The Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House

"Edible, adj.: Good to eat and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm." ~ Ambrose Bierce

https://www.cliffhouse.com/bistro/index.html

(Happy 79th Birthday, Leonard Norman Cohen!)


Place: The Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House 
Location: 1090 Point Lobos (at the end of the World/Ocean Beach)
Hours: Monday - Saturday open at 9:00am, and Sunday at 8:30am for Breakfast
Meal: Sautéed Vegetable Scramble ~ scrambled eggs, red peppers, tomatoes, scallions, button mushrooms, and melted goat cheese; served with fresh fruit and roasted potatoes… and (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!)


Closing out my Breakfastary Rotation before the end of the regular Baseball Season is the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from June 13th, 2013). I still say this is one of the most redundantly redundant named names ever for a restaurant still; however, one can forgive their repetitively repetitious name and it can be forgiven, as have I ever mentioned the (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!)?

The morning started out almost sunny this morning (okay, I will try to curtail these superfluously repetitive redundancies), but by the time I got out and headed to breakfast, it had started raining just lightly. That didn't seem to bother the many numerous surfers (20-30) off Ocean Beach, or the several dogs walking their humans along the beach either.

Today's Hollywoodland Wall of Autographed Photos Interlude:

(Picture 1, top to bottom and left to right)

(?)Jim Ameche(?) (born James Ameche; younger brother of Don Ameche; original voice of Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy on radio); Edmund/Edward ???

Billie Burke (born Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke; wife of Florence Ziegfeld of Ziegfeld Follies fame; best known for her role as "Glinda the Good Witch of the North" in The Wizard of Oz ~ here's a little known Cliff Clavin fact: she was already 55 years old when The Wizard of Oz was filmed; I think the Bistro Restaurant should have positioned this photo on the same wall as the photos of Frances Ethel Gumm and Frank Phillip Wuppermann); George Christopher (not really a Hollywoodland movie star, he was the 34th Mayor of San Francisco from 1956-1964; he holds the distinction of being the last Republican to be elected Mayor of San Francisco; I wonder why that is?)

(Picture 2, same directions)

(?)Jack Hemingway(?) (born John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway; fisherman, conservationist, and writer; eldest son of Ernest Hemingway; father of Margaux and Mariel Hemingway); Mad About You cast ~ Anne Ramsay, Helen Hunt, Paul Reiser, Leila Kenzle, John Pankow, and Maui (as "Murray")

David Copperfield (born David Seth Kotkin; illusionist/magician; yeah, not really another Hollywoodland movie star; his most famous magic act was making Supermodel girlfriend/fiancée Claudia Schiffer disappear from his life); Huey Lewis (born Hugh Anthony Cregg III; Rock-and/or-Roll singer)

(Picture 3, ditto)

Humphrey Bogart (born Humphrey DeForest Bogie; some kinda minor character actor, I think; best known as Mr. Lauren Bacall); Olivia de Havilland (born Olivia Mary de Havilland; older sister of actress Joan Fontaine; won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role ~ To Each His Own, 1947; also won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role ~ The Heiress, 1950)

Shirley Temple (some punk kid actress); Tommy Smothers (born Thomas Bolyn Smothers III; half of the musical comedy team the Smothers Brothers; second favourite son of Ruth Smothers)

Claude Rains (born William Claude Rains; best known in The Invisible Man, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Casablanca; I like the juxtaposition of his photo with that Bogart person above); Nicholas Cage (born Nicolas Kim Coppla; nephew of both Francis Ford Coppola and Talia Shire; cousin of both Sofia Coppola and Jason Schwartzman; best known as one of Spicoli's stoner buds in Fast Times at Ridgemont High; I guess he also won an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Leaving Las Vegas, 1995)

Once again, I am asking for assistance in filling in any of the "???s" with some of the correct names. If anyone can supply any of the names, I will treat then to all the free (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) that they can eat (my treat even).

As always, this was a very good breakfast; I liked all the ingredients and how the goat cheese melts nicely into the scramble. However, as I have stated many times before, they could serve me that Military breakfastary staple "Save Our Ship" and I would probably enjoy it, just as long as they didn't forget to bring out some (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) for me. There were four of them warming in the basket this morning; I felt it necessary to finish all of them, too. Today's fresh fruits: strawberries, grapes, cantaloupes, honeydew melon, and watermelon.

The Bistro Restaurant has for condimentary supplementation just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red). I used some of my own Palo Alto Firefighters Pepper Sauce (Thanks agains, Amys & me!) on the potatoes and some Serious Food… Silly Prices Chunky Habanero (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the scramble mess.

Hallelujah ~ for (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!)!

