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*!") 

Nob Hill Grille

"Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken." ~ Bertrand Russell

http://nobhillgrille.com/


Place: Nob Hill Grille
Location: 969 Hyde Street (on the corner of Pine Street, and, as their name implies,  on Nob Hill)
Hours:  open at 8:30am on Saturday and Sunday for "Weekend Brunch"
Meal: huevos rancheros ~ choice of red beef sauce or vegetarian tomatillo sauce (I will give you two guesses which one I chose) with corn tortillas, two fried eggs, Mexican rice, black beans, shredded lettuce and sour cream; a side order of homefries; and a cuppa (and a few more refillas) Contraband Coffee, Black Market blend/roast

http://www.contrabandcoffeebar.com/

(Tomorrow is Johnette Napolitano's birthday, so I am doing another mini-EweToobular concert just like I did yesterday for little Lenny Cohen. Video #2 is to prove that Dennis Miller was once actually relevant; just still not very funny, though.

Sorry, Puddles Pity Party doesn't have any covers of any Concrete Blonde songs that I know about.)


Today's breakfastary sojourn brought us (well, me) back to Nob Hill Grille (see last 'blog-entry from July 22nd, 2012)[1]. I still think they really missed the Joycean mark and should have named the restaurant "Nob Hille Grille". Even though they actually call their early morning weekend meal "Brunch", the fact that they open up at 8:30am is good enough for me. I like that early on a Sunday morning, parking in the neighborhood is pretty easy to locate.

Nob Hille Grille is a nice neighborhoody joint (well, if your neighborhood happens to be Nob Hill) and isn't that large of a place. The seating is just: seven stools at the counter overlooking the kitchen area; three tables for two and one table for four in the original/main/front dining area; the back room dining area (which is actually down a set of stairs and was once part of a different building; they even have it demarcated as "1315 [Pine Street]" at the top of the stairs down to the area) has another three tables for four and four tables for two; and, on days when it is nice enough to sit outside (this morning was, but I still ate indoors), there are two tables for two along the Hyde Street sidewalk (believe me, it's way too steep to have any tables along the Pine Street side).

There is a cool new piece of artwork above the counter just as you enter. It is a of collage of Mel Ramos' Superman. The original oil-on-canvas painting's current Fortress of Solitude happens to be the de Young, Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, in Golden Gate Park.

There are only about eleven items on the "Weekend Brunch" menu. If I hadn't ordered the huevos rancheros this morning, I was thinking about either getting: build your own omelette or scramble (three eggs with your choice of cheese plus homefries and wheat toast; I probably would have built mine with avocado, tomato, and goat cheese; they call this "build your own", but I am pretty sure they have cooks to actually make these for you ~ no one wants me making junk in their kitchen) or french toast (vanilla brioche bread topped with berries and crème anglaise; I have had this a few times before and know that it is very good). And for anyone that partakes of the crisped-up belly of dead, decaying little piggies, they also offer a bacon fritter (sweet bacon filled fritters served with bourbon maple syrup ~ I could probably do a few shots of that syrup, at least).

I had never seen Huevos Rancheros done this way before, but the two eggs were between two corn tortillas ~ sorta like a Huevos Rancheros sandwich ~ and I liked it a lot. This had a very good tomatillo salsa ~ con mucho sabor. This had a nice pico de gallo on top of the pile; however, I am not gonna lie to you, there was a good amount of white onions in it (which is fine with me, I like a lot of onions; of course, if you happen to be a Mahāyāna Buddhist, you will have to forego this topping ~ I recommend going with the red beef sauce instead). They state that this comes with "black beans" on their on-line menu, but these were actually whole pinto beans this morning (I like both, so no grande cosa); I think that some Cotija cheese or queso fresco crumbled on top of the beans might also have been a nice touch.

I really like their rendition of homefries (which is one of the reasons I didn't have a problem with the addition of yet more carbohydrates in my meal). These are always done nice and crispy and made with lots of green and red bell peppers and (more still) white onions (Sorry, Gautama).

Contraband Coffee is about as "local" as you can get for this place. It is located just two blocks away (also on Nob Hill). This was a very nice blend/roast. I wasn't quite sold on it with my first cuppa, but, by the third refilla, I really enjoyed it. It also seemed to pair very nicely with all of the sabores mexicanos of the meal.

Nob Hille Grille had Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and Huy Fong Foods Inc® Sriracha "Rooster" Hot Chili Sauce for condimentary supplements. As I was just talking about the dreaded Scorpion Chilli this morning on defacedbook (Hey, Victoria!), I decided to go with some of my own Fat Cat® Chairman Meow's Revenge (Scorpion Pepper Sauce) (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the potatoes (but I used it very sparingly, probably just eight to ten drops; this hot sauce does have a bit of a sting to it, but it is still not the worst of my collection). I didn't add any hot sauce to the tasty tomatillo salsa (I tasted it first just to make sure and it really didn't need me messing it up).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: huevos rancheros ~ 6.9; Contraband Coffee, Black Market ~ 6.8


1. I have only been doing this stupid li'l 'blog-thing for a little over four-and-a-half years now, and I finally figured out how to make a hyperlink in the text. 

