(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
♪ "I'm headin' down Clement Street Lookin' for the breakfast get-a-way... " ♫
https://www.eatsrestaurantsf.com/ Place: Eats Location: 50 Clement Street (on the corner of 2nd Avenue) Hours: open Monday - Sunday at 8:00am Meal: Spicy Kale Skillet (v) (okay, technically, they have this dish listed as "Spicy Tomato Skillet (v)" on their menu, but I just calls 'em as I tastes 'em) ~ kale, onions, potatoes, bell peppers, sunny up eggs, Parmesan, grilled bread; and, to drink, a large(-ish) glassa Power C ~ a mixture of orange, pineapple, and grapefruit juices
(I have it on good authority that both Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson are big kale fans, too. However, I think that Fred Schneider hates just about everything if it is not from Idaho or Claire.) Continuing along with a Post-Season Workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I went back to Eats (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, May 19th, 2019) this morning.
This dish (skillet, whatever) is probably my favourite one that they offer due to the amount of kale added to it (Sorry, Sean!). They even added extrakale in it for me this morning because they had misunderstood me when I said that I had renamed their dish "Spicy Kale Skillet" due to all the great kale-ocity in it. ("B-b-but, Brian, can you just go and change the established names of dishes at local restaurant?" Well, I just did!) However, I think that I have come up with even a mo' betta' name for this one now: "Kale-ifornia Shakshouka"[1]. ("B-b-but, Brian... " Shut-up and just go with it already!) Unfortunately, I had to explain what a "Shakshouka" was to my confused waiter-person-guy, though. (So now maybe you will get the above EweToobular juxtaselection.) For condimentary supplementation, Eats offers not only the Standard San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces(Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce [Original Red Sauce], Cholula®Hot Sauce [Original], and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce), but also Huy Fong Foods, Inc.Sriracha HOT Chili Sauce; additionally, I spied on a few of the tables El Yucateco® three ways (Salsa Picante Roja de Chile Habanero, Salsa Picante Verde de Chile Habanero, and XXXtra Picante Salsa Kutbil-Ik® de Chile Habanero). I used some of my own Dixie CrossroadsHot Habañero [which is appareñtly how they mispelz it in Floridialañd] Pepper Sauce (Thañks, Mom añd Briañ!) on top of one egg and a good amount o' sprinklage from my McCormick®Grill Mates®Smokehouse MapleSeasoning all over everything in the skillet.
They also now have on every table bottles of a new(?) maple syrup ~ Mead and Mead Maple Syrup. (I'd tap that!) Unfortunately, I did not have any items on which to try it this morning (but do not think that I was not tempted to pour just a little over the top of one of the eggs... ). Perhaps tomorrow. http://meadandmeads.com/ Crafty Coffee Confabulation Interlude I broke into another (and the last of, finally, my) Christmas (yes, Christmas) Coffee gift this morning. Before heading out to breakfast, I dripped me down (via the pour-over method) a mighty strong cuppa Lineage Coffee Roasting 431° Espresso. The package notes state: "A Classic Profile with a Heavier Roast Designed for Approachability[2] & Consistency"... whatever the h*ck that is supposed to mean. "Approachability", really?! It is just d*mn Coffee, not some kinda up-and-coming, hot, new Hollywoodland Starlet. Sheesh! Anyway... this was a decent enough roast/blend. I was expecting a bit of a darker roast from an Espresso and with a bit more kick to it, but I also did not prepare it with an actual Espresso-maker-thing. (Thanks, Barry! [even though he gets all of these "gifts" as freebie discards from his employer ~ Whole Paychecks®]) https://www.lineageroasting.com/products/northern-italian-espresso Here's hoping that your tin roof never rusts! Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Kale-ifornia Shakshouka ~ 7.5; Lineage Coffee Roasting 431° Espresso ~ 6.9 ___________________ 1. Ho-yeah! http://www.pbs.org/food/recipes/shakshouka-2/ 2. I checked. "Approachability" is a completely madeuppery word.
