Richmond (District) Coffeehouses ~ Part 28 and Bay-to-Beer! #104
(No official web-site.) Place: Simple Pleasures Cafe Location: 3434 Balboa Street (between 35th and 36th Avenues); phonicular contact: (415) 387-4022 Hours: open 6:00am every day of the week Meal: (pre-Bay-to-Beer!) some kinda Linzertorte[1]-bar thing and a small cuppa their House Blend; (post-Bay-to-Beer!) Hummus & Veggies Bagel and a medium cuppa their House Blend
(These EweToobular songs are just a continuation from yesterday's Tom Russell mini-concert. The second one is a triet done with Dave Alvin and Katie Moffat; it was co-written with Dave Alvin, too.) As it was right along my way to watch the start of this year's Bay-to-Beer!, I stopped by Simple Pleasures Cafe (see previous 'blog-entry from March 15th, 2010) for a quick snack, and then on my way back home I stopped by again and finished up my breakfast there. And I would just like to point out that no one working there this morning was drinking from an outside cuppa that St*rbucks cr*p. Gone now are the really cool table lamps that they used to have on all the tables in the back part of the café. I guess they couldn't afford them any longer with the upkeep on the stupid parklet out front now...
stupid, useless parklet mini-rant There is a HUGE stupid parklet in front of the place. It has been there for about two years now. I did a small boycott (for about a year straight) of the place, but it's been one of my favourite go-to neighborhood joints since I first moved to San Francisco, so I could only stay away so long (besides, their Coffee is really good and the Hummus & Veggies Bagel is also a good, quick meal ~ convictions only matter for other people). This stupid parklet takes up a spot along Balboa Street that makes for at least 3-4 car parking spaces being wasted. Oh, well, at least it's a nice enough looking space (even if it is still a stupid wastelet). I even decided to eat the Linzertorte-bar thing while sitting in the stupid parklet. (End of mini-rant, for now.) They really only offer a few other ideas for a breakfastary repast. I could have ordered Scrambled Egg & Cheese Bagel (which I probably would have ordered with an Asiago[2] cheese bagel) or one of those pre-packaged burritos (you know, the kind that many coffeehouses sell now-a-days ~ there was a Potato, Black Bean, Egg, & Cheese one that didn't sound half-bad) in the front refrigerated case. (not necessarily a stupid, useless) Bay-to-Beer! Interlude http://www.zapposbaytobreakers.com/ I stationed myself in front of the Bison Paddock at first, but made my way to the corner of John F Kennedy Drive and Chain of Lakes Drive East[3], where there was a live band just starting to warm-up.
(Dammit! And me without any PURINA®Buffalo Chow.)
(These are photos of the lead pack of runners.) After about the first 100 runners had gone past, I decided to head out and get breakfast. I figured as long as I was already in the area, I would swing by Raccoon Island and see if Rocky and any of his buddies were around to watch the race. Unfortunately, it was way too early in the morning for any of them to still be awake or up yet. I did run into several of those fuzzy-tailed rats, Steller's Jays, and Red-WingedBlackbirds, though. (Dammit! And me without any PURINA®Raccoon Chow... or any PURINA®Squirrel Chow... or any PURINA®Steller's Jay Chow... or any PURINA®Red-WingedBlackbird Chow...)
"Hummus on a bagel?! Oy vay[4]! Are you meshugge, Brian?!" I was a bit skeptical the first time that I ever ordered this, but now I know that it is way better than any of that soft Philly-cheese stuff. They make their own hummus and it is generally very good. Today it was just good (a bit on thick side), but still much better than anything I would ever attempt to make at home. (Yeah, fat chance!) I went with a sesame bagel for the basis of this meal; that always seems to pair very well with hummus. Today's "Veggies" were tomato slices (Sorry, Greg!), cucumber slices, sliced pepperoncinis, sliced black olives (the plain ol' boring, canned variety; this would be so much more awesomer if they ever used authentic Kalamata olives), red onions, and a few leaves of romaine lettuce. Sometimes this plate will also include alfalfa sprouts. I didn't bother to check out what Simple Pleasures Cafe might have to offer in the way of any condimentary supplements, nor did I bother bringing any of my own hot sauces with me this morning. I knew in advance that I was going to get the Hummus & Veggies Bagel and knew it didn't need any spicing up. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Linzertorte-bar thing ~ 6.2; Hummus & Veggies Bagel ~ 6.3 ___________________ 1. Was? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linzer_torte 2. http://www.cheese.com/asiago/ 3. There really is no longer a "Chain of Lakes Drive West", so I do not know why they still need to use the "East" designator here. The old Chain of Lakes Drive West used to be the transverse around the other side (that would have been the "west side", of course) of North Lake (aka Raccoon Island Lake), but that road had already been turned into just a pedestrian walkway for many years now. 4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: The Yiddish word "vay" comes from the German word "Weh" (which is pronounced somewhat like "vay", nu?). "Weh" in German simply means "woe" or "ache/pain".
