Jane ~ on Larkin

https://www.itsjane.com/location/jane-on-larkin/


Place: Jane ~ on Larkin

Location: 925 Larkin Street 
(on the corner of Cedar Street, which is really just a 
two block long alley in the 'loin)

Hours: open daily from 7:00am

Meal: Breakfast Frisee Salad ~ frisée, arugula, chive, lardons[1], radish, rainbow carrot, soft boiled egg, shallot vinaigrette, toasted baguette; and, to drink, a mighty fine cuppa (done in the single-cuppa pour-over way) Campos® Coffee Kenya Thirikwa Gakuyuini AA (try saying that ten times fast... or slow, even)

https://us.camposcoffee.com/product/thirikwa-gakuyuini-aa/

(There is no EweToobular juxtaselection with this song/video; I just woke up this morning with the song talking in my head. I have no idea how little Davey Burns and the rest of the Speaking Faces feel about lardons or Kenyan Coffee, though.)


I have been meaning to get back to Jane (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, April 14th, 2019) for a while now and finally made it back to their "on Larkin" Street location this morning.

There are still a few more good breakfastary ideas (even for st*pid vegetarian-types with reading-comprehension problems):

(the simply-enough named) Egg Sandwich ~ on your choice of housebaked sourdough, multigrain bread or baguette with homemade tomato chutney and Cheddar cheese (where I would have to go with the "Add Avocado" option; ha! "tomato chutney" and "Cheddar cheese"... "What are two things you will never see or hear at Ronnie Mac's Rainbow Room? for $200, Alex." );

Avocado Mash ~ avocado, cracked black pepper, soft boiled egg, pickled shallot and jalapeño on house sourdough (basically your ubiquitous "Avocado Toast"); 

Dragonfruit Smoothie Bowl ~ dragonfruit, pineapple, banana, ginger, coconut water, blueberries, raspberries, hemp seeds, flax seeds, cocoa nibs, goji, mulberries (that oughtta be enough d*mn berries[2] to hold over both Captain Parmenter and Maria Halle);

and

Raw Sprouted Black Rice Porridge ~ almond and coconut milk, chia seeds, coconut crunch, goji berries, fresh kiwi (served warm upon request).

This was basically a big bowl o' rabbit-food... with two poached eggs... and a whole lotta dead, decaying porky-butt bits... (D'oh! See, kids, this is where it pays to read the entire d*mn menu ingredients. And by "... a whole lotta... ", I mean, there was probably enough dead, decaying porky-butt bits laced into it to sate even Rudy Smith's bacon-appetite... possibly... ). At first, I looked at the dead, decaying porky-butt bits and thought "those are some pretty strange-looking rainbow carrots... " (of which, I was happy to see at least three different colours of carrots: your basic orange, some purple-looking dealies, and some golden ones). It took me a good five minutes to pick out as many of the offending offal as possible (thankfully, they were pretty large dead, decaying porky-butt bits), then I had to make sure to pick around any that I may have missed... Sheesh!

(another not so) Strange Coffee Interlude

Jane's standard drip-Coffee, Bread & Butter, is a medium-dark roast blend that they produce locally in San Francisco; I have had it several times before and wanted to try something different. The Coffee that I had this morning from Campos® Coffee as a pour-over is probably a visiting-roastery kinda-thing. I do not think that I have ever had this particular brand before, but I really enjoyed today's cuppa. While Kenyan Coffee ain't exactly Ethiopian (I noticed in their online menu that they do offer an Ethiopian, too), it is similar in flavour.