http://www.blackwoodsf.com/ Place: Blackwood Location: 2150 Chestnut Street (between Steiner and Pierce Streets) Hours: open every day at 9:00am for breakfast and/or "Brunch" Meal: THAI SHAKSHUKA ~ Tomyum[1]tomato stew, poached eggs, pork (of course, I แปดสิบหก-ed this ingredient), onion, bacon (this ingredient also went ลาก่อน), scallion, cilantro, fried garlic, mild goat cheese; and, to drink with the meal, a large glassa Raspberry-Lemonade; and, beforehand, to enjoy wandering up-and-down Chestnut Street while waiting for the restaurant to open for the morning, a dynamo donut + coffeePassionfruitMilk Chocolate doughnut (bought at a local bodega along Chestnut Street, too) https://dynamodonut.com/menu
(Yeah, there is really no EweToobular juxtaselection here. I dunno, maybe Catherine Elizabeth Pierson loves her some spicy Tom Yum, too.) Ho-kay... onward and upward with the Taylor Street Coffee Shop-family mini-chain brought me back to Blackwood (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, October 22nd, 2017). I think that this restaurant was the third in their mini-chain to open (circa June 2012).
I sat outside again in their sidewalk/alcove-patio seating area. The morning was still a bit foggy and chilly, so I did keep my sweatshirt on; they also had the overhead gas-heaters going this morning, anyway. Their menu is similar to what is offered at most of their other restaurants, and there are a few other ideas still worth checking out ("... out worth checking"?! Nah, that does not sound right all at.): (once again, in keeping with their menu stylization, I am attempting to imitate the different font sizes used on the dish names) SNOWED SPINACHSCRAMBLE ~ baby spinach with white Cheddar, served with RainbowPotatoes and ciabatta toast; PRIMAVERA WHITEOMELET ~ roasted tomato, mushroom, arugula, served w/ berries instead of potatoes (which I would probably have tried to have substituted back with the multicoloured underground tubers instead);
BLACKSTONE BENNY (Didn't he used to be the straight-man for Eddie Anderson?) ~ poached eggs, Millionaire's Bacon® (which I would have to go all pauper on), asparagus, cherry tomato, Meyer lemonHollandaise on English Muffin, also served with RainbowPotatoes (just no toast); MARINA JOK MOO ~ rice porridge with bacon, garlic, carrots, spinach, mushroom, cherry pepper, green onion, cilantro, poached egg, sesame and tamari sauce drizzled (I am not even sure if this could even be made st*pid vegetarian-friendly, but it might be worth asking); or maybe even
POPOVERs(!) w/AVOCADO (???) ~ offered with three different toppings: Strawberry, goat cheese, avocado, balsamic glaze; Bacon, avocado, tomato, honey; or Walnut (candid)[ sic ] (or perhaps that was not a typo, just an indication of the walnut's sincerity, Frank), avocado, Parmesan (I saw these ordered at two other tables and it looked pretty interesting; as best as I could tell, there is half an avocado already baked inside the Popovers[!]; if I did get this, I would probably have to supplement it with at least an order of RainbowPotatoes).
(For those of you that do partake of the dead, decaying porky-butts. This is the kinda "Flight" that always made me want to remain on Ground-Status when I was in the Air Force, though.)
What can I say? I liked it. I have had several other versions of Shakshuka (mostly at Arab or Middle Eastern restaurants) over the years and this was right up there in tastocity (yeah, so, it ain't a real word... tough!). The Tom Yum sauce was a very nice flavour-change. I coulda easily used another piece of the ciabatta toast with which to soak up more of the sauce. I bet this woulda been even better with some fresh sweet basil leaves in it (as long as they did not have to go all the way to Kirk Hammerton to procure those)[2], but that is just my สองสตางค์ worth... With my pre-breakfastary snack of the doughnut, this ended up being a lot more food than I had expected. I am glad that I did not order a side of their Rainbow Potatoes (however, with this being PrideWeekend and all, those woulda been the perfect side for the morning). Blackwood only offered Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce, which it had bottles of both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce on all the tables. The Tom Yum-Shakshuka sauce was lightly spicy enough that I did not need to mess with its flavours in any way, though. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: THAI SHAKSHUKA ~ 6.7; dynamo donut + coffeePassionfruitMilk Chocolate doughnut ~ 7.5 ___________________
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: Here is a little-known Cliff Clavinistic fact: The spicy Thai soup known as "Tom Yum" was originally named by Yuliy Borisovich Briner when he was filming "The King and I" in Thailand. He took one taste and said "This is yummy in my tummy!". One of the native Thai waiters mis-overheard him and passed it on to the chef as "Tummy-Yummy". It has stuck to this day.* *(Nah! Did anyone really buy that one? Was I just joking there? Of course, Siam... The words "tom yam" are derived from two Thai words. "Tom" ["ต้ม"] refers to the boiling process, while "yam" ["ยำ"] refers to a Thai spicy and sour salad.) 2. Okay, there may be two people reading this silly li'l 'blog-thing that will get that st*pid reference.
