the Little Chihuahua

"Dogs never bite me. Just humans." 
~ Marilyn Monroe

http://www.thelittlechihuahua.com/location/noe-valley


Place: the Little Chihuahua
Location: 4123 24th Street (between Castro and Diamond Streets)
Hours: open at 10:00am on Saturday & Sunday (for "Brunch")
Meal: Chilaquiles ~ fried corn tortillas tossed with a smoky chile cream sauce, sautéed poblano chiles and onions and topped with two eggs cooked to order, garnished with sour cream, pico de gallo and queso cotija; a (somewhat superfluous) side of tortilla chips; a large glassa melon agua fresca; and (beforehand) a small cuppa Bernie's ~ a local coffee shop La Dona (light roast)

(No offical web-site; phonicular contact: 415-642-1192.)

(The first EweToobular juxtaselection should be self-evident from the theme of the song and the name of the restaurant this morning. 

The second song is because it's una tradición for the restaurant to be blasting a little Sábado Negro when they first open up for the morning. They actually weren't doing so this morning, but they normally are.)


Think globally, drink locally!

I had arrived to the neighborhood (which, in this case, would be Noe[1] Valley[2]) more than an hour before my intended breakfastary destination was due to open, so I figured a little early-morning caffeine intake was in order. I have been to Bernie's ~ a local coffee shop 
before and knew it to be a decent place for a decent cuppa. They are located in the same spot (bottom floor of an old Victorian[3]) that used to (coffee)house Spinelli's (back before they were bought-out by Tully's). I am not sure which particular brand of Coffee they serve at Bernie's (It would be ironic if the name of the roastery happened to be the Donald or the Hillary, though.) ~ see, here's where an official-type web-site thing comes in handy ~ but I was informed by one of the pretty, friendly baristettes that today's drip-Coffee was a light roast with the moniker of La Dona.

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

Just before entering Bernie's, a pair (which would only be considered a minor pandemonium) of the noisy little chatter-heads flew over the building. I have no idea from where they were heading or to where they were going.

I had been meaning to get back to breakfast at the Little Chihuahua (see last 'blog-entry from June 28th, 2015) last month in keeping with my end-of-June annular visit. Plus, it's always nice to get back to Noe Valley once in a while, especially when it's proving to be a sunny morning for a change. I sat out back in the open-air (but covered with an awning) patio seating area. There are five small tables that can seat from two to four persons back there. I had the entire place to myself the whole time I was there, too.

"Hey, Brian, what gives? Chilaquiles two days in a row? Are you some kinda Mexicanese-person now? Ja-ja-ja!" 

Well, I will have you know, this was by no means (Would that be "by yes means" then?) a coincidence. I purposely wanted to order another chilaquiles dish to compare it with muy sabroso desayuno de ayer. This came out as a huge pile o' tortilla chips. These were sautéed with a very nice salsa and it included lots of poblano chillies and white onions in with it. I was not asked how I would like my eggs prepared (normally chilaquiles are prepared with the eggs scrambled in with the tortilla chips and junk already) and this came out with the eggs scrambled separately, but added on top of the heap; this was a different take on how I normally am used to getting it. Plus, if I had known that I had my choice of how the eggs could be prepared, I might have gone with over-medium instead for a change. This was a pretty good meal, but yesterday's chilaquiles were more in the style of what I am used to and prefer. 

If I were to recommend going back to the Little Chihuahua for breakfast (and I highly do), I would tell you to stick with either the Stacked Enchiladas (which would be my primary recommendation as they are truly keeler; see previous 'blog-entry from June 29th, 2014) or their breakfast version of Chile Relleno (which I had on my previous visit; these are also keeler, but in comparison to the Stacked Enchiladas, this would only be a Voluntary Manslaughter sentence, whereas the Stacked Enchiladas are Death Row quality).

