Because I really could not see myself eating breakfast without a cuppa Coffee and a doughnut afterward...
http://www.toasteatery.com/ (This web-site is more site-specific for their Noe Valley locations, but they offer a lotta the same dishes at their West Portal restaurant.) Place: Toast Eatery Location: 160 West Portal Avenue (between Vicente Street and 14th Avenue); phonicular contact: (415) 566-200 Hours: open at 7:00am every day of the week Meal: Huevos Rancheros ~ 2 eggs any style (mi estilo this morning was sobre medio) on corn tortillas with black beans, sour cream, salsa ranchera and a side of chipotle coleslaw; and, to drink with the meal, a large(-ish) glassa grapefruit juice (which came with an old-timey paper straw even) Whenever it is time for my annual eye exam (hence, the silly "see myself" pun in the 'blog-title today), I usually like to have a nice breakfast aforehand at one of the restaurants along West Portal (which, coincidentally enough, happens to be where my optometrist is also located). So, I headed back once again to Toast Eatery(see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, April 28, 2018 ~ so, yeah, basically-exactly one year ago). Dining Tip o' the Day: If you happen to be right-handed, do not seat yourself on the side of the table that is right up against the wall making your dominant hand mostly inoperable. Luckily, there really was not a lotta junk that needed any knife-action on it (at first, I did attempt cutting up the eggs on top of the tortillas with my knife, but just ended up cutting through them with my fork instead), and I have somewhat mastered the trick of eating Britishlander-style with the fork (as sinister as this may sound) in my left hand. I have eaten at all four of the Toast Eaterylocations several times now over the years, but, even so, there are still some other good ideas yet left to try: California Scrambler ~ egg whites, tomato, fresh basil, avocado and Cheddar, served with hashbrowns and choice of Toast; "Veggie" Omelet ~ mushrooms, spinach, tomato and Provolone, served with hashbrowns and choice of Toast;
or Wet "Veggie" Burrito ~ flour tortilla filled with scrambled eggs, grilled "veggies", black beans, Cheddar cheese and sour cream; topped with salsa ranchera and avocado, served with hashbrowns (this one was my back-up plan).
(Yes, I am well-aware that there was no actual "Toast" with my meal this morning, but you can not make a "tostada" without corn tortillas.) Now, there really is not much to a standard Huevos Rancheros dish: (in today's case) two over-medium eggs on top of some corn tortillas; so, not much really going on there. What makes a standard Huevos Rancheros dish stand out from restautante to restaurante is how their salsa ranchera is made. This salsa ranchera at Toast Eatery was una muy buena y sabrosa salsa ranchera; it was not very espicy, just very etasty. Of course, the real standout for me this morning was the side of chipotle coleslaw; now that was extremely etasty! I was not planning on messing with the flavour of their salsa ranchera in any way, but I did notice that they offered the Standard San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces™: Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío®Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and Cholula®Hot Sauce (Original). Of which, none was needed, nor was none used.
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, unang bahagi: This particular cultivar of Coffee beans was not named after the 44th President of these here United States. The word "Barako" in Philippine languages is equivalent to the English term "stud" (both literally and figuratively), from Spanish "varraco" (meaning "wild boar"). The word is associated with connotations of masculinity and machismo in Filipino culture. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, ikalawang bahagi: The Filipino word for "Coffee" is simply "Kape". I was once told by a native Filipina that the "F" in many Filipino words is usually pronounced like a "P", anyway. How pucking silly is that?!
For the past few years now I have gone with a more adverbial appellation of "My Favourites... " instead of the ubiquitous "Best of... " (which you see everyone using everywhere these days). After all, what is "Best" to me may not truly be "Best" to Randolph Peter and the rest of those fab Liverpudlian lads. Once again, I am keeping with the "Top Ten" format-idea, and the easiest way to rank these was just to go back through all my 'blog-entries from 2018 and see which ones had the highest Glen Bacon Scale Rating (and in the case of any identical GBS ratings, I am simply listing them chronologistically).
