(No official-type web-site.) Place: Sandy's Café Location: 6120 Monterey Street, Gilroy, CA; phonicular contact: (408) 848-1200 Hours: open at 6:00am every day of the week Meal: (me) Ortega Chili[1]and Cheese Omelet ~ chopped Ortega chilies, Jack cheese, black olives, sour cream, topped with salsa ~ omelets made with (4) eggs and served with hash browns or fruit and choice of toast or (1) pancake; (Dave) Biscuits & Gravy Combo ~ 2 eggs with choice of 2 bacon or sausage; (Patryce) Vegetarian Omelet ~ spinach, mushroom, asparagus, and topped with cheese; to drink: (me) a large glassa orange juice; (Dave) a glassa (and one free refilla) Coke® (or, perhaps, seeing as this is a Greek family owned diner/restaurant/café ~ "No Coke®! pepsi®!"); and (Patryce) a cuppa (and one refilla) the house/diner/restaurant/café Coffee
(Yeah, I coulda probably went with Rick Springsteen's classic "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)", but this was the day after a completely different truly-'merican holiday and I figured this EweToobular juxtaselection would fit better.) So, what does one do the morning after a large Thanksgiving Day dinner? Go out for another large meal, of course. Technically, seeing as I was already still in Gilroy-town from yesterday's Thanksgiving Holiday, this was not really a Breakfastary Roadtrip (which would actually have entailed an 166 miles round-trip to do so, otherwise), but I went back to Sandy's Café (see last 'blog-entry from Friday, November 27th, 2015) for breakfast this morning. This was the fourth time now that I have eaten at Sandy's Café (well, for my first visit there, they were still operating under the old nefarious name of "SunriseCafe"). I really like this little family-owned/operated diner-joint. The people working there were super friendly and helpful (even the day-after Thanksgiving, when most people have already warn-out their fake cheeriness/thankfulness). If I lived in the area, I could easily see this place being Breakfastary Starting Rotation-worthy. They have a very good list of items from which to choose for breakfast. Here are a few other good ideas yet: Feta Omelet ~ they do not list the ingredients for this one on the menu, I think it has some kinda cheese in it, though; Chef's Favorite Omelet ~ tomato, onion, bell pepper, mushroom, sausage (which I would have ογδόντα έξι-ed, of course), Feta cheese (this one would be my choice next time... on Friday, November 22nd, 2019?); Maserati Omelet ~ sausage, mushroom, Jack and 'merican cheese, covered with Italian meat sauce, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese (I really tried talking either Dave or Patryce into getting this one; there really is no point in trying to vegetarian-ize this meal, without the Italiansauce, it would just be a mushroom and cheese omelette); Aloha Omelet ~ pineapple, Canadian bacon, and topped with Swiss and 'merican cheese (this is another one that would not translate very well to being vegetarian-ized);
or Banana French Toast (this was a special listed on a sign/blackboard at the front door that I had completely missed until just when we were leaving; if I had seen it upon entering, I would definitely have gone with that choice ~ probably with a side of potatoes, too).