https://www.itsjane.com/ Place: Jane ~ on Fillmore Location: 2123 Fillmore (nacherly) Street (between California and Sacramento Streets) Hours: open daily from 7:00am Meal: Spicy Baked Eggs ~ two eggs, spicy tomato and black bean stew, Cheddar, cilantro, olive toast; to start (and finish, actually), a Citrus Brioche[1]; and to drink, a cuppa (whatever) their current House Coffee (might have been)
(There really are no EweToobular juxtaselections here. I just heard that Dewey, Dan, Gerry, and Tim Pretty were all big fans of Shakshouka-type dishes. I think it comes from their Arabic/Mohammadist roots.) Because I wanted to hit a place that opened up pretty early for breakfast on a placid Sunday morn, I headed back over to Jane ~ on Fillmore (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, July 22nd, 2017). I especially like that they are open up at 7:00am daily. This is very good for a mostly upscaley-kinda neighborhood; many of the other places along that area of Fillmore will not open until after 9:00am or later.
(There is really no reason for these two photos. I just liked how one side wall of the restaurant had floral wallpaper and the other was basic black-and-white striped.) I sat upstairs in their lofty space once again. This time I sat at one of the six stools at the front-facing counter overlooking the restaurant (and looking down on Mr. Bison, too). As this only makes the third time that I have eaten at Jane for breakfast (once at this location and one earlier visit at their Tenderloin location on Larkin Street), there are still many other good ideas from which to try and decide on future visits: (the now ubiquitous, but possibly soon to be extincted) Avocado Mash ~ avocado (nacherly), cracked black pepper, soft boiled egg, pickled shallot and jalapeño on house sourdough (I wonder if they would substitute that particular toast for their olive bread instead); Breakfast Frisee Salad ~ frisee, arugula, chive, lardons (which I would, of course, have lard-off), radish, rainbowcarrot(noted in the singularity for some reason, but I assume they actually include more than one colour of carrots), soft boiled egg, shallot vinagrette[ sic ], toasted baguette; Egg Sandwich ~ on your choice of housebaked sourdough, multigrain bread or baguette with homemade (well, Jane-made) tomato chutney and Cheddar cheese; Egg White Sandwich ('cause egg-whites matter, too) ~ egg whites, spinach and avocado with Provolone and a dash of sriracha served on your choice of housebaked sourdough, multigrain bread or baguette; Raw Sprouted Black Rice Porridge ~ almond and coconut milk, chia seeds, coconut crunch, goji berries, fresh kiwi (served warm upon request); Jane's Dragonfruit Smoothie Bowl ~ dragonfruit, pineapple, banana, ginger, coconut water, blueberries, raspberries, hemp seeds, flax seeds, cocoa nibs, goji, mulberries (I have no idea what this would all be, but it sounds kinda interesting); or Warm Quinoa Bowl ~ quinoa, roasted brussel[ sic and in minuscule ] sprouts, sweet potatoes, kale (where I probably would have them add a soft boiled egg in the mix to make it more breakfastarily sound). Additionally, they offer several other items at their Larkin Street location under the moniker Weekend "Brunch".
