It’s Tops (Fountain) Coffee Shop

"People who live in glass houses[1] shouldn't get stoned." ~ Leo Rosten

http://www.itstopscoffeeshop.com/


Place: It's Tops (Fountain) Coffee Shop
Location: 1801 Market Street (somewhat at Octavia Boulevard)
Hours: open daily at 8:00am
Meal: Create your own Omelette ~ ("my creation" was) with avocado, jalapeños, and bell pepper and onion sauté[2], served with home fried potatoes and choice of toast; and a glass of apple-and-cranberry juice (this wasn't already apple-cranberry juice combination out of the bottle, I simply had them mix for me half-apple and half-cranberry juice… let the fruity optimist-pessimist debate begin)

(For the first two songs, today's EweToobular juxtaselections are simply from the name of the place and the name of the Motown group. Besides, I don't ever really need an excuse to include any songs with the mellifluous styling of Levi Stubbs and the always smooth and suave Four Tops. 

The final song is just because I stumbled across it last week while canoodling around on EweToob. This guy can really play the guitar!)


It had been a few years since I last ate at It's Tops
(Fountain) Coffee Shop (see last 'blog-entry from September 18th, 2011) so I figured a return trip was overdue. The sign on the outside of the building says that they have been open "Since 1935"; however, they also have a movie marquee-type sign over the entrance that says "AWΣSOME HOT CAKES" (which is better than "AWESOME HOT CAKΣS", I suppose; that damn VANNA WHITΣ must have absconded with the other "E"); so take it all for what it is worth. I just know that they have been around as long as I have lived in San Francisco (since November 1986), so even that would still be pretty long. The seating consists of twelve diner-counter stools and eight reddish (well, they were probably a deeper red or burgundy many years ago) vinyl-covered booths of varying sizes that could seat from four to eight people. All of the booths have jukebox devices at them, and there are three more connections along the diner-counter. Unfortunately, there were no pink-and-black-uniformed waitresses to be seen there yet this early in the morning.

It's Tops offers a pretty decent amount of items from which to choose for breakfast. I was thinking about getting Susan's Spicy Spuds (home fried potatoes doused with house made salsa, cheese, and a dab of sour cream on the side; can be made with avocado or mushrooms added, too); I probably would have had them add an egg or two laid on Top and gone with both the avocado and mushroom additions. They also have something called Stuffed Waffles ~ they offer either Bacon or Sausage (with the dead, decaying animal flesh on the inside) and Walnut Banana (with the walnuts on the inside and the banana on Top) ~ which sounded good, too.

This was a pretty good omelette. It was a little light on the avocado for my tastes, but it more than made up for it with the amount of jalapeños in it, and these were fresh, sliced jalapeños which always beats the picked kind out of a jar or can. The bell peppers were both the orange and yellow variety; the onions were just of the plain ol' white type. I probably woulda-shoulda gotten this also with Jack cheese in it. I went with sourdough toast as my bread choice, and this actually comes as grilled, not toasted, bread (I like that as a change once in a while). 

Now their version of homefries are really exceptional. They are thinly sliced and then grilled, which makes them somewhat of a hybrid of homefries and hashbrowns. I spoke with the owner/manager-type guy, and he said that they used to make their breakfastary potatoes with hashbrowns, but they ended up being harder to make (bloody/scraped knuckles don't really add any appeal to the mess), so they went to this style, which works just fine for me.

It's Tops offers for condimentary supplementation both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. I went with some of my own The Wiltshire Chilli Farm smoked Chipotle chilli sauce on the potatoes and some Mango hot chilli sauce (Thanks for both, Cindy & Greg!) on the omelette. (Unfortunately, so far, the Chipotle one is the only bottle with which I am really making any noticeable headway.)

