green chile kitchen

Tamales ta-day!

Mr. XV Pay-It-Forward 
Memorial Weekend #8 (continued)

http://www.greenchilekitchen.com/


Place: green chile kitchen

Location: 1801 McAllister Street
(on the corner of Baker Street)

Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Friday at 10:00am; "Brunch" available Saturday & Sunday at 9:00am 
(now why they call the early morning meal that they serve during the week "breakfast" when they open an hour later than on the weekends is beyond me)

Meal: Migas ~ eggs, crispy tortilla strips, green chile, tomatillo avocado salsa & cotija w/ black beans; one Cheese Tamal (see, the correct singular form of this word en español is actually "tamal"; consider that a freebie stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day); and a large glassa Horchata[1]

(Okay, sorry, but the completely un-PC-ocity of the 
first song notwithstanding, it did fit nicely into the whole EweToobular[2] juxtaselection of "tamales"/"tomorrow" for me. 
[Are Mexican Liberals that are easily b*tt-hurt called "Copos de Nieve"?])


Because I wanted to "wrap it all up" (corn husks or not) nicely this weekend with "tamales", etc. (see yesterday's silly li'l 'blog-entry-thing for that explanation), I made a purposeful decision to go back to green chile kitchen (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, March 18th, 2017 ~ almost exactly a year ago... well, if "almost exactly" means give-or-take a week or two). This is such a great place for desayuno ("Brunch"-ayuno, whatever)! (Why did it take me nine years to "discover" it, though?!) If I lived in the Haight (or Lower Haight or Western Addition), this place would easily be in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation; it is just that good and tasty.

I have not had one bad meal there yet (granted, it has only been four visits thus far, but even in Baseballese, that is still batting, like, .400 or such, right?!) and there are still a few more dishes that I want to try; ferexample:

Eggs & Greens (¡Pero no jamón, Sam, yo soy!) ~ scrambled eggs, sautéed greens, brown rice, avocado, & pico de gallo (add chicken / pork 2, add steak 3... ¡No, gracias! to all of those for me);

Healthy Breakfast Bowl ~ scrambled eggs, beans, chile, lettuce, guacamole & pico de gallo (add chicken / pork 2, add steak 3... again, ¡No, gracias! to all of those for me);

Huevos Rancheros ~ corn tortilla, 2 fried eggs, chile, cheese & crema, served w/ refried beans;

Flat Enchilada Plate ~ housemade (well, kitchen-made) corn tortillas, eggs, meat, chile, cheese & sour cream served w/ posole & beans (this one intrigues me the most, and if it can be made vegetarian-friendly 
[I am sure they can always omit any dead, decaying animal flesh, but I am not sure how they make their posole], I will most likely order this on my next visit... hopefully not in a year [or fifty weeks] from now).

I like that their tamales (which is the pluralization of "tamal") are made with blue corn and this one had a nice surprise of a New Mexico green chile in the middle, kinda like a New Mexican version of Twinkies® 
(well, if Twinkies® were made with corn and cheese and not some kinda plastic with silicon filling)... I would normally go with a side order of potatoes, but wanted to make sure and order some kinda tamales side-dish for this specific weekend.

This was also made with blue corn tortilla strips. While this is not exactly the same dish as Chilaquiles, it is close enough for this gringo (See? My b*tt never aches when someone calls me a "Gringo!"... besides, I have to laugh and tell them I am not of Greek ancestry.[3]) and I liked it mucho. Surprisingly, even with the addition of the tamal, this was just about the right amount of food for me. I had thought of also ordering another one of their Vegan Sweet Potato Tamal (which I had on a previous visit and really enjoyed), but that probably would have "exceeded the limit, sir!" for my appetite.

For condimentary supplements, green chile kitchen offers just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. Not that it really needed it (and I did not know ahead of time that it had the surprise filling of a green chile in it already), but I used some of my own Palo Alto Fire Fighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on top of the tamal. Additionally, I used the last amount of their tomatillo avocado salsa on it, too. I left the rest of the meal unencumbered (Have you ever heard of anyone "encumbering" something?) with superfluous additions as their standard green chile salsa on the Migas was plenty tasty enough without me m*cking-it-up in any way with unnecessary modifications.

