"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." ~ Groucho Marx "Mustard's no good without roast beef." ~ Chico Marx "*honk*, *honk*!" ~ Harpo Marx
https://cliffhouse.com/bistro/ Place: the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House Location: 1090 Point Lobos (at the end of the Earth/Ocean Beach) Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 9:00am, Sunday at 8:30am Meal: Sautéed Vegetable Scramble(an off-menu item now) ~ scrambled eggs, red peppers, tomatoes, scallions, button mushrooms, melted goat cheese, served with fresh fruit and roasted potatoes; to drink, a glassa Ocean Beach ~ | Skyy Vodka | peach schnapps | pineapple | cranberry, which came with another neo-retro paper straw; and, of course, a basket (which included two this morning) of (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!)
(Hey, Brian, just what the h*ck does Queen or "Bohemian Rhapsody" have anything to do with today's meal? Well, maybe Freddie Mercury and the rest of those Queenie-boys liked them some [World] Famous Cliff HousePopovers[!], too. And there is the fact that this song was prominently featured on their album named "A Night at the Opera". Mamma mia, now d'yer get it, Signore Galilei?!) Doubling-up/-down/-heading on all of the restaurants in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I returned to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, November 3rd, 2019; so, basically, last week) again this morning.
Holy smoke (fog, whatever)! What a difference a week makes! Unlike last Sunday morning's gorgeous weather, the view out the window today was... well... almost nonexistent. The coastal fog was so thick that you could barely see Seal Rocks, which are only about one hundred yards offshore. (For a change, the blurriness of this photo is not really my fault or due to any intentional bokehocity.)
This particular item is no longer listed on their Breakfast menu. Luckily, Chris had informed me last week that it could still be ordered/made. Otherwise, the choice of items for st*pid vegetarians is very limited. This was always one of my favourite offerings of theirs, anyway. I suppose, in a pinch, I could always order a Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sandwich ~ ciabatta bread, red peppers, goat cheese, fresh basil, garlic fries; it is actually listed on their Lunch menu portion, but I was informed by my friendly waiter/server-person guy[1] that the Lunch menu items can also be ordered during breakfast hours. Cool! (Same as last weekend) Today's side of fruits included: watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, strawberry (one), and red grapes(two). Thankfully, the Ocean Beach did not taste anything like the Pacific Ocean. However, I thought there was a bit of grittiness when drinking it and coulda sworn there was some sand from outside in it. (Again, same as last weekend) For condimentary supplementation, the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House only has Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce). I used some of my own Dat'l Do-it®Spicy Jalapeno (noted sin virgulilla, Ms. Swinton) Hot Sauce (Thanks,Mom!) generously doused all over the scramble-mess and some Dragon's Lair Extra HotCayenne & Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks again,Mom!) on the potatoes. Additionally, I sprinkled a whole lotta McCormick®Grill Mates®Smokehouse MapleSeasoning all over everything... and I mean everything... including the fruits! (Well, I did not sprinkle any on the [World] Famous Cliff HousePopovers[!], 'cause that woulda just been sacrilegious!) Do not mock my fruit-spicening, this is a very common practice in Mexico with watermelon and mangoes.
Hollywoodland Spotlight of the Day I think this is a photo of Louis Feinberg, Moses Horwitz, and Jerome Horwitz ~ better known professionally as the Ritz Brothers. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Sautéed Vegetable Scramble ~ 6.7; Ocean Beach ~ 7.0; (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!) ~ 8.2; the comedic antics of the Ritz Brothers ~ 8.5 (I would rate them higher, but everyone knows that the real humour-talent in that family belonged to Milton and Herbert.) ___________________ 1. Whose name I completely forget, but he has worked there for thirteen years now and always recognizes me as "the hot sauce guy" whenever I am there when he is working. He told me this morning that his favourite hot sauce is Marie Sharp's (original) Habanero Pepper Sauce. It is a good one. I like that one, too. https://www.mariesharps.bz/portfolio-item/original-fiery-hot/ He also told me that he was a D*dgers fan... at least he has good taste in hot sauces.
(World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!)... for what ails ye!
https://cliffhouse.com/bistro/ Place: the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House Location: 1090 Point Lobos (at the end of the Earth/Ocean Beach) Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 9:00am, Sunday at 8:30am Meal: Shakshuka ~ two poached eggs on a bed of lightly spiced tomato and red pepper sauce with goat cheese & green onions served with warm pita bread, and also served with a side of fruit and roasted potatoes; to drink, a Ramos Fizz ~ Gordon's® Gin | sweet & sour | egg whites | cream | orange flower water (so, your basic Breakfast-themed beverage), which came with another neo-retro paper straw; and, of course, a basket (which included three this morning) of (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!)
