the Art Bistro

Richmond (District) Coffeehouses ~
Part 1b

(No official-type web-site.)


Place: the Art Bistro

Location: 2960 Clement Street (on the corner of 31st Avenue); phonicular contact: (415) 379-7119

Hours: open Monday to Friday at 7:00am; 
open at 8:30am every other day of the week (well, supposably)[1] 

Meal: All Seeded[ sic ] Bagel with Cream Cheese and Tomatoes; and a small cuppa Organic French Roast Coffee (whichever brand it might have been)[2]

(I just figured that the first Bruddah Iz song would be the perfect EweToobular juxtaselection to welcome a new/old business back to the 'hood. Besides, Bruddah Iz iz always cool to listen to on a placid Sunday morn, anyway, be you haole or native Hawai'ianese.)


the Art Bistro (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, July 26th, 2015) just recently reopened on August 19th at their new location on Clement Street. They had closed their old Geary Boulevard location (my guess is that the rent was just too d*rn high) about two months ago now. I was greeted this morning by (whom I can only assume is) the owner/manager-lady that was always at the old location. I had always thought that she was Korean, but she informed me that she and most of the workers are Thai. Not knowing many Thai words or phrases, I had to ask her how to say "Thank you!"; she told me it is "ขอบคุณ!", which sounds something like "Kapoon!" (to my untrained Siamese cat-ears).

They have moved only three blocks away into the space that used to house Saltroot Café (insert frowny-face emoji here)[3]. The good news is that the Art Bistro will still now be selling their (very good) Brazilian 
Cheese Popups (Gorgonzola and Guava are my two favourite flavours, but they are all very tasty) in frozen boxes of ten each. This is a much smaller space than they used to occupy (by about one-third, I would guess) and a bit more off the beaten path (and Geary Boulevard is a well-worn, beaten path) than the previous location.

One nice thing about their new location is that I got to sit outside at one of the two small round two-seater tables along the Clement Street sidewalk. The old Geary Boulevard location did not have any space to offer any outside seating. Fortunately, the Sun was out this morning and shining brightly, but it was still a little breezy and I had to keep rescuing my errant napkins.

I thought it was kinda funny that they still have the old ★ Intelligentsia Coffee sign up on a back wall in the kitchen area. Apparently, when the painters had repainted the walls during the recent renovation, they painted around the sign instead of removing it. So now if the coffeeshop were ever to remove the sign, there will be an off-colour spot on the wall. (Hmmm?! Maybe the Art Bistro could start selling ★ Intelligentsia Coffee instead of "Some Guy Coffee"... )

I had gotten there too early this morning and they were all outta eggs. The owner/manager-lady told me that she had sent someone to a nearby grocery store to pick up some for the day, but she had not returned yet. Otherwise, there is not really a whole lotta choices for breakfastary items (or food in general). I was actually planning on getting a bagel or croissant sandwich with eggs (they only prepare the eggs one way: nuked-scrambled), cheese, tomatoes, and onions. Oh, well, maybe next time... 

There was nothing special about this meal, but I did not really expect anything more, anyway. I mean, it was just a toasted bagel (all-seeded and such; which, as best as I can tell, include: sesame and poppy [Sorry, Elaine.] seeds, at least) with cream cheese schmeared on it and some sliced tomatoes.

As for the Coffee (it is a coffeehouse, after all), it was pretty good. However, I did not discern any l'orange or ส้ม in the French Roast... They change the blend/roast that is offered over the counter as their standard drip Coffee every so often. I think that I liked the Colombian Coffee that I had there last week a little more, though. 

I have no idea what they might have had to offer in the way of any condimentary supplementation (it is just a coffeehouse, not a restaurant, after all).  I had come prepared and used some of my brand-spanking (If it is unbranded, does it not need corporal punishment?) new Sassy Mama Cuisine Fire Roasted Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) and a coupla good twists from my The Spice & Tea Exchange® Italian Street Fair Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!) grinder-thing on the inside of the bagel. This was my first time trying out this hot sauce (on anything other than a spoon when I had first opened it to test it out a few weeks back). I liked it a lot; it was not overly espicy, but had a decent roasted habanero flavour.

https://www.sassymamacuisine.com/

https://www.spiceandtea.com/seasonings-blends-rubs/italian-street-fair-spice-blend.html


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Bagel with etc. ~ 6.0;
Coffee ~ 6.8;
Bruddah Iz ~ 7.9 (on the Glen Bacon Scale... but fuggedaboudit on a standard weight-scale, it just don't go that high; you would need a truck-scale to do that)

___________________

1. I had stopped by there last Monday (as in Labor Day), and they had not opened yet for the morning at around 8:50am; no biggie, I figured I would just check them out on another day... as it is only three blocks away. 