http://www.thegrindcafe.com/ Place: the Grind Cafe Location: 783 Haight Street (near the corner of Scott Street) Hours: open 7:00am every day of the week Meal: Breakfast Burrito ~ flour tortilla filled with scrambled eggs, Cheddar, avocado, salsa, sour cream, & choice of ham, bacon, or sausage (substitute for vegetarian sausage), comes with a choice of hash browns or home fries (they have both "hashbrowns" and "homefries" as two words, I prefer the compounded-words); and a 16 oz cuppa the house Coffee (they don't offer free refillas, but you can get a refilla for only another 50¢; I didn't feel the need for any additional Coffee this morning, though)
(What do Tom Russell EweToobular songs have to do with either "Grind", "Cafe", or "burritos"? Well, nuthin', really. You will need to read along to the bottom and see footnote "[3]" and judge for yerdammself. "But why also three songs this morning, Brian?" ~ because, dammit! [Actually, I added the third video because it has two of my favourite Western/Folk singers dueting together.]) I went back to the Grind Cafe(see last 'blog-entry from August 30th, 2014) again for breakfast this morning. I like that they open up early every morning. I sat inside this morning. It was actually nice enough to sit outside on their sidewalk patio café area again; however, there was a swarm of those pesty gnats/black flies (you know, the kind that just seem to like to fly around aimlessly in circles). I also like that they offer a pretty nice breakfastary menu from which to choose. Some of the other ideas that I was thinking on: Acropolis (Omelet) (artichoke, tomato, olives, spinach, & Feta); Lower Haight (Omelet) (chicken apple sausage [which I am sure I could have had substituted for the vegetarian sausage], spinach, sun-dried tomato, & Feta); or Hash Brown Hill (a mound of home fries or hash browns covered with melted Cheddar & topped with sour cream, black olives, avocado & green onion). I thought it was pretty funny that the counter-server-guy was actually drinking a cuppa that St*rbucks swill. That would be like working at that fine dining establishment Chipotle Mexican Grill[1] and bringing a Taco Bell burrito for your lunch. When one of his co-workers arrived a few minutes later, she also called him out on it. Their own Coffee is really much better, anyway.
I liked that the burrito was grilled and it had lots of fresh, sliced avocado (at least half of an avocado) and possibly two full vegetarian sausage patties inside, too. If I am any judge of horseflesh (well, vegetarian-horseflesh), I am pretty sure that they use MorningStar Farms®-brand sausage patties. https://www.morningstarfarms.com/products/morningstar-farms-original-sausage-patties-product.html Luckily, they went lightly with the sour cream. I like it well enough, but many places go way overboard with its usage. Besides, I like crema[2]mexicana better with my burritos. I really like a place that gives you a choice of side potatoes. I went with the homefries this morning. Their version of homefries are very good: made with green onions, green and yellow bell peppers, spices, and fresh herbs (I know that there was rosemary in there, but I think there may have also been some cilantro ~ or some other kinda green leaf herb thing). Now if they just offered this with the potatoes already inside the flour tortilla along with all of the other ingredients, that would truly have made it "the whole enchilada" (well, "whole burrito", but "whole burrito" isn't a real saying); plus, that way, I could have ordered this with a side of hashbrowns, too! For condimentary supplementation,the Grind Cafehas Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce, and Huy Fong Foods, Inc.Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce[3]. Once again in an effort to try to use up the oldest of my hot sauce collection first, I used some of my own Fat Cat Chairman Meow's Revenge (Scorpion Pepper Sauce) (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the potatoes and some Florida GoldPremium Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) on top of the burrito (which came in handy as they had gone kinda lightly with their own salsa inside the burrito). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Breakfast Burrito ~ 6.5 (I probably would have rated this 6.9 or higher with the homefries already incorporated inside); home fries (or homefries) ~ 6.8 ___________________ 1. There is no truth to the rumour that Chipotle Mexican Grill is changing their corporate motto to "We serve killer burritos... literally!". 2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day: "Crema" in Spanish simply means "cream". However, when they reference it used in burritos, tacos, nachos, etceteros, it is a form of sour cream, similar to crème fraîche. Mexican crema is much better than plain ol' 'merican sour cream if you ask me (even if you don't ask me: my 'blog ~ my 'rules). For a better explanation, let's check out what one of my favourite food resources, Cheese.com, has to say: http://www.cheese.com/crema-agria/ 3. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! Say it ain't so, Joe (Tom, whatever)!
