, visibility along some parts of Highway 1 was only a few hundred feet or less. Pacifica is probably the only city in America that embraces its fogacity; they even have an annual Fog Fest in September. Both London and San Francisco really have to take a backseat to Pacifica when it comes to fog. 

http://pacificcoastfogfest.com/

I have had lunch at High Tide Restaurant ~ Café and Crepery a few times before (mainly going with a savory crêpe). It is located in a local shopping plaza right at Pacifica State Beach, which is known by local surfers as "Linda Mar Beach". Seating-wise, there are six tables for four, seven tables for two, and three more tables for two on the sidewalk in front. Plus, there is a very cool, large, open-aired, outdoor, backyard (those were all of the modifiers of which I could think) patio area with many more tables; however, it was still too foggy yet this morning to sit out there (even though I did think about it).

Completely Unrelated, Stupid, Useless Cunning Linguist Strange Interlude of the Day

There is a compound word in German "der[3] Kummerspeck" (pronounced something like "Kooma-shpeck"). This literally means "grief-bacon" (for which we really don't have an equivalent word in English), and this refers to the excess weight we gain from emotional overeating. (Now, I never really understood the expression "Good grief!", Mr. Brown. What ever do you find so "good" about grief?) I know many people (Hey, Rudek! Hey, Sean!) that would worship at a Bacon Altar if they could. So, I figured I would come up with my own German compound words to honour them.

"Bacon-happiness" would be "das Glückspeck" (pronounced something like "Glyook-shpeck" ~ Didn't he used to play First Base for the Red Sox?)

"Bacon-joy" would be "die Freudespeck" (pronounced something like "Froyda-shpeck", and, psychologically speaking, has no relation whatsoever to the Baggins family)

and

"Bacon-blessing" would be “der Segenspeck" (pronounced something like "Zaygen-shpeck")

Of course, the "Glen Bacon Scale" would simply be "der Glen Speck Scale".

(Now back to our regularly scheduled 'blog-thing.)

Like most crêperies, you order and pay first at the front counter, get a number (mine today was Jack Thomas Snow, Jr.'s number: 6), and then they bring out the food to you when it is ready. There were several other good ideas for breakfast: (from the Savory Crepes category of the menu) Florentine (spinach, mushrooms, glazed onions, with Jack & cottage cheese) or Italian (roasted peppers, eggplant, artichokes, glazed onions, and garlic, with Marinara & Mozzarella); (from the Breakfast section of the menu) Surfers' Delight (scrambled eggs with spinach, onions, mushrooms, and Cheddar); or (from the Omelettes portion of the menu) Salsa (Cheddar cheese, avocado, onions, & salsa fresca). And, don't worry, for those of you that partake of the dead, decaying, piggy-belly, there are several items on the menu that include varying degrees of speck-tacularism. 

I don't usually go in for sweet crêpes for breakfast (they do make for great breakfastary dessert add-ons, though), but how can you go wrong with one that includes Granny Smith apples! Cheddar cheese! Cinnamon and brown sugar!? And this one was as good as it sounds. I probably shoulda had the crêpe with the added Ice Cream option (don't ask me why I decided on having it without any ~ what kinda idiot decides on "no Ice Cream" when it is a no-charge option?!), but I just went with whipped cream only this morning (and, yes, I have had Ice Cream for breakfast before, see 'blog-entry from March 21st, 2010).

The "side order" of potatoes turned out to be an unbelievably HUGE portion, but the more (potatoes), the merrier with me. And the potatoes were very good to boot, too (even though I ended up eating them, not booting them).

I also like that they offer free refillas with their Coffee (they even asked me three times, but two were enough for me). A lot of crêpe joints charge by the cuppa. 

For condimentary supplements, High Tide ~ Café and Crepery offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both the standard red and green jalapeño) and Tapatío®. I really only needed some for the potatoes, anyway, and just used some of my own Born to Hula presents Devon Allman's All Natural Hot Sauce Chipotle Blues (Thanks, Kerry! And that about killed the last of that bottle now.) on them.


der Glen Speck Scale Rating: Apple & Cheese (Sweet Crepe) ~ 6.4 


1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacifica_State_Beach

2. How many of you were aware that "Granny Smith" was the maternal grandmother of John Chapman, aka "Johnny Appleseed"?

*(Nah! Don't be believin' everything you done read on the Intro-Net:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granny_Smith )

3. Bonus stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

The definitive article "the" in German can be either "das", "die", "den", or "der", depending on gender and number. Of course, I have absolutely no idea when to use each one. I was once told by a local Berliner (a resident of Berlin, not a jelly-doughnut) that most native German speakers really have no clue when to use any of these correctly either. They will usually just say it quickly and abbreviate it to a slurred "d'".

And just for the heck of it, here is another little-known Cliff Clavinist fact:

"The" is the most commonly used word in the English language, accounting for 7% of all words.

(Actually, in the above sentence, "the" accounts for 17% of it.)**

**(And, in that last parenthetical sentence, "the" accounted for 18% of the total words. Well, you get the "the" idea; please just don't tell me to "die" in a "den".)

