the Cavalier

'blog-post-thing #999

https://thecavaliersf.com/


Place: the Cavalier

Location: 360 Jessie Street 
(on the corner of 5th Street; about half-way between Market and Mission Streets)

Hours: breakfast served from 7:00am (Saturday-Friday)

Meal: Breakfast Sandwich ~ fried hen (they feel the need to specify this on the menu, too) egg, crispy bacon (they do not specify if this bacon was of the porcine variety, but they were nice enough to 86 the dead, decaying fried-up pork butt and substitute it for some sliced avocado), peppercress, shallot and mustard dressing; a side of Crispy Potatoes; and, to drink, a blackcurrant, ginger and lime refresher (which came with a new-retro paper straw)


For only my third visit, I returned to the Cavalier (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, June 2nd, 2018). This is a really nice fancy little joint, but it is mostly hidden away on a dead-end alley off 5th Street, and if you are not staying at the hotel that it is attached to, you might not even know that it was there.

I have basically had all of the main items off of their breakfast menu that are stupid vegetarian-suitable now. There is one starter that I will probably have to order on my next visit: Earl Grey and Honey Scone (elderflower jelly and clotted cream).

Additionally, they do offer a Shakshuka dish on their "Weekend Brunch" menu; however, I would really have to feel like heading downtown after 10:00am on a Saturday or Sunday to order that dish.

This was not yer crazy Uncle Ronald's ol' Eggamuffin dealie. The Dijon mustard and shallot dressing really made this one stand out. Unfortunately, the size of the bun and the amount of peppercress on top of the fried (hen) egg forced me to eat the sandwich all posh Britishlander-style with a knife and fork.

The side order of Crispy Potatoes ended up being free because the manager/waiter-guy that took my order this morning forgot to initially put in my order for them and he told me that they would be comping me for those. (Nice! Free potatoes is always a great way to start the weekend.) And these are really very good homefries, and worth ordering all on their ownsome, anyway. They are extra crispy, but not greasy in the least (or the most). The manager/waiter-guy explained to me how they were made: they half-boil the potatoes first, then smoosh (his actual culinaristic term) the potatoes to break them up a bit, and then deep fry them to a nice crispy, golden brown.

For condimentary supplementation, the Cavalier 
only offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce 
(Original Red Sauce). It really did not matter as I had come packing some of my own hot sauces. I used some (sparingly, just a few drops or so) 
Chelsea Fire Wicked. Hot. Sauce.® (Thanks, Sha'!) on the sandwich and some Dixie Crossroads 
Hot Habañero[ sic ] Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) 
on the potatoes.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Breakfast Sandwich ~ 6.5;
blackcurrant, ginger and lime refresher ~ 7.0;
Crispy Potatoes ~ 7.2

Rocco's Ccaffè

http://roccoscafe.com/


Place: Rocco's Ccaffè 

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's Breakfast 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 Ethiopia Yetatebe, Shakisso

https://sightglasscoffee.com/products/yetatebe-shakisso


The last time I ate at Rocco's Ccaffè (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 "Italian French" 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 Shakshuka Italiana (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's Ccaffè 
offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot 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® Serrano Hot 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 Bacon Scale Rating:
Sight/Glass Coffee Ethiopia Yetatebe, Shakisso ~ 7.2;
Shakshuka Margherita ~ 6.5

the Cavalier

https://thecavaliersf.com/


Place: the Cavalier

Location: 360 Jessie Street 
(on the corner of 5th Street; about half-way between Market and Mission Streets)

Hours: breakfast daily beginning at 7:00am

Meal: Buttermilk Pancakes ~ Amaretto and brown butter golden syrup; and a cuppa (and a half-refilla) of Mr. Espresso® (once again, I forgot to ask which specific roast/blend they might be serving)

https://mrespresso.com/

(Not that I am superstitious or nothing, but I did not want to jinx the Golden State Warriors tomorrow night by eating at this particularly-named establishment. So I am adding the first video as a reverse-kinda jinx, Pixie and Dixie.

