http://www.magicfluteristorante.com/ Place: Magic Flute (Garden) Ristorante Location: 3673 Sacramento Street (between Locust and Spruce Streets) Hours: open Monday thru Friday 11:00am for "Weekday Brunch", Saturday and Sunday 10:00am for "Brunch"[1] Meal: Garden (Ristorante)Omelet~ eggs (natch'), zucchini (and also, not listed on the menu, summer squash), tomatoes, spinach, Mozzarella cheese served with seasonal fruit, potatoes; a starter order of House Marinated (well, Ristorante-Marinated) Olives; and a cuppa (and two refillas ~ 'cause it is National Coffee Day, after all) Nova Rosti - "100% Arabica" http://novarosti.com/
(he-he-he!) I wanted to revisit some restaurants that I have not been to in a while, so I went back to Magic Flute (Garden) Ristorante (see previous 'blog-entry from Saturday, November 5th, 2011). This made for only the third time that I have ever eaten there in my thirty-plus years of living in San Francisco. This place is so "Old School Brunch" that it could easily be the pedagogy of "Brunches".
I had the entire back (Garden) Ristorante patio seating area all to myself for most of the meal. It is a huge backyard space and no one else thought to take advantage of the (somewhat) break in the foggy weather. It was even comfortable enough for me to remove my outer sweatshirt. There really is not a lot of variety on their "Brunch" menu for stupid vegetarian-types (which might be a factor in my not having returned there in seven years). Other than what I ordered today and on my previous "Brunch", there really is only Brioche French Toast (fresh whipped cream, fresh seasonal fruit, maple syrup), Presidio Scramble (eggs [natch'], Brie cheese, mushrooms, bacon [which I would have omitted], served with seasonal fruit, potatoes), or Eggs Florentine. My waiter/server-person guy did tell me that they offer two additional/special versions of Hollandaise sauce: a tarragon and a sun-dried tomato; both of which sound pretty interesting/tasty and might warrant a return venture (in less than another seven years, possibly).
As this place is traditionally "Old School Brunch", the omelette was perfectly executed and very good. I also liked the mélange of zucchini, summer squash, and spinach. Initially, my thought was that I would have liked to have seen more potatoes on the plate, but, luckily, there was plenty enough for my appetite with the starter order of olives. This was a very nice mixture of olives, too: green, black, and (I am very happy to note, heavy on the) Kalamata. I even used some of the marinating oil drizzled on top of both the omelette and potatoes. The side of fruits were slices of cantaloupe, watermelon, and orange. The only hot sauce I noticed that Magic Flute (Garden) Ristorante has for a condimentary supplement was Frank's®RedHot®Original. I used some of my own Pepper PalaceChocolate Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy! [at least I think they gave me that bottle]) on the potatoes and a little drizzle of Golden PagodaJalapeñoHot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of the omelette. I also grinded-up a good amount of grains of paradise on everything (including the fruits). (not so) Strange Coffee Interlude Even though I already had two cuppas at home before heading out for "Brunch", in celebration of National Coffee Day (and no one even sent me a card!), I figured I would order some more Coffee with the meal. As luck would have it, the Coffee they serve is from a local roastery out of San Rafael, which I had never tried. I am not exactly sure which specific roast/blend they had; the best answer I could get out of one of the other waiter/server-person guys was that it was "100% Arabica". Whichever roast/blend it was, I liked it well-enough to drink three cuppas. And, yes, the Coffee went perfectly with the olives-appetizer. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Garden (Ristorante)Omelet~ 6.7; Nova Rosti - "100% Arabica" (whichever roast/blend it might have been) ~ 7.0 ___________________
This was only my second visit in twenty-plus years to Magic Flute[1]Garden Ristorante[2] which is over on Sacramento Street in the affluent Presidio Heights[3] neighborhood. As for the correct name of the restaurant, it is either The Magic Flute Garden Ristorante, or Magic Flute Garden Ristorante, or Magic Flute Ristorante; take your pick, they have it printed on their menus, cards, and on the building itself several different ways. This is your archetypal "Brunch" place, but I wanted to re-try it, anyway.
I had gotten to the restaurant (or "ristorante", or "garden ristorante") a little early (they open at 10:00am, which isn't that bad as far as "Brunch" places tend to be), so I walked over to the Peet's Coffee & Tea® a few blocks away in the Laurel Village shopping plaza and got a cuppa their seasonal special Godiva®Pecan Caramel Mocha. It sounded disgusting, so I knew I had to try it. It was pretty sweet, as expected, but it wasn't really that horrible. I sat out back in the "Garden Ristorante" part of the place to get the best effect. There is a plastic windbreak screen on half of the patio section; however, it really wasn't that cold out this morning, anyway, and it was nice to be able to eat (somewhat) outdoors while it is still possible before Winter sets in. They do have gas heaters in the patio section if it gets too cold; I didn't see the need for them myself and even took off my jacket after a few minutes. Their "Brunch" menu is a bit limited, but they do offer a couple of nice egg dishes as well as French toast and waffle selections. No way was I going to order just a crummy ol' salad for breakfast. However, I did order Grilled Black Mission Figs ~ stuffed with Point Reyes bleu cheese, wrapped in proscuitto di Parma (which I skipped, Howard), drizzled with a balsamic reduction, and a mixed green salad. I went with a half-order (which wasn't on the menu, but my server said it would be okay), which was just two figs, and more than sufficient for my "Brunch" appetizer ("brappetizer"?).
For breakfast, I went with Hunters Scramble ~ eggs, chicken-apple sausage (I skipped this when I found out it was not a choice of either "chicken" or "apple" sausages), potatoes, mushrooms, Fontina cheese, topped with truffle oil, served with seasonal fruit and potatoes (I assumed it was just the fruits that were "seasonal", not the potatoes). (Interesting to note: they use the plural "Hunters", not possessive "Hunter's". Maybe I shoulda linked a Mott the Hoople song, too, Ian?)
The figs were excellent and I could have made a meal of just those (a full order, of course) with the salad and a side order of potatoes. The scramble was good, with lots of red potatoes and mushrooms (Sorry, Skip! Skip really hates red potatoes.) in it, but really nothing extraordinary; mind you, I wasn't really expecting any "knock your socks off" scramble with the given ingredients, anyhow. Luckily the main meal portions were rather small, so I had room to finish it even with the half-order of figs brappetizer (plus, this left more room for their fresh-baked, crusty bread and tasty olive oil).
Magic Flute may or may not offer the ubiquitous Tabasco® for condimentary supplementation, but I really didn't ask. They did have a very nice extra virgin olive oil infused with garlic cloves and fresh thyme (I thought that was what it was, but I had to ask to be sure what kinda herb it was) on every table; however, I did use some of my own Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce (Thanks agains, Amys!) on the potatoes.
All in all, it was a nice enough "Brunch", but it can really wait another twenty-plus years before I go back again, Wolfie.
[1] The restaurant/ristorante takes its name from the Mozart opera of the same name "The Magic Flute" (or in German "Die Zauberflöte", which actually means "the Sour Ice Cream Drink"~ no extra added charge for that useless cunning linguist pointer).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Flute [2] There is this bonus useless cunning linguist pointer: "Ristorante" in italiano means "restaurant" in English. Auf Deutsch "Restaurant" means "restaurant" in English. Believe it or not, Mr. Ripley, I do not make this stuff up. Why the name of the ristorante/restaurantis in Italian and not German, you'd have to ask Signor Salieri. [3] Presidio Heights is located just north of Laurel Heights and south of the Presidio, and east of the Richmond District. It is sometimes difficult to tell where the smaller neighborhoods start and end in San Francisco.