Regrettably, today's breakfastary meal did not include any "sugar pies" or "honey bunches", Renée…


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Create your own Omelette ~ 6.3; home fried potatoes ~ 6.8


1. People that live in Pateley Bridge and Bewerley should be careful of being overly self-righteous, too.*

*(Of course, that poor joke will probably only be understood by one or two people that read this stupid 'blog-thing.)

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day:

"Sauté" is a French word; it is the past participle of the verb "sauter" which means "to jump, skip, or bounce". 

Extra-added kudos goes to It's Tops for spelling this correctly avec accent aigu on both their printed and on-line menus.  

Sweet Maple

http://www.sweetmaplesf.com/


Place: Sweet Maple 
Location: 2101 Sutter Street (on the corner of Steiner Street)
Hours: Open for Breakfast Monday through Friday at 8:00am (however, open for "Brunch" Saturday and Sunday at 8:00am)
Meal: Morning Pizza ~ Mushroom, arugula, roasted tomato, Mozzarella, Goat cheese, Marinara sauce, and an egg; and a large glass of fresh squeezed orange juice

(As today is Boxing Day, I thought the first EweToob video appropriate. And I just like the second song, too.)


What better way to work off all of the Christmas over-indulgence and over-eating than to get up early on Boxing Day and go out for a big breakfast? I wasn't sure how many places would actually be open the morning after, so I just went back to Sweet Maple (see last 'blog-entry from October 6th, 2012); I had checked out their web-site ahead of time and they didn't state that they would be closed this morning. (See? This is why it pays to have an official web-site, people. It still amazes me how many businesses do not have even the simplest of web-sites today.) For what it is worth, Sweet Maple has the same ownership as KITCHEN Story (see 'blog-entry from February 23rd, 2013). They were actually a lot busier than I would have expected very early on a Thursday morning (even for the day after Christmas).

Sweet Maple's Weekday Breakfast Menu is very similar to their Weekend "Brunch" Menu; I didn't bother to compare them "side-by-each", but, from a quick perusal, they seem to have many of the same items available all week long. Some other good breakfastary ideas that I noticed: Athenian Omelette (mushroom, arugula, mild Goat cheese); Herbi Omelette (onion, mushroom, green and red bell pepper, tomato, arugula, and crème fraîche on top; and I would just like to point out that I like their term "Herbi" is so much better than that oh-so-tired "Veggie" moniker); or even the Big Hip French Toast (two wedges of inch think pain de mie deep fried; served sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon; served with pure maple syrup and housemade maple butter; and I think this dish obtained that particular name, because if you eat this very often you will have them for sure).

This is made with a sunnyside-up egg on top of the Pizza; I have had it before where a restaurant will actually drop an uncooked egg in the middle of the Pizza about five minutes before the Pizza is ready and let it cook on top while the Pizza finishes up. This Pizza was very good for several reasons: it had lots and lots of Mozzarella on it (making each bite a battle filled with stretchy, cheesy goodness); it had a good Marinara sauce;  it had a good crust (I think these are baked in a brick, wood-burning oven); and, particularly of note, the roasted tomatoes really added an extra depth of flavour, something… as the French are wont to say: "Io non so che cosa." (Well, those Frenchmen that are making autentica Pizza Italiana.) 

This definitely has my vote for Best Breakfast Pizza of 2013 (well, I think I have only had Pizza for breakfast twice already this year, and I really doubt that I will another breakfast Pizza before next week, but still). I think it would have been just as good a meal even if it weren't for breakfast. 

The "fresh squeezed orange juice" was actually that for a change, as it was nice and pulpy (and I even spied bits of seeds in it). You'd be surprised how many places try to palm off (or "juice-off") to you plain ol' orange juice from a container and claim that it was "fresh-squeezed" by the company that makes it.