Sure, I didn't have to order a side of tortilla chips, but I mainly did so so that I could sample some of their mighty fine home-made (taquería-made, whatever) salsas. I got three little ramekins of their Roasted Tomato, Chipotle, and Lime-Habanero. None of these are extremely picante (well, I suppose they are gringo-espicy), but I really like the flavour of the Lime-Habanero. The combination of plain tortilla chips with the ones already in the chilaquiles really was a lot of chips to take in (or a lot of intake of tortilla chips).

This meal does not come with any type of side dish (arroz y frijoles refritos are generally a given). I was thinking of ordering a side of their Mexican potatoes or plátanos fritos. Luckily, I did not, because that would have ended up being wayyyyy too much food, anyway.

And just like yesterday, the Little Chihuahua only has bottles of Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce on the tables for a condimentary supplement. Who would ever need any of that when they offer five great-tasting home-made (taquería-made, whatever) salsas already?![4]


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Chilaquiles ~ 6.4;
Bernie's La Dona ~ 7.0;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

___________________

1. For those of you that are uninformed, "Noe" is pronounced: "NO-ee", not just plain ol' "No".

2. For those of you that are uniformed, "Valley" is pronounced pretty much as you would expect.

3. Like there are really any "new Victorians".

4. Well, Who may not ever use any of that kind of bottled hot sauce, but I bet those smarmy li'l bastages What, I-don't-know, or I-don't-give-a-darn would. Naturally!

Ro Cafe

Breakfast on Geary (redux), Part 28

(No official web-site thing.)


Place: Ro Cafe[1]
Location: 2739 Geary Boulevard (between Masonic Avenue and Wood Street); phonicular contact: (415) 340-9765
Hours: open at 7:00am every day (however, this might be questionable; with no actual web-site to confirm the times, I have to rely on the Intro-Net and the times seem to differ with some sources)
Meal: Scrambled Egg Sandwich ~ cheese, eggs, zucchini, bell pepper, onion, Ro sauce; some kinda carrot-blueberry(?) pastry thing; and a medium (12 oz) cuppa America's Best Coffee Roasting Company House Blend

http://www.ambestcoffee.com/

(Today's EweToobular juxtaselction is simply from the coffehouse's name, or, at least, I hope that is so.)


Ro Cafe used to be located over on California Street in the little corner location where ★ The ★ Richfield is now located (see 'blog-entry from October 17th, 2015). I think that I had only stopped in to the old joint once or twice before. They have been at this new(er) and large(r) location now for about four months. It is definitely larger than their old space, but not really by much. There is just seating of eight tables for two, with two additional chairs on each side of an electric fireplace-hearth thing. I like how it is in a cool, sun-room kinda spot at the bottom/front of an old Victorian (Are there really any "new" Victorians?).

From the items offered on the breakfast menu (and the standard menu), I am pretty sure that I will be making future visits back to Ro Cafe. A couple of other (stupid vegetarian-friendly) breakfast sandwich selections that caught my eye (both of them, actually), were: Avocado Egg (avocado, fried egg, toasted bread[2]); Morning Fresh (cream cheese, pepper, onion, mint, cucumber, yogurt; how all this can be made into a sandwich, I have no idea, but anything that sounds like a Tzatziki sandwich is alright with me); or Sthara (jam, cream cheese, baby spinach, Mozzarella; this is another strange combination of ingredients, and one that I am sure I will like). They also have a nice offering of bagels with interesting toppings (e.g. hummus, avocado, capers, sundried tomatoes, and, especially, their signature Ro sauce).

Two items that really aren't of the breakfastary category are Vash (sp? I am not exactly sure what this is, but the counter-lady person said it was suitable for stupid vegetarians; she also told me what was in it, but I forgot to write it down) and Kurdish Couscous (salad) ~ couscous, pepper, tomato paste, onion, parsley, tomato, cucumber, lemon. Both of these I know that I will like a lot. 