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Sautéed Vegetable Scramble ~ 6.8; (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) ~ 8.2

grindz

"There is a lot more juice in grapefruit than meets the eye." ~ author unknown (but probably said by Jimmy Cagney at one time or another)

http://www.grindzrestaurant.com/

(Just a little Sunday morning Bruddah Iz-piration to go along with today's food theme.)


Place: grindz 
Location: 832 Clement Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues)
Hours: Friday, Saturday & Sunday open at 9:00am for "Brunch"
Meal: Kalua Benedict ~ toasted Hawai'ian bread, Kalua pig, taro leaves, 2 poached eggs,
tarragon hollandaise served with plantation potatoes; and a cuppa Bicycle Coffee


grindz (see last 'blog-entry from April 27th, 2013) is the last of my Breakfastary Rotation Starters; that just leaves the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House to close it out next weekend with some World-Famous, Most Excellent Popovers(!) next weekend (that was not a typo, nor even a Type AB Negative; that is just my way of making fun of the redundant redundancy in the bistro-restaurant nomenclature name). 

I thought this sign above the door was pretty funny: "Maximum Occupancy 49 Persons". Why the odd number? They couldn't squeeze in just one more person to make it an even half-century? Besides, I counted and there are actually only forty-four seats available (at tables for two or four people). If you are going to try to tell me that maybe there is room for five more rug-rats in highchairs, nice try! Everyone knows that they aren't considered "people" until they can sit at the table like a real person (despite what those crazy Christian fundamentalist are trying to tell us). 

As I have already run through most of the viable stupid vegetarian dishes on the menu, I am repeating the first meal I tried there last year. There is still Veg N Eggs ~ 2 poached eggs, mushrooms, zucchini, spinach, potatoes, chili oil ~ to try; however, I am not sure how that is prepared/served, but I might have to try it on my next visit.

This must be some kinda "Benedict" weekend with me. Of course, I got this without the Kalua pig. Without the pork, this is more like a Hawai'ian version of Eggs Florentine, "Eggs Honolulutine", perhaps?! I really like the use of the taro leaves and the Hawai'ian bread (a variation of Portuguese sweet bread) in this dish. Plus, unlike yesterday's breakfast ("Brunch", whatever), the poached eggs were actually cooked properly this morning. I also really like the plantation potatoes; these are made with lots of red bell peppers, white onions, and celery in them (I think there were even some potatoes in it).

For condimentary supplements, grindz offers bottles of Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and Huy Fong Foods Inc.® Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce; but, more importantly, they have both a fresh-made Hawai'ian ketchup and cruets of chilli vinegar (the waiter-server guy said that it goes best with the Loco Moco[1], so I probably won't get to try much of it). I used some of the Hawai'ian ketchup on the plantation potatoes and a small amount of my own Nando's Extra Hot Peri-Peri Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) on top of the eggs (mixed in with the Hollandaise sauce again).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Kalua Benedict ~ 7.2 


1. Not really a stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer, but just more of an epicurean name origin:

The most probable origin of the name "Loco moco" is that "loco" is a variation/Hawai'ian slang of "local" (there is another story that says that "Loco" was the nickname of the first boy to eat the concoction), while "moco" was added simply because it rhymed.

Q Restaurant and Wine Bar

Shhh! Don’t wake the sleeping Dragon.

http://www.qrestaurant.com/

(Sorry, there really aren't that many "Q"-related EweToob videos.)


Place: Q Restaurant and Wine Bar 
Location: 225 Clement Street (between 3rd and 4th Avenues)
Hours: Saturday and Sunday open at 9:00am for "Brunch" (well, I can only assume that this is the case; their web-site says 9:00am on the home page, but on their "Brunch" menu page it says that it is "Served Saturday, Sunday and Holidays 10am-3pm")
Meal: Pumped Up Benny ~ poached eggs, bacon, and avocado with hollandaise on a black bean corn cake; served with home fries


While still working my way through my Breakfastary Rotation before the end of the regular Baseball season, I went back to Q Restaurant and Wine Bar (see last 'blog-entry from April 20th, 2013). Thinking that they didn't open until 10:00am (as they always had in the past ~ the 9:00am time must be something new in the past five months since my last visit) I got there about 9:45am and saw that they were already open and serving. I sat at the Sleeping Dragon tableau table again.

stupid parklet mini-rant of the day
As mentioned in the 'blog-entry from two weeks ago, there is a new, large 3-space wastelet located right across the street from the restaurant. 

I didn't see anything extremely exciting on the weekend "Brunch Specials" menu. I was just going to order the Grilled Portobello Benedict off the standard "Brunch" menu, but the Pumped Up Benny sounded pretty interesting, Ahnold.