For condimentary supplementation Sweet Maple has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both the standard red and the green jalapeño) and Tapatío®. I received a cool new hot sauce holster (Thanks, Sean!) for Christmas this year. As it is an official Tabasco® Brand product, it also came with a small bottle of Tabasco® ~ the standard red; Sean informed me that I can just dump that out if I want to, but there is never any reason to waste any perfectly good hot sauce and I will just use it in my rotation until it is empty. There is just one "little" problem with the holster; it only holds 2 oz[1] bottles, though. I tried fitting a 5 oz bottle in it upside-down and it fits well enough; however, I don't really trust the seals on the bottle caps to be able to carry them like that. Luckily I have a few 2 oz bottles of hot sauce in my armament (unfortunately, they are mostly of the nookular-range, so I can only use a little at a time); and I put a bottle of Big Papi En Fuego Hot Sauce Off The Wall Triple Hot (Thanks, Kerry!) in it this morning and used just 5-6 drops on the egg before cutting it up and mixing it in with all the other ingredients on the Pizza. 

My thinking is that when one of my 2 oz bottles are finally empty, I can try to refill them with one of my less-painful hot sauces. I should also point out that wearing one of these holsters on your belt while trying to drive is very uncomfortable, as a normal seatbelt mechanism will snap into place just about the same spot where the holster is now located. (I really don't know how rednecks can do this daily… and not spill a drop of their Beers when driving, too.)

Sweet Maple also have maple syrup dispensers on all the tables (some had red handles and some had white handles; I think that was to distinguish between the caffeinated and decaf versions). And because it was ubiquitously available and the name of the restaurant dictates, I felt it absolutely necessary to use just a skosh on some of the crust (shades of Beau Jo's Colorado Style Pizza) for my "breakfast dessert".

http://www.beaujos.com/

I skipped any Coffee or tea with my meal this morning by design. I had just received a nice new Christmas swag package from some very nice people in Pateley Bridge (the one in Nidderdale, North Yorkshire, England, Great Britain, Europe ~ just so there isn't any confusion) and it included some Bettys Coffees and teas. I enjoyed a cuppa Pai Mu Dan[2] White Tea while writing out this 'blog-entry. As with most White Teas, this was a rather light tea and naturally sweet, and needed no additional sweeteners (neither sugar, nor honey), nor any milk/cream (which is actually good, as lately the only "milk" in my refrigerator has been the almond- or coconutmilk variety).

http://www.bettys.co.uk/product/Bettys-Pai-Mu-Dan-White-Tea-20-Sheer-Tea-Bags,18972,27.aspx


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Morning Pizza ~ 7.0; Bettys Pai Mu Dan White Tea ~ 7.0


1. Did you ever wonder why we use the abbreviation "oz" and not "ou" or "oc" for "ounce"? It has nothing to do with Wicked Witches or Wizards from the Emerald City.

Well, even if you hadn’t wondered why, here is stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-apothecarian pointer of the day, numero uno:

The abbreviation comes from the former Italian word "onza" (which is now spelled "oncia"). 

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-agricultural pointer of the day, 第二:

"Bái Mudān" ("白 牡丹") in Chinese means "white peony". Never to be confused with "白色的陰莖", as that would give the tea a "little wang" to it.

But just who is this Dan White guy, and why is he making cow-pies?

Dottie’s True blue café

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food." ~ George Bernard Shaw (and he should know; he was a stupid vegetarian, too)

http://dotties.biz/
 

(Continuing the Linda Ronstadt Weekend Tribute. The last song can be taken however you like, but I am sure Linda believes it now more than ever, as do we all as we get older. I always thought she was such a cutie back in the 70's and 80's; she was far from "a classic beauty", but she was also far from ugly ~ well, at least 500 feet from ugly… stupid restraining orders!)


As we near the last month of the Baseball Season, I am going to try to make it through my Breakfastary Rotation over the next few weeks. What better way to start it off than a little morning repast at Dottie's True blue café (see last 'blog-entry from May 6th, 2013)? (That was just a rhetorical question. I would always choose Dottie's over many other places, anyhow.)

