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").
♪ "Watch out now, take care Beware of greedy leaders They take away your Cliff HousePopovers(!)... " ♫
https://cliffhouse.com/bistro/ (I was trying something a little different today. This photo was taken from atop Sutro Heights Park overlooking Cliff House.) Place: the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House Location: 1090 Point Lobos (at the end of the Earth/Ocean Beach, "Since 1863... Where San Francisco Begins"[... and Society ends?!]) Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 9:00am, Sunday at 8:30am Meal: Thick Sliced Sourdough French Toast ~ maple syrup, crisp bacon (whether it is crisp or limp, no thanks), powdered sugar, and fresh apple compote; a basket of three (3) (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!); and a glassa Cliff House Classic Bloody Mary ~ Skyy Vodka, house mix of tomato juice/chili sauce/clam juice (which I made sure they nixed; even if I wasn't already a vegetarian, there should never be any reason to put clam juice in with decent Vodka or tomato juice, that is just wrong)/horseradish
(There are no EweToobular juxtaselections between French toast or Popovers[!] and either Wendy, George Harrison, or Frances Farmer [that I know of]. Johnette Napolitano happened to turn sixty on September 22nd, and I figured I would link a couple of her songs in her honour.) To finally complete the Pre-Playoffs Workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I went back to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House(see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, June 3rd, 2017).
I have been going to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House for over twenty years now, and I think that this might be the first time that I had ever had their French toast. Believe me, it will not be my last time. While this may not be in the same category as Baker Street Bistro's Pain Perdu Extraordinaire (which is the Marilyn Monroe of French toast, of course), it is a very good version. Sometimes French toast can tend to be a bit on the soggy-side; however, this being made with thick slices of sourdough bread might be a factor in keeping it nice and crispy. The apple compote was nice and chunky and went very nicely with the added maple syrup on it. They were nice enough to substitute roasted potatoes for me this morning in place of the (crispy or soggy) dead, decaying porcine bits. Now if someone could just figure out a way of making French toast outta Popovers(!), you'd have a perfect 8.5 Glen Bacon Scale meal. I actually mentioned this to my waiter/server guy-person, Chris (who has probably been working at Cliff House longer than I have been going there), and he told me that one of the workers takes home any leftover Popovers(!) and makes a delicious bread pudding out of them; I could see that being a great basis for that dessert ~ they are already eggy and fluffy. I did use a few drops of maple syrup on the last one of my Popovers(!) and it really went well, too.
The Bloody Mary was a full meal all in itself. It included: a stuffed olive, a yellow/greenchilli pepper, a celery stalk, and a quarter of a lime. Even without the extra added Vitamin C from the fresh lime, tomato juice is pretty high in Vitamin C[1], anyway, making this a perfect breakfastary accompaniment. the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff Househas just Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce ~ Original Red Sauce for use as a condimentary supplement. I used some of my own Palo AltoFire FightersXXX GhostPepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian and Amys!) on the potatoes and some Toad Sweat Chocolate Orange Dessert Hot Sauce™ (Thanks, Sean!) on one quarter slice of the French toast. I specifically brought that "dessert hot sauce" with me because I was planning on ordering the French toast this morning and I hardly ever get a chance to use it normally with savoury dishes (it does get used occasionally on Ice Cream at home).
Hollywoodland Spotlight of the Day On the wall behind me on the other side of my table, one of the autographed photos this morning was Frances Farmer (19 September 1913 – 1 August 1970). I do not think that I have ever seen a Frances Farmer movie; granted, her film career was not very long and off and on. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002068/ Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Thick Sliced Sourdough French Toast ~ 7.0; Cliff House Classic Bloody Mary ~ 7.2; (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!) ~ 8.2 ___________________
1. Just as a comparison, a 3.5 oz glassa tomato juice has 70.1 mg Vitamin C, which is 84% of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA). That equates to be about 192% for a 16 oz glassa. Similarly, a 16 oz glassa orange juice has 124.0 mg, which is 149% of the RDA. (Sorry, I do not know what kinda RDA for Vitamin C Vodka possesses. These scientist-guys never give you the information on the really important stuff.)
http://www.cliffhouse.com/bistro/index.html Place: 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 and Sunday at 8:30am Meal: Farmer's Breakfast Scramble ~ Scrambled Eggs, Ham, Potatoes, Green Onions, Cheddar Cheese (All Egg Entrees Served with Fresh Fruit and Roasted Potatoes); a glass of orange juice; and the act you've known for all these years… so let me introduce to you, the one and only… (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!)