Mr. XV Pay-It-Forward Memorial Weekend #8 (continued) Interlude

For today's paying-it-forward activity, I gave away two boxes of Girl Scouts Cookies. They were still selling them in front of a local Safeway and I decided to buy two more for myself. While I was inside, I had the great idea to use these as my "random acts of kindness" for the day. (Well, knowing that I still had about 6-1/2 boxes left over from the nine boxes that I had already purchased over the past three weekends. Sure, it is illegal to sell drugs in a school-zone, but how do Girl Scouts get away with selling these addictive treats in front of stores to unwitting dupes like me?!) Anyway, after doing my weekly grocery shopping, while at the check-out counter I asked the cashier-lady if she would like a box of cookies and she accepted one (I gave her the choice of either s'mores or do-si-dos, she wisely went with the s'mores). I then asked the bagger-guy if he would like the other box, but he politely declined. (Who passes up on free Girl Scouts cookies?!!!) No worries, I figured I would just have to "suffer" and bring them home to eat myself. As I was leaving, I could not resist picking up yet still another box (for anyone keeping count, this made my twelfth box of cookies from these street-side baked-goods pushers!) of s'mores for myself. Then I saw a homeless guy on the sidewalk in front of the store and asked if he would like one of the boxes of cookies. He wisely (for me, at least) chose the box of do-si-dos (leaving me with another box of s'mores all to my ownsome! Yay!).

As for yesterday's paying-it-forward activity, I simply gave $10.00 to the barista/counter-person-lady at one of the Andytown Coffee Roasters shops and told her that the next two or three drinks were on me. ("$10.00, Brian? But wouldn't that pay for more like four to five Coffee drinks?" Trust me, that may barely pay for two or three drinks there. I love Andytown Coffee Roasters drinks, but they are NOT cheap.)

http://www.andytownsf.com/


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Migas ~ 6.6 (this is factoring in the side of black beans and their really tasty tomatillo avocado salsa);
Cheese Tamal ~ 7.3;
Horchata ~ 7.0

___________________

1. ¿Qué?

Now here is where I could go into a long, boring "stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day", but that would probably take several days and cost thousands of lives. So, instead, I am just "borrowing" this explanation from from the friendly folks at WikipediA:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horchata

In most Mexican restaurants (well, at least most of the ones here in San Francisco that I have frequented), Horchata is generally made of rice, water, sugar, and cinnamon. 

(Sideways-note, to anyone suffering from Spring-Summer cravings: Horchata makes for a very tasty hot beverage on a bitterly cold Nor'eastery kinda night.)

2. Okay, so just exactly when did EweToob change the looks of their logo? 

Also from the friendly folks at WikipediA:
"On August 29, 2017, EweToob launched a new logo, typeface, color scheme and other changes to the appearance of its desktop and mobile app."

Well, I don't care, I am sticking with the older version as it looks cooler to me.

3. I wonder if people in Greece say, "It's all Spanish to me!"

(Look it up yerd*mnself to get that stupid joke[?]!)

(Hmmmm?! On second thought, maybe I shouldn't oughtta have used a "b*tt-ache" reference in the same sentence as "Greek" above.)

Kate's Kitchen

"¡Hoy tú, tamales yo!"

or 

Mr. XV Pay-It-Forward 
Memorial Weekend #8[1]

http://kateskitchensfca.com/14685

(This is not really that much of an "official"-type 
web-site, but it was all that was currently available.)


Place: Kate's Kitchen

Location: 471 Haight Street 
(between Fillmore and Webster Streets)

Hours: open Monday at 9:00am, Tuesday - Friday at 8:00am, and Saturday & Sunday at 8:30am

Meal: Orange Spice French Toast ~ French bread sipped[ sic; it actually is misprinted that way on their menus and it also appears that way on-line; go digure ] in orange-spiced batter, then baked and sauteed with butter; a side of homefries; and a large glassa Ruby Red grapefruit juice

(Today's 'blog-entry thing just happens to be my 
Nine Hundred and Tenth such item... or maybe them mop-topped Scousers just happened to be big fans of French toast and homefries, too.)[2]


I returned to Kate's Kitchen (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, February 5th, 2017) for a milk, bread, and eggs breakfast this morning. (Coincidentally enough, I did eat at Kate's Kitchen on the very first Mr. XV Pay-It-Forward Memorial Weekend back in 2011, too.) I specifically planned on ordering a French toast dish if they had a good choice from which to choose (and they had several good choices from which to choose today) as an homage to my friends and family weathering another beastly Nor'easter up in Massachusetts and New England.