(Here's to innocence and now. Cheers!) 1) Surprise, surprise, surprise... not! Le Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro (see 'blog-entries from Samedi 6 janvieret aussiDimanche 2 septembre) tops the list yet once again this year. It is not a coincidence that I usually make this meal one of my first breakfasts of the year. 2) Well, well, well... it seems as though we have a brand new usurper at the "Number 2" spot this year (just edging out the previous, long-running "No. 2" from our long-running friends at Dottie's True blue café) with Savory Reggiano at GriddleGriddle FreshFresh (see 'blog'blog-entryentry from SaturdaySaturday, JuneJune 9th9th). This was such a tasty, great surprise that I am also claiming it as "My Favourite" (New) French Toast Dish Not Named Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro! 3) Even though it has been bumped down a peg, Al, it is still one of "My Favourite" breakfasts in the entire city: Zucchini Cakes at Dottie's True blue café (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, January 13th). 4) Puka French Toast at grindz (see 'blog-entry from Poaono, Feberuari 17). Sadly, I only "discovered" this dish late in the life of this restaurant and this was only my second time ever to order it. Ah, well, maybe I need to make a little road-trip over to Mokupuni Nui to try it again. 5) Dutch Baby Pancake at LaLe (see 'blog-entry from Zondag 22 april). Even though this was only a singular "pancake", it more than deserves this placement due to its wh*pping size and flavour. 6) It really should not be fair for one local restaurant to have two of "My Favourites" in the "Top Ten", but les Œufs Baker Street Bistro at Baker Street Bistro (see 'blog-entry from Samedi 14 avril) rightly deserves this honour every year. Is it their fault that their Pain Perdu est tout simplement extraordinaire aussi? 7) Challah French Toast at the Manor (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, March 31st [which à propos-priately happened to be the first day of Passover]). ("What?! Another d*mn French toast dish on this list, Brian? Maybe you should just call it 'My Favourite' French Toasts of 2018 already." Hmmm?! Ya know, that might not be such a bad idea. Perhaps next year I might just make two separate lists: one for French toast [possibly including pancakes, too] dishes and one for all other dishes.) 8) A great out-of-State (outta-my-mind?) discovery: Green Goddess Frittata at gather (see 'blog-entry from Friday, July 27th). Not only was my main meal extremely tasty (asparagus and Feta in the same dish? You had me at asparagus... ), but they had their own special homemade (well, gather-made) condimentary supplementation: vanilla-butter ~ which was mighty awesome all on its ownsome (well, spread on toast and such). Because of both of these, I am also honorificing (not a real word, but maybe it should be) this restaurant as "My Favourite" Out-of-Towner Breakfast. 9) (yet still another French toast entry) Orange Bread French Toast at Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry (see 'blog-entry from Wednesday, August 15th). Now, if they had some of gather's vanilla-butter to use on it, this dish might have ended up a few numbers higher still. 10) (and not such a bad way of finishing out the list, an olde stalworth "Favourite") Chilaquiles at Chava's Mexican Restaurant (see 'blog-entry from Sábado 13 de octubre).
2018 Specific Categories (& Honourable Mentions kinda stuff) "My Favourite" Swiss Rösti outside of Yorkshire (possibly one person that reads this silly li'l 'blog-thing regularly will get that reference) ~ pomelo (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, November 25th). GBS Rating: 7.2 "My Favourite" Huevos Rancheros Dish ~ Buck's of Woodside (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, February 25th). (Well, seeing as I probably only had Huevos Rancheros a few times in 2018, this might not seem like such high praise, but their version ranks up there with any dishes you can find in the Mission.) GBS Rating: 7.2 "My Favourite" "Brunch" with Beer ~ Beach Chalet (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, September 30th). GBS Rating: Roasted Vegetable Frittata ~ 7.1; Sea Serpent Foggy I.P.A. ~ 7.2 "My Favourite" New Find ~ Wooden Spoon (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, November 10th). GBS Rating: Morning Bowl ~ 7.1 "My Favourite" Use of (and correctly spelled) Brussels Sprouts~ Roasted Brussels Sprouts Hash at Town's Endrestaurant & bakery (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, December 9th). GBS Rating: 7.1 "My Favourite" Thai Family Restaurant Back-up Plan (twice) ~ Lapisara Eatery (see 'blog-entries from Saturday, March 24th and Saturday, November 17th). GBS Rating: "Veggie" (uggh!) Omelet ~ 7.0; Savory "Veggie" (uggh!) Frittata~ 6.8 "My Favourite" Scandinavian/Danish Breakfast ("Brunch", whatever)/Bakery kinda-joint ~ Kantine (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, November 24th). GBS Rating: Savory Porridge ~ 7.0 "My Favourite" Ridiculously Disgusting New (for me, at least) Coffeehouse~ home (see 'blog-entries from Saturday, February 3rd and Sunday, February 11th [and several other references/visits throughout the year]). GBS Rating: Lavender Latte ~ 7.5; Rose Latte ~ 7.3; Cookie Monster (Latte) ~ 7.1; Red VelvetLatte ~ 6.9 "My Favourite" New Local (Neighborhood/within walking-distance) Place ~ lokma (see 'blog-entries from Sunday, June 10th and Sunday, August 19th). GBS Rating: Türlü Omelet ~ 7.0; Menemen ~ 6.7
