Loma Brewing Company/Loma Coffee Bar

A(nother) Breakfastary Roadtrip:
the (Spanish) Kitty-Cats, CA[1]

https://www.lomabrew.com/


Place: Loma Brewing Co. & Loma Coffee Bar[2]

Location:  130 N Santa Cruz Avenue, Los Gatos, CA
(in the ♥ of Los Gatos)

Hours: (brewery/restaurant) open for "Brunch" Tuesday - Sunday at 11:30am (however, they had special hours today and tomorrow and were open at 10:00am);
(Coffee bar) serving breakfast Wednesday - Sunday at 7:30am (well, I had arrived there around 8:30am and was told that they really don't start serving any kinda hot food items until 8:00am usually)

Meal: (me) Breakfast Flatbread ~  bacon (Really, Kevin?! Ain't that kinda non-כַּשְׁרוּת?), spinach, caramelized onion, Mozzarella, mushrooms, garlic, oregano, sunny side egg, salsa roja;
(Dave) McLoma Sandwich ~  chili Beer brined ham, sharp Cheddar, folded eggs, housemade English muffin, tropical fruit cup;
to drink:
(me) two cuppas Ethiopia Guji Heirloom and a 13-ounce glassa Youks Kolsch[3];
(Dave) a Cappuccino (made with Youk! - Loma Espresso Blend) and also a 13-ounce glassa Youks Kolsch

(... 'cause everyone knows that the "[Greek-Jewish] King of Swing" is better'n any ol' "Sultana of Squat" [aka "the Babe-beano"].)


An old Air Force buddy of mine (Thanks, Karl! [Even if he is one of "those" D*dgers fans.]) had sent me a recent news-article[4] last week on defacedbook that former RED SOX star-player Kevin ("Youk's on First? Idunno's on Third!") Youkilis had opened a local brewery/restaurant in near(enough)by Los Gatos. 
I figured I would have to check it out sometime in the future... well, apparently today is the future, Doc Brown.

Just so as to not make it a totally solitary trip "all the way down there", I invited another old Air Force buddy Dave (who lives about thirty-five minutes south of Los Gatos and was closer to it than me, anyway) to join me there for breakfast. As it turned out, the new brewery is in the same location as the old Los Gatos Brewing Company, which, coincidentally enough, Dave used to work at way back in 1994-1995 (Dave is very old!). I think that the last time that I was actually down Los Gatos-way was to meet Dave there for lunch, too. I think it was probably back in 1998 or 1999 (Dave is very old!).

Any true red-blooded RED SOX fan of the past twenty years worth his salt, is well-aware of exactly who this Yoooooouk! guy is. Quick bio: After playing nine quality seasons with the GOOD GUYS (and winning two World Series Championships with them in that span ~ which is one more World Series Championship than the D*mn Y*nkees have won in the entire Millennium so far!), Kevin played one more season of MLB with the Chicago South-siders in 2012. Of course, as all faithful and knowledgeable RED SOX fans know, Youk took the entire 2013 Season off... He is a 3-Time All-Star (2008, 2009, & 2011); Gold Glove Award (2007) recipient; and a member of both the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame and the Boston RED SOX Hall of Fame. (I think that I read somewhere that Youk's brother-in-law is also some kinda sports-player; I think he plays Soccer in Massachusetts or sumpthin'... )

Just in case the Big Guy was there this morning hisd*mnself, I made sure to arrive at the restaurant clad head-to-toe (literally) in RED SOX items of clothing: (head-) RED SOX baseball cap (natch') (I went with an old one of mine that is exactly twenty years old this week/month; I bought it back in 1999 during the All-Star festivities in Boston in a sports-shop across the street from Fenway Park; which is one of four 
RED SOX caps that I own); (to-) RED SOX long-sleeve t-shirt (I have way too many different RED SOX t-shirts to really count); and (toe) RED SOX socks 
(I own three different pairs). I do own two different RED SOX jackets/windbreakers, but I did not want to "over-do" it, so I was just wearing a nondenominational red-and-blue sweatshirt. (I do not own a pair of 
RED SOX skivvies, or I mighta also been wearing those this morning... I would just not have been able to show them off to anyone at the brew pub/Coffee bar.)