Ash’s Vallemar Station

A breakfastary roadtrip:
Vallemar, Pacifica, CA

http://www.vallemarstation.com/


Place: Ash's Vallemar[1] Station[2]
Location: 2125 Coast Highway, Pacifica, CA
Hours: open at 9:30am Saturday and Sunday for "Brunch"
Meal: Angelina (Omelette) ~ marinated artichoke hearts, fresh mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, & cheese (Station Omelettes are made with three large farm fresh eggs, served with pan fried potatoes, fresh fruit, and English muffin or toast); a (small) glass of orange juice; and a small cuppa America's Best Coffee Roasting Company Peru Organic from P-town Café 

(No official web-site. 
Location: 152 Reina Del Mar Avenue, Pacifica, CA; phonicular contact: (650) 735-5529)

(The reason for today's EweToobular juxtaselections? Simples. It's a well-known fact that both Steve Earle and Louis Prima were originally from Pacifica, CA. 

I suppose I could have linked "March of the Dead" by Danny Elfman, which was the theme song from the movie "Army of Darkness", but I figured that only two people might get the joke.)


I felt like making a small roadtrip for breakfast this morning and the weather even cooperated, too, so I locomoted back down to Pacifica (see last 'blog-entry from August 24th, 2014) and ate at Ash's Vallemar Station. This is a pretty cool old building; originally built in 1905 for use as an actual railroad station (hence the "Station" part of their name). It's a medium-sized place with seating in the main dining area of nine tables for four people and five tables for two people; plus, there is an outdoor/backyard patio area with four tables that can seat four to six people (I wanted to sit out there this morning; however, the tables and seats were still wet from all the rain we had overnight and this morning); additionally, there is bar-seating for about eight to ten people.

They are only open for "Brunch" on the weekends, and there really aren't that many selections on the menu (five different omelettes and about ten other breakfastary choices). Some of the other items that I might have gotten were: Virgin (Omelette) (Jack, Cheddar, & Swiss cheese); Huevos Rancheros; or Banana Pancakes (three large buttermilk pancakes with fresh bananas; even though I am not a big fan of Jack Johnson).

This was a decent enough version of an omelette. It had two different types (as opposed to two of the same types?) of cheese shredded on top (and lots inside, too); I am guessing that these were probably Cheddar and Jack. I also liked that the artichoke hearts were the kind that were marinated in brine, not marinated in oil and vinegar (which are good in a salad, but tend to be too greasy for an omelette or in a crêpe dish). I went with an English muffin instead of toast for a change. The side of fruit was just a slice of watermelon, a slice of honeydew melon, and a slice of orange. The best part of the meal was that they have really excellent homefries; these may possibly have been deep fried first then finished on the grill(?); they weren't greasy at all, but they were extra crispy all around and creamy on the inside, like you would get with correctly-made French fries.

I had gotten down there a few minutes before Ash's Vallemar Station opened, so I decided on getting a cuppa at P-town Café. (Actually, I was planning on going there after breakfast for a cuppa, anyway.) This little coffeehouse is located in an old red caboose[3] right behind Ash's Vallemar Station. P-town Café offers about five to six different types/blends/roasts of Coffee from which to choose in self-serve thermoses. Which is nice, as you can sample the different types before pouring yourself a whole cuppa. As luck would have it, the first one I tried was very good and I went with that. As best as I can figure, P-town Café serves mainly Coffee from America's Best Coffee Roasting Company (they were really hopping when I was there and there was only one lady working the counter making Lattes and bagels and such, so I didn't want to bother her with any foolish questions ~ "But, Brian, there are really no foolish questions, just fools asking them"). 

Ash's Vallemar Station only has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) for condimentary supplementation. So I used some of my own Fat Cat® Surprisingly Mild Guajillo Ghost (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the potatoes and some Fairhope Favorites Aged-N-Charred Moonshine Hot Sauce XXX (Thanks, Phyll!) on top of the omelette. I did discover an interesting flavour combination by accident, I got a drop of the Fat Cat® on the slice of honeydew melon and it was actually pretty tasty like that.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Angelina (Omelette) ~ 6.5 (factoring in their really excellent homefries); Peru Organic Coffee ~ 6.5


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, número uno:

"Vallemar" simply means "sea valley" en español.

2. Not to be confused with Voldemort's Station, which would probably be found along the coast of Northumberland, England.

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/somewhat historical pointer of the day, nummer twee:

"Caboose" comes from the Middle Dutch word "kambuis", meaning "a ship's galley". This probably comes from the Low German "kabhuse" ("a wooden cabin on ship's deck"); probably a compound whose elements correspond to English "cabin" and "house".

So, the next time you say that a woman has a "nice caboose", hopefully you are not planning on eating a meal off it.