For condimentary supplementation, Jane ~ 
on Larkin has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce 
(Original Red Sauce), Tapatío® Salsa Picante 
Hot Sauce, Cholula® Hot Sauce (Green Pepper), and Huy Fong Foods Inc. Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. I skipped using any of their bottled hot sauces (though I did entertain using some of the Green Cholula®) because I was given four new spice-grinder-things from The Spice & Tea Exchange® (Thanks, Cindy!). I used some (at first lightly, then, after taste-testing it for picanteness, a bit more) Pirate's Bite (Prepare for a Bite!) on top of one of the poached eggs and half of the salad and some Earthly Delight (A Robust and Hearty Seasoning) on top of the other poached egg and the remaining half of the salad. Of the two, I think I liked the non-salt-based Earthly Delight a bit more. However, do not discount the peppery-flavour (black peppercorn, white peppercorn, bird's-eye chile pepper, chipotle peppers, cayenne pepper, Datil pepper, habanero pepper blend, and Scotch Bonnet pepper[3]) of the Pirate's Bite, me matey!

https://www.spiceandtea.com/

(We even have one of their shops locally here in San Francisco in some place called "Pier 39"... never heard of that place, though... )


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Breakfast Frisee Salad ~ 6.4 (this rating does not reflect all les m*udits lardons in the salad, which, of course, was not their reading error);
Campos® Coffee Kenya Thirikwa Gakuyuini AA ~ 7.2;
The Spice & Tea Exchange® Pirate's Bite ~ 6.7;
The Spice & Tea Exchange® Earthly Delight ~ 6.8

___________________

1. Contrary to popular belief, "lardon" does not mean "un végétarien st*pide with a reading deficiency".

2. Well, botanically-speaking (which is not another "stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day"), the only true berries in that mixture are: banana, blueberries, and goji berries.

3. Datil chillies, habanero chillies, and Scotch Bonnet chillies are three different cultivars of Capsicum chinense.

https://www.worldofchillies.com/Chilli-plant-varieties/Chilli-plant-varieties-Chinense/Chilli-plants-Capsicum-Chinense.html

(Also, speaking of botanicals, chilli peppers are actually berries, too.)

Taylor Street Coffee Shop

http://taylor-street-coffee-shop.cafes-city.com/

(Sorry. This is the best that they have to offer in the way of an "official"-type web-site. The "Menu" link is not even operable... yet?)


Place: Taylor Street Coffee Shop

Location: 375 Taylor Street 
(between Ellis and O'Farrell Streets)

Hours: open daily at 7:00am(-ish)

Meal: Morning Salad Combo ~ spring mix (aka "rabbit-food"... I wonder if they will change it to "summer mix" in a few days), (2) poached eggs, 
bacon (Yeah, no! Sorry, Glen.), tomato, (red) grapes, strawberry, Feta cheese, balsamic vinaigrette, served with English muffin, fresh fruit mix, small fresh squeezed OJ and a Coffee or hot tea

(The first EweToobular song is mainly because James was always one of my favourite of the Taylor Brothers [right after Billy D., of course]... and...

Go RED SOX!!!

The second video is just because while I was eating my breakfast this morning the origin of the word [and fabric] "Denim" popped into my head.[1] 
[Ya know, this Derek guy sounds an awful lot like the guy that did those lesser-known covers of J.J. Cale's songs "Cocaine" and "After Midnight" back in the 70's.])


Poifect timing! 

I arrived at Taylor Street Coffee Shop (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, April 21st, 2018) this morning juuuuust a little after 7:00am (let's say 7:02am or 7:03am) mistakingly thinking that the place did not open up until 7:30am and was planning on waiting outside for an half-hour or so until they did open up. However, there were probably nine or ten people already waiting in line ahead of me. With barely time to get my camera out to take the prerequisite 'blog-entry opening photo-shot of the restaurant-of-the-day, they were opening their doors for business for the morning.

Luckily I had arrived when I did, because it filled up very quickly ~ even on a foggy San Francisco kinda late-Spring morn ~ by 7:10am. By the time I was done eating, there was a small line (ten to fifteen people?) of diners waiting to be seated whenever a table became empty.

Having eaten there already several many times, I think that there is just one more item on their menu now that I need to check out ("... out which I need to check"... ?):

Primavera (which they will probably be changing to Estate in a few more days, too) Omelet Combo ~ spinach, roasted tomato and mushroom egg white omelet. Fresh housemade (well... Coffee Shop-made) salsa. Served with English muffin, fresh fruit mix, small fresh squeezed OJ and a Coffee or hot tea.