I am not exactly sure what the pastry thing was. I thought the counter-lady person said "carrot-blueberry". She did inform/warn me that it was not really a "sweet" pastry. That was okay with me. It looked good and I am happy to say that it also tasted good. There was a sign in the display case stating that their pastries are (coffee)homemade and baked fresh daily. Otherwise, I was going to go with a piece of Kurdish baklava (also [coffee]homemade); the sign stated that these weren't as sweet as normal baklava (I don't see how that could be as they were oozing honey) and are made with a little lemon added to them. Next time, I am getting one of those.

The size of this sandwich alone puts that Eggamuffin thing from Ronald's Rainbow Room to shame. That it included a good amount of fresh sliced zucchini (and other fresh ingredients) only added to the quality. Unfortunately, like most coffeehouses, the scrambled eggs were nuked in a microwave to be cooked. (Yes, I feel the same way about microwave ovens as I do mobular devices.) The Ro sauce was a great find here and worth a return visit all on its lonesome; it was not really that spicy, but it was very tasty and I made sure to use-up the entire small ramekin that was provided.

I didn't bother to check what Ro Cafe might offer in the way of condimentary supplementation. I had come with a few of my own hot sauces, but it really didn't matter, as their Ro sauce was more than condimentarily sufficient.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Scrambled Egg Sandwich ~ 6.4 (6.6 factoring in the most excellent Ro sauce); carrot-blueberry(?) pastry thing ~ 6.4

___________________

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

I had to ask the counter-lady person what the name of the coffeehouse meant. She told me that "Ro" means "river" in Kurdish. (I am pretty sure that the "Cafe" part of the name just means "café".)

However, I can neither confirm nor deny this with either Google Translate or bing Translator* because neither of them offer an English-Kurdish (any of the three major dialects) or Kurdish-English selection. This seems completely unfathomable to me, as there are 20-30 million native speakers of Kurdish worldwide. (Apparently none of them use
Google or bing.) 

This is a shame, too, for I was planning on making several more "stupid, useless cunning linguist pointers" with Kurdish-to-English words. I did ask the counter-lady person how to say "Coffee" in Kurdish and it sounds something close to "Kawa" or "Kava", I believe. Coffee is a pretty universal word after all.

*(However, bing Translator does offer two [yes, 2!] Klingon options. Seriously. What I can only surmise from this is that there must be more than 20-30 million native speakers of Klingon using the Intro-Net.)

2. "Toasted bread" must be Kurdish for "toast". Maybe this ain't such a hard language to master after all.

Chouquet’s Restaurant

"I cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food." ~ W.C. Fields

http://www.chouquets.com/


Place: Chouquet's Restaurant[1] 
Location: 2500 Washington Street (on the corner of Fillmore Street)
Hours: "Brunch" is served at 10:00am on Saturday and Sunday
Meal: Omelette du Jardin[2] ~ with spinach, tomatoes, & mushrooms, and, on the suggestion of the waiter-server guy, I had them add chèvre to this, too, served with a side of green salad & potatoes; and a cuppa Moschetti Coffee (but I didn't ask which specific roast/blend was being served)

http://www.moschetti.com/

(I may have used this particular EweToob-ular video before, but I figured a Frenchy restaurant and sitting street-side called for some rocking accordion music. I don't understand why Street Boys had Elmo helping with the introduction for them, though.)


I happened to pass by Chouquet's Restaurant a few weeks back and made a mental note (actually, the more PC-term these days is: "a retarded hemidemisemiquaver") to check it out for breakfast (or, what they refer to as "Brunch") one of these mornings. I found a nice parking spot just two blocks away alongside Alta Plaza Park (which is basically the Pacific Heights version of Alamo Square Park ~ with the requisite tennis courts, several dog run areas, and perched atop a hill ~ just without the illustrious Painted Ladies; however, there are several other Victorians all around the park and neighborhood).