(I did not want to bother my other two dining mates by taking photos of their plates this morning.) This was a simple enough omelette, and simply enough HUGE. (Did I mention that they use four eggs in their omelettes?) The black olives inside the omelette were just your boring ol' canned, sliced variety. Even so, I still liked my omelette well enough, the amount of Ortega chilliesin it more than made up for the innate blandness of the black olives (but I think they forgot to add any salsa on top, which may have been worth another 0.1 to 0.2 points on the Glen Bacon Scale). However, Patryce did not seem as quite enamoured of her omelette. She did not like how the cheese is presented melted on top and not inside the omelette itself. She did like that it was made with asparagus (which is her favourite vegetable ~ as it is mine, too), but felt it had a bit more spinach than asparagus ratio. I really like that Sandy's Café offers both hashbrowns or homefries as a potatoey side-choice. I went with the homefries (Patryce, too) and this turned out to be a very wise choice because their version of homefries was extremely tasty. The potatoes were cut into nice half-inch squares with lots of green bell peppers and white onions in the mix, and all of these were charred perfectly to my liking (read: a bit on the crispy-crunchy side). I opted for a pancake (Patryce, too) instead of plain ol' toast ~ even I know how to push down the d*mn lever on a bread-toaster-thing. Now, Dave's dish was all pretty simple, too, but I was very impressed how it was presented with the two eggs (which I think he ordered over-medium) already on top of the biscuit(s?) as if it were some kinda Southern Fried Eggs Benedict, y'all. As I have been of the stupid vegetarian ilk for many years now, I don't think that I have ever had biscuits with country gravy; as best as I can figure, these are normally made with either a porky-sausage base or sometimes with grinded-up dead, decaying bovine meat. And, not that it really matters much to me (but just for the sake of the whole 'blog-integrity), Dave went with the two strips of bacon choice. Sandy's Café has both Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce for use as condimentary supplementation. I tried something a bit different this morning and went with a base layer of A.1.OriginalSauce® on top of the homefries then added some Tapatío® on top of that, too. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Ortega Chili and Cheese Omelet ~ 6.4 (this is factoring in their extremely good side of homefries); Vegetarian Omelet ~ 6.0 (per Patryce's rating, after I had educated her on the intricacies of the highly-technical Glen Bacon Scale); Biscuits & Gravy Combo ~ 6.6 (I forgot what Dave said about his dish, but I am giving this rating based on the coolness of the Southern-style Eggs Benedict presentation) ___________________
1. Also known as an Anaheim chilli. It is a mild variety of the cultivar "New Mexico No. 9". The name "Anaheim" derives from Emilio Ortega, a farmer who brought the seeds from New Mexico to the Anaheim, California, area in 1894. They are also called "California chilli" or "Magdalena", and dried they are known as chile seco del norte. Often it is used for Chile Relleno. When mature, it takes on a red colour and is referred to as a Colorado. The chilli "heat" of Anaheim varies from 500 to 2,500 on the Scoville scale; however, typical cultivars grown in New Mexico can selectively and uniformly range from 500 to 10,000 Scoville units. http://chilefacts.nmsu.edu/
http://www.bakerstreetbistro.com/ Place: Baker Street Bistro Location: 2953 Baker Street (between Lombard and Greenwich Streets) Hours: open for "Brunch" Saturday & Sunday at 9:00am Meal: Pain Perdu - a brunch favorite! ~ two slices of cinnamon French toast, fresh fruit, strawberry coulis & crème fraîche; a side of home fries; and a large glassa orange juice
(I figured a couple of meteorological EweToobular juxtaselections were in order for such un Dimanche sombre.) To continue with the new year, new early-season work-out of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I rotated back over to Baker Street Bistro (see last 'blog-entry from Dimanche, 25ème Septembre, 2016). Thankfully, there was a bit of a détente in this morning's pluie diluvienne (however, the wind was still proving to be a bit of a holdover in the agreed upon abatement of climatic conditions). I was even lucky enough to find a parking spot just a block away right on Baker Street (just across Lombard Street) itself.
"Best bite of the year..." Do I really need to say any more? (Sure, this was only the third breakfast ["Brunch", whatever] out for 2017 for me, but I know that I will be hard-pressed to taste a better bite all year, anyway.) Les fruits du jour: oranges (oranges), ananas (pineapple), mûres (blackberries ~ pas une vraie baie), framboises (raspberries ~ aussi pas une vraie baie), bleuets (blueberries ~ une vraie baie), cantaloup (cantaloupe), pommes (apples), et pastèques(watermelon ~ aussi une vraie baie).