Besides, I could not decide on a decent EweToobular juxtaselection by Monsieur Maurice Chevalier ... [let us see how many people will get that silly cunning linguist-pun])


I trotted back over to the Cavalier (see previous 'blog-entry from Saturday, January 28th, 2017) for breakfast this morning. They do offer a later "Brunch"-thing, but I much prefer that they open up early for breakfast, anyway.

Very early in the morning (I suppose until they get a little busier), they will seat you in the bar-dining area where there are twelve tables (for two). These are all along the back wall and, of which, the back seats of each table is along one long, continuous booth-thing. (I am sure that I am not describing it very well or doing it justice, but it was an interesting seating area.)

There really is not an extensive breakfast menu, and the only remaining option for me would have been their Breakfast Sandwich ~ fried hen egg (and I love that they feel the need to specify which kinda fowl laid it), crispy bacon (however, they do not specify if this is swine-bacon or not), pepper cress, shallot, and mustard dressing. The next time I eat there, I will probably order this (86-ing the bacon-stuff ~ swinish or whatever) with a side of their excellent Crispy Potatoes.

These were really good pancakes; both fluffy and filling. I would have liked to have had more of the Amaretto 
and brown butter golden syrup; it was already poured over the top of the pancakes. I suppose that I probably coulda asked for a small additional serving of it. To me, that was truly the highlight of the meal, anyway. This came as three (medium-large) pancakes, so I did not have any room for their Crispy Potatoes. 
(I checked with my friendly waiter/server-person guy when ordering and he told me it probably would be too much food with the side of potatoes; trust me, it definitely would have been.) As it were, I barely had room to finish all three pancakes, anyway. After I had already finished eating (well, as much as I could finish), my waiter/server-person guy told me that I could have ordered just a side of (one) pancake (it does not list that on the menu anywhere, though).

(not really so) Strange Coffee Interlude

They no longer are serving the same brand of Coffee from last year. Now they exclusively serve Mr. Espresso® ~ which is very local and decent, and I have had it many times before at many other restaurants, anyway ~ but I think I liked last year's roast/blend just a little better.

For condimentary supplementation, the Cavalier only offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce). I had also come prepared with a few of my own hot sauces, but, with this morning's pancake meal, none were needed or used, anyway.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Buttermilk Pancakes ~ 6.7;
Amaretto and brown butter golden syrup (all on its ownsome) ~ 7.5

SoMa Inn Café

"There is no love sincerer than the love of food." ~ (George) Bernard Shaw[1], 
Man and Superman[2]

http://somainncafe.com/

(Do not bother opening that web-site. I am just linking it for informational purposes. It is mainly an advert web-site from the idiots at GRUBHUB.)


Place: SoMa Inn Café
Location: 1082 Folsom Street (between 7th and 8th Streets)
Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Friday at 7:00am; open Saturday at 7:30am; and open Sunday at 8:00am
Meal: Mediterranean Omelet ~ baked egg-plant [ sic ][3], sweet pepper, tomato, pesto sauce, & Feta cheese, served with either home fries or hash browns, and toast or two pancakes; and a cuppa (with one refilla) Peet's Coffee® French Roast

http://www.peets.com/coffee/featured-category/all-coffees/french-roast.html


It has been almost two years since I first visited 
SoMa Inn Café (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, May 10th, 2015) and figured a return visit was warranted. I was the first customer of the morning (it was probably close to 8:15am already) and was greeted warmly by Joe (I only know his name as there were a few "regulars" that came in after I was there and they all greeted him as "Joe"), whom I can only assume is the owner/manager-guy.[4] I noticed a bit of an accent when speaking with Joe and asked him where he was from (I was assuming he was Arab) and he told me he was from Israel. He told me how to say "Thank you!" in Hebrew (which I forgot as soon as I walked out the door, of course). Unfortunately, the only Hebrew words that I remember any more are the numbers "1" through "5" and the phrase (which sounds something like) "Aysa Khatikha!" and means "What a nice *ss!"; however, I did not really think that would be appropriate to use to thank him for the good meal.

I am still not sure if there is actually any "Inn" associated with this "Café" or not. The next time that I go there, I will have to ask Joe about the name.