I was not sure exactly (or even inexactly) what to expect from this dish, but the balsamic vinaigrette seemed to really tie it all together breakfastarily for me... plus, everything's just mo' betta with Feta! At first impression, I was thinking it looked like a lotta d*mn rabbit-food... well, if rabbits ate unhatched poultry ovi, too. All in all (and all for one! [well, all for me!]), this was a very simple, but nice and filling, meal for silly rabbit-types.

I was initially thinking of also ordering a side of their hashbrowns upgraded with habanero infused onions, but I am glad that I did not. I would not have been able to finish everything if I had.

I had opted for a large fresh-squeezed orange juice to drink and skipped the Coffee or tea (however, they did feel the need to charge me extra for the difference between the "small" to "large" orange juice, but did not feel the need to comp me for the no-Coffee/tea).

Today's fresh fruit mix included: kiwi (botanically a berry, of course); cantaloupe (also botanically a berry); honeydew melon (ditto on the "also botanically a berry"); strawberries (however, not-a-botanical berry); (red) grapes (another botanical berry); blackberries (sorry, but if you thought this one was also a "botanical berry"... you lose!); blueberries (okay, this one is a botanical berry); orange slices (guess what?! this is also a botanical berry); banana slices (ha! another botanical berry); and apple slices (neither a berry botanically, nor even an aggregate fruit or an accessory fruit).

As far as condimentary supplementation goes, 
Taylor Street Coffee Shop had Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce and Green Pepper Sauce) and  Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. 
I went with some of my own H*ll's Kitchen Smoky Bourbon Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of both poached eggs ~ it actually complemented nicely both the egg yolks and the balsamic vinaigrette.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Morning Salad Combo ~ 6.5

___________________

1. Many years ago (and by "many", I mean over thirty years ago now) I dated a woman that had once lived in Nîmes, France. (Man, she must be old now!) She told me that the local men had nicknamed her "Balcon" ~ a reference to her rather nicely protruding pectoral area. (Now, this was not the reason I dated her... well... not the only reason I dated her.) Anyway, she told me where the word "denim" had originated. It comes from the French phrase "serge de Nîmes", simply meaning "serge of Nîmes". (See, sometimes this cunning linguistic stuff ain't always chirurgie de roquette.)

Plus, here is an extra-added little-known Cliff Clavinistic fact: 
The word "blue jeans" came from Levi Strauss' younger brother, who was named "Eugene". Originally, the term was known as "blue Genes". Levi wanted to throw the poor guy a bone after cashing in on the textile and clothing trade himself.*

*(Nah! That second paragraph was just a joke to see if you are paying attention... or are even still reading this far down into the 'blog-thing.

Actually, the contemporary use of the word "jeans" probably comes from the French word for Genoa, Italy: Gênes. Even David Robert Jones and Mr. Peterson [Norm!] would agree with this etymology.)

café bean

♪
"Sunny, sunny morn...
Paint your omelette green and gold 
(and red bell peppers)... "
♫ 

(No official-type web-site thing.)


Place: café bean

Location: 800 Sutter Street (on the corner of Jones Street); phonicular contact: (415) 928-0888

Hours: at this point, I really have no idea; at least they were open after 8:30am or so when I arrived this morning, which was good enough for me

Meal: Van Gogh Omelette ~ bell pepper, onion, avocado, and cream cheese, served with whole wheat toast; and, to drink, a medium (16 oz) cuppa de Huiskoffie ~ Chester's[1] Dark French[2]

(I know you must be a-wonderin' just what exactly is the juxtaselection with today's EweToobular video/song. Well, I will bet that you were not aware that Donald McLean III is a big fan of cream cheese and avocado in his omelettes, too.)