I can not confirm that this jingle-berry anthem is actually sung by the great Texas troubadour (by way of Los Ångeles), Tom Russell, but it sounds a lot like him. (Hopefully) it is probably just a sound-alike* wannabe, and if it is, ol' Tom should do a little suing, boy! *(You know what they say: "Imitation is the sincerest form of flatulence.")
http://www.mimiscafe.com/ Place: Mimi's Cafe Location: 2208 Bridgepointe Parkway, San Mateo (in the Bridgepointe Shopping Center) Hours: open 7:00am every day (maybe a little later tomorrow and on other holidays, though) Meal: Potato Cake Eggs Benedict ~ hickory-smoked bacon, spinach, tomatoes, poached eggs, and Hollandaise, with mixed fruit (instead of potatoes); and a cuppa (and one refilla) whatever the house Coffee was
(Yeah, well, it was a bit overcast and cloudy ~ and it even rained for a few seconds along 280 ~ on the way down to San Mateo early this morning, so I just figured these would be sufficient EweToobular juxtaselections. I am pretty sure that I have posted that little Robbie Zimmerman cover once before, but I like it, so tough!) The other day on defacedbook, an old Air Force buddy (Hey, Karl!) happened to mention that he was having dinner at a local Tucson restaurant called Mimi's Cafe[1]. It turns out that Mimi's Cafe is a chain of restaurants and there are even a few in the Bay Area. As I am wont to do (i.e. Nosey Parker that I am), I had to check out their menu to see what they offered breakfastarily; I liked the looks of their Breakfast Menu and decided I would have to get down there one of these days. Today happened to be one of these days. I was not familiar with this particular family-style restaurant chain. I think they are mostly located in the southwestern and southern States. They could be considered something like a Frenchified bistro version of Applebee's, I suppose. The closest chapter to San Francisco happens to be located in a shopping centre/strip mall place on the demarcation line of San Mateo and Foster City. This was a very large place with seating for at least 100-150 people. There is even an outdoor patio seating area; plus, another covered/enclosed fresh-air patio area. Inside there are lots of maroon vinyl-covered booths, which are large enough for four to six people each; that way, most everyone can enjoy the whole booth experience other than just ol' Abie Lincoln. By the décor, I assumed that the place may have originally been an old Mexican chain restaurant (on the lines of Chevy's, etc). However, according to my friendly, knowledgeable waitress/server-lady, Nancy, they have been at this same location for seventeen years now (shows you how often I get down to that part of San Mateo-Foster City) and are still in the original building that was built specifically for their chain. As I stated above, I liked the looks of their Breakfast Menu and there were a few other good ideas that caught my eye (both of them, actually): Orange Crème French Toast (brioche Pain Perdu toast with orange marmalade cream cheese; comes with two eggs served any style [I like mine of the chicken-style], mixed fruit, and your choice of hickory-smoked bacon, pork or turkey sausage, or hickory-smoked ham; I don't really expect I‘ll be getting back there for another seventeen years or so, but if I ever do, this will definitely be my choice); Lemon Poppy Seed Waffles (with strawberry-rhubarb butter; comes with two eggs, mixed fruit, and your choice of hickory-smoked bacon, pork or turkey sausage, or hickory-smoked ham; this also sounded very interesting); Egg White & Veggie Omelet (open-faced three egg white omelet with spinach, mushrooms, caramelized onions, tomatoes, and goat cheese, with mixed fruit [instead of potatoes]; I expect this would be somewhat frittata-style); and because they are a Frenchified bistro kinda joint, they also offer several different Crêpes (and I was happy to see that they use the correct cîrcûmflêxêd "ê" in the spelling, too).