Their breakfast menu offers several other good ideas and I will have to plan to get back again (... in two years or so): Special Monterey Omelet (three eggs omelet, served with applewood smoke bacon [which I would always have nixed, Stevie], pesto basil sauce, fresh avocado, Monterey Jack cheese, home fried potato & choice of toast... [they actually added the "..." on their small specials menu]); Florentine Scramble (spinach, mushroom, artichoke hearts, eggs, & shredded cheese, served with choice of potatoes or toast); Banana Hot Cake [ sic, as two words and singular] 'N' 4 Berry Sauce (two jumbo cake [ sic, again singular] stuffed with fresh banana, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, and strawberry with powdered cinnamon sugar and whipped cream [Note: They previously had this on their menu as "'N' 3 Berry Sauce". They have now corrected the number of "berry" count; however, botanically, there are only two berries there: banana and blueberries.]); or, the most intriguing-sounding-of-all, Banana Streusel (French toast topped with fresh banana, berry [here they do not specify which berries are in this; I just hope the berries are not tomato, bell peppers, or eggplant] sauce, whipped cream & powder cinnamon sugar; this will have to be checked out on my next visit... in two years or so).

Do not worry, there are still plenty of other good ideas for those of you that are dead, decaying animal-fleshetarians. There was an interesting one that I noticed on their small specials menu: Country Benedict (grilled English muffin, topped with country sausage patty, poached eggs, country white gravy & scallion, served with home fried potatoes... [again, they added the "..." there]; somehow, I am thinking ol' Joey ain't exactly one of them Kosher Jews).

They offer a choice of either "organic" or "regular" eggs to be used in their omelettes and egg dishes. Not that I could ever tell the difference either in taste or in a side-by-each comparison, but I went with the "healthier" (per Joe) choice of "organic" eggs for my omelette. I liked that there was a good amount of eggplant (or "egg-plant") in the mixture. If I had just one little complaint, I would have liked a little more Feta in it, but I always want more Feta, anyway. (It's a Feta-ish thing with me. "Mo' Feta, mo' betta'!")

I went with the side choice of home fries over hashbrowns, but stupidly went with plain ol' sourdough toast instead of two pancakes! (D'oh! or [Sour]D'ough!). I really like having a choice between two different breakfastary potato side dishes. Plus, their version of homefries are a true work of art. They are made with a combination of white and red potatoes and have thin slices of (grilled) zucchini mixed in with white onions, scallions, and red bell peppers.

Once again, I was not planning on ordering any Coffee with breakfast this morning as I really need to use up all the Coffee I currently have at home, but I am weak, and, in my defense, Peet's Coffee® is very good Coffee. SoMa Inn Café offers two different roasts, too, French Roast and a House Blend (however, I didn't bother to ask which specific roast/blend that was).

For condimentary supplements, SoMa Inn Café had both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. I just went with some of my own Dat'l Do-it® 
Spicy Jalapeno Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of the omelette and some Laura Plantation Vidalia® Onion & Peach Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the potato-mixture.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Mediterranean Omelet ~ 6.7;
home fries (on their ownsome) ~ 7.4

___________________

1. Ol' Bernie was also of the stupid vegetarian sect.

2. Of course, the "Man" would be "Clark Kent" and the "Superman" would be "Kal-El".

3. Much like its confusing cousins, tomato and bell pepper, eggplant is not only botanically a fruit (or is that "fru-it"?), but also a berry (or "ber-ry"?).

4. Here is why you should not believe everything (anything?) you read on stupid yelp*. I had checked that Food-Nazi site last week to double-check what the hours of operation might actually be and saw a few (well, several) very negative reviews; these were mainly about how "rude" the owner is to customers and his employees. I can not corroborate any of that as both times that I have eaten there, I had a great experience (both in the food and friendly service). 

So, do like those Roman dentists always said: "Cavities are empty!" (Of course, my general distrust of yelp* 
reviews makes me think that it could very well be changed to "Cave Seruasse*!") 

the Cavalier

I don't know about you, but after nine days straight riding on the same d*mn horse, I would've given it a d*mn name already... 
"Butt-ache" sounds about right to me.

http://thecavaliersf.com/

Place: the Cavalier
Location: 360 Jessie Street (on the corner of 5th Street)
Hours: breakfast daily beginning at 7:00am
Meal: (the simply-enough named) Frittata ~ hen of the woods mushroom[1], Swiss chard, chevre, and mixed greens (these were on the side, not in the frittata itself); a side of Crispy Potatoes; and a cuppa (and one refilla) saint Frank Coffee Las Palomas (Guatemala)

http://www.saintfrankcoffee.com/

(Today's equine EweToobular juxtaselections should be easy to figure out if you know the word root of "cavalier" and "cavalry"[2].)