Eindelijk, ik ging terug naar café bean (see last 'blog-entry from Zaterdag 21 november, 2015) after many failed attempts over the past several months. Possibly their current opening time is 8:00am. The times are not listed/posted anywhere, but their "OPEN" sign on the door had a little clock-thing that was set to 8:00 (whether that meant ante or post the meridiem, I have no idea). However, just in case ("fool me five or six times... "), I did have a back-up plan planned, Stan: I would have just walked the two blocks over to 
Honey Honey ~ Cafe & Crepery instead (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, November 21st, 2015).

Chester (who I am pretty sure is the owner/manager-guy) works the till and makes any Coffee-drinks that are ordered. Mrs. Chester (who I am pretty sure is de echte baas) does all the cooking/food preparing in the back kitchen-space. I am not exactly sure what their kitchen set-up is like, but for a neighborhoody corner coffeehouse joint, they do a pretty good job with their breakfastary dishes. 

Even if I only get over there every two to three (or more) years, there are still some other ideas that I would like to try (that is, if they happen to be open again when I do stop by):

De Vries Omelette ~ egg white, tofu, bell pepper, onion, and tomato;

Michelangelo Omelette ~ egg omelette with tomato, pesto, cheese, spinach (I was not aware that Mamma Buonarroti's little bambino was actually from Olanda... );

Daniel's Omelette ~ onion, mushroom, spinach, artichoke, olive tapenade (now this "Daniel" guy may or may not be Dutch himself); 

or

Hot "Veggie" (How do you say "uggh!" in Dutch?) Breakfast Burrito ~ onion, bell pepper, chilies, tomato, cheese, spinach.

Plus, their Cinnamon Apple Dutch Pancake (which I had on my initial visit there) is always worth reordering. 

(When ordering this particular omelette, be sure to speak loudly and clearly into Chester's left ear... )


This omelette was made with three different coloured bell peppers: red, green, and gold (which, coincidentally enough, are the colours of the Dutch National flag). Now, I am not normally a fan of cream cheese in an omelette, but with the addition of the avocado, this actually worked for me this morning (I am not so sure what ol' Vinnie the V would know about avocados, though).

I did not bother to ask Chester what they might have had to offer in the way of any hot sauce condimentary supplementation. As per the norm, Mr. Peterson, I had come prepared with a few of my own bottles of hot sauce, anyway. I used some Chili in Hawai'i Habanero Garlic Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on top of the omelette (just about ten drops or so only).

Overall pluses: they offer a good, robust Coffee; and it is a very friendly little joint
Underall minuses: unfortunately, they do not offer any potato side-dishes (probably due to their limited kitchen restrictions); and not knowing exactly when/if they will be open in the mornings


the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

Now this was a very strange sighting. On my way home, while waiting at the bus stop on the corner of Arguello Avenue and Geary Boulevard, I first heard ('cause that is how these flying chatterboxes are usually spotted), then looked up and saw a pretty large pandemonium (easily thirty or more of the colourful feather-brains) flying overhead heading southwest towards Golden Gate Park. You do not normally see them this far westward (ho!) in the city. I really had to wonder just where the h*ck were they heading to? (And, yes, I am well aware that grammatically the sentence should read: "... where the H*ll were they heading to, *sshole?")


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Van Gogh Omelette ~ 6.5;
Chester's Donker Nederlands ~ 7.0;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

___________________

1. I can only assume that the owner/counter-guy's name is "Chester". Several other regular-customer-type persons greeted him by that name when they came in (either that, or he was just too polite to correct de domme Amerikanen). 

2. I did make sure to ask Chester why this was not called "Donker Nederlands". However, he did not have a good answer for that zinloze vraag.

