Split ~ American Kitchen

https://www.spliteats.com/


Place: Split ~ American Kitchen

Location: 2300 Polk Street 
(at the corner of Green Street)

Hours: open for Weekday Breakfast (Monday - Friday) 9:00am, open for "Brunch" on Weekends (Saturday and Sunday) 9:00am

Meal: Grilled Little Gems[1] & Sunny-Side Up Eggs ~ grilled little gem lettuces, two pasture eggs, avocado, applewood smoked bacon (which I had 86-ed, natch'), Sriracha ranch, topped with breadcrumbs; a side of Crispy Butterball Potatoes[2]; and, to drink with the meal, a glassa orange juice

(I will let you all infer your own EweToobular juxtaselection from this song. I remember when this song was originally played on the radio. Man, is this song old!)


Having now (double-dippingly) exhausted all of the restaurants in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation over the last month and a half, I decided to check out a new (to me, at least, and relatively newly opened, anyway) restaurant and headed over to eat at Split ~ American Kitchen on ol' Roosky Kholm. I first espied them a few months ago when I was having lunch at a nearby joint along Polk Street; after lunch, I walked around the neighborhood a bit and "discovered" a few more places that seemed breakfastarily sound.

The first thing I asked myself was "Why is this place called 'Split'?" It did not look like they specialized in any specifically Croatian food items. I suppose that I probably could have asked one of the front-counter employees this question, but I forgot to ask it. With a little digging on their web-site, apparently they used to be called "Split Bread" (possibly some kinda local bakery?), but abbreviated and changed the name "... to convey the broader array of delicious menu items we now offer." There are two other locations in downtown San Francisco: one on 4th Street over by Yerba Buena Gardens and another one just a few blocks away on Mission Street between 1st and 2nd Streets.

As for any other ideas (at least viable options for st*pid vegetarian-types), I saw a few other good menu-entries:

Fried Egg Sandwich ~ two pasture eggs, aged Cheddar, arugula, on a toasted challah bun (which I assume they bake themselves);

Huevos Rancheros ~ two pasture eggs over easy, tostadas, avocado, aged Cheddar, black beans, shredded lettuce (they do not specify if this is shredded "little gems", though), homemade ranchero sauce, cilantro, lime crema;

Shroom Scramble ~ sautéed mushrooms, herbed goat cheese, kale, chives;

or

Design Your Own Scramble ~ three pasture eggs with your choice of three ingredients: applewood smoked bacon, homemade pork sausage, chicken apple sausage, Mexican chorizo, roasted red pepper, sautéed onion, kale, sautéed mushrooms, avocado, cherry tomatoes, aged Cheddar, herbed goat cheese, or Parmesan; served with Mixt greens side salad.

I was happy to see that this was a pretty basic and clean dish, which was perfect because I really did not feel like another big, heavy scrambled dish like yesterday. The two sunnyside-up eggs were on top of a whole mess o' sliced avocado (easily half an avocado or more); the avocado slices were on top of the nicely charred/caramelized halves of lettuce heads; and all of that was sitting atop a very nice Sriracha-ranch sauce. Of course, with the side of Crispy Butterball Potatoes, it all ended up being a pretty filling meal all the same. The potatoes were excellent, too. These were halved and deep-fried (whatever the h*ck a "Butterball" potato is supposed to be) potatoes ~ making for a nice crispy outside shell and a creamy (potatoey, whatever) inside.

As for any condimentary supplements, Split had bottles of Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce and Huy Fong Foods Inc. (I did have to ask to have that specific brand confirmed) Sriracha HOT Chili Sauce (in a large rectangular tin ketchup-style push-pump dispenser-thing). I used some of my own H*ll's Kitchen Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!), but just a few drops on top of each of the egg-yolks, and some Old St. Augustine Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!), where I liberally doused a lot more on the potatoes. Additionally, I grinded several grinds of The Spice & Tea Exchange® Florida Sunshine Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!) all over the eggs and grilled lettuce, and potatoes.