I probably should say a big "THANKS!" to Cabin Jim for his help and expertise in these stupid 'blog-things (he keeps two, himself)… I should, but I won't.

Bayside Café

"There are no differences but differences of degree between different degrees of difference and no difference." ~ William James (while high on Nitrous Oxide)

(No official web-site.)


Place: Bayside Café  
Location: 2011 Bayshore Boulevard (at Hester Avenue[1])
Hours: Monday through Saturday open at 5:00am and Sunday open at 6:30am;
phonicular contact: (415) 467-2023
Meal: Nopales Plate ~ onions, bell peppers scrambled with eggs, served with rice & (refried) beans (arroz y frijoles refritos) and tortillas (choice of corn or flour/maíz o harina); and a cuppa Café Mexicano

(Today happens to be Robert Allen Zimmerman's 73rd birthday. And as much as I would like to honour him with actual versions of his own songs, who the heck can really understand a word when he is singing ~ other than Keith Richards or Tom Petty, perhaps? So, I am just going with these EweToobular covers of his tunes.

And I know I could have linked the quintessential Dylan cover, "All Along the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix, but everyone knows that ~ even though Bob may have penned the song ~ Jimi really owns that one.

Don't worry, if Bob were asked about all this, I am sure he would reply with an agreeable: "Heeminna hummina hominna…" or something else equally as unintelligible.)


My breakfastary peregrination this morning took me all the way 'cross town to Bayside Café. They are located right where the Bayshore Boulevard/3rd Street flyover to Highway 101 is in Visitacion Valley[2]. However, they are not really "bayside", as the San Francisco Bay is about another half mile south-eastward still; you can easily see Candlestick Cove from the street, though. "Highwayside Café" just didn't have the same cachet, I suppose.

Bayside Café is an old 50's family diner-style place. They have fourteen diner-counter seats; eight booths for up to four people (all along the window-sides of the joint); one extra large corner booth for about six people (there was actually one family of eight squeezed in there this morning, but four of the eight were little kids); and one solitary (because two really isn't such a solitary number, is it?) table for four by the entryway. 

The breakfast menu (and, believe me, there ain't no fancy-shmancy "Brunch"-ified menu to order off of here) was pretty diverse with many 'merican breakfastary standards and several desayunary mexicano dishes, too. Some other decent suggestions: Popeye Omelette (zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, bell peppers, and onions); Creamed Spinach & Mushroom Omelette (garlic butter and mushrooms in a rich, creamy sauce ~ this was going to be my fallback decision, because I was really interested in seeing how creamed spinach worked in an omelette); (and for those dead, decaying animal flesh fans) Fajita Omelette (choice of beef or chicken, onion, bell peppers, mushrooms & Jack cheese, topped with salsa & sour cream); or maybe even Huevos Rancheros. 

I really liked my scramble. It made the trip all the way over there this morning worth it. All of the vegetables were grilled/charred first before adding them to the mix ~ this was all extra good to me! There was a good amount of nopalitos (hence the name of the dish) diced up into small bite-sized pieces all throughout. I went with corn tortillas (of which there were three, tres); I always feel these are a much better choice with a desayuno típico mexicano. The cuppa Coffee really wasn't called Café Mexicano, I just call it that whenever I add three to four creams (leche) and two to three sugars (azúcar) to it.

For condimentary supplementation, Bayside Café only offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (just the standard red) and Tapatío®. This was kind of disappointing, seeing as they looked to be mostly a Mexican-owned-and-operated place, I was expecting some fresh, homemade salsa around. Or, if it was available, I would probably have gone with some Cholula® Hot Sauce all over the scramble mess. As it was, I ended up using some of my own Mama Africa's™ Zulu Sauces Chilli Mint (Thanks, Kerry!) on the scramble. 

A Breakfastary Update

There was a guy and his young teenage son sitting next to me at the diner-counter and they both used to be big fans of Breakfast at Tiffany's (see last 'blog-entry from February 12th, 2012) also; we all agreed that their hashbrowns were truly "Stella". He told me that they still haven't reopened yet, but there is a lot of construction going on (they basically gutted the entire place). So, hopefully, they will be reopening up later in the year.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Nopales Plate ~ 6.2


1. For any of you geeky Superman fans, it should be noted that Hester Avenue circles around to cross (and the very next street along Bayshore Boulevard is) Lois Lane. I looked on a map and did not see a Lex Luthor Way in the neighborhood, though. Interestingly enough, there are a Clark Street and a Kent Street in San Francisco, but they are both in the northern part of town.

2. If you want a little more information on Visitacion Valley, here is a link from those friendly folks at Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visitacion_Valley,_San_Francisco