"But, Brian, maybe they were closed to observe the labourious 'merican holiday?!" Nah, sorry. I had just stopped by there on the Saturday before and the owner/manager-lady told me they would be open at 8:30am on Sunday and Monday.

2. I asked the owner/manager-lady where they got their Coffee. Her reply: "Some guy." Of course, now knowing that she is Thai, she mighta been saying that they get their Coffee from a roaster named "Orange Chicken"*...

*(Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer/joke-explainer of the day:

Unfortunately, my "knowledge" of the Thai language is limited to only those few items that I have seen on menus at local restaurants. 

There is a Thai restaurant in my neighborhood [very good, by the way] that is named "Bai Som" ["ใบ ส้ม" in Thai], which the best that I can figure means "orange leaf"[?]. I was also aware that the Thai word for "chicken" is "gai/kai" ["ไก่"] [this word is very similar in Chinese, Lao, and Vietnamese, too]. So, I jokingly added the two words together which sound somewhat like "Some Guy" in 'merican-speak.)

http://www.baisomthaisf.com/

3. Luckily, I stopped by Saltroot Café (see previous 'blog-entry from Monday, February 20th, 2017) just a few weeks before they had closed-up their retail-storefront operation for good. Thankfully, I was informed by one of the owners that they are not out-of-business, they are now only selling their (very good) Brazilian Cheese Popups at a few local organic markets in town.

Blackwood

http://www.blackwoodsf.com/


Place: Blackwood

Location:  2150 Chestnut Street 
(between Steiner and Pierce Streets)

Hours: open every day at 9:00am for breakfast and/or "Brunch"

Meal: THAI SHAKSHUKA ~ Tomyum[1] tomato stew, poached eggs, pork (of course, I แปดสิบหก-ed this ingredient), onion, bacon (this ingredient also went 
ลาก่อน), scallion, cilantro, fried garlic, mild goat cheese; and, to drink with the meal, a large glassa Raspberry-Lemonade; and, beforehand, to enjoy wandering up-and-down Chestnut Street while waiting for the restaurant to open for the morning, a 
dynamo donut + coffee Passionfruit Milk Chocolate doughnut (bought at a local bodega along Chestnut Street, too)

https://dynamodonut.com/menu

(Yeah, there is really no EweToobular juxtaselection here. I dunno, maybe Catherine Elizabeth Pierson loves her some spicy Tom Yum, too.)


Ho-kay... onward and upward with the Taylor Street Coffee Shop-family mini-chain brought me back to Blackwood (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, October 22nd, 2017). I think that this restaurant was the third in their mini-chain to open (circa June 2012).

I sat outside again in their sidewalk/alcove-patio seating area. The morning was still a bit foggy and chilly, so I did keep my sweatshirt on; they also had the overhead gas-heaters going this morning, anyway.

Their menu is similar to what is offered at most of their other restaurants, and there are a few other ideas still worth checking out ("... out worth checking"?! Nah, that does not sound right all at.):

(once again, in keeping with their menu stylization, I am attempting to imitate the different font sizes used 
on the dish names)

SNOWED SPINACH SCRAMBLE ~ baby spinach with white Cheddar, served with Rainbow Potatoes and ciabatta toast;

PRIMAVERA WHITE OMELET ~ roasted tomato, mushroom, arugula, served w/ berries instead of potatoes (which I would probably have tried to have substituted back with the multicoloured underground tubers instead);

BLACKSTONE BENNY (Didn't he used to be the straight-man for Eddie Anderson?) ~ poached eggs, Millionaire's Bacon® (which I would have to go all pauper on), asparagus, cherry tomato, Meyer lemon Hollandaise on English Muffin, also served with Rainbow Potatoes (just no toast);