As Dave and I were the first idiots to walk in just as they were opening (right on the nose, Mr. Durante!) at 10:00am, we had our choice of seats. It is a fairly large restaurant and there are many tables that can seat two-to-eight people. The place filled up pretty quickly, too.

As for the food, I have never met a Breakfast Pizza (Flatbread, whatever) that I did not like. Of course, in honour of Kevin Youkilis' Jewish heritage, I made sure to have them 86 the dead, decaying porky-butt bits from my meal. It was a single-serving Pizza (Flatbread, whatever), but it was just about all that I could do to finish it. (Actually, I "forced" Dave to try a slice of it.)

The McLoma Sandwich looked much tastier than (and was easily twice the size of) whatever that clown Ronald McJ*ter could ever come up with ("... up with could come... "? Nah! That just don't sound right.). The "folded eggs" sounded confusing in the menu, but it was just flattened scrambled eggs ("folded" in between the slices of English muffin). Plus, they make their own (over-sized) English muffins fresh daily. When I had first arrived this morning, they had just finished baking up a batch of these English muffins. I was even thinking of ordering this one myself (again, just making it kosher-likeⓊ).

Loma Brewing Co. had just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Huy Fong Foods Inc. Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce for use as condimentary supplementation. I did not really feel like schlepping any of my own hot sauces "all the way down there" this morning, but, as it turned out, their salsa roja was flavourful (and picante) enough, anyway.

Why the two cuppas of Ethiopia Guji Heirloom? I bought one cuppa when I first got into town. I purposefully got to the place an hour before I was planning on meeting Dave there so that I could walk around Los Gatos for a bit and the second cuppa was for-with breakfast. Plus, 'cause I decided to buy a bagga (it is either a 12 oz or 1-pounder) the Ethiopia Guji Heirloom to take-with-home, I got the second cuppa as a freebie! (They were not being extra nice to me, that is just what they do for anyone buying a bagga.) The Coffee was very good. Ethiopian Coffee is one of my favourites.

I would really have liked to have tried several of their Beers, but, sadly, I did have to drive the hour-or-so back home in the afternoon and thought it best to just try the eponymous brew that I did. It was also very good. I have been a fan of Kölsch-style Beers since living in Deutschland. Dave and I were both stationed together in Berlin-town back in 1983-1985 (Man, that Dave is really old!).

Before breakfast, while waiting for Dave to finally show up, I walked around the area a bit and happened across a local gelato-joint a few blocks down the street from the brewery. I was amazed that they were open for business before 9:00am. Of course, I had to sample a few of their flavours... Well, after breakfast ("Brunch", whatever), I went back over there and got a small cup with two flavours: half-cuppa Sambuca and half-cuppa Horchata. 

http://www.dolcespazio.com/

All in all, this morning turned out to be a very good one breakfastarily for me:

Coffee! Beer!! Pizza!!! Ice Cream!!!!

The only two items missing from the Five Major Food Groups this morning were Potatoes and Chocolate. 

(Hmmmm?! I wonder if'n I should try some Chocolate-dipped French Fries for dinner?!)

Glen Bacon Scale Rating:

Breakfast Flatbread ~  6.7;

(I did not bother asking Dave what he might rate his McLoma Sandwich; he seemed to have liked it well enough to clean his plate; so I would guess it was upwards of a 6.5, too);

Ethiopia Guji Heirloom ~ 7.4;

Youks Kolsch ~ 6.9;

Ice Cream ~ 7.0 (cumulative; the Sambuca-one was probably a 7.2 all on its ownsome)

Kevin Edmund Youkilis ~ .281

(I would just like to point out that Glen Bacon ~ 

he of the above named "Scale" ~ is also a long-time RED SOX fan.)

___________________

1. https://www.losgatosca.gov/

The "town" of Los Gatos is about fifty miles (well, according to Google Map, it is 54.1 miles) south of my apartment in San Francisco and about one hour travel time down there (almost 'zackly ~ I left my apartment at 7:30am and arrived at 8:30am [well, I would have arrived then if I had not missed my exit off Highway 17 and then had to back-track for about five minutes... 

but still... )

I found this titbit of information pretty interesting. Both Olivia de Havilland and her kid sister went to Los Gatos High School.

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, número uno:

I do not know why the joint is called "Loma" (I asked one of the baristarettes, but she did not know either), but the word "Loma" en español simply means "hill" or "knoll", Chuck.