Lapisara (Eatery)

Fool me once, shame on you!
Fool me twice, shame on me!!
Fool me three times, shame on you and me!!!
Fool me four times... 555!!!![1]... Nice try, I had a back-up plan this time, Mr. Laurence Tureaud!

https://www.lapisaraeatery.com/


Place: Lapisara (Eatery)[2]

Location: 698 Post Street 
(on the corner of Jones Street)

Hours: open for "Brunch" (exactly) at 7:30am Sunday through Saturday

Meal: Savory "Veggie" (uggh!) Frittata ~ tomato, mushroom, red onion, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sesame oil & egg served with breakfast potatoes & sourdough toast; and to drink a glassa Big Mama ~ peach syrup, soda water, orange juice, lime juice, blackberry

(So what is the EweToobular juxtaselection here today? I have heard that Matt Ruff also likes a Savory "Veggie" [uggh!] Frittata.[3])


Well, cafe bean was not open (yet once more again) this morning when I stopped by just after 7:00am (which is supposably their opening time daily; I even waited around for about twenty minutes, but there was no sign of anyone inside and it did not look like they would be opening any time soon). Luckily, I did have a good, viable back-up plan planned, Sam. No need to jump on a bus, Gus, I simply headed downhill one block on Jones Street and went back to Lapisara (Eatery) 
(see previous 'blog-entry from Saturday, March 24th, 2018)... and, guess what, they were already opening when I arrived there at 7:29am.

Since the first/last time that I ate there, it looks like they have added a few (well, several fews) more items to their "Brunch" menu. They are still a relatively new restaurant and probably have made the final updates to their menus now. A few other items that I was eyeing were:

French Toast ~ thick-cut brioche battered, coated in crushed cashew and Reese's Puffs® (contains nut), House Bourbon Maple Syrup, powder sugar and butter (the House Bourbon Maple Syrup sounds interesting all on its ownsome; this was going to be my initial choice this morning until I decided to go savoury over sweet instead);

Huevos Rancheros ~ grilled corn tortillas, with black beans, topped with Feta cheese, 2 fried eggs, pico de gallo, avocado, green onions (you know what they say, when in กรุงเทพมหานคร, do as the Mexicans do);

five different Eggs Benedict dishes (of which, only the Florentine is suitable for stupid vegetarians, though);

three versions of Frittatas (only the one I ordered this morning was stupid-vegetarian-friendly);

etceterata...

I knew right away that I was going to like this one from the menu description. I always like a good frittata, anyway. This was the perfect size for my appetite, too. The garlic-ginger-soy sauce-sesame oil-aoli-thing (as can be seen swirled over the top of the frittata) was definitely Thai in flavour. The only thing I might have liked to have had added in the egg-base was some Thai sweet basil; that is always a great combination with tomato and mushroom.

Once again, I also really enjoyed their version of homefries, which came with large chunks of white onion and green and red bell peppers in it.

For use in condimentary supplementation, Lapisara (Eatery) had the San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces (Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce [Original Red Sauce], Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and Cholula® Hot Sauce (Original)) plus Frank's RedHot® (Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce). Even with all of those hot sauces from which to choose, I went with some of my own H*ll's Kitchen® Smoky Bourbon Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) all over the potatoes. Additionally (and this is a very good "additionally"), they have jars of their own homemade ((Eatery)-made, whatever) chunky strawberry jam/preserves. I made sure to try some of that on the sourdough toast. 

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

As I was crossing the intersection of Post and Jones Streets on my way to the restaurant, I heard, then looked up and saw a solo pair (solo pair?!) of the chattering featherbrains flying directly overhead. I heard more in the neighborhood, but only saw this mini-pandemonium, though.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Savory "Veggie" (uggh!) Frittata ~ 6.8;
Big Mama ~ 6.7;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

The number "5" in Thai is written as "ห้า" and pronounced (somewhat like) "Ha"! 

Get it? 555 = hahaha

Wห้าtever...

2. I asked my brother Kerry what "Lapisara" might mean in Thailandese (as he had lived there for about ห้า-and-a-half years). I was wondering if it was some regional slang for "Elephant", because that is what is pictured in their signage. He told me that "Lapisara" is just a Thai family name. Mystery solved.