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

This was another great, sunny morning to eat outside[3]. Which was perfect as Chouquet's has nine tables for two in their large sidewalk patio area; and this is a very dog-friendly joint ~ three mutts and their human-slaves saw fit to join me outside while I was there. (Why do we call people that are "foodies" and like to eat out a lot "chowhounds"? I mean, dogs are not very particular ~ as can be seen by the "best friends" company they keep ~ and they spend a good portion of the day licking themselves and drinking out of the toilet bowl.) And there are probably twice again as many seats available inside the restaurant.

One drawback is that there are only eight items total on the "Brunch" menu from which to choose, and, of those choices, only half of them are suitable for stupid vegetarians (unfortunately, they don't offer a separate menu for dogs). Their web-site does show a picture of Tchoutchouka (which I can only assume is the Slavic spelling/version of Shakshouka; see 'blog-entry from Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen from December 15th, 2013), but they do not actually offer it anywhere on the "Brunch" menu (and neither for "Linner" nor "Dupper").

This was a pretty good omelette. The chèvre actually made the omelette and I was very glad that it was suggested, and I was also happy to see that there were several dollops[4] inside the omelette; otherwise, the omelette would have been rather boring and pedestrian (see, 'cause I was on the sidewalk). The potatoes were a nice version of homefries. The salad was actually a green and reddish salad, but it may be hard to tell from the crummy black-and-white photo. ("Why B&W photography today?", you ask. Well, they were all out of colour memory cards at the store.) 

The Coffee was a very decent cuppa, too. I may have had Coffee from this roastery in the past. Moschetti is a local Bay Area company out of Vallejo.

For condimentary supplementation, Chouquet's offers both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and Huy Fong Foods Tương Ớt Sriracha. I just used a little of my own Nando's® Extra Hot Peri-Peri sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) on the omelette and some Pickapeppa Sauce (Thanks, Amy!) mixed with just a scintilla of One Stop Hot Shop "Son of Smart Arse" Sauce (Thanks a lot, Cindy & Greg!). I have had that stupid bottle now for over two years and have yet to make a noticeable dent in its volume; at this rate, I figure by the time the Chornobyl'[5] nuclear disaster reaches its radioactive half-life, I may also be half-way done with the bottle. 

The very knowledgeable waiter-server guy (whose name I didn't really get this morning; sorry, Mrs. Huneycutt, but unless the waiter-server guys are actually very cute waitress-server gals, I really don't care what they call themselves; if it helps any and is of any consequence, I did learn the names of two of the three dogs that were outside with me: Lucy and Elmer) knew both his Coffee and hot sauces stuff. He was even brave enough to try a toothpick tip sample of the "Son of Smart Arse" Sauce. I had given him the specific caveat ahead of time to just try a tiny amount first; we don't want any more international incidents like what happened at Eddie's Cafe (see the 'blog-entry massacre from January 7th, 2012).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Omelette du Jardin ~ 6.4; Moschetti Coffee ~ 6.8


1. Almost a stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

Unfortunately, I have no idea what "Chouquet" means in French. The best I could get was from Google Translate and they say it means a "mast cap" (whatever the heck that is supposed to be). 

However, I am pretty sure that "restaurant" is just a fancy French word for "bistro".

2. Actual stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numéro un:

"Jardin" simply means "garden" in French, Al.

3. Sorry, I don't know the French phrase for "al fresco", Mr. Jardine.

4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist (well, mostly a pseudo-etymological) pointer of the day, nummer to:

"Dollop" comes to English from the Norwegian word "dolp" (meaning "lump"). There are many words that entered the English language from back when the Scandinavian hordes invaded and settled in Northern England. Even today, many words spoken in the Yorkshire dialect could probably be better understood by someone from Oslo than from someone from London.

This titbit of information was actually gleaned from a book that I am reading on Tan Hill Inn (Thanks, Cindy & Greg! again), called The Inn at the Top ~ Tales of Life at the Highest Pub in Britain. 

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

(That would be a photo of Greg and a few of his local friends at Tan Hill Inn. This one is not in B&W as it is a stock photo from several years ago.)