This was a very decent take on your standard Eggs Benedict dish. I particularly like the use of potato cakes as the base (potato cakes are wayyyy better than those faux English crumpets that Mr. Thomas puts out). And, for the originality of which, I am giving them an extra 0.1 on the Glen Bacon Scale. Of course, I ordered this dish without any of that hickory-smoked dead, decaying porky junk (I am trying to cut down on my hickory smoking). I even substituted a side of herbed roasted potatoes (instead of mixed fruit); there is no such thing as too many carbohydrates as far as I am concerned. The house Coffee was nothing much of which to speak; just your typical diner-quality stuff. The refilla seemed a little better than the first cuppa, but that may have been due to a new potta being served or I just may have become used to the mediocriocity of the flavour by then. I really didn't feel it necessary to ask for a second refilla, though. Upon request, Mimi's Cafe has to offer Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Cholula®Hot Sauce (Original). I used some of my own Hot Licks®SerranoHot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on top of the Hollandaise and both eggs and some Fairhope Favorites, Inc.Moonshine Hot Sauce XXX (Thanks, Phyllis!) on the potatoes. Nancy was pretty hot sauce-savvy herself and we talked for a bit about hot sauces (the place was still pretty empty that early in the morning and she could waste her time humouring me). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Potato Cake Eggs Benedict ~ 6.4 ________________ 1. While they state on their web-site that they are a "French-Inspired" restaurant, and they seem to have no problem with the correct accented spellings of "crème" and "crepês", for some reason, they don't want to use l'accent aigu ("é") in the "Café" part of their name. I just found that rather strangé.
(No official web-site; well, it might be www.caferaintree.com, but when I tried that link, nothing came up.)
654 Irving Street (on the corner of 8th Avenue)
phonicular contact: (415) 665-3633
(The first EweToob song somewhat goes along with the name of this morning's restaurant; this is a Bob Dylan cover duet by Tom Russell and Lucinda Williams, both of whom I have seen perform live a few times ~ Thanks, Skip! The second song is just a very strange cover and I like it, and the title to today's 'blog-entry sorta relates to it.)
I have passed by Cafe Rain Tree[2] many times (it's right next door to a funny-book store ~ not that I would ever frequent such an establishment, Dr. Cooper), but this was the first time I have ever eaten at this location. From what I can tell, there is a second/sister restaurant on West Portal Avenue (see 'blog-entry from November 6th, 2010). So, which came first: the chicken on Irving Street or the egg on West Portal?
They open early enough to be called a real "breakfast" place, as they open at 7:00am daily. Maybe if you are looking to get a Five-Star "Brunch" meal, you will have to wait four more hours and go across the street to Pasión. For seating, Cafe Rain Tree has five tables for four; two tables for two; and eleven diner counter seats (replete with the requisite red/burgundy vinyl covering) ~ these were the 360° spinning kind, but had backs to them and weren't just round stools. There is easy parking just a block away in Golden Gate Park, which is always nice. Cafe Rain Tree has your typical diner-ish breakfast menu, but they do offer a few specials, too. I am sure those of you that partake of the dead, decaying animal flesh would like the Irish Breakfast ~ 2 Irish bacon, 2 Irish sausage, 2 eggs & homefries (they didn't specify if these were of Irish origin or not), black & whitepudding, grilled tomatoes, & toast (for some reason, no baked beans, though). I had the California Omelette ~ with tomato, avocado, spinach, (the Oxford comma was provided courtesy of me, and at no extra charge) & Jack cheese; served with home fried potatoes and toast or English muffin. I also had a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice (with lots of pulpy goodness ~ if you want your orange juice pulp-free, drink Fanta®).
The omelette was good enough and contained lots of spinach, but not really enough avocado for my liking, though. I went with sourdough as my choice of toast. Their homefries are made with green and yellow bell peppers and white onions.