3. I think that one of my brothers (not named "Nick" or "Kerry") may be the only person to get that silly reference.

Mel's Kitchen

If it's not THING 1, it's his mother...

https://melsdrive-in.com/vannessavenue


Place: Mel's Kitchen

Location: 1050 Van Ness Avenue
(on the corner of Geary Street)

Hours: (new hours for this location only) open at 7:00am every d*mn day of the d*mn week (well, I added the emphatic "d*mns" there for no d*mn reason)

Meal: Portobello & Brussel[ sic ] sprout Hash ~ served with two eggs any style (where I stylized these as over-mediums); and a glassa "fresh-squeezed" apple (How do ya like them "squeezed" apples, Mr. Hunting?!) juice to drink


This morning for breakfast, I went back to Mel's drive-in (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, April 7th, 2018) for some good ol' 'merican dineresque fare. However, their location on Van Ness Avenue has undergone some major upscalery. They have nixed the "drive-in" moniker for the much more sophisticated "Kitchen" now. They re-opened as Mel's Kitchen just a little over a month ago and this was my first time getting back there. I ride past there almost every day on my way home from work and had noticed that they were closed for several months (apparently while remodeling to the max). Initially I thought that they probably had lost their lease and just closed that particular joint. 

To what (up)scale have they made changes? They now use cloth napkins on all of the tables! Talk about your "concentric layers of calcium carbonate produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk placed before domesticated large, even-toed ungulates"! They have even upscaled all the booths and diner-counter seats. Sadly, it looks like they have down-scaled the iconic 
50's jukebox, though, and it has been removed entirely (I made sure to look for it when I pretended to have to use the loo). 

Thankfully, they did not decide to up-label their early morning meal as "Brunch". Their new menu has also seen some changes, Alice, where they are offering such breakfastary items as:

Huevos Rancheros ~ two eggs, corn tortillas, Jack cheese, topped with green tomatillo sauce; 

Eggs Benedict (Saturday & Sundays[ sic; for some reason they felt the need to pluralize the first day of the week, but leave the Sabbath in its singularity ~ sounds kinda antisemitic to me ] only) ~ two poached eggs & ham (no, thanks!) on toasted brioche (which sounds like a nice alternative to Mr. Thomas' faux crumpet-things) topped with Hollandaise - hash browns;

or

Breakfast Burrito ~ scrambled eggs, Molinari chorizo (¡no, gracias!), Cheddar cheese, rolled in a flour tortilla, topped with ancho salsa and crème fraiche (now why they felt the need to correctly accent grave the "è", but leave the "î" un-circumflexed is beyond me; it may be another antisemite jab from that N*zi Herr Sharples).

I liked this dish a lot. It was pretty sublime (whereas, I normally prefer over-lemon) in its simplicity. It only included grilled Brussels (see, now is where these 
Jew-hatin' bastages shoulda added the superfluous "s" from "Sundays" above) sprouts and cubes of Portobello mushrooms. With its title of "Hash", 
I was actually expecting some sorta potatoes to be included in this dish. However, as we are all well-aware, a "salade de tomates" in France will generally include just a sliced tomato or deux. 

I particularly liked that the mushrooms were cubed in about quarter-inch bite-sizes. In my opinion (and I only listen to my opinion... well, sometimes), this is the perfect way to prepare these. It was almost like little vegetarian sausage bits. I bet even some fungo-phobes might try these and like them (probably not, though).

Even the side of toast was a bit upscaley, too. It was some kinda multi-grain rye, perhaps.

I did not bother to ask what they might have had to offer in the way of any hot sauce condimentary supplementation. Once again, I went with some of my own Punch Drunk™ Chocolate Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Sean!) on top of one egg and some Great Wall Wasabi Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of the other egg.

I am pretty sure that Mel's new menu would probably have Florence Jean Castleberry exclaiming: 

"Kiss my polenta!"


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Portobello & Brussel[ sic ] sprout Hash ~ 6.5

Han's Coffee Shop

... a great little place for breakfast, 
even if you are dining Solo

(No official web-site thing.)