5. Yes, I know that the standardised English transliteration is normally "Chernobyl", but in solidarity with the Ukrainian people, I am using the better Ukrainian transliteration, much like the old city of "Kiev" is now being spelled "Kyiv". Bad Vlad can "пошëл на хуй" for all I care.

Eddie's Cafe

양철 지붕 breakfast with every cup.




I went back to Eddie's Cafe (see October 16th, 2010 post) over on Divisadero, near Alamo Square, for breakfast this morning. I got there a little earlier than they open, so I walked over to Alamo Square for a few minutes (this was only a 15-20 minutes walk through the park, so it does not constitute a "Hiking" cross-post, Mr. Turner). Unfortunately, it was a pretty foggy morning and the views were not quite as spectacular as most tourists come to see.




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

Why "Alamo" in San Francisco you ask, Mr. Bowie?

"Alamo means poplar tree in Spanish and in the early 1800s, the lone cottonwood on Alamo Hill marked a watering hole along the horseback trail from Mission Dolores to the Presidio. Mayor James Van Ness set aside 12.7 acres of the hole in 1856, naming it Alamo Square. Confirmed by the state legislature the following year as a public park, Alamo Square and its Victorian residences started down the potholed road to Historic District, over 100 years later."

(Excerpt from the Alamo Square Neighborhood Association site.)

Now how many of you will remember this?

Of course, Alamo Square is best known for all the surrounding historic Victorian houses in the neighborhood and most notably for a row of Victorians known as "The Painted Ladies" along the eastern side of the park. Friends of mine actually own one of these (Hi, John and Erin!); their house is the second from the left end (or the first one of all the similar ones in the row); this house was also owned by author Alice Walker (Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Color Purple" and other novels) back in the 70's.




Like the good (ex-)Greek (resident) I am, I went back to Eddie's Cafe bearing a premeditated gift of a Cavern Club mug (imported and hand-delivered all the way from Liverpool, Englandia, mind you). As noted during my last visit, they have a pretty significant collection of coffee mugs and I wanted to add to it. While I was "on holiday" last month in England, I made sure to pick up one that I figured they wouldn't already have. I was going to just get a Beatles one ~ a Sergeant Pepper one or an Abbey Road one ~ but figured those could be purchased in most gift shops anywhere else. This mug I actually bought at the "official" Beatles gift shop in Albert Dock (along the Mersey, ferry ride optional) in Liverpool.

For breakfast this morning, I had the Cheese Omelett* (with Swiss cheese) with "Greets"** and Homemade Biscuits. They offer a choice between hash browns or grits and toast or biscuits. Homemade biscuits are always a better choice than plain ol' toast. I normally prefer home fries or hash browns with breakfast (potatoes being the true breakfast fruit), but I figured the grits (which were a very nice heaping mound/glop) would go better with my "Seoul" food. I also had a cuppa coffee served in the Cavern Club mug.




The food is really nothing much special, but it was still good and so much better than I could ever attempt to prepare at home (whenever I make "omeletts" myself, they tend to just turn out as "scrambled eggs with sh*t in 'em"™). All in all, it is good ol' hearty diner-fare in a very friendly neighborhood atmosphere.

I knew from my last visit that they only have Tabasco®, Crystal®, and Tapatío® as hot sauce condiments, but I also knew they are a Korean family-owned/operated restaurant so I asked for (and received) a little Korean hot sauce ~ gochujang ~ from their private stash. I had come prepared with three bottles from my own collection, but did not even need to use them. The gochujang was very tasty: both sweet and spicy, with lots of flavour.

I was informed by one of the owners(?) that because I had brought a mug for them as a gift, my breakfast would be on the house (that is kind of what the Korean words at the top of the page mean). It seems that this is their policy. Who am I to argue with Korean traditions? Kim Jong-il?