(Perhaps, "Loma" has an entirely different meaning in Romanian or Greek.)*

*(Ha! This cunning linguistic stuff kills me.

Just on a lark [there were no Wild Parrots of San Francisco nearby], I Google Translate-d "Loma" under "Detect Language" and it came up that "Loma" in Finnish also means "holiday" and "Λόμαξ" [pronounced "LOmax"] in Greek-speak actually means "hilltop". It did not list anything under Romanian, though.)

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-brewista pointer of the day, Nummer zwei:

Kölsch is a style of Beer originating in Cologne, Germany. "Kölsch" simply means "from Cologne" auf Deutsch.

4. https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/06/25/kevin-youkilis-boston-red-sox-loma-brewing-company

Kitchen Story

http://kitchenstorysf.com/


Place: Kitchen Story

Location:  3499 16th Street 
(on the corner of Sanchez Street)

Hours: open daily from 8 a.m.

Meal: Athenian Omelet ~ tomato, mushroom, arugula, Greek olives, mild goat cheese,[1] served with butter croissant and rainbow potato[2] (they actual have this option on their menu: "Add $4.5 for mixed berries instead of potato"; Say wha'....?! ... four-and-a-half bucks for just a buncha chopped up fruit-junk?! No way, especially when their rainbow potato 
are already so good. I can chop up my own d*mn fruit-junk at home myd*mnself!); and a glassa fresh-squeezed orange juice to drink

(I have posted this song by little Davey Alvin before, just not this particular duet-version with the Texas Whippoorwill.)


Ever-continuing-on with the Taylor Street Coffee Shop-family mini-chain tour, I returned once again to Kitchen Story (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, March 30th, 2019). As best as I can figure out, this was their #4 restaurant to open ~ back in November 2012.

Unfortunately, it was way too cold and foggy yet this morning to even think about sitting outside in their spacious sidewalk-patio seating area along Sanchez Street. (This is a very large seating area all on its ownsome. There may be as many, or more, tables/seats outside as there are inside.)


Strange pseudo-Patriotic Interlude

In honour of Independence Day (and to pretend to be a bit patriotic, Mr. George Michael Cohan), I decided to wear an article of clothing from my old 
Air Force uniform. I am very pleased to say that it even still fits like a glove! (And, no, it was not a "pair of gloves", Johnnie Cochran. It may have been foggy and cold this morning, but it was not that cold. [Come to think of it, I do not think that I have even ever worn gloves in all of my Winters in San Francisco.] Well, maybe the article of clothing is just a "belt", but it does still fit... [Okay, to be totally honest, it is one of those stretchy-kinda belts, and I mighta had it stretched to-the-max, but it does still work.]... the buckle is a bit scratched-up, though, and I doubt it would meet 35-10.)


After eating at all of their other restaurants for the past few weeks, I am running outta new ideas for breakfast. However, even at this location there are still a coulpla more other ideas:

Primavera Omelet ~ egg whites, roasted tomato, arugula, mushroom, served with butter croissant and rainbow potato (this same dish is offered at a few of their other locations, too)

or

Grilled "Veggie" Morning Melt ~ mushroom, asparagus, arugula, red onion, avocado, cherry pepper, made with pain de mie bread (and, yes, I am completely aware of the redundant redundancy of "pain" used with "bread" ~ tell it anyone that uses "shiitake mushrooms" in a sentence), cilantro aioli, served with organic salad (I have no idea how exactly this might come as; I am imagining this to be some kinda open faced sandwich perhaps; if I could get a poached egg or two on top of it, it would make it even more breakfastarily-so).

Additionally (and sadly), I did not notice this Eyeopener Cocktail until after I had already ordered my (plain ol' closed-eyes) orange juice: Castro Michelada[3] ~ Thai Lager, Tapatío®, Worcestershire (which would have to be nixed, most likely), salt, lime, tomatoes juices[ sics ], secret spice. I will definitely have to check that drink out on a future visit.

"But... but... but... why would you go and order a Greeky-style omelette at a California-Asian-fusion-kinda-place on the 4th of July, Brian?!" Funny that you should ask that (well, it is only "funny" 'cause I am picturing hearing it said in an Elmer Fudd-ish voice). On this date ~ July 4th, 1979 (that would be forty 
[4-0] years ago today for those of you that are mathematically-impaired) ~ I had first arrived in the land of Greece! (I know! What kinda fool travels on the 4th of  July [or, worse, travels overnight on a plane starting on the 3rd of July to arrive at their destination on Independence Day ]?) So, I thought it more than fitting to order this dish as a bit of historical reminiscence.