Breakers

A breakfastary roadtrip (part the second):
Rockaway Beach, Pacifica, CA

http://ilovebreakers.com/


Place: Breakers
Location: 145 Rockaway Beach Avenue, Pacifica
Hours:  Open 7:00am every day!
Meal: Greek Omelet(te) ~ spinach, tomatoes, red onions, black olives, & a blend of Mozzarella & Feta cheese, served with potatoes & choice of bread; and a cuppa (well, actually a pitchera) Peerless Coffee® (I didn't get the actual roast/blend)

(Three EweToobular videos today? What gives?! 

Well, I am just continuing my International Linda Ronstadt Weekend. Plus, the first song can double as today's earthquakey theme. And, besides, Mick never looked anywhere as good singing this song when he was wearing nothing but a bandana, a black vest, blue jeans, and knee-high cowboy boots.

The second song serves both for the Linda Ronstadt tribute and sort of a juxtaselection with the name of today's restaurant.

And the third song is just because how awesome is a duet with Linda and Bonnie Raitt? Man, I would have loved to have been made into a "Brian Sandwich" with those two back then. I may even have allowed some of that vile white goop, mayonnaise, on it, but just none of the vile weed.

I suppose I coulda linked "Santa Monica" by Everclear ~ just listen to the lyrics ~ but, again, Linda was much cuter than Art Alexakis, even with his awesome bleach-blonde hair.)


Just for the heckovit, I made another breakfastary roadtrip all the way down to Rockaway Beach (the one in Pacifica, CA, not the one in Queens, New York City, NY). It is exactly fourteen miles due south (I odometered it), which is only about thirty minutes driving along the Great Highway and Highway 1 (and equal to a simple trip across town even, if not quicker). (I have discovered that all the lights along the Great Highway are timed at 35mph… and, surprisingly enough, also at 70mph.) Breakers is right across the street from yesterday's breakfastary destination, NICK'S (or NICKS). (However, I am pretty sure that the name of today's restaurant is the plural noun, and not in the Genitive case ~ unless the owner happens to actually be named "Nick Breaker".)

There was a great view of the Pacific Ocean/Rockaway Beach from my window seat this morning. Breakers is a decent sized place and seating is (approximately): six tables for two; four tables for four; and ten to twelve booths for two to four people. It is definitely a family/kid-friendly place as there was a table next to me with two families and three kids between them. They give every kid a complimentary (or maybe even a "complementary") box of crayons and a placemat to colour. The 4-pack of crayons is probably ~ Black, Red, Yellow, and Blue. I don't really know for sure, though, as NO ONE offered ME any of the fun stuff (I was sure to point out this major disappointing omission to one of the waitress-server ladies; I also let her know that it would not affect the amount of the tip in any way, though).

In addition to a good selection of 3 Egg Omelets, Breakers also offers several Three Egg Scrambles (and this area of the menu actually had "Three" spelled out, whereas the omelettes section had the Arabic numeral "3"), Frittatas (they don't specify if these are "3 Egg" or "Three Egg"), Pancakes, French Toast, Belgian Waffles, and several Crepes (which they have spelled sans un accent circonflexe). From the Frittatas section I liked the sound of the Veggie (diced vegetables, salsa, sour cream & chives). From the Crepes section: Roasted Eggplant (red peppers, glazed onions, portabella mushrooms, garlic, Jack cheese, marinara sauce & sour cream) and Garden (avocado, spinach, mushrooms, bell peppers, Jack cheese, tomatoes, sour cream & chives) would have been good options for stupid vegetarians.

This was a pretty good omelette. It was made with lots of Feta and spinach (inside and even with more Feta sprinkled on top), both major plusses in my book (which is of the colouring type and here is where I coulda used some of those damned crayons); however, they just use those sliced, canned black olives; this would have been soooo much better with real Kalamata olives, of course. My choice of bread was sourdough; and I liked how they make it: they actually toast it a bit first and then finish it on the grill! (I happened to mention this to the owner, Mr. Breaker, when I was paying and he said they do it that way specifically because that is how he likes the toast to be made). The side of potatoes were of the hashbrown variety.

I enjoyed the idea of them leaving the pitcher/pot (in a plastic thermos thingy, à la IHOP®) of Coffee right on the table, that way you could make your own refillas whenever you felt like. I made sure to utilize it at least two to three times, too.

Breakers has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and also Tabasco® Brand Habanero Sauce for use as condimentary supplements. They may possibly offer Cholula® Hot Sauce, too, as I saw it on one other table, but it could easily have belonged to the guy sitting there as it was gone the next time I looked over at his table right after he had left. What kinda complete idiot brings their own hot sauces to a public restaurant? For a change, I actually used some of their Habanero Sauce on the omelette. This is one of the better flavours that Tabasco® has to offer (my favourite of theirs being Chipotle), and it has more flavour and heat than the standard red stuff. I also used some of my own Hula Girl Chipotle Habanero (Thanks, Jim!) liberally (as in "feel free to use as much as you like") all over the potatoes.

I took some of the extra Feta and red onions that were on top of the omelette and mixed them into the hashbrowns, because, of course: "Everything is betta with Feta!"


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Greek Omelet(te) ~ 6.5 (which would probably have been a 6.7 or 6.8 with real Kalamata olives)