(Despite the contradictory themes in these two temporal-related songs by the Rollink Stonz boyz, I am sure that both Sir Mick and Kommoner Keef hate Daylight Saving Time [either the Start or the End] as much as I do.) When I woke up this morning, I was not sure that I was going to go out for a breakfastary repast. I think something that I ate yesterday did not agree with me (much like my family... except, with an upset stomach, I can always take some Pepto-Bismol™; unfortunately, they do not offer that for family get-togethers yet). It was quite possibly the Burger King®Impossible™Wh*pper® that I had yesterday for lunch. But then I got to thinking, if (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) can not quell my stomach woes, nothing could. So, (even though Baseball Season ended last week ~ Congratulations to the 2019 World Champion Washington Nationals!), to close out my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I simply went back to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, May 26th, 2019).
What a gorgeous Autumn day to be a seabird out on Seal Rocks! (This was the view from my seat this morning.)
This is a brand new item on their menu. It was not offered back in May on my last visit. My ever-informative waiter/server-guy, Chris, (who has been working there as long as I have been going there; I usually pester the H*ll outta him about some of the lesser-know Hollywoodland stars' photos on the walls) said that they just added this to their menu in the last four months. Chris also told me that the Shakshuka has become an instant hit with many of the patrons; he also told me that most patrons usually have to ask him just what the h*ck exactly is a "Shakshuka". At first, this did not look like an awful lotta food, but with the three (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!), potatoes, and fruit, it ended up being almost too much for me to finish. I did "force" myself to eat the last bite of my (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!), though. Needless to say, I fully enjoyed this version of Shakshuka. With the recent menu change, they no longer offer either Farmer's Scrambleor Sautéed Vegetable Scramble(which had been two of my stalwart favourites in past years). However, Chris astutely informed me that you can still order both of these items "off-menu", too. Seems like a decent menu trade-off to me. Today's side of fruits included: watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, strawberry (one), and red grapes (two). For condimentary supplementation, the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House only has Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce). I just used a little of my own H*ll's KitchenWhiskey Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the potatoes and several grinds of The Spice & Tea Exchange®Earthly Delight Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!) on top of the Shakshuka and potatoes.
Hollywoodland Spotlight of the Day Positioned just over my left shoulder this morning was the above autographed photo of Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland. She is a two-time Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award winning actress ("To Each His Own" [1946] and "The Heiress" [1949] ~ both for Best Actress). Still alive today, at 103 years of age, she is among the last surviving movie stars of the Golden Age of Classical Hollywoodland. I think her younger sister acted in a few Hollywoodland movies, too. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000014/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1 Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Shakshuka ~ 7.2; Ramos Fizz ~ 7.1; (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) ~ 8.2
"And the Beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad So I had one more for dessert...” — Kris Kristofferson, "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" (1970)
http://sealrockinn.com/restaurant/ (Unfortunately, their official-type web-site really leaves a lot to be desired.) Place: Seal Rock Inn Restaurant Location: 545 Point Lobos Avenue (on the corner of 48th Avenue) Hours: open at 6:00am every day of the year (and you can't beat that with a [bread]stick [filled with Feta,or even two breakfast Beers]) Meal: Sophia's Omelette~ Feta cheese (and they actually have this listed as the first ingredient on their menu; this was not any editorializing on my behalf ~ even though, as I always do say "Everything's betta with Feta!"), olives, onions, tomatoes, spinach, served with hash brown[ sic ], toast (sourdough was my choice again) and jelly; and a glassa fresh-squeezed orange juice (Ha! and it came with an old-school plastic straw!)
(Gratuitous photo of the actual Seal Rocks.)[1]
(There really is no EweToobular juxtaselection here, other than the breakfastary reference in the first stanza. Unfortunately, there was/were no Beer/s included in breakfast [or dessert] this morning. "Hey, Brian, but why didn't you at least use Kris Kristofferson's version?"[2] Well, I will answer that in a three-part response: 1) You gotta problem with the Man in Black?! 2) While Mr. Kristofferson penned many a great tune, his singing was not quite as good as some of the other artists' cover-renditions. Let us put it this way, would you rather hear his version or Miss Joplin's paradigmatic performance of "Me and Bobby Maggie"? There really is no comparison. 3) Any questions? See #1 or #2.) Doesn't everyone have a three-day weekend this week, too? What the h*ck! I had an extra "Floating Holiday" to burn and felt like making September a bookend-ed month with opening and ending three-day weekends. Because of such, I figured I would go out to breakfast on a Friday morning for a change, and to keep it extra simple and local, I extra simply headed back to Seal Rock Inn Restaurant (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, May 12th, 2018). This is always such a great place for: 1) omelettes (they offer way too many different ones to list); 2) locality (it is just fifteen blocks due westward, ho', from my apartment); and 3) they open very early (every d*mn day of the d*mn year, too) for breakfasts. It was pretty empty on a Friday mornin' comin' down... with only two other tables of people eating there when I arrived at 8:00am.