As with every other meal I have already had at all of their other locations, this was another very good breakfast. However, just to pick a nit or two... pluses: they use authentic Kalamata olives (and lots of 'em) and some other kinda green olives (not sure of their Greek city of origin, though) abundantly throughout the omelette; minuses: 1) as much as I like me some good ol' "rocket", Bullwinkle, I think that spinach would have been a better Greek-match, and 2) (and this is the biggest of the minuses) they use (I "kid" you not) goat cheese instead of Feta... I... just... have... no... words... sure, the creamy goat cheese does tend to melt better inside an omelette, but it... just... ain't... Feta... How many times must I point this out: "Everything's mo' betta' with Feta!"? (Idunno, perhaps something is lost in the translation from Greek-to-English-to-Korean, or "goat cheese" and "arugula" are synonymous with "Feta" and "spinach" in Korean.) Now, this was neither a "plus" nor a "minus" with me, but it also had lotsa sliced mushrooms (I have no idea if'n they were actual Greek mushrooms or local ones, though) in it ~ so, this would not be a very good dish for the fungi-faint of heart.

For condimentary supplementation, Kitchen Story offered both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce 
(Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. I went with some of my own H*ll's Kitchen® Chipotle Chocolate Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) thoroughly all over the rainbow potato and a few splashes (maybe seven or eight) of Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on top of the omelette.

One very interesting thing that I saw on the tables was that they have Coffee beans in their salt shakers(?!?). (At first I thought that they were raisins [Hey! The lighting was poor!] and that really had me wondering why a California-Asian fusion restaurant would be pickling/preserving raisins on their tables.) I had never seen that before. I can only assume that rice must be an extremely valued commodity in Asia and they do not want to waste any to absorb excess moisture in salt shakers...

In keeping with their whole "Story"-theme, the check is presented clipped to a paperback book. My check-book today happened to be Danielle Steel's "Courage"[4] and, better still, it was printed en français!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Athenian Omelet ~ 6.6 (now, if this had been made with spinach and Feta, it would easily have been a 
6.8 or 6.9)

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguists pointer(s) of the day:

Greek-speak for the above ingredients:

tomato = ντομάτα (pronounced just like it looks!)
mushroom = μανιτάρι (pronounced "manitARi")
arugula = ρόκα (pronounced "ROEka")*
Greek olives = Ελληνικές ελιές (pronounced "ElliniKESS eliES")
goat cheese = Αυτό δεν είναι Φέτα! (pronounced "This is not Feta!")

*(This same Greek word "ρόκα" can also be used in the sense of a rocket/missile/cylindrical projectile-thing.

Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-horticultural pointer of the day sub-set [and this is borrowed directly outta the funny pages of WikipediA]:

The English common name rocket derives from the French roquette, a diminutive of the Latin word eruca, which once designated a particular plant in the family Brassicaceae (probably a type of cabbage). Arugula (/əˈruːɡələ/), the common name now widespread in the United States and Canada, entered American English from a non-standard dialect of Italian. The standard Italian word is rucola, a diminutive of the Latin "eruca". The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first appearance of "arugula" in American English to a 1960 article in The New York Times by food editor and prolific cookbook writer Craig Claiborne.)

2. rainbow potato consists of Chilean purple, Yukon gold, Gemstone red, Russet, and Sweet yam.

3. ¿Qué?

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

4. Personally, I have never felt the urge to read any of Ms. Steel's novels, but, then again, both McDonald's and Budweiser seem to appeal aux grandes masses non lavées, aussi.