Place: Han's Coffee Shop

Location:  900 Sutter Street 
(on the corner of Leavenworth Street); 
phonicular contact: (415) 800-8792

Hours: (luckily for me) open for breakfast every day of the week at 7:00am

Meal: Bi-Bim-Bob[ sic ][1] ~ mixed vegetable, beef (which I had 여든 여섯-ed) over rice & hot sauce (that would be the very tasty Korean gochujang, of course); and a cuppa (and one-and-a-half refillas) their house Coffee (I can not be sure if they actually serve America's Best Coffee Roasting Company, as I did not really ask, but that was what the Coffee-pots had printed on them)

Well, it was "Back-up-Plan-City" once again because café bean was not yet open at 7:30am (I even checked this morning and it is printed on their door that they open at 6:00am every day, but I think that has not been updated in years). From the same mishap back in March, I knew that a good alternative was just a block westward along Sutter Street and simply returned to Han's Coffee Shop (see previous 'blog-entry from Saturday, March 10th, 2018).

There are not many items from which to choose for stupid vegetarian-types, but a couple of the other items that I might have ordered were:

Vegetarian (and, thankfully, not that ubiquitously and odiously-named "Veggie") Omelette ~ avocado, bell pepper, mushroom, onion, tomato, & cheese;

or

Q's Favorite Omelette ~ grilled chicken (which would not cross the road for me), bell pepper, onion & cheese and mushroom.

Unfortunately, I was informed the last (first) time that I ate there that their kimchi is made with fish-sauce in it or I would probably have gone with Kimchi Omelette (kimchi, bell pepper, onion, cheese, ham [which I would also have 여든 여섯-ed], & rice ) this morning.

"Just what the h*ck kinda breakfastary slop is that there, Brian?" Consider this dish "Eggs Benedict with 'Seoul'"...

It is not stated on the menu, but like most standard bibimbaps, this is served with a fried (or sometimes raw) egg laid (placed, whatever) on top. The whole point is to mix up all of the ingredients with the base of rice on the bottom of the bowl. Oh, and, of course, to smother the entire thing with some tasty gochujang. The vegetables included in this were: julienned carrots, spinach, mushrooms (which were marinated in some kinda soy-based sauce and grilled), onions, and cabbage. Many places that I have had bibimbap also include julienned cucumbers and/or zucchini, daikon radish, and soybean sprouts.

This was a very interesting twist for me. In all the years I have been eating bibimbap (at least twenty to twenty-five years now), I had never eaten bibimbap (or even "Bi-Bim-Bob") with a fork and knife before. At first, I tried using my fork and knife like chopsticks, but that proved to be a bit unwieldy. It really did seem foreign eating this dish with a fork and not chopsticks.

I initially thought about ordering a side order of hashbrowns, but I am glad that I did not. It definitely would have been way too much food for me to finish.

Han's Coffee Shop had Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and Frank's® RedHot® 
(Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce) for condimentary supplementation. None of those (or any of my own bottles of hot sauces that I had brought with me) were used/needed as I went very heavily with the gochujang that was provided in a plastic squeeze bottle; I seriously used about half of the bottle on my breakfast. Additionally, I also went with several grinds from my grains of paradise grinder.

There was an interesting "little" discovery after breakfast. I needed to use the restroom (well, I did drink two-and-a-half cuppas), so I headed up their back stairs to the public restroom (which is on a landing that looked to be used mainly for storage). This turned out to be a lilliputian bathroom; I kid you not, the ceiling was not even 5' high. I would not recommend it for the claustrophobic at heart, Lemuel.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Bi-Bim-little Robert ~ 6.2

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

They have this listed on their menu as "Bi-Bim-Bob". Now, I am no expert on transliteration from Korean-to-English, but I have never seen that particular spelling before. Normally, the Korean word "비빔밥" (which basically translates as "mixed rice") is transliterated as "bibimbap", "bi bim bap", or "bi bim bop", Robert.