In Memoriam Interlude (aka "Another One Bites the Dust", though the food always tasted much better than nibbling any fine particles of solid matter, Mr. John Richard Deacon) In 2018, we bade a sad farewell to both grindz and heartbaker. This was doubly-sad as both of these restaurants were located within my neighborhood (if not exactly walking-distance, at least only a short three-to-four stops on the bus). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro ~ 8.2 (mais certainement); Savory Reggiano at GriddleGriddle FreshFresh ~ 7.7; Zucchini Cakes at Dottie's True blue café ~ 7.61 (Why the extra 0.01 GBS points there? Just to distinguish it as a little more "Favourite" than the next dish.); Puka French Toast at grindz~ 7.6; Dutch Baby Pancake at LaLe ~ 7.5; Œufs Baker Street Bistro at Baker Street Bistro ~ 7.4; Challah French Toast at the Manor ~ 7.4; Green Goddess Frittataat gather ~ 7.3 (vanilla-butter alone ~ 7.5); Orange Bread French Toast at Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry ~ 7.3; Chilaquiles at Chava's Mexican Restaurant ~ 7.3
http://www.mamas-sf.com/ Place: Mama♥s on Washington Square Location: 1701 Stockton Street (on the corner of Filbert Street) Hours: open Tuesday through Sunday at 8:00am Meal: Vegetarian Benedict ~ 2 poached Petaluma Farms eggs served on a toasted English muffin with homemade (well, Mama♥s-made) Hollandaise sauce and Mama♥sGrilled Potatoes, (with) sautéed mushrooms, avocado, baby spinach, and grilled tomato (I would just like to point out that they actually have an Oxford Comma between "spinach" and "and grilled tomato" on their printed menus; however, for some reason, their on-line menu seems to have it omitted; it is not very often that you see it placed or used correctly on many restaurant menus, anyway); and a large glassa fresh-squeezed orange juice
(I am juxtaselecting this the Beatles song today because I have heard that Paul, John, and Ringo are/were big fans of Eggs Benedict dishes and doppio Espressos. Little Georgie-porgie didn't like them... he hated everything.) I made a return-visit to Mama♥s on Washington Square (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, April 2nd, 2017). A long time ago (c. 2001-2003), this restaurant was included in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation. The food is still (and has always been) excellent there, I just tired of "the long trek" over to-and-back from North Beach. Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know, it is still located in San Francisco, but it takes at least a half-hour to drive over there and then the parking in North Beach totally s*cks (which is why I usually try to schedule my breakfastary visits in North Beach on Sundays only now). As I had arrived plenty early this morning (about 7:05am), I was able to get a primo parking space just across the street (i.e. right on Washington Square) for a change. However, even at that stupidly-early hour, I was still only group #5 in line. I did not even think about it being Mother♥s Day today and apparently a whole lotta other "m♥thers" had the bright idea to eat breakfast there, too. By the time they had finally opened the doors, I estimated that the wait would be easily two-and-a-half to three hours for the people near the end of the line. Now, the food is good there, but nothing is worth that kinda wait (yeah, I did wait in line for fifty-five minutes myself... but still... ). It had to have been one of the longest lines that I have ever seen waiting to get in there. Here are a few other good ideas that I was debating on this morning: Mama♥sChildren♥s Favorite (M♥Omelette) ~ sautéed mushrooms, green onions, roasted tomatoes, and Monterey Jack cheese (hmmm?! Mama♥s kids sound like stupid vegetarians to me); South of the Border (M♥Omelette) ~ Spanish chorizo (which I would have ochenta-y-seis-ed), black beans, homemade ((well, Mama♥s-made, again) salsa, and pepper Jack cheese; or (off their weekendly specials board) Mama♥s French Toast Sampler ~ Banana Walnut, Lemon Berry, & Swedish Cinnamon, topped w/ berries & bananas (of which we all are well-aware, are botanically a "berry", anyway). Since my last visit there, it looks like they no longer offer either Papa♥s Favorite (M♥Omelette) or Vegetarian (M♥Omelettes) ~ both of which I had had in recent previous visits. These are both still listed in their on-line menu, but not on the printed menu at the front door, nor on the large menu on the wall behind the cash register that everyone orders from. (Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know that should be "... from which everyone orders.", but at least I know an Oxford Comma from a Liverpudlian Semicolon when I see one.)