MARINA JOK MOO ~ rice porridge with bacon, garlic, carrots, spinach, mushroom, cherry pepper, green onion, cilantro, poached egg, sesame and tamari sauce drizzled (I am not even sure if this could even be made st*pid vegetarian-friendly, but it might be worth asking);

or maybe even

POPOVERs(!) w/AVOCADO (???) ~ offered with three different toppings: Strawberry, goat cheese, avocado, balsamic glaze; Bacon, avocado, tomato, honey; or Walnut (candid)[ sic ] (or perhaps that was not a typo, just an indication of the walnut's sincerity, Frank), avocado, Parmesan (I saw these ordered at two other tables and it looked pretty interesting; as best as I could tell, there is half an avocado already baked inside the Popovers[!]; if I did get this, I would probably have to supplement it with at least an order of Rainbow Potatoes).

(For those of you that do partake of the dead, decaying porky-butts. This is the kinda "Flight" that always made me want to remain on Ground-Status when I was in the Air Force, though.)

What can I say? I liked it. I have had several other versions of Shakshuka (mostly at Arab or Middle Eastern restaurants) over the years and this was right up there in tastocity (yeah, so, it ain't a real word... tough!). The Tom Yum sauce was a very nice flavour-change. I coulda easily used another piece of the ciabatta toast with which to soak up more of the sauce. I bet this woulda been even better with some fresh sweet basil leaves in it (as long as they did not have to go all the way to Kirk Hammerton to procure those)[2], but that is just my สองสตางค์ worth...

With my pre-breakfastary snack of the doughnut, this ended up being a lot more food than I had expected. I am glad that I did not order a side of their Rainbow 
Potatoes (however, with this being Pride Weekend and all, those woulda been the perfect side for the morning).

Blackwood only offered Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce, which it had bottles of both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce on all the tables. The Tom Yum-Shakshuka sauce was lightly spicy enough that I did not need to mess with its flavours in any way, though.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
THAI SHAKSHUKA ~ 6.7;
dynamo donut + coffee Passionfruit Milk Chocolate doughnut ~ 7.5

___________________

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

Here is a little-known Cliff Clavinistic fact:

The spicy Thai soup known as "Tom Yum" was originally named by Yuliy Borisovich Briner when he was filming "The King and I" in Thailand. He took one taste and said "This is yummy in my tummy!". One of the native Thai waiters mis-overheard him and passed it on to the chef as "Tummy-Yummy". It has stuck to this day.*

*(Nah! Did anyone really buy that one? Was I just joking there? Of course, Siam...

The words "tom yam" are derived from two Thai words. "Tom" ["ต้ม"] refers to the boiling process, while "yam" ["ยำ"] refers to a Thai spicy and sour salad.)

2. Okay, there may be two people reading this silly li'l 'blog-thing that will get that st*pid reference.

Kitchen Sunnyside

A(nother) breakfastary roadtrip:
Mill Valley, Marin County, CA

http://kitchensunnyside.com/


Place: Kitchen Sunnyside

Location: 31 Sunnyside Avenue, Mill Valley (home of B.J. Hunnicut, for yet another Korean-connection)

Hours: open for breakfast Monday through Sunday at 8:00am

Meal: HOTSTONEPOT ~ sautéed vegetables, egg, smoked chili sauce on rice. Sizzling stone pot!! Mix quickly and Enjoy. (more on that later), choose chicken mango, shrimp (+2) or tofu (Guess which protein I chose?); to drink with the meal, a glassa fresh-squeezed orange juice; and, aforehand, a 16 oz cuppa Equator Coffees Ethiopia Gora Kone

https://www.equatorcoffees.com/collections/single-origin/products/ethiopia-gora-kone

(Idunno. Maybe Shane MacGowan [no relation] likes him some 돌솥 비빔밥[1] and/or Millionaire's Bacon®, too, boyo.)


Continuing along on working my way through all the restaurants that are in the Taylor Street Coffee Shop-family mini-chain, I curtailed it on over (the Golden Gate Bridge) to Marin to check out Kitchen Sunnyside. This was my initial visit to this particular restaurant. This restaurant has been open only since November 2014. I think it is their #5 or #6 in the mini-chain in respect of newness. Only Surisan is newer (opened now since 2016).

What a great little local spot! By little, I mean that there are probably less than fifteen tables (ranging in size from 2-person to 4-persons). The place is bigger than Taylor Street Coffee Shop, but that is not really saying much.