Crafty Coffee Confabulation Interlude

Before breakfast, I stopped in at Saint Frank Coffee (which was just down the block from Split) for a cuppa pour-over style Burundi Ninga Hill. I do not think that I have ever had any Burundian Coffee before. This was kinda light on flavour and roast, but it was mellow and sweet anyhow. As a comparison, at Split they serve Mr. Espresso® (I did ask that question, but not which particular roast/blend, though).

https://www.saintfrankcoffee.com/products/burundi-ninga-hill?variant=39006020164


the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

While I was walking around before breakfast, I heard several of the noisy feather-brains (Telegraph Hill, which is just "next door", is home to a major pandemonium, of course) overhead. However, I did not see neither beak nor feather of any.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Grilled Little Gems & Sunny-Side Up Eggs ~ 6.5;
Saint Frank Coffee - Burundi Ninga Hill ~ 6.9;
Crispy Butterball Potatoes ~ 7.2;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5 (even sight unseen)

___________________

1. Just what the h*ck?!

https://produceexpress.net/products/produce/item/lettuce-little-gem.html

2. Just what the h*ck, Part 2?!

https://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/German_Butterball_Potatoes_9175.php

Pat’s Cafe

"Give a man an inch and he'll think he's a ruler."

(Of course, I always thought the expression was: "Give a man an extra inch and he'll think he's Ron Jeremy.")

http://patscafesf.com/


Place: Pat's Cafe
Location: 2330 Taylor Street (between Chestnut and Francisco Streets, just off Columbus Avenue)
Hours: open at 7:30am seven days a week (including Saturday and Sunday)
Meal: Mediterranean Omelet ~ Feta, onions, eggplant, salsa, & pesto (comes with choice of toast and homefries); and a cuppa (and one-and-a-half refillas) Mr. Espresso® (I did not get the specific blend/roast, though)

http://mrespresso.com/

(I bet that not many people are aware that Keb' Mo's real name is actually "Pat Williams".)


I returned to Pat's Cafe (see previous 'blog-entry from January 5th, 2013; and I can't believe it has been almost two years since my first visit there) for breakfast this morning. It's a neighborhoody-sized place with seating of about twelve to thirteen tables for two, four tables for four, and two sidewalk tables for two (outside on the neighborhood sidewalk). They are located right along the Powell-Mason Sts. Cable Car line, somewhere in the demilitarised zone of North Beach-Russian Hill-Fisherman's Wharf.

Their walls are adorned with photos and artwork by local artists that are for sale (well, the photos and artwork are for sale, but I am sure the local artists can be had for a reasonable pri¢e, too). The place was also nicely decorated for the holiday season with lots of Poinsettias[1], multi-coloured lights, and a wire 7"-tall Christmas tree (either green, red, or silver) on every table (my table also lucked-out and had ein kleine Nussknacker dude).

Pat's Cafe offers many other good ideas for breakfast, too. I could have easily gone with: San Francisco Omelet (fresh basil, tomatoes, Feta cheese); California Omelet (avocado, Cheddar cheese, mushrooms, onions, Aidell's fresh chicken apple sausage ~ which I would have ordered less the ground-up, dead, decaying poultry product, of course); Chilaquiles; or three different crêpes (two savory and one sweet). They also have a Weekend "Brunch" Specials menu (with several different types of Benedict dishes mainly).

The omelette was made with a lot of eggplant (which was diced in ¼"-pieces, not in large chunks or slices; this made them very easy to work with inside the omelette). However, I would have liked more Feta in it (but that is usually a complaint with me, I always want more Feta; as I always say, Mr. Kevin Moore, "Mo' Feta ~ mo' betta!"). I had sourdough as my toasty choice. Their version of homefries was really good, too; the potatoes were generously dusted with Old Bay[2] spices (from what I could tell) all over them.

For condimentary supplements, Pat's Cafe has both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard yuletidey red) and Tapatío®. I just used some (about seven to eight drops only) of my own Fat Cat®
Chairman Meow's Revenge (Scorpion Pepper Sauce) (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on just the omelette; the potatoes were nicely-enough seasoned already.