There were still other good ideas this morning:

French Toast Orgy ~ orange spice French toast (they don't specify whether or not this one is "sipped") topped with fresh fruit, yogurt, granola, and honey (if I had ordered this, I probably wouldn't have had room for the side o' potatoes, too);

French Toast (simply enough named) ~ whole wheat Texas bread w/ strawberries & bananas;

Pumpkin French Toast w/ Chocolate chips & whip cream (I have had this disgusting[ly good] version of French toast before on a past visit and would not mind retrying it again);

Cranberry & Chocolate French Toast ~ w/ strawberrys[ sic; they did not seem to have a problem spelling strawberry in the plural in the French Toast description above, though ] & Chocolate butter (this one also sounds about as disgusting[ly good] as their Pumpkin French Toast and is definitely gonna be on my short-list next time I visit if it is still available);

Veggie (ugggh!) Scramble ~ avocado, Cajun cauliflower (I was told that this is much like standard cauliflower, but just with more of an Acadian attitude and pronounced to sound funny), spicy onion, roasted tomato, cilantro, pepper Jack, topped with chipotle aoli, eggs (this last ingredient seemed to be added as an afterthought, though);

or

Flanched Farney Garney ~ the original flipped egg and cheese sandwich with home fries (which I really need to try one of these days; I am not sure if I have ever tried it in the twenty-plus years that I have been eating at this restaurant).

"Here's your extra-large helping of carbs for the day!", as said to me by my waiter/server-person-guy when he placed my plates in front of me. I told him that you can never have too many carbohydrates. Besides, they make some really good homefries, anyway; they are made with lots of green bell peppers and white onions, and all are nicely caramelized and charred to crispy-crunchy perfection.

This was served as five slices of French toast. That is always a good start. I liked it a lot (probably not as much as their disgusting[ly good] Pumpkin French Toast, but it is definitely worthy of a recommendation and a return taste all on its ownsome). It was just about as much food as I could eat comfortably along with the side of homefries.

From what I could see on all the tables, Kate's Kitchen now offers only Tapatío® Salsa Picante 
Hot Sauce for use in condimentary supplementation. I used some of my own homesweet homegrown® Punch Drunk™ Chocolate Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Sean!) somewhat light-handedly on the potatoes, and just because I had brought it with me (and because I could), I used just a little H*ll's Kitchen® 
Smoky Bourbon Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on one of the slices of French toast (Don't hate me because I have beautiful tastes! ~ it actually wasn't half-bad in tastaposition with some of the maple syrup also on it).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Orange Spice French Toast ~ 7.0;
homefries ~ 7.3

___________________

1. Right before I headed out for breakfast seven years ago on Saturday morning, March 5th, 2011, a friend on defacedbook had posted a very heart-warming story. (Thanks, Gene!) I am relaying it again here for anyone wanting a good, happy cry:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/magazine/06lives-t.html?_r=1

Now, this story had put me in such a good mood  that I had to make sure to do at least one thing nice for someone else that day. I think I may have just paid for a few people's Coffees that were behind me in line or something simple enough like that.

I explained it thusly on that particular 'blog-post:

"I usually like to inflict 'random acts of kindness' on people, anyway; it serves two purposes: 

1) as I am normally a fargin' bastage in person 95% of the time, I figure it can't hurt karmicly to pretend to be nice the other 5% of the time; 

and most of all

2) it totally messes with people when you are nice to them for no reason whatsoever… well, I guess I may lose karma points for that, but it's still fun."

I highly doubt that I would have ever made "Pay It Forward Weekend… or bugger off!" an annual event (or even continued it on to the next day, Sunday), but for one other defacedbook encounter that very same day. I was still in such a good mood after breakfast and all day long; however, when I checked in to the funny pages of defacedbook later that afternoon, I received some very sad news that a friend (whom I had never actually met personally, but had known via the Intro-Net virtually for several years from both defacedbook-land and MLB.com(   's Fan Forums Message Boards ~ specifically those of the Boston Red Sox and some other team from da Bronx) had died suddenly. 

His real name was Scott Pearson Haviland, but he was known fondly as "1523202"* (which was his sign-on moniker with the MLB.com(    sites), or "Numbers" to others, or as I liked to call him "Mr. XV". Sure, I had never "met" him before, but I had "spoken" with him daily for several years running (even though he was one of those Y*nkees-type fans) and the shock of hearing that he had passed away suddenly really struck me (and we are the same age, too). (C'mon, how many of you cried when Old Yeller died? And he was just a Dog in a Disneylandia movie.) 