(The first EweToobular song is just because I stumbled across it earlier in the week and thought the combination of Queen [or what remained of them], Elton John, and Axl Rose was completely bizarre. The second song should be self-exploratory with the strange Jehovah's Witness interlude in today's 'blog-entry; not only is this song one of my All-time Favourite Rock-and/or-Roll Songs of All-Time, it might quite possibly be The Ultimate Rock-and/or-Roll Song of Ultimately All-Time, too. Are you an experienced Jehovah's Witness?) And finally to close out the summer workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I ended up back at Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from April 26th, 2014). In case you have never heard before, they have (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) there! I think that they may also serve other food, too. Actually, Bistro Restaurant's breakfastary menu is a very limited one for stupid vegetarians. Other than this morning's meal, there really are only: Classic Eggs Benedict (which is a pretty boring choice, and it would have to be ordered without the dead, decaying porky bits); Joe's Special Scramble (which would also have to be ordered without the grounded up dead, decaying bovine flesh); Sautéed Vegetable Scramble (which would not need any subtractions, unless you happen to have a strong aversion to fungi); and Thick Sliced Sourdough French Toast (again, not that exciting, and I don't think I have even ever ordered that one there). Several years ago, they used to offer a Greek Scramble (made with real Kalamata olives and lots of Greek Feta); it was truly one of the better versions in San Francisco, too. The real irony is that the restaurant is owned by a Greek family and I have no idea why they stopped offering it on the menu. Sorry, there are no shots of the Hollywoodland autographed photos on their walls this morning. I think that I may have chronicled their entire display by now. So, in lieu of any pretentious bastages from filmdom, here are a couple of photos of anti-skateboard thingys (that is the actual technical term; really) that are out front on the steps/benches.
I got there about fifteen to twenty minutes before they opened this morning and had just planned on walking around the building and watching the ocean scenery until they opened up. Well, I was completely rewarded by my decision and was pleasantly surprised with a great show put on by about a dozen dolphins (plenty of porpoises?)[1] swimming just offshore around Seal Rocks. At first, I wasn't quite sure if they were actually dolphins or porpoises, until I saw a couple of them do the Flipper thing and jump about five feet out of the water. There were also about twenty to thirty surfers just about 100 yards away along Ocean Beach. Do you think little dolphins get all excited when they see surfers? "Mommy, Mommy, look! There are those silly people that like to dress as sea lions and act as shark bait. Can I go play with them? Can I? Please?" As I was leaving, I made sure to ask my waitress-server lady if there was no extra charge for the aquatic show.
Of course, I ordered the Scramble without the ham. It was pretty decent as always, but nothing extremely awesome. As the potatoes are already an ingredient in this meal, they don't serve a side of potatoes with them. Pity, I can never get enough potatoes. As for the (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!), there were three in the basket, but they always ask if you'd like more, anyway. Have I ever told you how fantastic the (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) are?! This morning's fresh fruit: cantaloupe, watermelon (a botanical berry), honeydew melon, grapes (another botanical berry), and a strawberry (not a botanical berry, though).[2] For condimentary supplements, Bistro Restaurant has just Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red). I used some of my own Mama Africa's™ Zulu Sauces Chili Mint (Thanks, Kerry! And that successfully killed off another brave soldier. At this rate, I may finally use up all my bottles of hot sauces by sometime in '15 ~ of course, that would be 3015.) on half of the scramble mess and some Big Papi En Fuego Hot SauceOff The Wall Triple Hot (Thanks, Kerry! ~ no relation to that other "Kerry") on the other half. Strange Jehovah's Witness Interlude Now this was very weird (even for San Francisco standards). Yesterday afternoon as I was walking back to my apartment I passed a lady in a car handing out "Watchtower" flyers from the open window, and she asked me If I would like one. Don't these damn Jehovah's Witnesses even have the common decency to come to your door and have it slammed in their faces any more? Anyway, after breakfast this morning, I took a little stroll up to Sutro Heights Park (I had parked in the little lot just downhill from there). High atop one of the larger Cypress trees, I saw a fledgling Red-tailed Hawk squawking his head off waiting for his mother to come back with his breakfast, too. Sorry, little buddy, I already ate all of the (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutro_Heights_Park Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Farmer' Breakfast Scramble ~ 6.5; Red-tailed Hawk ~ 7.5; Dozens of Dancing Dolphins ~ 7.8; (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) ~ 8.2 1. Actual Terms of Venery: "a Pod or School of Dolphins" "a School of Porpoises" "a Gam of Whales" "a Board of Surfers" 2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: Just because I felt like it, here are today's fruits (frutta) in Italian: Cantaloupe ~ cantalupo (see, sometimes this stuff ain't chirurgia del cervello) Watermelon ~ anguria Honeydew melon ~ melone (and it doesn't necessarily have to be scienza missilistica, either) Grapes ~ uva Strawberry ~ fragola
Just like the last time I visited Seal Rock Inn Restaurant (see 'blog-entry from June 26th, 2010), today was a great morning for a little after-breakfast walk. Seal Rock Inn Restaurant is still located all the way at the end of Geary Boulevard/Point Lobos Avenue in the Richmond District just before you fall off the edge of the planet at Ocean Beach, Cristoforo.