This Citrus Brioche was very good (just not anywhere as interesting as their Cardamom Lattice Bun that I had once before at their stand-alone bakery along Geary Boulevard). I ended up eating half of the brioche before the main meal was brought up to me and the other half after I had finished the meal to enjoy with the last of my Coffee. This dish was basically your Shakshouka/Shakshuka/Chakchouka/شكشوكة with black beans and Cheddar. I enjoyed it to the last drop... well, as best as I could. The olive bread toast that came with it was pretty d*rn tasty all on its ownsome and I probably mighta coulda used another slice of it with which to sop-up all the rest of the spicy tomato sauce. Of course, if they had given me two slices, I might not even have had to use any utensils to eat the meal (other than a knife maybe to cut up the baked eggs into scoopuppable[2] sized bites). As far as any condimentary supplementation that Jane might have had to offer, none were needed and none were used. Their spicy tomato sauce was good enough for me. (not really such a) Strange Coffee Interlude Me: Which roast of Coffee do you have today? Counter-lady/cash-taker person: I think it is a "medium roast"... (Me thinking: Ohhhh-kay! How the h*ck can you be workin' in a coffeehouse/bakery-type joint and not really know what kinda Coffee you are serving?! If you worked at Mickey-D's RainbowRoom, would you inform me that in your burgers "none of our meats are vegetarian"?! *sigh*) Me (instead): Thanks, that sounds good. I will have a cuppa that... For the record, Jane roasts their own Coffee locally somewhere in the Mission. I really need to check that out one of these days, it would be fun to see how that operation is done. Thankfully, their Coffee is always first-rate (even if it is of unknown origin to the workers there). The last time I ate there, they had a blend/roast called Bread & Butter; however, I am not sure if that is the only Coffee which they offer. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Citrus Brioche ~ 7.1; Spicy Baked Eggs ~ 7.0; Coffee (whichever blend/roast it mighta been) ~ 7.2 ___________________
1. St*pid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day: "Brioche" most likely is derived from the Old French verb "brier", "a Norman dialectical form of broyer ("to grind, pound"), to work the dough with a broye or brie (a sort of wooden roller for kneading); the suffix -oche is a generic deverbal suffix. 2. Hey, it's a real word! Well, as much as "upscaley", "breakfastarily", "ownsome", or "culinaristic" are...
https://frenabakery.com/ (I am not sure if this web-site is currently operational. When I tried to open it today, I only got a blank screen. This is the correct web-site as listed on their take-away menus, though.) Place: Frena Bakery & Café Location: 5549 Geary Boulevard (on the corner of 20th Avenue) Hours: open Sunday at 9:00am, Monday - Friday at 8:00am, and, for some ungodly reason, closed on Saturday Meal: Shakshuka Egg in the Basket ~ slow cooked tomatoes, bell peppers and onion; one (Chocolate) Rugelach[1]; and a 12 oz cuppa illy® to drink (I did not think to ask which roast/blend) https://www.illy.com/en-us/shop/coffee/ Oh, my יהוה! Frena Bakery & Café opened up its second location in San Francisco just last month (circa January 23rd or so) and, luckily, just down the street (give or take twelve blocks) in my neighborhood. I have never been to their original location on 6th Street (even though it is only about two blocks south of Dottie's True blue café), which is relatively new itself (I think it only opened back in December 2016). I will have you know that I was fully planning on hating this place (I mean, what kinda bakery worth its [kosher] salt is not open on Saturday and does not open until 9:00am on Sunday?!). And so as not to be labelled as anti-semantics, I do know when to use Jewish, Hebrew, and Israeli in their correct context... you know, as in: "Those d*mn Jews!", "Those d*mn Hebrews!", and "Those d*mn Israelis!". As if my neighborhood needed another bakery in it. Already right across the street is Moscow & Tbilisi Bakery Store; there is also a brand new bagelry set to open only another two blocks away; and House of Bagels has been ensconced in their same location for many, many years now just five blocks away also on Geary Boulevard... (not to mention the number of local Chinese bakeries in the area, too). Frena Bakery & Café is in the same location that once housed Emma's Coffeehouse (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, October 4th, 2015).[2] With their newly-installed, large clay oven bakery-thing taking up a major portion of the back space now, there is not really such a large sit-down eating area remaining in the front. Currently, there are just four tables for three and one taller island-table with ten stools, which is in the middle of the area in front of the window-cases/ordering counter. I sat at one end of the taller island-table so that people with more in their groups could use the smaller tables if needed. It seemed that the majority of customers were not ordering food to eat there, but "to go", anyway. I went with what I ordered this morning 'cause it was one of the more breakfastarily sound items on the menu (well, it included a cooked egg on top, at least). However, the range of kosher baked good items that they offer is pretty vast and very tasty-sounding. They have everything from several varieties of bagels to doughnuts (which they are calling "Sufganiya" ~ apparently an Israeli style [not Jewish style] jelly donut; and offer raspberry jam, blueberry jam, or Bavarian cream filled), challah breads (four versions) to pita breads (also four versions), Sambusaks (pocket pastries) to Burekas (puff pastries), and several other kinds of sweet pastries (not only do they offer your standard Seinfeld-ian Chocolate and Cinnamon Babkas, I even saw a loaf of Raspberry-Rose-PistachioBabka!).