There is also another Marin-based restaurant called Fred's Place, in Sausalito, that was once a part of their mini-chain. However, one of the friendly waiter/server-guy persons told me that it has since been sold to some of the workers at that location, but they maintain a similar menu. Once I have checked out all of the "official" restaurants in their mini-chain, I will probably head back over that-a-way again.

As with all of the other restaurants in their mini-chain, Kitchen Sunnyside offers many dishes that are similar (or exactly the same). Some of the other ideas that I was looking at this morning were:

MEHICO[ sic ] BENNY (there is nothing wrong with your eyesight or my typing; in keeping with their printed menu, I am trying to use the same font-size and dimensions that they had used) ~ chorizo (No way-zo, José-zo!), cherry pepper, cherry tomato (this is basically the same dish as offered yesterday at Sweet Maple, just with the moniker of Southern Benedict);

SUNNYSIDE HASH ~ Hash browns topped with bacon (which would get 86-ed, natch'), red onion, bell pepper, cherry pepper, mushroom, scallion
and mild Cheddar. Served with two eggs (sunnysided-up, I presume), toast;

MORNING TACOS ~ two corn tortillas, lettuce, scrambled egg, bacon (no!), chorizo (no-no, zo-zo!!), tomato, avocado, pickled red onion, chipotle aioli, cilantro, mild Cheddar. Served with Crispy Yukons. Side of roasted salsa and pico de gallo (this one looked interesting, and I do not remember seeing a similar dish at any of their other restaurants);

or

PRIMAVERA (Scramble) ~ egg white, sundried tomato, bell pepper, red onion, spinach, scallion, served w/ Crispy Yukons or Hash browns. A choice of ciabatta, wheat or English muffin (I think that I might have had a version of this previously at one of their other restaurants; I am just too lazy to look 'er up). 

Of course, this is not for the Vegan-feint-of-(artichoke)heart, but what many people really seem to like to order at these places is their Millionaire's Bacon® (and, yes, they actually have it as a ®egistered trademark). They have it offered four ways now: Original (thick, free range bacon, baked with brown sugar, cayenne, red and black pepper); Citron (orange and sea salt goodness); Rosemary (savory rosemary and pepper with mild sweetness); and Cinnamon (hint of chipotle with sweet cinnamon).

Today was not my first Dolsot Bibimbap rodeo. I have had this dish probably a hundred times over the years (at dozens of different Korean restaurants, too). However, I think this was the first time that I ever had it as my early morning/first meal of the day. It seems like a breakfastary no-brainer even to me. This was the exact same dish that I had for dinner at their sister-restaurant (sorry, I am not quite sure of the gender-specificity for restaurants) Surisan three weeks ago.

I was very happy to see a "sunnyside"-up egg already prominently displayed on top. A lot of times, the egg will be placed raw on top of the dish and the idea is to "cook" the egg with the residual heat from both the hot vegetables and especially from the hot stone pot. Now here is where I will comment on the "Mix quickly and Enjoy." mentioned on their menu description of the dish. No, no, no! That is just wrong! Because the "hot stone pot" really is a-sizzlin' hot (do not even think of touching the stone pot... seriously... fool me three times... ) what you need to do is let the bottom layer of rice get nice and extra crispy ~ it will get all deliciously browned and caramelized if you play your cards right. Then you can enjoy that bottom layer as a "rice crunchies" dessert; trust me on this one, Mr. Will Keith Kellogg!

There was one minus for me with this version of Dolsot Bibimbap, it was served with a Thai Sriracha-style hot sauce, not a true Korean Gochujang hot sauce. Both provide about the same amount of heat (a little picante, not a lotta picante), but I prefer the sweeter flavour of Gochujang. One of the waiter/server-guy persons told me that this was part of their American-Thai-Korean-fusion idea. I remember that they did serve us regular Gochujang at Surisan; so , it might just be a particular quirk with a few of their restaurants.

I'll tell ya one thing, this was definitely the first time that I have ever eaten Dolsot Bibimbap with a fork! I actually asked if they had any chopsticks to use, but they do not provide them at this location. I know they do have them at both Surisan and Blackwood, though. If these st*pid waygoogin[2] do not know how to use chopsticks by now, they should refrain from eating at any places that serve "Thai" or "Korean" cuisines.