For condimentary supplements, Baker Street Bistro just has bottles of Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) on the tables. That is okay as I still have a few more new hot sauces of my own that I need to check out (and try to use up ~ probably by sometime in the year 2019). I used some Dat'l Do-It®Spicy Jalapeno Hot Sauce[1] on half of the potatoes and some Dat'l Do-It®Scorching Habanero Hot Sauce[1] on the other half of the potatoes (Thanks for both, Mom!). Neither one of these were mucho espicy (and have no chances of killing any poor, unsuspecting Korean busboys). I remember when there was a time (about twenty-five years ago now) when I thought that habanero chillies[2] were the hottest that I could handle. However, with the Advent (and I am using this word dans le sens religieux) of much hotter chillies in the 21st Century ~ exempli gratiā: Ghost Pepper/ Bhut Jolokia/Red Naga[3]; Infinity Chili[4]; Naga Viper[5]; Trinidad Moruga Scorpion[6]; and now the dreaded (and completely stoo-pid) Carolina Reaper[7] ~ I have become more climatised to habanero chilliesand can take a bit more pain (as in the English word for "misery/suffering", not the French word for "bread"). (not so much a) the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude Once again this morning, I did not see any of my feather-brained little friends. Hopefully, they were smart enough to just stay safe from the rain and wind, and hunker-down in their roost among the tall eucalyptus trees in the Presidio. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Pain Perdu ~ 8.2 (bien entendu) ___________________
http://www.greenchilekitchen.com/ Place: green chile kitchen Location: 1801 McAllister Street (on the corner of Baker Street) Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Friday at 9:00am; "Brunch" available Saturday & Sunday at 9:00am Meal: Root Vegetable Hash ~ carne adovada[1], 2 fried eggs, sautéed greens, red chile & crema; a side of Roasted Potatoes + chile[2] & cheese added; and a large glassa sandía agua fresca
(Today's EweToobular juxtaselections should be pretty self-exploratory. "Green" onRed[3] ~ simples. And everyone knows that Les Black Carnations are originally from Tucumcari, New Mexico.[4]) I really don't know why it has taken me this long to get back to green chile kitchen (see previous 'blog-entry from January 25th, 2015); I know that I had them marked as my "New Find for 2015". Well, it was my new find, they are already celebrating their ten-year anniversary this year. They have been open for six years at their current location and the previous four years were at a smaller location a block away on the corner of Fulton and Baker Streets. They have a hermana ubicación named chile pies baking co. that is located there now. Unfortunately, that restaurant doesn't open for breakfast (or "Brunch" even). I have eaten their hand pies before, but I really need to get back to check out their Fritos®Pie (vegetarian-style). http://www.greenchilekitchen.com/chilepies/ This is set up like a lot of coffeehouse joints in the city. You order at the front counter, pay for the meal first, they give you a number (mine today was "Lucky #13!"), and then they bring the meal over to you when it is ready. One of the reasons I really thought that I would get back again a lot sooner than a year and a half later was that they have several other great-sounding ideas for breakfast ("Brunch", whatever; even though they call this meal "Brunch" on the weekends, they open up at 9:00am, which is plenty early enough for me to forgive that snooty-*ss moniker):
Quelites[5]& Eggs ~ scrambled eggs, sautéed greens, brown rice, avocado & pico de gallo;
Migas ~ eggs, crispy tortilla strips, green chile, tomatillo avocado salsa & cotija, served w/ black beans (this is just a Tex-New Mex version of chilaquiles);
Huevos Motuleños[6] ~ corn tortilla, eggs, black beans, green chile, peas, Feta(?!?) & fried plantains; or
Breakfast Flat Enchilada Plate ~ housemade corn tortillas, eggs, meat, chile, cheese & crema, served w/ posole[7]& beans (I would have to order that without the dead, decaying animal flesh and possibly no posole, depending on how they prepare their posole).