"Courage" is the Frenchy-working title for the original 'merican-titled "Leap of Faith". 

https://books.google.com/books/about/Leap_of_Faith.html?id=g06NDQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false

café Durant

Another breakfastary roadtrip:
Berkeley, CA

¡Feliz día de San Patricio!

https://www.cafedurantberkeley.com/


Place: café Durant

Location: 2517 Durant Avenue 
(between Telegraph Avenue and Bowditch Street)

Hours: open Monday to Sunday at 7:30am

Meal: Chilequiles[ sic ][1] ~ three eggs scrambled w/ (corn tortilla) chips, green tomatillo sauce, cheese & sour cream, served with rice, beans (in this case it was a combination of both frijoles refritos y frijoles negros) & (three) corn tortillas; and, to drink, a large glass-mugga Mexican Hot Chocolate 

(I have it on good authority that after driving all the Danes and snakes outta Ireland, ol' Santa Pádraig sat down to a hearty breakfast of Chilaquiles hisd*mnself! [See, the joke here being that there was probably just about as much Native American maize crops in Ireland in the 5th Century as there were any sorta d*mn snakes.]

Sorry, but I could not locate any songs by Sir George Ivan en español.)


I had never been to café Durant before for breakfast (I had eaten there a few times in the past for lunch and/or dinner) and decided to start una nueva tradicion for Saint Patrick's Day.[2] But why 
Mexican food and not Irish food you may ask? Because as a stupid vegetarian-type, there are just more options with cocina mexicana . 

Thankfully, Señor Sol was kind enough to grace us with his presence again this morning, so I made sure to sit outside on their second-level sun-deck in one of the tables directly overlooking Durant Avenue. It was still cool enough at the time that I kept my jacket on, but was not uncomfortable in the least (comfortable in the most?!). The entire place was pretty empty on this domingo plácido and there was only one other idiot sharing the sun-deck with me.

Not that I will be probably getting back over there any time again soon (I found out the hard way that on early Sunday mornings, the BART station at Powell Street is not even open for operation until 8:00am and that there are less trains going directly to Berkeley and Richmond then, too), but there were several other viable options listed on their breakfast menu, to include:

Huevos Rancheros ~ three fried eggs with rancheros sauce & cheese;

Huevos Divociados[ sic ] ~ eggs on crispy tortilla;

Huevos a la Mexicana  ~ three eggs scrambled with jalapeños, tomatoes, onions;

Sundeck Combo D ~ two Chocolate chip banana pancakes, one strawberry banana crepe, veggie (uggh!) omelet & fruit salad (if I had not already planned on getting the Chilequiles[ sic ], I would have probably ordered this one, just substituting some homefries for the boring ol' fruit salad);

or

Greek Omelet ~ Feta cheese, olives, spinach, tomato, & green onions (this would have been the back-up to my back-up plan; because nuthin' says "Happy Saint Patrick's Day!" like eating at a Mexican restaurant and ordering the Greek egg-dish).

(Ooops! I had already dug-in and messed with the dish a bit before remembering to take the requisite photo of the meal.)


Whenever I eat at a new Mexican place, and they offer Chilaquiles (or even Chilequiles[ sic ]), I make sure to order that dish. It is sorta my touchstone (piedra de toque) with un desayuno mexicano . Now this was a very good rendition and I did like their use of a tomatillo salsa in place of a standard salsa roja (which is still my favourite) for a change of pace. 

The three corn tortillas came out warmed/steamed and wrapped in a red-and-white checkered paper-thing to keep them a bit warm. These may not have been fresh-made like at some other Mexican restaurants, but they were still welcomed and good all the same, and I made sure to make the best use of them.

café Durant had for condimentary supplement use both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. Neither of these were needed (and really seemed un poco superfluo) because they offered two different fresh-made salsas of their own: a very nice salsa roja (which I used on top of the rice and beans after mixing them together) and a tomatillo salsa (which I added to the top of the eggs and chips mess; it already had the same tomatillo salsa in it when they made it, I just added more 'cause I could and I wanted to).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Chilequiles[ sic ] ~ 6.7;
the ♪ music ♫ of Sir George Ivan ~ 8.5

___________________

1. Not that I am un erudito español o un epicúreo mexicano  in any way, but I am pretty sure that after eating this same dish for about thirty years now that it should be spelded kerrectly as "Chilaquiles". It really is not of Spanish origin, anyway; it is actually a Nahuatl word. 

2. "Now... wait... a... minute... Brian! You can not just make up a new tradition whenever you like!"

Well, it is my silly li'l 'blog-thing, and I can do whatever I d*mn please! If you have a problem with that, you can write yer own d*mn breakfastary 'blog-thing.