Thus, every year around this time in memoriam and remembrance of Mr. XV, I try to carry on the tradition of inflicting random acts of kindness on complete strangers (Have you ever met a "partial stranger"?).

So, don't be a tire iron, be a tamale (just like Mr. XV would have wanted you to be)... and this weekend (or whenever the feeling takes you) pay-it-forward... 
or bugger off!

*(The specifics of the "1523202" is a Y*nkees-thing, of course:

Number "15" was worn by Thurmon Munson, who was Scott's all-time favourite Y*nkees player;
Number "23" was worn by Little Donnie Baseball;
Number "20" was worn by Jorge Rafael Posada Villeta;
and I am not sure which Y*nkees player may have worn the Number "2", but I bet that he must have been pretty cr*ppy to get saddled with that one.)

2. I have also been doing this silly li'l  'blog-thing for about nine years now (give or take a week or so). Knowing me and my AADHD, I honestly thought that I would have gotten bored of it in less than six months. Of course, I would still always go out for weekend breakfastary fare, but just not bore anyone else with the details here. 

(And if'n any of youse wants to complain about my starting this 'blog in the first place, please forward your concerns to one James Turner [he's only about 6'3" and 240 lbs] who encouraged me to start it. Thanks, JT!)

Chloe♥s Cafe

"¡Hoy tú, tamales yo!"[1]

or 

Another Mr. XV Pay-It-Forward 
Memorial Weekend

(No official web-site.)


Place: Chloe♥s Cafe
Location: 1399 Church Street (on the corner of 26th Street); phonicular contact: (415) 648-4116
Hours: open 8:00am every day of the week
Meal: "Garden Scramble" (they added the inverted commas, Mr. Marx) ~ two scrambled eggs (which would be the "Scramble" part of the name) with "the vile weed", dill, tomato, red onion, carrot, ~ (all of which would make up the "Garden" part of the name, I suppose) ~ and a choice of cheese (Jarlsberg, Cheddar, cream cheese [which should never be chosen for any "Scramble" or omelette dish, if you ask me], or Feta), served with a cup of fruit or home fries and toast; and a large glassa grapefruit juice

(The first of today's EweToobular juxtaselections should be very obvious from the title and one of the ingredients in today's "Garden Scramble". It is a well know fact that Marcus Mumford really hates tomatoes...

The second of the two songs/videos is just a progression (well, live version) following the first song from the album it is on. Consider it a "palate-cleanser" for the nasty taste left by "the vile weed". If you ask me, I would much rather have thistles in my "Garden Scramble" than "the vile weed", anyway... any day!)


I used to have Chloe♥s Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, May 8th, 2016) in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, but DFA'd them a few years back due to the distance getting over there (and back, naturally); plus, there are really not that many choices available for stupid vegetarians. What they do offer is always good, though.

I was originally thinking of sitting outside for a change this morning. As I was the first idiot to arrive (about twenty minutes before they had opened), I would have had my choice of seats inside or outside. However, after standing around in the Sun for about five minutes, the d*mn-ol' clouds came in and there was a very light rain coming down ("Here's another fine mist you've gotten me into, Stanley!") and I decided that it was best just to eat inside. This turned out to be a very good decision, as about fifteen minutes into eating my breakfast, the rain started coming down much harder ~ not exactly a downpour, but definitely too much wetness to be sitting outside comfortably.

Unlike most other times that I had eaten there, 
Chloe♥s Cafe only completely filled up after about one half-hour and there was no line waiting outside for a change. If you have ever seen how small the inside restaurant seating-space is, you would know this was very unusual.

For my cheesy comestibles choice, I went with the Feta, of course, Mr. Wensleydale. (Now, if I had really wanted to ruin this "Scramble", I would have opted for the awful choice of cream cheese; which is probably the "cheese of choice" for those kind of people that actually like "the vile weed".) I know I shoulda-mighta-coulda ordered this without "the vile weed", but I figured (correctly) that the Feta, dill, etc. (plus any hot sauce I would use on top) would counter-balance the "the vile weed" vileness. I suppose it could still have been considered a "Garden Scramble" with just dill, tomato, red onion, and carrot in it, but who am I to question which seasonal vegetables might be available from Chloe♥s "Garden"? Luckily, there was not an inordinate (or "there was an ordinate"?) amount of "the vile weed" in the "Scramble" mess; and those which were in it, were small enough pieces, at least. This turned out to be not that different from the "Special (Garden) Scramble" that I had on my last visit there (just substitute the d*mn "the vile weed" with spinach [Please!] and the dill with cilantro).