I have never had breakfast (nor "Brunch", nor dinner, for that matter) at the Cavalier before (and I am not just saying that offhandedly). It's kinda hidden around the corner on Jessie Street (which is really just an alley, anyway) and can be easily overlooked. It is directly across the street from the old San Francisco Mint building and is basically the house restaurant for Hotel Zetta. It's a medium-sized restaurant, which they call "a London inspired brasserie". In keeping with their whole horsified-theme, the place is festooned with figures of horses, paintings of equestrians, and the like. For a swanky downtown joint (adjacent to a swanky downtown hotel), it was nice to see that they open up very early in the morning.

the Cavalier really only offers a handful of items on their breakfast menu (be you either a stupid vegetarian-type or a dead, decaying fleshetarian-type). Otherwise, I was looking at ordering either Buttermilk Pancakes (Amaretto and brown butter golden syrup) or Breakfast Sandwich (fried hen egg [Is it really necessary to specify "hen egg"?], crispy bacon, pepper cress, shallot, and mustard dresssing; I would have, of course, ordered that without the dead, decaying porcine junk). With either of those dishes, I would probably have had to order a side of their Crispy Potatoes, too.

Additionally, after 10:00am on the weekends, they have a "whole nother" separate "Brunch" menu that offers a few more choices, such as: Baghdad Eggs (sunny side hen eggs [Again with the "hen eggs"?], brown butter, toasted garlic, chile lemon and mint on a grilled sourdough levain); Tomato Benedict (crispy fried hen egg [See?], rosemary ham [No thanks, Miss Clooney!], cucumber, dill and crème fraîche); or Shakshuka (baked hen eggs [ditto], spicy tomato sauce, peppers, onions, crispy pancetta [even when you fancy-it-up and say it in Italiano, bacon is still a no-go for me], yogurt and toasted baguette). Because of these interesting-sounding choices, I just might have to make a later (after 10:00am, that is) return trip in the future.

I can not be sure (I asked the friendly waiter-server-dude and he said that he did not know either), but this may have had some smoked paprika in with the egg mixture. I tasted something smoky in there, but it just might have been the combination of flavours from the mushrooms, Swiss chard, Chèvre, and hot sauce that I had added on top. They stated on the menu that this was made with "hen of the woods mushroom"; however, I am pretty sure they were either enoki[3] or some similar small mushroom. Either way, I enjoyed the frittata a lot.

The side of Crispy Potatoes were exactly that ~ crispy and crunchy and burnt (in a good way) ~ and very tasty. Apparently these are deep-fried (I asked the friendly waiter-server-dude again), but were completely un-greasy. I am glad that I did order a side of potatoes (not only because they were extremely good, but) because the side of rabbit-food (spinach and some other mixed greens and lettuces, etc.) that came with the frittata would not really have been enough for even my appetite.

Their web-site still shows that they offer Stumptown® Coffee, but needs to be updated with the much more local saint Frank Coffee. I have had Stumptown® Coffee before and know it is very good on its own (well, on its own in a Coffee mug), but I was glad to be able to try a new (to me) local roastery output. Sure, San Francisco might not quite be the Coffee Haven that Seattle currently is, but Seattle also doesn't have any trolley cars or seals as international tourista attractions. Speaking of Coffee mugs, mine had the French words "Le Creuset"[4] imprinted around the base.

the Cavalier only had Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) for condimentary supplementation. I used some of my own Old St. Augustine Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the frittata and some Hot Licks® Serrano 
Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the extra-crispy potatoes. The friendly waiter-server-dude noticed my selection of hot sauces and commented on them. Apparently he is also an aficionado of salsas picante. He also informed me that human taste-buds 
regenerate every twelve days (I am too lazy to look up that factoid on the Intro-Net, so I will just take him at his word).