First off, I would like to state that (thankfully) they have this dish listed as "Vegetarian Benedict" and not that ubiquitously obnoxious name "Veggie (uggh!) Benedict". Nextly, the grilled tomatoes turned out to be a very interesting taste-addition and added a nice "depth of flavour" (as they are always keen to state on food network) to this dish. Needless to say, I enjoyed it all (spinach, avocado, mushrooms, and tomatoes [grilled or plain] ~ all favourites of mine). Mama♥s on Washington Square only offers for condimentary supplements Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. Being well-aware of this, I came well-prepared this morning and used some of my own Palo Alto Firefighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce on the potatoes (Thanks, Brian!), some Chili in Hawaii Habanero Garlic Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of one poached egg, and some Dat'l Do-it®Classic Cayenne Hot Sauce (Thanks, M♥m!) on top of the other poached egg.
(not really so) Strange Coffee Interlude As has become a (new-ish) tradition for me whenever I have breakfast in North Beach, I (try to) save room for a Coffee and pastry at Caffe Trieste afterward. This morning's meal was not that large and left me plenty of room for un doppio Espresso e some kinda pastry-ring-thing (what the h*ck, I figured I can always skip lunch). This had an almond paste in it and was very good. I had to ask the barista-lady behind the counter what it was, as I thought it might probably have been cinnamon (which I would have liked, too). http://coffee.caffetrieste.com/ Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Vegetarian Benedict ~ 6.9 (I am giving this an extra 0.1 GBS points for their sensible name and another 0.1 GBS points for the very nice grilled tomatoes addition); doppio Espresso ealmond pastry-ring-thing ~ 6.7
♪ "Watch out now, take care Beware of greedy leaders They take away your Cliff HousePopovers(!)... " ♫
https://cliffhouse.com/bistro/ (I was trying something a little different today. This photo was taken from atop Sutro Heights Park overlooking Cliff House.) Place: the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House Location: 1090 Point Lobos (at the end of the Earth/Ocean Beach, "Since 1863... Where San Francisco Begins"[... and Society ends?!]) Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 9:00am, Sunday at 8:30am Meal: Thick Sliced Sourdough French Toast ~ maple syrup, crisp bacon (whether it is crisp or limp, no thanks), powdered sugar, and fresh apple compote; a basket of three (3) (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!); and a glassa Cliff House Classic Bloody Mary ~ Skyy Vodka, house mix of tomato juice/chili sauce/clam juice (which I made sure they nixed; even if I wasn't already a vegetarian, there should never be any reason to put clam juice in with decent Vodka or tomato juice, that is just wrong)/horseradish
(There are no EweToobular juxtaselections between French toast or Popovers[!] and either Wendy, George Harrison, or Frances Farmer [that I know of]. Johnette Napolitano happened to turn sixty on September 22nd, and I figured I would link a couple of her songs in her honour.) To finally complete the Pre-Playoffs Workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I went back to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House(see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, June 3rd, 2017).
I have been going to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House for over twenty years now, and I think that this might be the first time that I had ever had their French toast. Believe me, it will not be my last time. While this may not be in the same category as Baker Street Bistro's Pain Perdu Extraordinaire (which is the Marilyn Monroe of French toast, of course), it is a very good version. Sometimes French toast can tend to be a bit on the soggy-side; however, this being made with thick slices of sourdough bread might be a factor in keeping it nice and crispy. The apple compote was nice and chunky and went very nicely with the added maple syrup on it. They were nice enough to substitute roasted potatoes for me this morning in place of the (crispy or soggy) dead, decaying porcine bits. Now if someone could just figure out a way of making French toast outta Popovers(!), you'd have a perfect 8.5 Glen Bacon Scale meal. I actually mentioned this to my waiter/server guy-person, Chris (who has probably been working at Cliff House longer than I have been going there), and he told me that one of the workers takes home any leftover Popovers(!) and makes a delicious bread pudding out of them; I could see that being a great basis for that dessert ~ they are already eggy and fluffy. I did use a few drops of maple syrup on the last one of my Popovers(!) and it really went well, too.