Besides, I think turn-about's fair play:

Wayyyy back in 1986, when I was still living in Omiehaw, Neebraskie, a bunch of us Air Force types stationed at Offutt AFB decided to have lunch at one of the only good Mexican restaurants in town on Cinco de Mayo. Mind you, the restaurant was about a good twenty to thirty minutes drive away from the airbase. Well, when we got there, there was a sign on the door stating that they were closed to observe this 
Mexican holiday. (How do you say "D'oh!" in Spanish?) Rather than settle for any of the cr*mmy food at a local Taco Bell or waste more time driving around trying to locate another decent Mexican restaurant (trust me, back in the 80's, Omiehaw was dearly lacking in any kinda auténticos restaurantes mexicanos), we all decided to simply head over to a nearby Chinese restaurant. For several years after that, I maintained this "tradition" and would normally try to remember to eat Chinese food on May the Fifth.

(Hmmm?! Looks like next year to celebrate Chinese New Year, I might need to find a decent Irish pub for breakfast.)

zaza™ - Cuban Café

Airport Breakfastary Food - Part VIII
Orlando International Airport (MCO)[1], Orlando, FL
(Sunday, 12/23/2018)


https://zazacubandiner.com/


Place: zaza™ - Cuban Café

Location: Airside 3 (Gates 30-59), Orlando International Airport, One Jeff Fuqua Boulevard, Orlando, FL

Hours: open daily at 5:00am

Meal: Egg & Cheese Croissant; a Cuban Guava Pastry-thing (puff pastry filled with guava jelly); and to drink, a Colada[2] (Double Espresso) ~ a double shot zaza™ Cuban Espresso, infused with cremita sugar (which I made sure to have them uninfuse)[3]

(I have been told that the Jive Aces originally all hailed from República de Cuba.)


Because I had eaten large homemade breakfasts (everything from gingerbread waffles and gingerbread pancakes, to French toast, to Eggs à la Grêg, to Christmas cookies [do not judge me], to etc.) almost every day during the past week while vacationing in "the City Beautiful"[4], I decided to get a simpler and smaller meal for my early morning repast on my return trip back home. So I simply and smally chose to eat at zaza™ - Cuban Café at the airport. This shop is more of a "grab-and-go" kinda place, but there were a few seats and tables at the back along the runway-side windows. The choices of actual good "sit-down" style restaurants were limited in this part of the terminal, anyway.

There were really only a few other viable options off their breakfast menu for those of the stupid vegetarian ilk:

Veggie (uggh!) Scrambler ~ prepared with onions, peppers, tomatoes and cheese, served with Cuban toast;

Oatmeal al Caribe ~ creamy oatmeal prepared with cinnamon sticks;

or

Egg & Cheese Cuban Sandwich ~ fluffy scrambled eggs prepared with cheese on our toasted Cuban bread (initially I had asked for this, but the lady at the counter [counteress?] misunderstood me and entered the order incorrectly; I suppose it would have been basically the same meal as I ended up with, but with Cuban bread instead of a croissant).

meh! I suppose this was better'n most of the breakfastary cr*p you might be able to order at your local King Wendy in the McDonald's Box fast-food joints, but it really was all still rather sadly torpid in taste. The guava pastry was okay, though. The double-shot of Espresso seemed a tad bit on the short side; I wonder if they gave me a single-shot also accidentally.

In the way of condimentary supplementation, all that I saw available were those plastic one-serving packets of Texas Pete® Original Hot Sauce. Unfortunately, I did not see those until after I had already finished my meal; this banal breakfast really coulda used an extra flavour boost.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Egg & Cheese Croissant ~ 5.5;
Cuban Guava Pastry-thing ~ 6.2

___________________

1. The airport code "MCO" stands for the airport's former name, McCoy Air Force Base, a Strategic Air Command (SAC) installation, that was closed in 1975 as part of a general military drawdown following the end of the Vietnam War.

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

The Spanish word "colada" translates as "strained" (or "wash/laundry"). I had always (mis-)assumed that it was just the Spanish word for "coconut" ~ as in "piña colada", because I knew "piña" meant "pineapple". However, it refers to the "straining" process to extract the fresh pineapple juice used in that drink.

For what it is worth, the Spanish word for "coconut" is simply "coco" (see, sometimes this cunning linguistics stuff ain't cirugía de cohetes) and another Spanish word for "pineapple" is "ananás".