I loved this idea of Shakshuka as a flatbread as soon as I saw it on the menu! However, it did prove to be a bit hard to navigate with just the flimsy plastic fork and knife provided. I probably should have had them quarter the thing with the Pizza-cutter I saw them use on the person's order ahead of me that had ordered one of these as a take-away. No biggie. I ended up mainly eating it hand-held as you would a small-ish Pizza, anyway. Hopefully the photo above does it justice, 'cause I have no way of explaining this other than it was tomatoes and sauce with a baked egg on top of flat dough. It also came with some (Israeli style, not Hebrew style) cucumber-pickles and a small ramekin of tahini on the side. I was not quite sure what to do with the tahini, so I just dumped/drizzled it all over the top of the mess. It seemed to work fine for me. Now the real find here was their completely awesome and unbelievably tasty (Chocolate) Rugelach. I was planning on getting some kinda sweet baked good for after the meal with which to finish up my Coffee. As luck would have it, I chose the Rugelach; and a very wise choice it was, if I do say so myself, Shlomoh! I have had other versions of Rugelach at other Jewish (not Israeli, nor Hebrew) delicatessens, but this was by far the best I have ever had. While this Rugelach may not have been actually "to-die-for", it would definitely be worth sacrificing your first born for, Abie! I have no idea what they may have had to offer in the way of any kind of condimentary supplementation. I did not ask, nor need any. Not really knowing what they may have had to offer in the way of a breakfast menu, I did bring a few bottles of my own hot sauces, but did not see the need to mess with the Shakshuka-thing in any way (other than with the above-mentioned small amount of tahini provided). The next time I go there (and, trust me, there will definitely be a next time... just not next Saturday), I will probably order a cuppa their Elite Israeli (not Hebrew, nor Jewish) Coffee(which, from the way the guy behind the counter described it, is basically your Greek/Turkish/Arab [Oy, gevalt!] version of Coffee with the grounds still in the bottom of the cuppa). I just did not want to hold up the long (literally) "out-the-door" line this morning where one of the only two workers behind the counter would have had to prepare that time-consuming drink for me. I may not get back to breakfast there for a while (the "no Saturday"-thing does not help much), but I know I will definitely be going back for lunch or dinner again... and probably sooner than you can say "Jumping Jehoshaphat!" Did I mention the Raspberry-Rose-Pistachio Babka, Jerry?! Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Shakshuka Egg in the Basket ~ 6.6; Rugelach ~ 7.4 (possibly even higher the next time I try it again) ___________________
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugelach 2. Emma's Coffeehouse closed down (which was supposed to be only temporarily) about two years ago when the owners of the building refurbished the entire building and it took well over six months to complete. Unfortunately, they never reopened after such a long hiatus.