The official name of this dish is "Sophia's Omelette"; however, I have seen fit to rename it "GreekOmelette No. 3". ("Wait. How come you can rename the dishes at these restaurants, Brian?" Please, do not make me sick the Man in Black on you.) This came made more as "scrambled eggs with sh*t in 'em" and folded over into an omelette-thing, which is basically how I make omelettes at home (well, if I ever have any eggs... or Feta... or olives... or onions... or tomatoes... or spinach... in my refrigerator and ever feel like attempting to make an omelette ~ you know what they say: "You can not make an omelette if you do not have any eggs to break."). Of course, it was still better than anything I could make myself. Plus, there was mo' Feta, mo' Feta, and mo' Feta! I am not exaggerating here, there must have been at least one-quarter to one-half pound of Feta inside the omelette; and these were in righteous chunks, not those crumby crumblies that some places try to foist off on you as "bites of Feta". The one complaint I always have is that they only use those plain ol' sliced olives from a can. This would be so much mo' betta if they used Kalamata olives instead. (And I always like to point out the irony that the owners of the restaurant are Greek themselves.) For condimentary supplementation, Seal Rock Inn Restaurant offers both Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Cholula®Hot Sauce (Original). I used some of my own Dixie Crossroads Hot Habañero[ sic ] Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the hash brown[ sic ] (well, there were several shreds of potatoes, so I can assume these are technically hash browns) and several grinds of grains of paradise all over the omelette and hash brown[ sic ]. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: GreekOmeletteNo. 3 ~ 6.8 (this is factoring in the incredible amount o' Feta in it this morning; now, if they ever used authentic Kalamata olives in it, this would easily be over 7.0) ___________________
The more "Things Change", the more (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) stay the same... in my belly!
https://cliffhouse.com/bistro/ Place: the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House Location: 1090 Point Lobos (at the end of the Earth/Ocean Beach) Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 9:00am, Sunday at 8:30am Meal: Classic Eggs Benedict ~ poached eggs, Canadian bacon (No way, ya hoser!), toasted English muffin, Hollandaise sauce, served with fresh fruit and roasted potatoes; to drink, a (Time Honored Tradition) Ramos Fizz[1] ~ Gordon's gin | sweet & sour | egg whites | cream | orange flower water (it had eggs and orange [well, of a sort] in it, so that sounds breakfastary enough to me); and, of course, la raison d'aller (encore et encore) ~ a basket of (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!), where there were two hot, fresh outta the oven (I was asked ~ twice ~ if I would like more; I politely declined, but will always go back for more)
(Ha! This is now being served with a paper straw.) And, as has been the norm, Mr. Peterson, to close-out the September work-out of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation I made a return trip to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, April 29th, 2018).
The fog had lifted finally from yesterday afternoon and the coast was clear (well, the window coulda been a bit cleaner) for a nice view of Seal Rocks from my seat along the window-wall.
They were nice enough to ask me if I would like to substitute spinach for the dead, decaying piggy-flesh from Canadialand; so, I suppose this could be called a "Classic Eggs Florentine" (which they do not list on their menu, but seemed to have no problem making for me). "Classic" or not, it was a very good rendition of an Eggs Benedict dish (and much better than I could ever think about making myself at home... yeah, right, if a Hollandaise sauce don't come prefabricated in a can, I am not attempting to make it, anyway). As always, I liked the side of roasted potatoes, too. Today's side of fruits included: cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew melon, red grapes, and one strawberry. the Bistro Restaurant only has Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce ~ Original Red Sauce for use as a condimentary supplement. I used some of my own Dat'l Do-it®Spicy Jalapeno Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of both of the poached eggs (I made sure to taste the Hollandaise sauce first before messing with it any; it had a nice flavour, but the jalapeño sauce really added to it still) and some Emperor's Revenge Teriyaki Hot Sauce (Thanks again, Mom!) all over the potatoes. Again, I grounded-up some grains of paradise all over the Benedict dish and the potatoes.