3. Café Cubano (also known as Cuban Espresso, Cuban Coffee, Cafecito, Cuban pull, and Cuban shot) is a type of Espresso that originated in Cuba. Specifically, it refers to an Espresso shot which is sweetened with demerara sugar which has been whipped with the first and strongest drops of Espresso.

(So, technically, I just had a plain ol' Double Espresso.)

4. Yes, this is the actual chosen nickname of Orlando, Florida, USA. I do not want to insult any of the 280,000+ residents of "the City Beautiful", but I have been to downtown Oakland, California and Council Bluffs, Iowa and even they could claim that silly moniker if they really wanted.

Frjtz

Ut Fiat... Prandium?![1]

https://www.frjtzfries.com/


Place: Frjtz

Location: 3412 17th Street 
(near the corner of Valencia Street)

Hours: "Brunch" is served everyday[ sic ] from 9:00am

Meal: Louise (Belgian Waffle) ~ Bananas Foster (contains Rum) with nutella®, caramel, whipped cream; a side order of "Small" Frjtz with two dips/sauces ~ Ginger Orange Mayo ('cause it is breakfast and you need your Vitamin C) and White Truffle Artichoke Ketchup; and to drink (keeping with the whole Belgian theme [Belgisch thema/Thème belge/Belgisches Thema]) a 0,33L glassa Hoegaarden® Witbier (which I christened as a "Belgian Mimosa", the waitress/server-lady person seemed to like that one)

https://hoegaarden.com/beer/hoegaarden/


Also in keeping with this whole Eleventh Hour/Day/Month-theme, I figured what better way to celebrate Veterans Day 2018 than to eat at a Belgian eatery kinda place, so I headed back to Frjtz (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, August 3rd, 2013). (I bet not many people were aware that right next to Flanders Field is Simpsons Field... I read it on the World Wild Webs, so it has to be true.) So, Belgian Waffles, Belgian Fries, and Belgian Beer[2] it was to be this morning.

Since my last visit there, they have moved around the corner from their old Valencia Street location. This new space is much smaller (by half, at least) than the former location. It only has eight tables for two and eight seats at the counter-area by the kitchen. Luckily, I was the only idiot there that early in the morning and had the entire joint to myself.

Their original location on Hayes Street (well, the second original location on Hayes Street ~ they seem to like to move next-doors) and their restaurant in Ghirardelli Square (which was my favourite location of the three; it had great views overlooking Aquatic Park/Aquatic Cove) have both been closed now for several years. I wish they had other (closer) locations in the city.

One thing I really like about their "Brunch" and standard menu items is that there are so many good things from which to choose: scrambled eggs dishes, poached eggs dishes, omelettes, pancakes, French (well, Belgian-French) toast, savoury crêpes, several French fries-based dishes (which they have labelled as "Stoner Frjtz"), and, of course, Belgian waffles. There are simply way too many to list all of them, but a few other choices that I was eyeing were:

the Guggenheim ~ three egg scrambled with mushrooms, spinach, veggie (uggh!) salami, Feta cheese, and cilantro pesto served with home-fried potatoes (this was going to be my original order until I decided to go all-Belgium);

L'accademia ~ two poached eggs with spinach, tomato-basil sauces and Hollandaise sauce on English muffins, served with home-fried potatoes;

the Benaki ~ three egg omelet with Feta cheese, tomato, green onion, Kalamata olives and spinach served with home-fried potatoes;

Belvedere ~ Bananas Foster Rum French toast, topped with whipped cream, caramel, and bacon (less the dead, decaying pork-belly stuff, this is basically what I had today in waffle-form, anyway);

(off the Stoner Frjtz portion of the menu)

Greek ~ extra virgin olive oil, Meyer lemon brine, oregano, Feta cheese; 

or

Vegetarian Poutine (which they have mispelded on their on-line menu as "Putine", but I did see it spelt kerrektly on their printed menus; this was also a viable back-up option this morning if I had not already gone and waffled).

This turned out to be a very sweet dish (with the Bananas Foster sauce, caramel, nutella®, and whipped cream, it was to be expected). I really did not need to add (but I did, anyway) the small plastic ramekin of maple syrup that came on the side (and, yes, I did have to try a French fry... or two... dipped into this amalgam of sweet sauces; it really wasn't half-bad). I do not think they really even needed the additional 
nutella® in this; it probably would have been better without it. The waffle was a bit over-cooked and that made it extra crunchy, which also made it harder to eat; I am not really complaining, just pointing it out.