Another the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

After breakfast, while I was standing on the corner of 5th and Market, a rather large pandemonium (about twenty to twenty-five) of the cherry-headed, caterwauling avian dinosaurs flew overhead heading southwest (towards the Mission, perhaps).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
(the simply-enough named) Frittata ~ 6.8;
(the aptly-enough named) Crispy Potatoes ~ 7.3;
saint Frank Coffee Las Palomas ~ 6.9;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

___________________

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grifola_frondosa

2. Okay, for those of you that don't know the word root or are just too d*mn lazy to look it up yerd*mnselves.

Stupid, useless cunning linguist/etymological pointer of the day, number one:

Cavalier 

n.

1580s, from Italian cavalliere "mounted soldier, knight; gentleman serving as a lady's escort", from Late Latin caballarius "horseman", from Vulgar Latin caballus, the common Vulgar Latin word for "horse" (and source of Italian cavallo, French cheval, Spanish caballo, Irish capall, Welsh ceffyl), displacing Latin equus (see equine). 

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enokitake

4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numéro deux:

"Le creuset" means "the crucible" in French. I have no idea what it means in Coffee, though.

SOMA Restaurant & Bar

(No official web-site, more or less. There is this link on their defacedbook page; however, it does not really work: www.somarestaurantandbar.com )


Place: SOMA Restaurant & Bar
Location: 85 5th Street (on the corner of Mission Street); phonicular contact: (415) 778-8500
Hours: open 6:30am daily
Meal: Good Morning Omelet ~ with mushroom, spinach, tomato, & house potatoes, served with (white) toast and jelly; and a large glassa orange juice

(I am not aware of any EweToobular juxtaselections between "SOMA" and Tanita Tikaram[1]. I just like her singing and music.)


I went back to SOMA Restaurant & Bar (see previous 'blog-entry from August 29th, 2015) for breakfast this morning.  I like that they open up very early in the morning for breakfast; however, they are situated on the corner of 5th and Mission Streets (kitty-corner[2] to the San Francisco Chronicle building) which is not really the best location for any walk-in business.

There really are not that many choices on their breakfast menu, but a few other ideas that I was looking at were: Italian Frittata (Italian mild sausage, mushrooms, Mozzarella cheese, & house potatoes; I would have ottantasei-ed the sausage junk, of course); Blueberry Pancakes; or Huevos Rancheros (eggs with tortillas, black beans, tomato, Mozzarella cheese [¿Qué diablos?], & house potatoes).

This was an interestingly made omelette. As with my last omelette meal there, the spinach was incorporated into the scrambled egg batter, not inside the omelette with the other two ingredients.

Once again, I don't know what SOMA Restaurant & Bar had to offer in the way of any condimentary supplementation; none were offered and I didn't bother to ask what they had. I just used some of my own 
Dixie Crossroads Hot Habañero[ sic ][3] Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on top of the omelette and some Emperor's Revenge Teriyaki Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the potatoes.

I skipped any Coffee with the meal and once again headed to a nearby Philz Coffee and ordered one of their medium blends: Philtered Soul.

http://www.philzcoffee.com/coffee-medium-blends-philtered-soul


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Good Morning Omelet ~ 6.3;
Philz Coffee Philtered Soul ~ 6.9

___________________

1. Wer? 

http://www.tanita-tikaram.com/

2. In case you have ever wondered just why cats or kittens have corners named after them:

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/kitty-corner?s=t

And I always thought it came from the game of MONOPOLY®...

3. Not really a stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer, but more of a stupid, useless Spelling/Grammar-Nazi pointer:

I have meñtioñed this before here. The correct spelliñg is "habanero", with ño grapheme over the "n".

Mel's drive-in

http://melsdrive-in.com/


Place: Mel's drive-in[1]
Location: 801 Mission Street (at 4th Street)
Hours: open at 6:00am every day of the week
Meal: BYO (Build Your Own Omelette)! (They added the "!", and why is this not called "BYOO"?) ~ with spinach, red onion, and goat cheese, served with choice of grilled potatoes, hash browns, or fruit (and choice of toast, which they don't state on the menu); and a large glassa fresh squeezed orange juice

(The first EweToobular juxtaselection should be pretty evident. [I really liked it when Mel Carter played that feisty housekeeper on Gimme a Break!]