Of course, I ochenta-y-seis-ed the descomposición carne de animales muertos and went with la opción vegetariana. I am not exactly sure what all the "root vegetables" entailed; I am pretty sure there were sweet potatoes and red bell peppers (while not being a root vegetable, these are botanically a berry, but who would ever order "Root Vegetable & Berry Hash"?). I asked the pretty order-taking counter lady-person which vegetables these were, but she could only name sweet potatoes and squash(? Since when is squash a root vegetable?). She asked the cooker-staff guy what else might be in these, but there seemed to be a bit of a translation problem, so we will just stick with sweet potatoes, squash (possibly, of some sort), and red bell peppers for now. I was thinking that one of the other root vegetables might have been yuca (as in cassava/manioc), but the pretty order-taking counter lady-person said that wasn't right (and "yuca" in Spanish is "yuca", so there shouldn't have been any translational mix-up there, anyway). I would liked to have seen (or been told that) there were one or two other root vegetables in this dish (I know they use zanahorias in Mexican cooking all the time). And unlike the Roasted Root Vegetables that used to be offered at Miss Millie's, this did not include any fennel. I didn't bother the pretty order-taking counter lady-person to find out which greens were in the "sautéed greens" (I am pretty sure that there was no way the cooker-staff guy would have been able to tell her which specific greens they were). However, I think it was kale, mustard, and probably either some collard or turnip greens. Whatever the combination was, I liked it very much. They offer the Roasted Potatoes as either "mild" or "spicy". Of course, I ordered these "espicy", but they turned out to be only picante gringo, which was still tasty enough for me, anyway. (New Mexico chillies can range anywhere from 0-70,000 Scoville Heat Units; that means they can be as mild as bell peppers or about as hot as pequin chillies or the milder-range of piri piri chillies. These today seemed about as "jot as jalapeños" to me.) At first, I thought that this was all going to be too much food, but the portions were not that large, and this ended up being the perfect amount of food for the likes of me (or for me to like). For condimentary supplementation, green chile kitchen has Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce, and Melinda's®Hot Sauce (Original Habanero Pepper Sauce). It really didn't matter, as none were needed or used. I didn't want to mess with the nice flavours that were already there. I skipped any Coffee with the meal (they offer Mr. Espresso® ~ or at least they did the last time I was there ~ which is decent enough). So when I got home, I figured to keep with the whole "Half-Christmas" (whole half?!) theme, I would brew myself some Bettys Christmas Blend ~ Single Origin (Do you think in Yorkshire-speak they say "Mash the Coffee", too?) which I still have some (well, a lot) left over from an actual Christmas gift (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) to enjoy while computering-up this 'blog-entry. https://www.bettys.co.uk/christmas-coffee-pack Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Root Vegetable Hash ~ 6.9; Roasted Potatoes + chile & cheese ~ 6.8; Bettys Christmas Blend ~ Single Origin ~ 7.1 ___________________ 1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day: "Carne adovada (or adobada)" simply means "marinated meat" in Spanish. The combination of spices, chillies, and vinegar used for the marinade is called "adobo". 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico_chile Per green chile kitchen's web-site: "Red and green chile is native to New Mexico, and is harvested each fall at different times of ripeness. Green chile, which is picked earlier than red, is considered a super food by some, containing more vitamin c than citrus fruit, and creating a 'high' similar to the endorphins produced when exercising. We use Bueno chilein all our dishes, which has been owned and operated by the Baca family since 1951." 3. This also goes along with the whole "Half-Christmas" theme. I actually saw these guys live in old West Berlin-town back in 1985 (Thanks, Mr. Fraga!). I still have this album ~ as in vinyl, with the extra-added bonus of the vinyl being translucent green, too. http://www.greenonred.net/ 4. Nah! Les Black Carnations were a local West Berlin-town band back in the mid-80's. They were the opening act for Green onRedthe night I saw them. I guess the best way to describe their music was a nouveau-Surf Punk style. I also still have this 45rpm of theirs, and, coincidentally enough, it is in black vinyl... http://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/les_black_carnations/_you_change_your_mood__so_frequently___black_carnations/ 5. ¿Qué? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quelite I just assume that they use the same combination of greens that I had this morning, though. 6. Not really another stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer, but just a sorta stupid, useless pseudo-culinaristic/geographical pointer of the day: "Huevos Motuleños" simply means "eggs Motul style". Motul is a city on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huevos_motule%C3%B1os https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motul,_Yucat%C3%A1n 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozole
(No official web-site.) Place: OlympicFlame Cafe Location: 555 Geary Street (on the corner of Allée Shannon/Shannon Alley/Shannon Street[1], take your pick); phonicular contact: (415) 885-0984 Hours: open daily at 6:00am Meal: Spinach & Feta Cheese Omelette ~ 3 eggs, served with country potatoes or tomatoes & toast; and a cuppa (and one refilla) whatever the house (diner, whatever) Coffee was This is the kinda local neighborhoody place that doesn't really serve any fancy-shmancy food, but people will always come back to it because it's just downright good food. Well, that was my reason for returning to OlympicFlame Cafe (see previous 'blog-entry from March 25th, 2012). It appeared that there were many regulars that frequent the joint as well as some touristas that have discovered it (it is only two blocks down the street from Union Square and most of the downtown hotel-district) and have made a return visit, too. I also like the fact that they open up bright and early every day. As best as I can tell, the Head Cook and Bottle Washer (and possibly the owner?) is an old Greek guy named Louie. (Is "Λουιέ" even a Greek name?!). My waitress/server-lady person today was Sasha (I didn't ask where she was from, though). The way those two communicated with each other was like "The Louie and Sasha Comedy Hour". At one point while Sasha was taking an order from one of the other diners at the counter, Louie kept interrupting her and asking what the order was; Sasha replied to him: "I'm not psychic!" (which sounded to me almost like "I'm not sidekick!"). "Ποιος είναι στην Πρώτη;"?!
As its name would suggest, this omelette was made with lots of spinach and Feta. (My mantra is always: "Everything's betta with Feta!") As much as I like spinach, I wonder what this omelette might taste like made with χόρτα (Greek for "greens"; usually dandelion greens or such) instead. I went with sourdough for my toast choice. It looked like OlympicFlame Cafe only had Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce on all the tables for condimentary supplementation. That didn't really matter because I had received just yesterday (which, coincidentally enough, happened to be the birthday of Wilbur Lincoln Scoville[2]) a seven-bottle Fiery Fury Hot Sauce Set from my mother in Florida. I used a little Dragon's Lair Extra HotCayenne & Habanero Hot Sauce on the omelette and a bit more Dragon Breath Garlic Hot Sauce on the potatoes (Thanks, Mom, for both!). I liked the flavour of both of these. However, neither one of these were uncomfortably picante (maybe a bit more than Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce, Original Red Sauce); the Dragon's Lair being the hotter of the two due to the habanero chillies. the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude After breakfast, I saw one pair of Wild Parrots flying overhead while walking down Geary Street towards Union Square. Of course, I heard them cackling long before I looked up and saw them. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Spinach & Feta Cheese Omelette ~ 6.0; the Wild Parrotsof San Francisco ~ 8.5 ___________________ 1. I like to tell my niece, Shannon, that this street is named after her. I also like to tell my nephew, Cameron, that he also has a street named after him in San Francisco: "Dumas Street". 2. http://www.nndb.com/people/218/000101912/
"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you." ~ Leroy "Satchel" Paige
http://dotties.biz/ Place: Dottie's True blue café Location: 28 Sixth Street (on the corner of Stevenson Street; halfway between Market and Mission Streets) Hours: open for breakfast Thursday through Monday at 7:30am Meal: Zucchini Cakes ~ topped with poached eggs & spicy Marinara - fruit & potatoes; and a cuppa (with two half-cuppa refillas) the house Coffee (which I really should find out which brand/roast they offer one of these days) ~ in one of their brand new logo mugs (see above photo)