http://roccoscafe.com/ Place: Rocco'sCcaffè Location: 1131 Folsom Street (between 7th and 8th Streets) Hours: open Monday - Friday at 7:00am, Saturday & Sunday at 8:00am Meal: 3 Eggs Poached in a Sweet Tomato, Basil Marinara Sauce ~ w/ Italian sausage & warm Italian French [ sic ] bread, and served with Rocco'sBreakfast Potatoes (of course, I had them ottantasei the sausage-stuff); to drink with breakfast, a large glassa grapefruit juice; and, beforehand, I stopped at Sight/Glass Coffee and got a single-cuppa/pour-over EthiopiaYetatebe, Shakisso https://sightglasscoffee.com/products/yetatebe-shakisso The last time I ate at Rocco'sCcaffè(see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, November 22nd, 2015) was about two years after I had first eaten there. At this rate, I suppose I will not make another return visit until 2022 (but I hope I get back sooner than that). And why another Sunday visit? It is just much easier to find ample and legal parking on a Sunday (and in this case, that early on a Sunday morning, I was able to find a spot just around the corner on a virtually empty 7th Street). One of the reasons I do want to get back again is that they offer a very nice breakfast fare (both off their everyday Breakfast menu and off their Breakfast Weekend & Holiday Specials). Some other possible ideas that I was perusing: Grilled Homemade Polenta ~ topped with cheese & Marinara sauce w/ eggs any style (Hmmm?! I wonder if I could ask for "ItalianFrench" eggs.) (and I would possibly order this with a side of Rocco's Breakfast Potatoes ~ if my appetite would allow for it); Fresh Vegetable Frittata w/3 Cheeses (they do not specify which three cheeses, but I would guess Parmesan, Mozzarella, and Provolone) ~ served with Rocco's Breakfast Potatoes & toast/sourdough, rye, wheat or English muffin; Mushroom, Onion, Basil, & Parmesan Cheese Frittata ~ served with Rocco's Breakfast Potatoes & toast/sourdough, rye, wheat or English muffin; Fresh Spinach, Mushroom & Provolone Cheese Omelette ~ served with Rocco's Breakfast Potatoes & toast/sourdough, rye, wheat or English muffin; or Avocado, Tomato, & Provolone Cheese Omelette ~ served with Rocco's Breakfast Potatoes & toast/ sourdough, rye, wheat or English muffin.
(Please ignore the horrible quality [I am claiming "poor lighting"] of this photo. The food was so much tastier than it appears here.) This meal was ordered off the Breakfast Weekend & Holiday Specials section of their menu. It was basically una ShakshukaItaliana(or possibly una Shakshuka Margherita). Once again, these were extremely good homefries; there was a lot of fresh basil leaves and onions mixed in with the quartered small red potatoes. The potatoes were not listed anywhere on the menu as an addition to this dish. I almost ordered a side of these to go with the meal, but was not sure how much food (two eggs is usually good for me) would be on the plate. I still have not figured out exactly what "Italian French bread" is supposed to mean; perhaps the bakery is located in the Alps. (The bread did come in very handy, though, to clean up the remainder of the sweet Marinara sauce.) For condimentary supplementation, Rocco'sCcaffè offers Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. In what is becoming quite the futile effort to get rid of some of my hot sauce collection, I used some more of my own Hot Licks®SerranoHot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the potatoes.
(not really a) Strange Coffee Interlude I had a pre-breakfastary cuppa at Sight/Glass Coffee (their flagship shop ~ where they do all their roasting ~ on 7th Street and just around the corner from where I had breakfast, anyway). This was a very good cuppa Ethiopian Coffee; however, I did not think it was quite as spectacular as what Andytown Coffee Roasters makes/serves. This place must be one of the largest coffeeshops in the city; it takes up the entire space of an old (built in 1914) warehouse (they told me that it used to be a neon-sign shop previously). It has a great open space with a two-floor high ceiling. Plus, there is even an Affogato Bar located on the mezzanine level (it was way too early in the morning for Ice Cream... well, not for me, but it was not open yet or I might have gotten that before breakfast, too). Sight/Glass Coffee has four other local San Francisco shops/locations (however, good luck trying to locate them on their web-site; it took me ten minutes to finally find them). Glen BaconScale Rating: Sight/Glass CoffeeEthiopiaYetatebe, Shakisso ~ 7.2; Shakshuka Margherita ~ 6.5