I got there about fifteen minutes before they opened this morning (see above photo for times, ya lazy bastages). I was surprised that there were only three people in front of me for a change. These three blokes[1] were all from England. I figured this out all on my own after listening to them speak in a funny accent of 'mericanese, and confirmed it when I asked them which part of Australia they were from. One guy had lived in Harrogate for a while (and even knew of that megalopolis Pateley Bridge, Greg & Cindy). Another is married to a lady from Beverley, near Hull on the Yorkshire coast. I made sure to tell them to be sure to check out the Bakery Specials (the three of them could easily order two baked goods to share) and the normal Specials Board.

You know, in all the times I have ever eaten at Dottie's (at least a hundred or more), I think that I have only ever ordered twice from their printed menu. So, that's what, 97% of the time I order off the Specials Board?

The kitschy salt-and-pepper shakers on my table this morning were some little tiki[2] guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzfcRx0Os_M

(For some reason I can not get this to imbed as a video like the others above. Just click on the hyperlink for this one if you want. This EweToob music interlude can actually still kind of be included in the Linda Ronstadt Weekend Tribute as both of those guys were friends of hers and occasional collaborators on her albums ~ and vice-versa ~ in the 70's.)


As always, there were several good choices on the Specials Board. Nectarine-Plum French Toast sounded very good, and if they didn't have what I eventually ordered on the Specials Board this morning, I would probably have chosen this one. However, as it was, Zucchini Cakes/Uova Benedicto was available again this morning, and I hadn't ordered it since several visits previously (my brother Sean did order this when we went there in May; coincidentally enough, Alison was with us that morning for breakfast, and Linda Ronstadt did a very good cover of that Deckie MacManus song on one of her albums). I also had a cuppa coffee.

I won't go into any long and boring explanation of how brilliant I think this culinary masterpiece is (but it truly is), which is basically an Italiano take on Eggs Benedict. I will just describe it from top to bottom. In place of any stupid "sauce from Holland" on top, they use a speecy-spicy Marinara sauce. Next there are the poached eggs; well, these were just standard poached eggs like you would find on a normal Eggs Benedict. And now, for the pièce de résistance (I do not know how to say that in Italian, though), instead of any boring ol' muffins from Mr. Thomas' bakery, they use fresh made zucchini cakes as the base. I have never really asked how these are made (Kurt would probably kill me if I ever did), but I think it's a cornmeal batter with finely shredded zucchini in it. This meal is always top-notch (or top-Marinara, whatever).

Today's side cup of fruits included: cantaloupe[3], watermelon (an actual botanical berry, of course), blueberries (also berries), strawberries (nope, sorry, not real berries), and blackberries (not real berries either).

I didn't bring any of my own hot sauces with me this morning, nor were any really needed, as I know that Dottie's offers a pretty decent selection for condimentary supplementation. I used some Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce ~ Chipotle on the potatoes. No way was I going to mess with the Marinara sauce on the Zucchini Cakes (again, that would probably be a death sentence from Kurt).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Zucchini Cakes ~ 7.6; Linda Ronstadt (singing and in general)~ 8.2


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

I know what you're thinking, "Very funny, Brian. You are still saying that 'English' is a foreign language to most 'mericans. Ha ha ha!" However, the origin of the word "Bloke" is actually unknown, but there are a few suggestions as to its origin: one is that it may be from Celtic "ploc" ("a large, stubborn person") or from Romany "loke" ("a man") with its roots in Hindi.

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

In the Māori language, "Tiki" was the name given to large wooden carvings in human shape. In Māori mythology, "Tiki" is the name of the first man created by either Tumataunega or Tāne.

However, there is no truth to the fact that the word was originally coined by Walt Disney in 1955, Adam.

3. Not really a stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, more like just a stupid, useless etymological/horticultural pointer of the day:

"Cantaloupe" is derived, via French, from the Italian "Cantaluppi" which was formerly a papal villa near Rome. Tradition has it that this is where it was first cultivated in Europe.