(The reason for today's EweToobular juxtaselections is simply because they are normally playing 30's and 40's style Jazz-Swing music at Dottie's ~ see/listen to video #1 ~ and the indigenous populace in Dottie's neighborhood always remind me of this the Beatles song ~ see/listen to video #2; I really love eating at Dottie's, but would hate to live in this neighborhood.) Continuing the first weekend of the New Year with another one of "My Favourite" places for breakfast, I went back to Dottie's True blue café (see last 'blog-entry from October 12th, 2014) this morning. I even scored a primo parking spot right out front along 6th Street for a change. I got there about five to ten minutes before they opened this morning and I was very surprised to see only one other person waiting ahead of me for a change. There were only four or five other people that showed up before they opened the doors, too. And even after they had opened, there were probably less than another ten diners that showed up the entire time that I was there. This may have been the quietest and least full that I have ever seen at Dottie's (so, all you touristas keep this in mind: if you want to eat at Dottie's and not have to have any kind of a wait along colourful 6th Street, the first weekend of the New Year seems like your best chance to do so). I was pretty sure that I was going to go with the Zucchini Cakes if it was on the weekly specials chalkboard (and I was pretty confident it would be on the chalkboard as it has been on the specials board very consistently whenever I have gone there throughout the year). The only other meal which may have swayed me to change my mind was if they had Black-eyed Peas Cakes on the menu ~ which they sometimes offer the first weekend of the New Year (it's a Southern good luck tradition thing). These are prepared very similarly to the way they make their Black Bean Cakes, with some form of legume and rice to make a sort of vegetarian sausage patty-looking thing. The beancakes are served with two eggs any style (I will usually go with Chicken eggs, over-medium), grilled chili-Cheddar cornbread, and homefries, topped with sour cream and pico de gallo. Unfortunately (or fortunately for me), there was no decision needed as the Black-eyed Peas Cakes were not offered this year.
Dottie's also offer a wide range of very good, fresh baked goods/pastries to start the meal off. I usually only get to order one of these if I am dining with others; they are really large portions and one piece can serve two to three people easily as a breakfastary opener. I could go on to list all of the items that they were offering today, but sometimes it is just easier to say "see above photo". So… (see above photo)
I have had the Zucchini Cakes many times now and it is probably one of my favourite dishes that Dottie's offers (which, of course, makes it one of my favourite breakfast dishes). This is truly a great take on boring ol' Eggs Benedict. I won't bother extolling the virtues of this meal again; just take my word for it that it is always very tasty. Today's side bowl of fruits: blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, and a solitary cherry (which I saved for last after I had finished the rest of my meal ~ to kinda end my breakfast with "the cherry on top"). Here is a quick test to see how many of you have actually been paying attention over the years; Question: Which of the above fruits are technically botanical berries?[1] I knew that Dottie's has a pretty decent selection of condimentary supplements, so I actually used some of their own Tabasco®Brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce (1500-2500 Scoville Units ~ I only know this as Tabasco® is now referencing it on their web-site; I would really like to see more companies reference the actual Scoville Heat Units on the bottle labels, though; I mean, who really cares what the "Nutritional Value" of a hot sauce is, anyway?) on one half of the pile of potatoes and some Frank's®RedHot®Chile 'nLime™ (sorry, they don't list the Scoville Heat Units for this one on their web-site or on the bottle label) on the other half of the pile. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Zucchini Cakes ~ 7.6 1. Answer: Of course, that would be just the blueberries and watermelon. Extra credit points are given if you also said that the tomatoes in the spicy Marinara sauce are botanical berries.