I liked this place a lot. They could be Breakfastary Rotation-worthy if ever need be. They offer a number of decent breakfastary items (even for stupid vegetarians); they open up every day early enough to always be considered "breakfast" over "Brunch" for me (I had arrived this morning just a li'l after 7:30am and they were already open and with another early-rising customer there that had already ordered even); and they have a very attentive and friendly staff (Sorry, Mrs. Huneycutt, I didn't get my server-guy's name this morning ~ well, I know he was Mexican, so let's say he was un servidor-hombre). 


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Mediterranean Omelet ~ 6.7


1. Stupid, useless (and extremely boring) cunning linguist pointer/story of the day:

My first Christmas in Greece, I decided I wanted to send some Poinsettias to a few people back in the United States. I had (only) been in Greece for about five and a half months at that point and my Greek was generally limited to ordering food items (or swearing at drunks and crazy taxi drivers). So, I had to look up the word for Poinsettia in my Divry's English-Greek and Greek-English Dictionary. You'd think it would be simple enough, right? I mean it had to be something similar enough to the actual English (named for an American) word. Well, like me, you would be wrong. 

It turns out the word for Poinsettia in Greek is more of a phrase ~ "φυτών τον θερμών τόπων με κόκκινα φύλλα", which basically translates as "plants from warm climates with red leaves". So, instead of having to learn just one new word in Greek, I had to learn seven new words in Greek.

Oh, and it turned out that the florist shop in downtown Athens where I bought the plants was owned by a guy that spoke perfect English.

How do you say "D'oh!" in Greek?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poinsettia

2. The "Old Bay" here doesn't have anything to do with San Francisco Bay, but refers to "the Old Bay Line", a passenger ship line that used to operate from Bal'mo', Maryland (on Chesapeake Bay) to Norfolk, Virginia (also along the Chesapeake Bay ~ funny how that worked, huh?), in the early 1900's.

http://www.oldbay.com/OLD-BAY-Story.aspx

Pat’s Cafe

http://patscafesf.com/

For my first breakfastary visit in 2013, I wanted to try someplace new (well, new to me) so I went to Pat's Cafe, which is located somewhere in the North Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, Russian Hill triangle; they are on Taylor Street, just off of Columbus Avenue and up one block from the Cable Car turnaround. Pat's Cafe is a fun-looking, friendly neighborhoody spot with lots of seating, plus two sidewalk tables with two seats each. I am surprised I had never been there yet. And in keeping with my New Year's Resolution (which I am sure I will break before the end of the month) to only eat at places that open before 10:00am, I am happy to state that they open up at 7:30am every day.

Pat's Cafe standard breakfast menu offers a nice line of omelettes, crêpes, pancakes, and other standards; and their weekend "Brunch" menu has several Eggs Benedict dishes from which to choose. I ordered Pecan (not a nut) Pumpkin (a real berry) Spice Pancakes and a side of homefries (which they have as two words, but I let it slide). They serve Mr. Espresso®, but I didn't really feel like a cuppa coffee this morning and am enjoying a cuppa Bettys Tearoom Blend tea instead while typing this out; this was a new Christmas gift and I am just trying it out now (Thanks, Cindy!)

http://www.bettys.co.uk/product/Bettys-Tea-Room-Blend-Tea-Bags,19201,27.aspx

There was no pumpkin in the pancakes, just pumpkin pie spices (probably cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, etc.); but there were plenty of pecans. These were two very good, medium-sized pancakes and the homefries were very good, too. I think that I probably would have liked these even more if they had actually included pumpkin in the pancake batter somehow.

Pat's Cafe has for condimentary supplementation both Tabasco® Brand Pepper (a real berry) Sauce (the standard red) and Tapatío® . I had come with some of my own hot sauces and used some of my new Spicymonkey Raspberry (not a real berry) Chipotle (a real berry) Ketchup (Thanks again, Cindy!) on three quarters of the potatoes and a little Big Papi En Fuego Hot Sauce Off The Wall Triple Hot (Thanks, Kerry!) on the rest of the potatoes. I just used some of the provided (probably maple) syrup on the pancakes.

I thought this was very interesting. As the couple at the next table was leaving, the server asked if they'd like a "refill of coffee to go". Now that gets extra points in my (wee li'l) book.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Pecan Pumpkin Spice Pancakes ~ 6.5