For the second song, you will need to know either ελληνικά, Latinae, français, or español to get the reference.)


I went back to Mel's drive-in (see last 'blog-entry from April 28th, 2012) for breakfast this morning. 
Historically, this is the same "drive-in"/diner-joint chain as featured in a few Hollywoodland movies, such as: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, American Graffiti, and Alice Doesn't Live Here Any More...

This particular location has only been open since 2000 (so, if I can do some quick Common Core Math, that is about sixteen years now ~ give or take ten). Well, technically, this location really isn't a "drive-in" (the only actual "drive-in" locations in San Francisco would be their first restaurant on Lombard Street and their second location on Geary Boulevard, and those locations have long since given up the use of door-to-automobile carhop service); however, because it is located on the bottom level of a five story parking lot facility, I suppose this could be called a "drive-on".

Eddie, Shrevie, Boogie, and Fen[2] would be very surprised by what this modern-day diner has to offer in the way of breakfastary items. Ferinstance, some other ideas that I was looking at today were: Avocado Toast (avocado mashed on multigrain toast, three poached organic eggs, and smoked chili flakes; this looked really good and would have been my back-up choice, but I am down to smoking one pack of chili flakes a day now and didn't want to aggravate my addiction); Chilaquiles (corn chips, sauteed with chile poblano Ranchero sauce and 2 eggs, served with refried beans and sour cream; in the past, they were calling this dish "Tortilla Scramble"); Huevos Rancheros (What's with all these Mexican breakfastary dishes? Maybe "Mel" stands for "Melagro"); or a different combination of  BYOO! (they offer eight different cheese choices, fourteen vegetable choices [including "the vile weed", so that only left thirteen decent vegetable choices for me], and, for those of you that do partake of the dead, decaying animal flesh, seven types of dead, decaying animal flesh choices). Additionally, for you dead, decaying animal flesh-etarians, they have two other interesting items on their Breakfast Specials menu: Breakfast Pot Pie (country gravy, peas & carrots, potato, puff pastry and an organic egg; I am not sure if that could be made vegetarian, but it sounded pretty good) or The Trio Breakfast Slider (pastrami, egg, jalapeño Jack on brioche bun).

Just to prove even further that this is not your old Uncle Melvin's style of "drive-in" diner; they offer four types of lemonades (Ginger-Chia Lemonade [Say whaaaaa?!], Cherry Lemonade, Arnold Palmer, 
or Strawberry Lemonade) and they also have a Fresh Natural Raw Juice Bar (with many juices and smoothies from which to choose). (Don't worry, they do still offer all of those standard healthy soda fountain entries like Vanilla Cokes and Chocolate Malts.)

This was a very nicely made omelette ("drive-in" or not). It was made with lots of fresh (baby?) spinach in this. I was very pleased with my choices of ingredients this morning, too. I went with hashbrowns as my side and sourdough as my toast choice.

For condimentary supplemenation Mel's drive-in had both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Cholula® Hot Sauce (Original). I used some of my own Fat Cat Chairman Meow's Revenge (Scorpion Pepper Sauce) (Thanks, Cindy & Greg! ~ I think that I might have about one good [nasal-dripping] dosage left in that bottle now.) on the hashbrowns.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: BYOO! ~ 6.4

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1. Apparently, there are now two California mini-chains that feature similar monikers: "Mel's drive-in" and "Mels the Original". As far as I can discern, the original "original" Mel's drive-in went out of business in 1972 or 1974. The current Mel's drive-in was started in 1985 by one of the sons of one of the original "original" owners. Mels the Original was later started in 1994 by another family member of one of the original "original" owners (I am not exactly sure what their relationship might be to the present ownership of 
Mel's drive-in, though). 

http://originalmelsdiner.com/

Whatever the case may be, only Mel's drive-in has any locations in San Francisco (currently Standing at Four) and Hollywoodland (currently with three LocÅlly).

And, for what it is worth, the original "original" first Mel's drive-in location that used to be at 140 South Van Ness Street is now some kinda housing or condominium facility (right next to Tower Car Wash).

2. The actor that portrayed "Timothy Fenwick Jr." is no relation to the inventor of the Glen Bacon Scale.