Holiday to Liverpool/England: £1,000
Magical Mystery Tour: £14.95
Cavern Club mug: £6.00
Free breakfast: Priceless


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Cheese Omelett ~ 6.0; Gochujang hot sauce ~ 7.2


*(I am not really making fun of the spelling on the menu, I like the originality of it. Heck, if I didn't have a "spel-chek" thingy on my "kompyooter", I would have no idea how to spell it "eyether".)

**(That would be "grits" as pronounced by my Uncle Tom from Northern Florida, aka Southern Georgia. I had never had "greets" until he came to stay with us one Winter and my mother had to learn how to prepare this standard Southern breakfast staple.)

Chloe♥s Cafe

Chloe's Cafe is in Noe Valley way down on Church Street. It is located in an old Victorian house (because the new Victorians really aren't much to speak of). It is a really tiny place; it only seats 20 inside with another 4-5 outside tables (weather permitting… or whether permitting). Get there early on the weekend, as you will probably have to wait at least 20-30 minutes for a table, or longer on a particularly nicer day. It was raining this morning, but I got there right when they opened and had no wait whatsoever.

I have noticed a pattern with my favourite breakfast places: the top three all have female names, and seem to have non-existent eponymous owners. Dottie's is owned and operated by Kurt; Ella's has new ownership and just kept the old business name; there may actually be a Chloe involved with this place, but I have never met her (in the dozens of times I have eaten there in the past 15 years or so).

Now would be a good time for a Baseball analogy (not that I ever need an excuse, this opportunity just seemed like "a can o' corn"*). I have six favourite breakfast restaurants that I usually go to several times a year, rotated with new (and old) places I want to check out (or re-check out). My "Starting Line-Up", so to speak, is: Dottie's, Ella's, Chloe's, Baker Street Bistro, Boogaloo's**; and the Cliff House would be my "Closer".

My breakfast today was the Scrambled Eggs with Avocado and Jarlsberg. They did not scrimp on the avocado at all; it had LOTS of avocado, at least ½-1 whole avocado. Plus, Jarlsberg is one of my more favourite cheesy comestibles. This was served with their White Rosemary toast ~ with butter and jam. I don’t know if they bake their own breads or not, but this one is excellent. The rosemary actually goes great with a raspberry jam on it. Their Home Fried Red Potatoes are perfect ~ crispy and blackened enough, just the way I like 'em. I also had a glass of cranberry juice and a cup of their house coffee (which really is nothing to speak of ~ I always go back for the great breakfasts, toast, and potatoes).




This was one of the only times I have not ordered off of their "Specials" board. Today's scrambled eggs special included "the vile weed" ~ ugh! Even with the additions of dill, tomatoes, and a choice of Cheddar, Jarlsberg, or Feta, I really couldn't bring myself to order it. What kind of sadistic bastages would ruin a perfectly good breakfast like that?!

They only have regular Tabasco® as a hot sauce condiment on the tables… and I completely forgot to bring any of my own "Heavy Hitters" with me as I left pretty early this morning to get there when they opened. With all the mentions of Tabasco® in my 'blog (whether positive or negative ~ free publicity is still publicity), you'd think that the McIlhenny Company oughtta be giving me a little kick-back here and there… ("Hey, McIlhenny, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know?!" And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive a Scoville rating of 16,000,000." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Scramble ~ 7.0, Toast ~ 7.2, Potatoes ~ 6.9, Coffee ~ 5.4


*("A can of corn" in Baseball-ese usually means a routine/easy catch. The explanation I have heard about this term comes from the old general stores where they would usually stock cans of certain items up high on the shelves and, in order to get them down, they would nudge them off the shelf with a broom handle or something and be able to make an easy "basket catch" into their aprons or hands.)

**(My auto-spellchecker thingy ~ the actual technical term, by the way ~ does not seem to like this word and is offering me several alternatives: "Bugaboo's", "Bungalow's", or even "Beefalo's" ~ because all of those are much better sounding breakfast joints.)