Whatever I was going to order for the main breakfast, I was going to make sure to get a side order of their French fries. It is a main reason to eat there. Due to the Ice Cream sundae glass/cone shape, the amount of fries looked way more than I could finish. However, there were really less than it looks there. They were piled pretty high, but I did manage to finish all of them (of course, I did end up leaving two bites of the waffle untouched).

The Belgian Mimosa actually paired very nicely with all the food; it is a bit citrusy, anyway. I think the first time that I ever had a Hoegaarden® Witbier was on Tenerife (the one in the Canary Islands, not the much more famous suburb of Boise, Idaho) during Christmas vacation 2003. The waitress/server-lady person told me that they no longer offer Stella Artois®. This really doesn't matter, as both of these breweries are now owned by the same Mega-corporation, Anheuser–Busch InBev, and the quality is not what it once was.

From what I could see, Frjtz only had Tapatío® 
Salsa Picante® Hot Sauce in the form of pre-bottled condimentary supplements, but this did not really matter as none was needed/none was used. Now I would not know a "white truffle" from a "brown Portobello", but I liked the flavour of the ketchup choice I made. They have about twenty different types of ketchups and mayonnaises from which to choose. "But, Brian, you ordered a 'vile white goop' dip, too? I thought you hated all things related to the Mayo Clinic." First off, this is not your everyday (see, that is the correct usage of this adjective) refrigerator-quality plain ol' Hellman's gunk; it is a fresh-made aioli/mayonnaise gunk. Secondly, when in Brussels, 
do as the Antwerpians do...

(another not so) Strange Coffee Interlude

Once again this morning, before heading out into the cold, cruel (and, this weekend, "very smoky") Sunday climes, I made me another cuppa gifted Coffee from Bettys (Thanks again, Greg & Cindy!). This time it was a cuppa the simply sublime Jamaica Blue Mountain. Someone tried to convince me yesterday that 
Jamaica was not a country on the African Continent, mon. Ha! Nice try! If Jamaica was not actually in Africa, why was Bob Marley always singing about that Hayley Selassie woman? Plus, do you expect me to believe that Coffee beans somehow magically floated across the Atlantic Ocean and planted themselves in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. Some people!

https://www.bettys.co.uk/jamaica-blue-mountain


Happy Veterinarians Day to all!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Louise ~ 6.4;
Ginger Orange Mayo ~ 6.9;
White Truffle Artichoke Ketchup ~ 7.0;
Bettys Jamaica Blue Mountain ~ 8.2

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist (and a bit 
U.S. Air Force historical) pointer of the day, 
numerus unus/pars una:

The Latin phrase "Ut Fiat Libertas" used to be the motto of my old Air Force Squadron when I was stationed in Greece, 6916th Electronic Security Squadron (despite the electrocutionary moniker, we were not union members of IBEW... unless IBEW were actually a buncha spies, too) ~ "Home of the Proud Professionals". I think the best translation of this phrase would be: "That There Might Be Freedom." (Google Translate is giving me the direct translation: "so that it becomes the liberty of". Doesn't Mr. George Google know that you are not supposed to end a sentence a preposition with?) Of course, the old joke at our squadron was that it meant: "One Free Fiat."

Because today is the day that we honour past members of the Armed Forces (especially if they were animal doctors), I paraphrased the motto to make it a bit more breakfastarily sound. Hence, my titular phrase kinda means: "That there might be Breakfast."

Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, 
deel twee/deuxième partie/Zweiter Teil:

Just for the h*ck of it, here are the Dutch/French/German (respectively) translations of "Ut Fiat Libertas" (well, as best as I can come up with from the likes of Google Translate again):

Dat er vrijheid kan zijn.
Qu'il pourrait y avoir la liberté.
Dass dort Freiheit sein könnte.

Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, 
deel drie/partie trois/Teil drei:

"Breakfast" might be a universal language, but they say it three different ways even in one small country in Europaland:

Ontbijt
Petit Déjeuner
Frühstück

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, nummer twee/numéro deux/Nummer zwei:

Waffles

Wafels
Gaufres
Waffeln

French Fries

Frietjes
Frites
Pommes Frittes

Beer

Bier
Bière
Bier