Of course, I ordered this without the bacon stuff in it. The black bean corn cakes were fresh and homemade. I was really expecting these to be made with cornmeal (sort of a cornbread muffin or such) and with black beans in them, but they were actually black bean cakes (with rice in them, or however they are made) and lots of fresh and roasted corn kernels in them. Plus, there were lots of diced up red bell peppers, Pasilla peppers (I asked the waiter/server person-guy and he confirmed this for me with the kitchen; I figured they were either Pasilla or Anaheim chillies as they had a bit more heat to them than normal green bell peppers), and red onions (there is no truth to the rumour that the secret binding ingredients were "gunpowder and gelatine", though). I really liked the black bean corn cakes in place of Mr. Thomas' lame baked goods. However, both poached eggs were way undercooked and runny. I know that "poached eggs" are supposed to be soft and runny, but these were almost opaque and totally undercooked. I still ate them; I figured enough Hollandaise and hot sauce on top of it would make anything palatable. This was a nice thick and tasty Hollandaise sauce, too.

I also had a cuppa their house coffee with the meal. I have no idea what brand it was. It was good enough to have a few refills.

Q has several bottles of condimentary supplementation on the tables: Tapatío®, The Original "Louisiana" BRAND The Perfect Hot Sauce, and a few others. It really didn't matter what they had to offer as I was planning on using the two brand new bottles that I received while in Massachusetts last week (Thanks, Kerry!). Born to Hula presents Devon Allman's[1] All Natural Hot Sauce Chipotle Blues[2] on the potatoes; this has a nice smoky flavour, not really too much heat (still more than "gringo hot", though). Florida Gold Premium Habanero Hot Sauce Salsa Picanté Latin Flavour[3] on top of both eggs (mixed into the Hollandaise sauce); now this one packs a lot of heat, but nothing way too hot and it was also very good.

There were two Tootsie Roll® Midgees (original cocoa flavour) with the check this morning. Sadly, no Moët & Chandon was offered, though.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Pumped Up Benny ~ 6.4 (this would probably have been 6.6-6.7 or higher if the eggs had been cooked properly/thoroughly)


1. Devon Allman is the nephew of legend(wait for it…)ary Blues guitarist Duane Allman. Devon has his own Blues Rock band called Honeytribe. Oh, yeah, and his dad is Gregg Allman.

2. Ingredients: Distilled white vinegar, Roasted tomatoes, Cayenne pepper, Chipotle pepper, Roasted garlic, Salt, Onion powder, Lime juice, and Xanthan gum.

http://borntohula.com/

3. Made with Spring Water, Vinegar, Garlic, Florida Habanero Peppers, and other exotic herbs and spices.

http://www.floridahotsauce.com/

Persy’s Place

Wareham, MA (Monday, 09/09/13)

https://persysplace.com/

(Okay, this isn't the original version, but if I ever go to a restaurant called "Prosol Harum's Quarters", I will link that EweToob video.)


On the unbridled suggestion of a friend (Hey, Ron!) that eats at Persy's Place regularly (the restaurant in Dartmouth/Westport, and probably 2-3 times a week at that), I went there with unbridled enthusiasm on Monday morning with a few other members of my family (my mother, my sister Sharon, and my brother Sean ~ they may have had a slightly more bridled emotion to it, though, Durk). We ate at the Wareham location (on the Cranberry Highway/Route 6, right before you hit Buzzards Bay and the Bourne Bridge to get to Cape Cod). Persy's Place has nine locations throughout Southeastern Massachusetts (5), Cape Cod (3), and Eastern Rhode Island (1), and, as they state, they are "Not a chain… just a few good restaurants run by family and friends". I never did figure out who this "Persy" guy was, though (probably just some kinda nom de plume[1] that Ron is using to drum-up business).

I saw with unbridled happiness that they call their early morning meal "Breakfast" and have a four-page menu dedicated to that meal alone (they only have a two-page "Lunch" menu, but do serve breakfast all day long, anyway). With such an unbridled selection of breakfastary choices (Breakfast Sandwiches, Egg Basics, House Specialties, Egg Favorites, Legendary Egg Creations, Buttermilk Pancakes, French Toast, Belgian Waffles, Crêpes, Scrumptious Scramblers, Quiches, and Persy's Famous 3 Egg Omelets), it took us all a bit of time to decide on what to get. 