"Blackbirds fly from my rain soaked roof. Red-shouldered hawk surveys the scene, Ready to rock and yet quite still. Mystery mist gives me a chill. And then comes the rain again and again, And the sweet rose blooms in the darkness. Dove family sits on the telephone line Just hanging out be it rain or shine." ~ Skip Way, 01/14/1995
(I provided a photo just in case no one has ever seen an actual IHOPRestaurant® before.) http://www.ihop.com/ Place: IHOPRestaurant® Location: 2299 Lombard Street (on the corner of Pierce Street) Hours: open at 7am Sunday through Thursday; open 24 hours Friday & Saturday (I am not sure if that means they are open exactly one minute after 11:59pm on Thursday night and close precisely at Midnight on Saturday evening) Meal: New!Blueberry Cannoli[1]Cream Pancakes (Regular Combo) ~ 2 pancakes, 2 strips of bacon or 2 links of sausages, 2 eggs, & hashbrowns; and a large glass of orange juice
(Today's first EweToobular juxtaselection goes along with the opening quote above. The second song is just because Katie Melua is way hot.) For my past four birthdays it has become a tradition to get a free breakfast from IHOPRestaurant®, and who am I to break with tradition (and pass up a free meal)? It's really no big deal, anyone can sign up to get one from them, all you have to do is register with their web-site (and subsequently get spammed with e-mails from them about once a month, which really isn't that bad) and then you will receive a coupon for a free order of Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity (or the equivalent amount, in this case it was $9.99), which is good for use within a two-week period of your birthday. My back-up pancakey ideas would have been either the Raspberry-Peach Pancakes (also New! off the Summer Signature Pancakes specials menu ~ buttermilk pancakes topped with plump peaches, then drizzled with a sweet raspberry sauce) or Jelly Donut Pancakes (buttermilk pancakes, layered with raspberry jelly and topped with a real donut glaze). Only after I had already ordered, I noticed that there were a few interesting Summer beverage specials, too: Orange-Tangerine Ice Tea Lemonadeand Cherry-Blackberry Lemonade; I know that I would have really liked the latter drink... maybe next year.
I had my eggs over-medium. I skipped both of either the dead, decaying pork-belly strips or the links of dead, decaying ground-up porky offal; they offered to substitute some toast, but the extra-added carbohydration wasn't really necessary. I ate the pancakes last as a sort of breakfastary dessert. These were pretty good and as described officially on their website: "An Italian favorite with an IHOP ® twist. Our fluffy, classic buttermilk pancakes topped with a lush blueberry compote and perfectly sweetened Ricotta cheese. An amazingly unique flavor combination heightened by berries." I can only assume that IHOP ® employs Herr Doktor Mengele as their dietician. IHOP ® offers both Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and Cholula®Hot Sauce for condimentary supplementation. And, of course, their "usual suspects" syrup selection: Old Fashioned, Butter Pecan, Blueberry, or Strawberry; none of which I really needed to pour atop my pancakes as they were more than sufficiently blueberried and cannoli-creamed. I had just received three new hot sauces last week as a gift (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) and didn't really get the chance to try any of them with breakfast last weekend as I knew that I was going to be out all day long and these are the kind that state "Refrigerate After Opening". I think they just do that to scare you and make sure that you use it up quickly to buy more of their product. As far as I can tell, most of the ones that state that are made with most of the same ingredients (chilli peppers of some kind, water, vinegar, and salt) as Tabasco® and other kinds of hot sauces, and you normally see bottles of those sitting out on restaurant tables all day long, all week long, all month long, all… well, you get the idea. But just to be on the safe side, I didn't want to bring any of my new ones with me last weekend. And just when I thought that my collection was getting almost small again (I am back to eighteen bottles in my refrigerator ~ of which, there are at least three to four that are so hot that they will take a lifetime to use up); I was waiting until I got it back under a dozen or so before I purchased a new bottle of Palo Alto Firefighters Pepper Sauce ~ well, it looks like I will have to wait another three