I optioned for the homefries as my side-choice, not only because their version are very good, but because any fool (even this fool) knows that homefries >>>>>>  a cuppa fruit any day!

Chloe♥s Cafe has just Tapatío® Salsa Picante 
Hot Sauce on the tables for condimentary supplementation. I used some of my own 
Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of the "Scramble" (and especially in those places where I could see any of "the vile weed" peeking out its ugly green mug) and some Palo Alto Fire Fighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on top of the pile o' potatoes.

I had skipped any Coffee with the breakfast meal because I know that I have a lot of Coffee at home that I am trying to make a dent in. (Have you ever tried denting a bag of Coffee?) To enjoy while typing (keyboarding, whatever) up today's 'blog-entry, I brewed me uppa (or, more correctly, dripped me downa) a cuppa Bettys Java Kalibaru Single Origin Coffee (Thanks, Greg & Cindy! [these two are in no way related to the above hot sauce-gifters]). I do not think that I have ever had this particular blend from Bettys before. Needless to say, it was another very good Coffee output from a truly great British Tea Room joint. (See, when it comes to boiling anything, 
the British are masters at it.)

https://www.bettys.co.uk/java-kalibaru-single-origin-coffee


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
"Garden Scramble" ~ 6.5 (no GBS Rating points were deducted for the inclusion of "the vile weed"; I would probably have deducted 0.1 points, but then added 0.2 points for the Feta choice, so I figured it was not really necessary);
Bettys Java Kalibaru Single Origin Coffee ~ 7.3

___________________

1. ¿Qué?

(Interestingly enough, this article was from exactly six years ago today.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/magazine/06lives-t.html?_r=1

I absolutely love that story. It gets me every time. 

So, don't be a tire iron, be a tamale... and this weekend (or whenever the feeling takes you) pay-it-forward... 
or bugger off!

green chile kitchen

俳句 for breakfast,

Makes no sense rhythmically.

So have a tamal. 

http://www.greenchilekitchen.com/about/


Place: green chile kitchen
Location: 1801 McAllister Street (on the corner of Baker Street)
Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Friday at 9:00am; "Brunch" available Saturday & Sunday at 9:00am
Meal: new mexican homestyle frittata ~ layered w/ blue corn tortillas, eggs, zucchini, corn, green chile, & cheese topped w/ chile & crema, served w/ mixed green salad; a (Vegan) sweet potato tamale[1]; and a cuppa Mr. Espresso® (I forgot to ask which blend/roast they serve)

http://mrespresso.com/

(Here is a little know Clavinistic fact: Graham Parker wrote this song completely in 5-7-5 meter.)


Yes, kids, today is the 33rd Annual Day of Haiku on defacedbook. (Strangely enough, this is the third year in a row that it has been designated the "33rd Annual", too.) I thought about doing this entire 'blog-entry in Haiku meter/verse, but I decided that would take me about two weeks to write it all, and it would probably just end up sounding like a bad restaurant review by Master Yoda, anyway.

I tried a new place (well, "new" for me; it is not really that old of a restaurant, anyway ~ opened in 2006 in San Francisco) for breakfast called green chile kitchen. They are located in the neighborhood between the Haight and the Western Addition (which people are now calling "NoPa" ~ for "North of the Panhandle", but I hate that stupid moniker and refuse to use it; well, except here as an explanation of why I am not using it). 

green chile kitchen has a large, high-ceiling open space with seating of: one large communal bench table with ten stools around it; one large communal bench table for about ten to twelve with benches on both sides (those would be along the length sides, not on the width sides); two tables for four (whether communal or not would be up to you and three other people, I suppose); two booths for four; three tables for two (where I sat at; well, I only sat at one of the three tables, I did not hog-up all three just for myself); one table for three; one table with five stools on one side only; six window-counter seats along the Baker Street side; six bar/counter seats; and, additionally, three tables for two outside on the Baker Street sidewalk area. (Did I miss anyone?)

and what is with the trend these days for restaurants to have not only their name rendered in all minuscule, but everything on the menu, too? are the CAPS LOCK keys broken on their computers? that seems rather small-minded to me. at least there is no stupid parklet in front of this place… yet.