The Bloody Mary was a full meal all in itself. It included: a stuffed olive, a yellow/greenchilli pepper, a celery stalk, and a quarter of a lime. Even without the extra added Vitamin C from the fresh lime, tomato juice is pretty high in Vitamin C[1], anyway, making this a perfect breakfastary accompaniment. the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff Househas just Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce ~ Original Red Sauce for use as a condimentary supplement. I used some of my own Palo AltoFire FightersXXX GhostPepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian and Amys!) on the potatoes and some Toad Sweat Chocolate Orange Dessert Hot Sauce™ (Thanks, Sean!) on one quarter slice of the French toast. I specifically brought that "dessert hot sauce" with me because I was planning on ordering the French toast this morning and I hardly ever get a chance to use it normally with savoury dishes (it does get used occasionally on Ice Cream at home).
Hollywoodland Spotlight of the Day On the wall behind me on the other side of my table, one of the autographed photos this morning was Frances Farmer (19 September 1913 – 1 August 1970). I do not think that I have ever seen a Frances Farmer movie; granted, her film career was not very long and off and on. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002068/ Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Thick Sliced Sourdough French Toast ~ 7.0; Cliff House Classic Bloody Mary ~ 7.2; (World) Famous Cliff HousePopovers(!) ~ 8.2 ___________________
1. Just as a comparison, a 3.5 oz glassa tomato juice has 70.1 mg Vitamin C, which is 84% of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA). That equates to be about 192% for a 16 oz glassa. Similarly, a 16 oz glassa orange juice has 124.0 mg, which is 149% of the RDA. (Sorry, I do not know what kinda RDA for Vitamin C Vodka possesses. These scientist-guys never give you the information on the really important stuff.)
http://www.manorsf.com/ Place: the Manor~ an American Bistro Diner Location: 321a West Portal Avenue (between 14th and 15th Avenues) Hours: open Tuesday - Sunday at 7:30am Meal: Create Your Own Omelette (but, luckily, not "Cook Your Own Omelette" ~ I made sure to ask) ~ (my creation included) 3 eggs, caramelized onions, spinach, and chèvre (that would just be "goat cheese" for the French-impaired), served with house potatoes and toast (I went with the sourdough choice); a glassa orange juice; and, afterward, for a breakfastary dessert-thing, two mini-macarons (one vaniller and one mustachio) and a medium cuppa Naked Coffee (some kinda medium roast; that was the best I could get out of the counter-lady person) at Greenhouse Cafe http://www.nakedcoffee.net/
(I may have already used the second EweToobular song before for another April 1st juxtaselection. Am I supposed to remember [or fool-proof-check] this junk myself?!) For only being about three-to-four blocks long, there are actually a few decent places(at least four places now that I am aware of, so that would average out to be about one-per-block, even using Common Core Math) along West Portal that are interesting breakfastary destinations. This morning I headed back to an all new/old place, the Manor ~ an American Bistro Diner (Restaurant Food Eating Place?) (see previous 'blog-entry from Saturday, November 12th, 2011). I am calling this place "an all new/old place" because it is under new ownership, with just a slight name-change from its old diner/coffeeshop roots; however, they now offer a much smaller menu with (upscaley) diner-style food. They only re-opened in June of last year after having been closed for about a year or more when the old family-owned place had closed.