This place is best known for its creative and vast selection of omelettes from which to choose ~ hence the silly reference above, under the title. However, don't even think of ordering the French Omelette (I am not sure if this is even a truly authentique omelette à la française, as I don't know if they actually make this with their tongues or not) or Swedish Omelette (made with little gummi fishes?) unless you are very adventurous. I have not even dared to try either one myself yet.
So, to be on the safe side, I went with one I have had several times before: the Greek Omelette No. 2 ~ Feta cheese with fresh spinach. As noted in the menu: "All Omelettes served with hash brown (sic), toast and jelly" (which is good, because toast all by itself would just be burnt bread). I had the rye bread toast, with little Smucker's® Strawberry Jam and Concord Grape Jelly packets ~ so you know it had to be good. This is a great omelette (if you like σπανάκι~ which, luckily, I do, Mr. Segar); it was completely stuffed with lots of fresh spinach and φέτα cheese. It is interesting to note that they also add chopped spinach into the egg mixture/batter itself for a complete Iron-overload. I like their Greek Omelette No. 1 better, but this is a very close No. 2.
I also had a cuppa the house blend coffee, which is Peerless Coffee & Teas®. As stated before, it's okay, but not really much better than the swill I make at home. The best I can say about it is that it was dark and hot and they kept filling up my cup (Old Borshch Belt joke: Old man No. 1: "The food here is terrible."; Old man No. 2: "Yeah, and in such small portions."). For which, I will probably be "forced" to get a decent cuppa at Peet's® later today to make up for this.
I am not so sure of what an αυθεντικόελληνικό πρωινό would consist. I lived in Greece for 3½ years and don't really remember ever going out to breakfast the entire time there. Possibly yogurt and pastries with a good cuppa καφές ελληνικός, μέτριος? I did get to Η πλατεία της Γλυφάδας a few times for coffee and donuts at Jax Donuts in the morning, though.
Seal Rock Inn Restaurant just has ketchup and Tabasco® sauce on the tables so I finished up the last of my Trees Can't Dance ~ Tree Fire Sauce (Thanks one last time, Cindy and Greg!) on the "hash brown". The good news is that I still have two more flavours of Trees Can't Dance left.
As Seal Rock Inn Restaurant is right across the street from Sutro Heights** Park, after breakfast I took a little walk through there.*** Sutro Heights Park is one of the newer members of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA); part of the Sutro District, which also includes Cliff House and Sutro Baths (see 'blog-entry from January 29th, 2011).
*(I heard that this was the original name of the restaurant, but they were sued by IHOP® for trademark infringements; however, IHOP® soon dropped the lawsuit after deciding that the embarrassing acronym was punishment enough.) **(Whatever happened to "I" before "E", except after "C", or when it sounds like "ay" as in "neighbor" and "weigh"… or whenever it is just confusing enough to mess with us? Or maybe Emily Brontë's classic novel is supposed to be pronounced "Wuthering Hates"?) ***(Note to Jim Turner, 'blog-meister extraordinaire: This should not be considered another cross-'blog entry as this little sojourn was no more than a ¾-mile walk through the park ~ literally ~ and the terrain was all pretty level. I think the altitude change would have been no more than 15-20 feet up one hill. I did not attempt any rock scrambles, either, as the omelette was scrambled just fine for my liking. [See, I knew I could get the corn-ball joke in here somehow.])