You order and pay up front at the counter first; they give you a number (mine was "5" this morning, which kinda went right along with the whole Haiku-stuff); and then they bring the food out to you when it is ready (because bringing the food out to you before it is ready is never a good thing). There were several other good ideas for "Brunch" on their menu (all in the minuscule, too, mind you): quelites[2] & eggs (scrambled eggs, sautéed greens, brown rice, avocado, & pico de gallo); migas (eggs, crispy tortilla strips, green chile, tomatillo avocado salsa, & cotija [a Mexican cheese] w/ black beans; Migas can just be considered a Tex-Mex version of Chilaquiles); root vegetable hash (carne adovada [some form of dead, decaying animal flesh; I could look this up, but I am not eating it, anyway; look it up your damn self if you really want to know what it is], 2 fried eggs, sautéed greens, red chile, & crema; this is also available in a vegetarian option); huevos motuleños[3] (corn tortilla, eggs, black beans, green chile, peas, Feta, & fried plantains); savory breakfast sopaipillas (eggs, cheese, & chile w/ choice of beans); or flat enchilada plate (housemade corn tortillas, eggs, meat, chile, cheese, & sour cream, served w/ posole[4] & beans).

This frittata was a mess o' ooey, gooey, goodness. It was like a deep-dish frittata pie or something; and, unlike when they use this oh-so-trite saying on the food network, this literally had "layers of flavour" to it. This dish can be make as "spicy" (probably by using some red chillies), "medium", or "mild". I went with the "medium" this morning and it was more than tasty, but I probably could have lived with it "spicy" even. I even liked my side of "mixed green salad" for a change, but mainly because it was topped with more of their tasty green chile sauce/dressing.

The sweet potato tamale was very good and I am glad I opted for that as a side. It looked rather odd at first, until I figured out that was because it was made with blue cornmeal like everything else on their menu.

Not that I really needed to add any extra flavour or spice to what I had, but green chile kitchen also has bottles of Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red), Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and  Melinda's® Original Habanero Pepper Sauce Hot Sauce as condimentary supplements. 

This place is definitely worth a return trip, if not for this same meal, to try more of their dishes. Even though they are not really a "new" restaurant, I am calling this my "New Find for 2015".

Is it possible that Basho and Master Yoda were one in the same person? I will let you be the judge of this "Separated at Birth" evidence.

俳句 is easy;
Never needed is rhyming.
Hard is Rock-and-Roll.

(And when was the last time you really ever used a rhyme for any reason?)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: new mexican homestyle frittata ~ 7.2; sweet potato tamale ~ 6.8


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day:

They have this as "tamale" on the menu; however, the correct singular really should be "tamal" in Spanish. "Tamales" is the correct plural, though.

2. As best as I can figure, "quelites" can mean any number of different plants in Mexico eaten for their leaves, as leaf vegetables or herbs. This has nothing to do with the inflammation of the colon (at least, I hope not).

3. I could go into a long explanation of what Huevos Motuleños are, but it's just easier "borrowing" from our friends at WikipediA:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huevos_motule%C3%B1os

4. This is also alternately spelled "pozole". I was going to include this as just another "stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer"; however, I figured I would then have to explain just what the heck the dish was, anyway. So why not just cheat again with the link from WikipediA?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozole

Roosevelt Tamale Parlor

Déjà Goût ~ the strong sensation that you have eaten something before

(No official web-site.)

2817 24th Street (Between Bryant and York Streets)

phonicular contact: (415) 824-2600

(This is such a cool song. I want it to be played as my funeral march when I am dead. I especially want the mourners ~ both of them ~ to be bopping right along to the beat, too.)


Even though they technically don't open up until 10:00am on the weekends, I decided to go to Roosevelt Tamale[1] Parlor for my desayunory repast this morning. The door was actually open when I walked by about ten minutes before 10:00am and they were nice enough to seat me early, anyway. They are right next door to La Torta Gorda (see 'blog-entry from January 26th, 2013). I have had lunch at Roosevelt Tamale Parlor once before recently, but this was the first time I have been there for breakfast.

I know what you are thinking, "Why 'Roosevelt'?" It has nothing to do with the Spanish-American War and Teddy and his roughshod friends; it is just that the original family that opened the restaurant back in 1919 (and the restaurant has been at the same location continuously since then under different ownerships) was a Dutch family named Roosevelt. And, again, I know what you are thinking, "Dutch in the Mission?" Well, it wasn't always a predominantly Mexican neighborhood; back in the 40's and 50's it was primarily an Irish neighborhood even. Now why a Dutch family opened a tamales parlour, I have no idea.