I sat at the restaurant-length diner-countertop (at the very end seat next to the kitchen, so that I could keep an eye on them preparing my creation), which I was glad to see remained from the original restaurant (diner/coffeehouse/bistro, whatever). They have retained several of the old-time diner booths, too. There are really not a lot of choices for breakfast (particularly for stupid vegetarian-types). I could have gone with another omelette combination (I was originally thinking of creating my own artichoke hearts, spinach, and Swiss omelette). I also saw on their daily specials board that they had a mole chicken dish of some sort. I asked the owner/manager(?)-person guy and he said that they make their own fresh mole sauce (and he confirmed that it is 100% vegetarian-friendly). I bet that would be a great topping to an avocado, roasted bell peppers, and Monterey Jack omelette creation. They do have a couple of salads that I could have breakfastized (Okay, maybe that is not a real word, but I am sure that I am not the first fool to use it on the World Wild Webs.[1]) by adding a couple of poached eggs on top of them, or, better yet, by adding some of their Deviled Eggs with Togarashi[2].
My creative creation turned out to be a good one (no foolin'), if I do say so myself. The spinach was fresh (baby?) spinach and lightly grilled/sautéed, and really complemented both the caramelized onions and creamy goat cheese. I liked their style of homefries, too. For condimentary supplementation, I was informed that the Manor had Cholula®Hot Sauce (Original), a Sriracha hot sauce (probably Huy Fong Foods, Inc., I didn't bother to check), and a Sambal hot sauce (I also didn't find out which brand this might have been). I just used some of my own ★ Pope's ★ Whiskey River Hot Sauce (Thanks, Amy and Chef Joe!) on the potatoes (and I am happy to report that I have finally killed the last of that bottle... which only leaves me with twenty-seven more to go in my refrigerator currently) and some Lucky Dog Medium Fire-Roasted Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on top of the omelette (and there is probably only one dose left in that bottle, too).
I purposely (purposefully?) had skipped any Coffee with the breakfast meal because I had it in mind all along to stop back by Greenhouse Cafe (just a few doors down the street, anyway) for a breakfastary dessert-thing. (Does anyone know a fun portmanteau for a "breakfast dessert"?) I sat outside in the solitude and tranquility of their backyard patio area to enjoy my Coffee and breakfastary dessert-thing. Mustachio is one of my favourite flavours of those mini-macarons. I was told that they alternate between serving Naked Coffee and Equator Coffees & Teas™. It really didn't matter to me, as I like both of these local(-ish) purveyors of fine Coffees. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: CYO Omelette ~ 6.7; Naked Coffee + mini-macarons ~ 7.0
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1. Ha! Do a Google-search for "breakfastized" and see for yourselves. 2. As best as I can figure, Togarashi is some kind of Japanese chilli powder/seasoning. It's either that, or some kinda impossible Star Trek-ing training exercise...
http://boogaloossf.com/ http://parada22.com/ Place: Boogaloos Location: (well, for Parada 22 Comida Puertorriqueña) 1805 Haight Street (between Shrader and Stanyan Streets) Hours: open at 9:00am for "Pop-up" breakfasts only on Saturday and Sunday Meal: Vegan Chorizo & Eggs ~ 2 scrambled eggs with white beans, salsa, and green onions; a "side kick" of home fries; a large glassa orange juice to drink with the meal; and, for afterwards, while just walking up and down Haight Straight, a cuppa pour over-style Counter CultureLa Golondrina from Stanza Coffee https://counterculturecoffee.com/store/coffee/la-golondrina (Sorry. I could not locate an official-type web-site for the coffeeshop itself.)