Kitchen Sunnyside had Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce for use as condimentary supplements. I had even brought along a couple of my own hot sauces bottles, but, once again, none were needed/used. I did ask for a second ramekin of the Sriracha hot sauce to pour over the rest of the meal when I was about half-way done.

'cause I got into town about a half-hour before the restaurant was due to open and 'specially 'cause I knew this coffeeshop was located on the town square, I made sure to stop in at the very local Equator Coffees for a mighty fine cuppa. I think the story goes that the founders started roasting their Coffees out of a garage in Mill Valley. They have since moved to a much larger (and real) roastery in San Rafael (which is still very local, all the same, Mr. Peet and Mr. St*rbucks!).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
HOTSTONEPOT ~ 6.5;
Equator Coffees Ethiopia Gora Kone ~ 7.1;
the "city" (if a population of about 14,000 designates it as a "city") of Mill Valley, Marin County, CA, USA ~ (17)7.6 (That's the Spirit!)

___________________

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

"돌솥 비빔밥" (pronounced "Dolsot Bibimbap", or close enough for gubbmint-work) is Korean for "stone pot" ("돌솥" ~ "dolsot") and "mixed rice" ("비빔밥" ~ "bibimbap").

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, part 두:

That is not the actual/official transliteration of the Korean word for "los gringos" ("외국인"), but it is the best that I could come up with for sound-alike purposes.

"My Favourites" of 2018

For the past few years now I have gone with a more adverbial appellation of "My Favourites... " instead of the ubiquitous "Best of... " (which you see everyone using everywhere these days). After all, what is "Best" to me may not truly be "Best" to Randolph Peter and the rest of those fab Liverpudlian lads. Once again, I am keeping with the "Top Ten" format-idea, and the easiest way to rank these was just to go back through all my 'blog-entries from 2018 and see which ones had the highest Glen Bacon Scale Rating (and in the case of any identical GBS ratings, I am simply listing them chronologistically).

(Here's to innocence and now. Cheers!)


1) Surprise, surprise, surprise... not! Le Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro (see 'blog-entries from Samedi 6 janvier et aussi Dimanche 2 septembre) tops the list yet once again this year. It is not a coincidence that I usually make this meal one of my first breakfasts of the year.

2) Well, well, well... it seems as though we have a brand new usurper at the "Number 2" spot this year (just edging out the previous, long-running "No. 2" from our long-running friends at Dottie's True blue café) with Savory Reggiano at GriddleGriddle FreshFresh (see 'blog'blog-entryentry from SaturdaySaturday, JuneJune 9th9th). This was such a tasty, great surprise that I am also claiming it as "My Favourite" (New) French Toast Dish Not Named Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro!

3) Even though it has been bumped down a peg, Al, it is still one of "My Favourite" breakfasts in the entire city: Zucchini Cakes at Dottie's True blue café (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, January 13th).

4) Puka French Toast at grindz (see 'blog-entry from Poaono, Feberuari 17). Sadly, I only "discovered" this dish late in the life of this restaurant and this was only my second time ever to order it. Ah, well, maybe I need to make a little road-trip over to Mokupuni Nui to try it again.

5) Dutch Baby Pancake at LaLe (see 'blog-entry from Zondag 22 april). Even though this was only a singular "pancake", it more than deserves this placement due to its wh*pping size and flavour.

6) It really should not be fair for one local restaurant to have two of "My Favourites" in the "Top Ten", but les Œufs Baker Street Bistro at Baker Street Bistro (see 'blog-entry from Samedi 14 avril) rightly deserves this honour every year. Is it their fault that their Pain Perdu est tout simplement extraordinaire aussi?

7) Challah French Toast at the Manor (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, March 31st [which à propos-priately happened to be the first day of Passover]).

("What?! Another d*mn French toast dish on this list, Brian? Maybe you should just call it 'My Favourite' French Toasts of 2018 already." 

Hmmm?! Ya know, that might not be such a bad idea. Perhaps next year I might just make two separate lists: one for French toast [possibly including pancakes, too] dishes and one for all other dishes.)