La Misión is well-known for its abundance of murals. This one was right across the street from today's breakfastary destination in a little children's park.

I purposely got over there about a half hour before I knew Roosevelt Tamale Parlor to open so that I could start off the morning by going to Dynamo Donut & Coffee, which is just across the street and a block away. I got a Ginger Orange ~ donut with orange zest and candied ginger topped with a ginger glaze ~ and a cuppa Fourbarrel Coffee. The doughnut was fresh and excellent, but I was a bit disappointed in the coffee. I suppose it was okay, but really didn't compare to the quality of the doughnut. I didn't ask what roast of coffee it was. Dynamo has a great selection of unusual doughnuts and I bet the Bacon Maple Apple would be a favourite of some that partake of the dead, decaying porky bits.

http://www.dynamodonut.com/

http://fourbarrelcoffee.com/

Roosevelt Tamale Parlor offers many desayunos típicos mexicanos ~ Chilaquiles, Huevos Rancheros, Omelettes (Mexicano, Americano, Ranchero, Vegetariano), y de este modo adelante. I was thinking of getting the Chilaquiles (which they offer with either a red or green sauce, which is nice), but seeing as they are famous for their tamales (it is part of their name, after all), I decided on getting one of their tamales. They actually have four different types of vegetarian tamales: Corn Sweet Tamal (with tomatillo sauce); Tamal de Frijol (black bean tamal smothered in Doña[2] Maria's mole sauce); Tamal de Calabacitas con crema (squash tamal with tomatillo sauce); and one other (which looked really good, but I can't remember what was in it). Don't worry, they also offer three kinds of meat tamales: pork, chicken, and beef. All tamales plates are served with rice and beans and come as a choice of single (one tamal) or dinner (two tamales). As usual, the mole was the deciding factor for me, and I got the Tamal de Frijol. I also had a large glass of Agua Fresca de Sandia ~ watermelon and a hint of cilantro (which is always extra good with a big squeeze from the slice of lime garnish).

I went with the "single" choice. With the doughnut beforehand, this was more than enough food for mi apetito; however, someone with un apetito más grande may want to get it as "dinner". I don't know if you can get two different types when you order it like that, but you could always just order a side dish of a different type if you wanted, I suppose. The tamal was very good and it also had a very good mole; it was not too spicy, but had lots of flavour to it. Everyone has their own special recipe for a mole, and this happened to be Doña Maria's.

Now I am not really that much of an aficionado (sorry, I don't know the Spanish word for that) of tamales as it is usually pretty hard to find a place that actually does a vegetarian version (let alone one that does four different types). I used to work with a Mexican guy named Miguel Sosa whose wife, Rosa (yes, she was actually "Rosa Sosa"), would sometimes make tamales for the entire office. Rosa was always kind enough to make a few special pineapple-raisin (piña y pasas) tamales for me, and that was the extent of my tamales experience.

Figuring (correctly) that Roosevelt Tamale Parlor would have their own fresh-made salsa for condimentary supplementation, I didn't bother bringing any of my own bottled hot sauces with me this morning. Theirs was not too picante, pero con un gusto muy sabroso. What I ended up doing was mixing the rice and beans together and adding a mess o' the salsa to it and use it as a dip for the tortilla chips that they provide.

stupid parklet mini-rant of the day
I got to talking to the manager (owner?) guy (he was the one that explained the whole nomenclature/ethnicity questions for me) and asked him what his opinion is on the whole parklet situation. I must admit, I loved his answer: "I f*cking hate them!" and he went on to agree with just about all of my points on the obnoxious parking obstructions, too. Luckily, this part of the Mission hasn't been infected with all that stupidity… yet.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Ginger Orange Donut ~ 7.0; Tamal de Frijol ~ 7.0


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer del día, número uno:

"Tamal" is the correct singular form of this word and "tamales" is the plural. This word comes from Spanish for the Nahuatl word "tamalli". It looks like Roosevelt Tamale Parlor has corrected this misperception on their menu items, but has left the historical name of the restaurant as it is.

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer del día, número dos:

"Doña" is the Spanish female equivalent of the honorific "Don". They both derive from Latin "dominus", meaning "master/lord".