("Hey, Brian?! What's up with these the BeatlesEweToobular juxtaselections here? I thought this place was supposed to be some kinda Comida Puertorriqueña." Well, first off, there was no way I was ever gonna link any m*ldito Ricky Martin songs on MY 'blog-thing. Secondly, the restaurant was playing the Beatles songs exclusively this morning. It was very interesting, too; all the versions that they were playing sounded like the standard album versions, but seemed to have been enhanced[?] to sound like they were being played at a live concert or something. When I asked my waitress/server lady-person [who was una salvadoreña, by the way] about it, all that she could tell me was that they were being played off a Pandora® radio station. And, yes, I suppose that I could have done a mucho betteroEweToobular juxtaselection by linking the Richard Starkey, MBE solo song "back off boogaloo", but, let's face it, everybody knows that the REAL the Beatles drummer was the much more talented Pete Best! the Beatles music went straight downhill after he left the group. Just look at the history: they only lasted another eight years or so after he left the group, and they have never recorded together ever again!) I headed over to the Haight for breakfast this morning and ended up at Boogaloos (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, February 8th, 2015) "Pop-up" at Parada 22 Comida Puertorriqueña. I can only assume that there is some kinda relationship between these two restaurants (same ownership?). I have been meaning to get back to their original location over in the Mission, but it is still closed due to a fire from several months back (May-ish 2016). I confirmed with my salvadoreña waitress/server lady-person that they should be opening again... one of these days. My original point-of-attack was going to be to revisit Sparrow Bar & Kitchen (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, November 14th, 2015). I had arrived on Haight Street a little after 9:00am and was just planning on walking around a bit until Sparrow Bar & Kitchen opened at 10:00am. I then remembered that Parada 22 Comida Puertorriqueña was now doing a "Pop-up" breakfast for Boogaloos and decided to go directly there instead; it ended up saving me about forty-five minutes of waiting, anyway. I have eaten at Parada 22 Comida Puertorriqueña a few times before for lunch and dinner and knew that I liked their food, anyway. It is not a very large restaurant; it only has seating of five tables for two (three of which could have been made into one long table for six because they had those wing-extensions on the sides of each table), one table for four people, one large table for ten people (which could also have been used to seat five couples if they didn't mind table-sharing), and seven stools at a counter-seating area. As I was the only person eating there the entire time that I was there, it was plenty enough space for me. The "Pop-up" Boogaloos menu that they offer is not the entire normal Boogaloos menu, but it still offers many good choices. Additionally, there was a separate menu with three versions of Eggs Benedict from which to choose. If I hadn't gone with the choice that I did, I would probably have gone with Eggs Valencia ~ English muffing [ sic, I kid you not, and it was mispelded that way for each of the Eggs Benedict dishes descriptions ] topped with poached eggs, avocado, bacon (which I would have had omitted, of course), and Hollandaise sauce (I think a nice salsa ranchera would work better here, though).
Yeah, I mucho liked this desayuno. I really liked that this came with a side of habichuelas puertorriqueños (hence the silly subtitular remark above); these were braised white beans with green olives, potatoes, carrots, sweet peppers, and pumpkin. I have had this side dish before when I had lunch at Parada 22 Comida Puertorriqueña and liked them then, too. I was also very happy to see that it came with a side of Tostones (fried traditional pressed green plantains with salsa rosa); I was even thinking of ordering a "side kick" of those in place of the homefries. Of course, this all ended up being waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much food for me; I did finish it all, but just barely. Like Boogaloos, Parada 22 Comida Puertorriqueña offers their own fresh-made salsa habanera in bottles on all the tables. I asked my salvadoreña waitress/server lady-person if it was the same as the one that was served at Boogaloos, but she stated it was similar, but a different recipe. However, if her knowledge of las salsas was anything like her knowledge of la música, I am not so sure that it wasn't exactly the same. It tasted a lot the same to me, anyway. Because I was originally planning on going to a different restaurant, I had brought a few of my own hot sauces with me this morning; I ended up using just a skosh[1] of my own Florida GoldPremium Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) on top of the scrambled eggs and Vegan chorizo stuff. I suppose the usage of both of today's habanero-based hot sauces could be in honour of the passing of ol' El Presidente hisdammself(but don't count on it)[2]. Today's Coffee input was truly exceptional. I am not sure if I have ever had any Coffee from this particular roastery before. I liked this cuppa so much that I even bought a different 12 oz bagga their Tairora to check out for later use at home. I haven't tried any yet, but when I was grinding up the whole beans, it smelled realllly good. My kitchen still smells great (for a change). https://counterculturecoffee.com/store/coffee/tairora Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Vegan Chorizo & Eggs ~ 6.7; Parada 22 Comida Puertorriqueña's fresh-made salsa habanera ~ 7.2; Counter CultureLa Golondrina ~ 7.3 ___________________
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day: It is well-known that "skosh" is Spanish for "just a smidgen". I have no idea how to say "skosh" in Japanese, though. 2. You can look up the origin of the word "habanero" yerdammself! Now this is pretty funny. I saw several posts and references about "Fidel is dead!" this morning on defacedbook; it never occurred to me that it might be Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz. I was reading "Fidel" as if it were a Hebrew or Israeli name in origin and was pronouncing it as "FIE-dle" (rhyming with "bridal") in my head and really couldn't understand whom they meant. Hey, don't judge me before I have had any Coffee that early in the morning! "Let ye who is without Coffee cast the first bean!"