or four months now. Anyway, I did get the chance to use two of the new ones with breakfast this morning: Fat Cat®Surprisingly Mild Guajillo[2]Ghost on the hashbrowns and Fat Cat®Strawberry Serrano Hot Sauce on the eggs. Both of them are very tasty, and not overpoweringly spicy. Of the two, I liked the SMGG the best; it really is surprisingly mild for a hot sauce with Ghost Peppers in it and I could use it liberally without fear of death. http://fatcatfoods.com/ The last new one that I didn't get to use today was Fat Cat®Chairman Meow's Revenge (Scorpion Pepper[3] Sauce). I did try a little toothpick amount ("Fool me once…" ~ see 'blog-entry from Eddie's Cafe on January 7th, 2012) as soon as I opened it up and it literally gave me a five-minute sneezing fit ~ all from the smallest amount; yeah, I see that this is gonna be another fun one, folks. It is another one of those completely ridiculously hot hot sauces that I will probably have it in my refrigerator until Hell freezes over, and, if that ever happens, believe me, this stuff will help melt it. The worst part is that the opening of the bottle is normal-sized and allows for way to much to be poured out at one time if you are not careful (imagine trying to transport unstable TNT… over gravel roads… in a car that needs new shocks… and you have the hiccups); it really should have some kind of pouring regulator/dripper at the top (and I really can't afford any more Wrongful Death lawsuits from Korean waiters' families ~ again, see 'blog-entry from January 7th, 2012). I purposely (purposefully?) skipped ordering any Coffee with my breakfast because I planned on getting a nice cuppa over at the new "flagship" (hey, it's their actual terminology for the new store, not mine) Peet's Coffee & Tea® on Chestnut Street. I had a free cuppa their House Roast ~ this was not from another free birthday gift coupon, they just offer a free cuppa whenever you buy some of their Coffee beans, and I picked up a half-pound of their new Limited EditionAlta de Dota[4]. http://www.peets.com/alta-de-dota.html the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude After breakfast, as it was far from a lugubrious morning, I took my cuppa Coffee and parked over by the Lombard Gate of the Presidio to walk off some of the breakfast. I only saw a pair (What do you call a small "company of parrots"? A "branch of parrots"? A "subsidiary of parrots"?) of the Wild Parrotsflying around; I heard a few more of them high up in the tall trees near the gate, but really couldn't see them. I did come across a momma duck and her brand new batch of tiny ducklings (there were ten in all) as I was walking around the Letterman Digital Arts Center Recycled Water Pond at Lucas (Thanks, Jim & Mary, for showing that spot to me!). Of course, I felt it absolutely necessary to name all of them, too; there were: Quack, Jack, Mack, Zach, Aflac®, Back, Pack, Sack, Attack, and George.
Carpe Syrupum! Glen Bacon Scale Rating: New! Blueberry Cannoli Cream Pancakes(Regular Combo) ~ 6.3 (actually, it was really probably just a 6.1 or a 6.2, but I am giving it extra points for the freebiocity of it all); Surprisingly Mild Guajillo Ghost ~ 7.4; Strawberry Serrano Hot Sauce ~ 7.0; Peet's®House Roast ~ 6.8 (no extra points were given here, even though it was also gratis) 1. Seriously?! Billy-boy and his gaggle of goose-stepping spell-check Nazis don't even recognize una delle specialità più conosciute della pasticceria siciliana. There really is no hope for these bastardi marrone-camicie if they can't even recognize a common word from one of their own Axis partners. 2. Guajillo chilliesare relatively mild and pack about the same picanteness as Jalapeño chillies. They have a rating of 2,500 to 5,000 on the Scoville Scale. 3. Now, the stupid Trinidad Moruga Scorpion chilliis one of the hottest chillies in the World. Up until just last year it was THE hottest ~ with a mean heat of more than 1.2 million Scoville Heat Units (and some plants are more than 2 million). It has been surpassed by the current record holder, the Carolina Reaper ~ 1.569 million on the Scoville Scale (with peak levels of over 2.2 million). Cindy & Greg, please do not send me any bottles of hot sauce that are made from the Carolina Reaper chillies… not unless it comes with its own waiver for unsuspecting people to sign or an O.J.-type legal team. 4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: This translates from Spanish as "Highest Dot" as far as I can tell. I don't think it is a reference to Carol de Dota's peaks.