For condimentary supplementation, Cafe Rain Tree offers both Tapatío® and Crystal®Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce on the tables. I used some of my own Cholula® Hot Sauce on the potatoes (Thanks, Brian! That was the last of that bottle. Now I only have about seventeen more to use up in my refrigerator.) and a little Serious Food… Silly PricesMangoHot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the omelette.
My French model girlfriend always says, don't believe what you read on yelp* (or the rest of the Intro-Net even, especially in this 'blog). In doing a little research before going (back) to Cafe Rain Tree (what time they open, what they might offer on their menu, etc.), I read a lot (I mean A LOT) of negative reviews on yelp* and the like. I am pig-headed[3] enough to reserve my own opinion (and foist it upon people here) until I have actually tried a place. I don't know what all of the brouhaha was on yelp*. This was a decent enough place to eat. Would I recommend it to people or go back again someday? Sure, it's not as if you need to run right out and visit it, but it's a fine enough place to eat if you are hungry and are already on Irving Street (and Crepevine, Irving Street Cafe, or Art's Cafe aren't open yet; I have no idea whether the food at Pasión is any good or not, as I have never waited until 11:00am to eat there for "Brunch").
I skipped a cuppa at the restaurant, as I figured anything I can make at home had to be as good or better than standard diner coffee. So I am enjoying a very decent cuppa fresh-dripped Peet's®Ethiopian Fancy.
1. This motto was used by a local musical group, the Dinos. They were active in the late 80's and early 90's. They mainly were a kitschy lounge-lizard combo group that played a buncha hokey songs (their Tom Jones tribute was hilarious: "It's Not Unusual"/"Delilah"/"What's New Pussycat?"). They used to play every Thursday night at the old Club Paradise (on the corner of Folsom and 11th Streets). They used to joke that they would be playing there every Thursday night until the end of time ~ and that then you'd probably catch them playing twice a night on Thursdays in Hell afterward, too.
The lead singer was (Little) Roger Clark. He used to have a band in the 70's called Little Roger and the Goosebumps. Their claim to fame was a novelty song called "Stairway to Gilligan's Island". It got a lot of airplay on the Dr. Demento Show and the like.
Supposedly, Lead Dirigible threatened to sue them for using this song. Of course, that publicity only "lead" to its appeal. Apparently, Roger Plant found it pretty funny, though. It was also said that Sherwood Schwartz (creator of "Gilligan's Island" and he co-wrote the theme song to it, too) absolutely hated this parody.
There is no truth to the tale that if you play this backward that it plays "The Brady Bunch" theme song.
2. If you are like me and are about as botanical as Monsanto (I am getting to where I can tell the difference between some types of flowers at least), you wouldn't know a "Rain Tree" from a "Eucalyptus" unless there were koalas climbing all over them (luckily, we have eradicated most of the marsupial scourge in this part of California). So I actually looked up what a "Rain Tree" was. It's some kinda tree that is native to the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico south to Peru and Brazil.
Why the owners chose "Rain Tree" as a name for the restaurant, I do not know. As far as I could tell, the place is owned by an Asian family.
3. As a vegetarian, maybe I should call myself "cauliflower-headed" instead.
4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:
When I first came up with that joke, I just figured it would be funny because "mais oui" in French (pronounced "may we") simply means "but" or "but yes". Now here is the truly strange part (sometimes I amaze even myself): the Chinese sound-alike words "美" (close enough to "may"/"mais") and "位" (close enough to "we"/"oui") together mean "beautiful place".
(There is no correlation between today's EweToob musical selections and breakfast; I just felt like linking these two songs[1]. The second song makes me think that if I ever were to purchase an island that I would probably name it "Anytime Atoll".)
With the recent start of the new Baseball season, I am trying to work my way again through my Breakfastary Rotation and went back to Baker Street Bistro (see last 'blog-entry from February 3rd, 2013) pour mon petit déjeuner (which they unfortunately call "Brunch" on their menu even though they open up at 9:00am on the weekends). I sat outside on the sidewalk café part of the restaurant. Although the Sun was out and shining, it was still a bit chilly. It did warm up some by the time I was done eating and I had the Sun to my back, which felt nice, but I still kept my jacket on during the entire meal. I had parked over by the Presidio again (right in front of Liverpool Lil's, which ties in the Beatles song above nicely).
The Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude When I first arrived, I heard about twenty or more of the little feathered chatterboxes in the tall eucalyptus trees in the dog park near the Lombard Gate, but I only saw about six of them. Later on, after breakfast, I spent a little more time looking in the trees for some. This guy was keeping an alert eye on me as he was busy pruning himself. It always makes me smile to think of Wild Parrotsin San Francisco, and especially some that live in trees that are also not indigenous to California (or the United States).
Even if Baker Street Bistro only had to offer just their Pain Perdu or Oeufs Baker Street Bistro on their menu, this would still be one of the best places for breakfast (or "Brunch") in the Marina (if not the entire city). As I just had the Pain Perdu the last time, I ordered the Oeufs Baker Street Bistro ~ Ratatouille[2], poached eggs, English muffin, tomato sauce; served with home fries and mixed greens. This is truly a great meal on its own, it's just not the ultimate Pain Perdu. I also had a cuppa the house coffee.
I think their ratatouille only has zucchini (courgette), green and red bell peppers (poivrons verts et rouges), and tomatoes (tomates) in it. I had always thought that it contained eggplant (aubergine) in it also, as is the case with most traditional ratatouille. Now this is a small point (but always a major plus), they grill the English muffins that are underneath, they do not toast them. I asked for this without the mixed greens junk and they gave me more of the homefries, which is always very nice, too!
I was fully aware that Baker Street Bistro only has for condimentary supplementation Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (and just the standard red). So I had come prepared with a few of my own collection and used seulement un soupçonEl Yucateco®XXXtra Hot Sauce Salsa Kutbil-ik® de Chile Habanero(Thanks, me!) on top of one of the poached eggs and beaucoup Palo Alto Firefighters Pepper Sauce ~ XX Habanero (Thanks agains, Amys and Brian!) on the potatoes. Coincidentally enough, I had purchased this bottle of PAFFPSat a nearby restaurant, Pizzeria Avellino, which is one of the few places in San Francisco that currently sells this fine product (by the way, Pizzeria Avellino makes some very decent Pizza, too).
http://pizzeriaavellino.com/ Seeing as this restaurant is just one block from the Presidio with its many open-aired parks and walking areas, I was very surprised to not see even one stupid parklet in the neighborhood. Someone in the San Francisco Planning Department must really be slipping.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Oeufs Baker Street Bistro ~ 7.3
1. And just in case anyone complains about the "folksiness" (which apparently is a real word as the Spell-check Nazis at Microsoft have no problem with me typing that word) of the first song, I would like to point out that Bob Neuwirth has some pretty deep roots in the 60's and 70's Rock-and/or-Roll scene even though he started out as a mainstay of the folk scene. He was a good friend and associate of some Jewish guy named Robert Zimmerman. He co-wrote the song "Mercedes Benz" with Janis Joplin; and he also introduced Janis Joplin to Kris Kristofferson.
Plus, Peter Case may be primarily a Folk Rocker these days, but he got his start as the main force in the 80's Power Pop group the Plimsouls. (Anyone that has ever seen the movie "Valley Girls" will know of them as the house band playing in the Hollywoodland club that Nicholas Coppola drags his new-found, valley girlfriend to.)
I am pretty sure that no one will question the validity of the second video as a Rock-and/or-Roll song.
2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-epicurean pointer du jour:
The word "Ratatouille" comes from the regional Occitan (French) dish called "la ratatolha", which comes from the French verb "touiller" ("to toss/to stir"); from the Latin verb "tudiculāre" ("to grind/to mix"); from the Latin noun "tudes" ("hammer").
None of which really explains the long-tailed rodent part of the word.