Hollywoodland Spotlight of the Day Born Dominic Felix Amici, Don Ameche (whose autographed photograph was just over my left shoulder) gained initial fame as a moving-film leading man in the 1930's and 1940's. Later generations (Baby Boomers to Gen X-ers) will recognize him as one of the nasty Duke Brothers in "Trading Places" and also as one of the rejuvinated septuagenarians/octogenarians in "Cocoon" (for which he won the Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1985); however, I do not think many people might remember him from the basically forgettable sequel "Cocoon: the Return". There is a truly exceptional role he had in a little-seen 1988 movie called "Things Change"; if you have never seen this movie, I highly recommend it. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000747/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Classic Eggs Benedict/Florentine ~ 6.5; (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!) ~ 8.22 ___________________
1. This bit of cock-tail history directly stolen... er... borrowed from our friends at WikipediA (who knows where they stole... er... borrowed it from, though): Henry C. Ramos invented the Ramos Gin Fizz in 1888 at his bar, the Imperial Cabinet Saloon on Gravier Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. It was originally called a "New Orleans Fizz", and is one of the city's most famous cocktails. Before Prohibition, the drink's popularity and exceptionally long 12-minute mixing time had over 20 bartenders working at the Imperial at once making nothing but the Ramos Gin Fizz - and still struggling to keep up with demand. During the carnival of 1915, 32 staff members were on at once, just to shake the drink.
♪ "Between the Omelette and the Deep Blue Sea... " ♫ ???
http://louissf.com/index.html/ Place: Louis' Location: 902 Point Lobos Avenue (somewhere between 48th Avenue and the Great Highway-ish) Hours: open 6:30am everyday[ sic ] Meal: "Build Your Own" Omelette (with Feta, spinach, and tomatoes) ~ three cage free eggs served with potatoes and English muffin; and a cuppa (and one refilla) Peerless Coffee & Tea® (I did not ask which blend/roast they serve, though) http://www.peerlesscoffee.com/
(What's with today's EweToobular juxtaselections? Simples! I have it under good authority [How come you never hear about anyone having it "under bad authority"?] that ol' Satchelmouth himself was a big Feta and spinach fan.) With today's running of another Bay-to-Beer "race" (since 1912) gumming-up my neighborhood streets, I thought it best to keep my breakfastary sojourn as local as possible, so I took a 38-Local all the way down the street (it beat walking the seventeen blocks to-and-fro; plus, it was pretty d*rn windy and chilly this morning to boot ~ which is usually the weather-norm for Bay-to-Beer "race"-days) to Louis' (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, October 2nd, 2011). https://www.baytobreakers.com/
As close as this place is to where I live, I do not think that I have eaten there but a handful of times in the 30-plus years that I have lived in San Francisco; and, probably, just two or three of those visits have been breakfastarily. This is no fault of the diner/restaurant-joint itself; there really is just not that much from which to choose on the menu for stupid vegetarians is all. This morning I sat at the mini/three-seater diner-counter area. I was offered any of the empty booths right along the window, but I didn't want to "steal" a booth if a larger group came in and needed/wanted one. However, as it turned out, I was in and out so early this morning there remained three booths still empty the entire time that I was there, so I could have had an entire booth to myself... oh, well. Usually by 9:00am, the (rather smallish) place will be full and there will be a line ~ out the door onto the sidewalk ~ waiting to get in.
Even if I did not have these views from where I was sitting, I only had to turn around or get up and go over to one of the windows to see the views. And there is never an extra charge for these Million Dollar Views. I even saw one whale ~ either a California Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus)[1] or a Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)[2] ~ unfortunatley, it breeched too quickly for me to really see which it might have been (like I could really tell the difference even if they were swimming side-by-each). It was just off the coast (less than a hundred yards really) past Seal Rocks[3]/Lands End[4]/Sutro Baths[5]. Strange Memory/Mind-losing Interlude This morning when I got up and before I was preparing to go out for breakfast, I could not locate some of my notes that I keep on these silly little breakfast visits. (Yes, I do actually keep notes on actual paper. I still refuse to go back to the future into the 21st Century and get me one of them new-fangled mobular devices with which to keep notes/information.) It took me about an hour (and, sadly, that is not an exaggeration) to finally discover where I had put them yesterday. I found them inside one of the reference books (and, yes, I do still use actual printed materials for reference sources; not everything can be found so quickly on these-here World Wild Webs-things) that I used yesterday to look up the information on "sheriff"[6]. While searching manically, I almost swore that I was the victim of a Little Green Men abduction (it is a well-known fact that those sneaky little bastages love a good omelette or crêpes) or an NSA subversive plot (you would be surprised at just how far our government is willing to go trying to keep us from enjoying our early-morning repasts).