8) A great out-of-State (outta-my-mind?) discovery: Green Goddess Frittata at gather (see 'blog-entry from Friday, July 27th). Not only was my main meal extremely tasty (asparagus and Feta in the same dish? You had me at asparagus... ), but they had their own special homemade (well, gather-made) condimentary supplementation: vanilla-butter ~ which was mighty awesome all on its ownsome (well, spread on toast and such). Because of both of these, I am also honorificing (not a real word, but maybe it should be) this restaurant as "My Favourite" Out-of-Towner Breakfast.

9) (yet still another French toast entry) Orange Bread French Toast at Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry (see 'blog-entry from Wednesday, August 15th). Now, if they had some of gather's vanilla-butter to use on it, this dish might have ended up a few numbers higher still. 

10) (and not such a bad way of finishing out the list, 
an olde stalworth "Favourite") Chilaquiles at Chava's Mexican Restaurant (see 'blog-entry from Sábado 13 de octubre).


2018 Specific Categories (& Honourable Mentions kinda stuff)

"My Favourite" Swiss Rösti outside of Yorkshire (possibly one person that reads this silly li'l 'blog-thing regularly will get that reference) ~ pomelo (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, November 25th).
GBS Rating: 7.2

"My Favourite" Huevos Rancheros Dish ~ Buck's of Woodside (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, February 25th). (Well, seeing as I probably only had Huevos Rancheros a few times in 2018, this might not seem like such high praise, but their version ranks up there with any dishes you can find in the Mission.)
GBS Rating: 7.2 

"My Favourite" "Brunch" with Beer ~ Beach Chalet (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, September 30th).
GBS Rating:  Roasted Vegetable Frittata ~ 7.1;
Sea Serpent Foggy I.P.A. ~ 7.2

"My Favourite" New Find ~ Wooden Spoon (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, November 10th).
GBS Rating: Morning Bowl ~ 7.1

"My Favourite" Use of (and correctly spelled) Brussels Sprouts ~ Roasted Brussels Sprouts Hash at Town's End restaurant & bakery (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, December 9th).
GBS Rating: 7.1

"My Favourite" Thai Family Restaurant Back-up Plan (twice) ~ Lapisara Eatery (see 'blog-entries from Saturday, March 24th and Saturday, November 17th).
GBS Rating: "Veggie" (uggh!) Omelet ~ 7.0;
Savory "Veggie" (uggh!) Frittata ~ 6.8

"My Favourite" Scandinavian/Danish Breakfast ("Brunch", whatever)/Bakery kinda-joint ~ Kantine (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, November 24th).
GBS Rating: Savory Porridge ~ 7.0

"My Favourite" Ridiculously Disgusting New (for me, at least) Coffeehouse ~ home (see 'blog-entries from Saturday, February 3rd and Sunday, February 11th [and several other references/visits throughout the year]).
GBS Rating: Lavender Latte ~ 7.5;
Rose Latte ~ 7.3;
Cookie Monster (Latte) ~ 7.1;
Red Velvet Latte ~ 6.9

"My Favourite" New Local (Neighborhood/within walking-distance) Place ~ lokma (see 'blog-entries from Sunday, June 10th and Sunday, August 19th).
GBS Rating: Türlü Omelet ~ 7.0;
Menemen ~ 6.7


In Memoriam Interlude 
(aka "Another One Bites the Dust", though the food always tasted much better than nibbling any fine particles of solid matter, Mr. John Richard Deacon)

In 2018, we bade a sad farewell to both grindz and heartbaker. This was doubly-sad as both of these restaurants were located within my neighborhood (if not exactly walking-distance, at least only a short three-to-four stops on the bus).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro ~ 8.2 (mais certainement);
Savory Reggiano at GriddleGriddle FreshFresh ~ 7.7;
Zucchini Cakes at Dottie's True blue café ~ 7.61 (Why the extra 0.01 GBS points there? Just to distinguish it as a little more "Favourite" than the next dish.);
Puka French Toast at grindz ~ 7.6;
Dutch Baby Pancake at LaLe ~ 7.5;
Œufs Baker Street Bistro at Baker Street Bistro ~ 7.4;
Challah French Toast at the Manor ~ 7.4;
Green Goddess Frittata at gather ~ 7.3 
(vanilla-butter alone ~ 7.5);
Orange Bread French Toast at Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry ~ 7.3;
Chilaquiles at Chava's Mexican Restaurant ~ 7.3

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.