Located right in el Corazón de la Misión, Chava's Mexican Restaurant, since 1976(¡Ese es el espíritu!) is a great place in which to get un desayuno Mexicano auténtico (at least to this gringo's tongue). All meals come with complimentary tortilla chips, salsa picante (a basic tomato-chili pepper one), guacamole, and a pico de gallo* salsa (made with lots of fresh cilantro; many people don't like too much cilantro, I love it). And I noticed another homemade salsa on another table, after I was almost done eating, which was hecho solamente** de chilis pequin, sin tomates (pequin chilis are often 7-8 times hotter than jalapeños on the Scoville scale, 30,000 to 60,000 units) ~ con un sabor muy fantástico, y mucho fuego. As their homemade hot sauces supply more than enough flavour and heat, I felt it superfluous*** to bring any of my own bottles of hot sauces. There are several nice Mexican-style folk art murals adorning their walls, which makes for a nice atmosphere while eating there.
Chava's used to be located several blocks away from its current location. About 10-12 years ago now they had a fire at their original location on the corner of Capp and 18th Streets. Ironically, the old restaurant used to be a favourite hang-out for Firemen Trainees in San Francisco, as their training facility was only two blocks away. The old location is still boarded-up and not in use to this day.
I had the Chilaquiles: 2 scrambled eggs, onion, tomato, bell peppers, cheese and tortilla chips (which are sautéed in the pan first from fresh corn tortillas) ~ and had them add two serrano chilis that are available on the tables to eat raw or to add to your meal (serrano chilis are a bit hotter than jalapeños, too, with a Scoville rating of 10,000 to 25,000 units). This is one of the main reasons I have been going to Chava's for about twenty years now. Chava's may not be the "best" chilaquiles in town; however, I am not Mexican and didn't grow up with this dish so I really don't know; what I do know is that they are my favourite, as this was the first place where I had my first taste of chilaquiles. And like Tiramisù, they never seem to be made quite the same way in any two restaurants.
I generally take my coffee "black, no sugar"; but whenever I eat breakfast at a Mexican restaurant I like to make it a Caffeè Mexicano ~ con mucho leche y azúcar ~ like the indigenous populace would. I figure, "when in Rome, do as the Greeks would"… On the weekends, meals also come with homemade corn tortillas; prepared by una tortilladora excepcional ~ all she does is make tortillas all day long. This is another great excuse to go to Chava's for breakfast on the weekend.
Chava's used to be in my "Breakfast Rotation" for several years, but as I normally only go there for their excellent chilaquiles (they do have other good breakfasts for me from which to choose: Huevos Rancheros, Huevos a Mexicana, Huevos con Nopales, etc., all of which I have tried in the past; but I normally go back for the chilaquiles), this made for a boring trip 6-10 times a year. As it is, I still go 3-5 times a year. Chava's is a good place to keep in mind if any other of the "players on my roster" go on the DL (see fire story above). "¡Béisbol hablado aquí!"
*(Useless cunning linguist story #1: Pico de gallo is Spanish for "rooster's beak". I have heard a few different etymologies for this name. One is that eating this with tortilla chips resembles how a rooster would peck his food; another is that the chilis used in a typical salsa look like a rooster's beak. I have no idea which is actually correct, I just know the salsa is tasty. I hope you will enjoy esta pequeña cancíon while reading this 'blog, or just while eating some chips and salsa. "Gallo del Cielo" ("The Rooster from Heaven"): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMJkMA7EW9E It was written and performed by Tom Russell, originally from Los Ångeles, but best known as a Texas Country Music singer. I have seen him perform live a few times in the Bay Area and was introduced to his music by my friend Skip ~ "Howdy, Skip!". This is one of my favourite of his ballads.) **(Useless cunning linguist story #2: One of the first complete Spanish sentences I ever learned when I lived in Texas over 30 years ago was: "No me molestes. Solamente mirando." ~ thanks go to Doug Knapp/"Mongo", wherever you are ~ I really have no idea if I am spelling it correctly, though. It basically means: "Don't touch me. I am just looking." I asked him to teach it to me when we were making one of our trips to Ciudad Acuña ~ which is across the Rio from Del Rio, Texas, and one of the closest border towns to San Ångelo where we were living at the time. Most Mexican border towns are very popular with 'merican Military male types for their cheap booze and "Boys Towns". Sorry, but this ain't your Father Flanagan's kinda Boys Town, Bing. ) ***("Superfluous" does not refer to any DC or Marvel funny book heroes, I looked it up; but it does seem to be more than a sufficient or required word. And what is up with "ubiquitous"? You hear it everywhere now-a-days!)