As for the actual omelette-review part of this 'blog-thing, it was a simple-enough rendition and much better'n I could ever manage (luckily this was not a "Make Your Own" Omelette... ). It included lotsa spinach in it, but I felt that it coulda used a bit more Feta (this is my standard complaint with most places, anyway). Louis' has only Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce ~ Original Red Sauce for use as a condimentary supplement. No biggie, as I finally got to use up the last drops of my Palo Alto Firefighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the potatoes. (Now I am down to only thirty bottles of hot sauces on my refrigerator door shelves.) Additionally, I used a little of my own Great WallWasabi Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on half of the omelette. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: "BYO" Omelette ~ 6.0; Million Dollar Views ~ 8.2 (with tax and tip included) ___________________
Sometimes you just have a hankerin' for a good, nearby omelette! Luckily, I have that option just down the road a-piece from me (if'n "a-piece" is fifteen blocks away). Soooo... I hankered on back to Seal Rock Inn Restaurant (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, July 29th, 2017). There is no truth to the rumour (which I may have started several years ago) that this restaurant was originally going to call themselves "International Place of Omelettes" or "IPOO" for short... Their "International Omelettes" section on the menu has ten different omelettes from which to choose; three of which are Greek-themed/based and I have ordered all of those several times over (and over again). Their "The Good Old 'merican Omelettes" section has another twenty from which to decide. Plus, there are four more special omelettes listed (the Andy's Omelette I have renamed "Greek Omelette No. 4" ~ fresh mushrooms, Feta cheese, salami [which I always ογδόντα-έξι], olives). (Now if any of you are keeping count, that is like... well-over twenty-five [based on Common Core Math] or so.)
(Views of and taken from Sutro Heights Park. The last two photos would be of the eponymous Seal Rocks, which, strangely enough, were named after the Restaurant and not the other way around.) In addition to their vast selection of great omelettes from which to choose (and even a couple of very questionable choices[1]), I really like that this place opens up extra early every day (mainly to accommodate the tourista-crowd staying at the Inn). I had arrived around 7:45am and even with a short hike after breakfast through Sutro Heights Park (which is just across the street, anyway), I was still home way before 9:00am.
I have always like this omelette. It is like having a perfect χωριάτικη σαλάτα[2] inside an omelette (well, less the cucumbers ~ which I bet would be an interesting ingredient for inside an omelette [I am sure that Cosmo Kramer would agree with me there, but Poppie would probably chastise the h*ck outta me]). I only have one real μικρή καταγγελία: they use those boring ol', tasteless, sliced canned black olives. This is a Greek-owned place and they really oughtta shoulda be making these with αυθεντικές ελιές Καλαμών (this would be like a great ristorante italiano using those cr*mmy Kraft® 'merican "cheese" singles in place of good Provolone or Parmigiano-Reggiano). However, they do make up for this minor under-sight by including a whole lotta Feta in it (... mo' Feta, mo' betta'!)! For condimentary supplementation, Seal Rock Inn Restaurant offers both Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce and Cholula®Hot Sauce (Original). Once again, I used some of my own Palo Alto Fire Fighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce on the hashbrowns (or, perhaps, that should read: "Palos Altos Fires Fighter XXXs Ghosts Peppers Sauces on the hash brown") (Thank, Brians!) and a little Pepper Palace™Chocolate Habanero Hot Sauce (Thank, Gregs and Cindys!) on top of the omelette. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Greek Omelette No. 1 ~ 6.7 (whereas, if they did use authentic Kalamata olives in this dish, it would easily be rated at 6.9 to 7.1 on the GBS) ___________________
1. Do not even ask me about their Sunrise (Omelette w/no country) ~ banana (yes, unfortunately, it appears that they do have "bananas" today, folks), raisins (seriously... egads!), shredded carrots, sour cream. Just to be fair, I have actually tried this once before on a dare (well, I dared myself to try it... but still... ), and it was even worse than it sounds. I can highly not-recommend this to anyone. (They parenthetically call it "(Omelette w/no country)", mainly because no sane country in the World would ever admit to this as being theirs... not even 조선민주주의인민공화국.) 2. Of course, back in 1491, a typical Greek salad would have only included Feta, olives, onions, and cucumbers... and you could forget about a side of hashbrowns (or even "hash brown").