Me: Asparagus Omelet ~ young, fresh asparagus and Swiss cheese; served with your choice of 2 Sunrise Sides (as if deciding on what to choose for the main breakfast meal from four pages wasn't unbridled enough, they force you to choose from twelve side items, too). Sean: Eggs Brown Eyed Susan ~ 2 farm fresh dropped eggs (or as you like) with baked ham and hollandaise sauce on 2 slices of New England brown bread[2]; served with your choice of 2 Sunrise Sides. Sharon: (half-order) Eggs Florentine ~ 2 (well, one for a half-order) farm fresh dropped eggs (or as you like), spinach, hollandaise sauce on a toasted English muffin topped with sweet Italian peppers; half-orders are served with your choice of just 1 Sunrise Sides. Mom: one slice of rye bread toast and one slice of pumpernickel toast (seriously), but I think all of their breads are homemade/baked, at least.

(Well, I only took a photo of my meal, but if Sean or Sharon wanted  pictures of their meals, they are free to start their own damned unbridled 'blogs.)


Fist off, all of the plates were very large portions. I really liked my omelette, but figured I would with asparagus as the main ingredient, and it was unbridled with lots and lots of the green-speared goodness. I almost went with the Asparagus Scrambler instead. I really didn't even look at their French Toast or Belgian Waffles section, but if I ever get back there, I will have to think about trying either the Maple Walnut French Toast or the Banana Split Waffle ~ sliced bananas, pineapple, strawberries, topped with walnuts, whipped cream and chocolate syrup(!) ~ oh, yeah!

Sean seemed to like this New England version of Eggs Benedict. The originality of using brown bread in place of boring ol' English muffins was a nice choice. I probably would have liked that, too, just without the unbridled, dead, decaying, swine flesh.

I really liked the idea (and I think Sharon did, too) of the sweet Italian peppers on Sharon's Eggs Florentine and there was an unbridled amount here, too. That they even allow half-orders of Eggs Benedict dishes is pretty cool in itself. I have never heard of that. I asked the waitress-server lady if someone else gets stuck with the other half of Sharon's English muffin now.

I am making a separate paragraph for each of our Sunrise Sides. Me: Persy's Homefries (they have this spelled ~ correctly ~ as one word) and Cinnamon Crumpets (it is really just one, though). The homefries were excellent half-inch cubes of potatoes. The crumpet was good, and I used some apple butter on it, but if I ever get back again, I would definitely get what Sean had (see next paragraph). 

Sean: Hashbrowns (they have this as two words) and Our Grilled Cornbread. I am not joking, the cornbread was HUGE and absolutely unbridled; it had to be at least three to four normal-sized servings. We all got to sample some of it. It was very moist and tasty.

Sharon: Black Beans. She is eating gluten-free ~ by choice even ~ and was actually going to order the 2% Cottage Cheese until I shamed her out of that absolutely stupid choice. Who goes out to a restaurant to eat and orders cottage cheese?! Even I can "prepare a scoop" of cottage cheese at home. And don't give me that bridled excuse, "But what if someone is on a diet and wants a lighter side?" Please, if you are trying to lose weight, stay at home or just skip a meal. Cottage cheese is not a viable "side" at a restaurant... evah!

There were no sides offered with my mother's toasts. 

Persy's Place offers for condimentary supplementation Tabasaco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both the original red and green jalapeño), Trappey's® Louisiana Hot Sauce, and Frank’s® RedHot® Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce. I used some of the green Tabasco® on my potatoes and some Trappey's® on the omelette. I really didn't think to pack any of my own collection to take back with me to Massachusetts (however, I did receive two brand new bottles that I will be testing later this weekend ~ Thanks, Kerry!)

Ron can just be thankful that we all really enjoyed our meals unbridledly!

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Asparagus Omelet ~ 6.5; Eggs Brown Eyed Susan ~ 6.8 (Per Sean's input; he has been educated on the correct usage of the GBS Rating and can be trusted to be truthful and accurate; I really didn't bother to ask Sharon for her rating, as she is a female and, by nature, prone to unbridled exaggerations and mistruths of all manners; and I didn't ask my mother for her ratings on her toasts either)


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer du jour:

"Nom de plume" is French for "pen name"; "nom" is "name" and "plume" is "pen" ~ "plume" literally means "feather" in French, but the word leant itself to the old feather quill pens. 

Now here is the interesting thing, and I quote Wikipedia for this unbridled explanation:

Despite the use of French words in the phrase nom de plume, the term did not originate in France, its origin is Latin. H.W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, in The King's English, state that the term nom de plume "evolved" in Britain, where people wanting a "literary" phrase, failed to understand the term nom de guerre, which already existed in French. Since guerre means war in French, nom de guerre did not make sense to the British, who did not understand the French metaphor. The term was later exported to France.

2. For anyone that isn't familiar with "New England brown bread", it really is a strange invention. It can be found in many grocery stores (if you really look for it). It is packaged in cans (yes, cans) and usually is in the same section that sells baked beans and such. I like it, but I am strange and grew up with the junk ~ unbridled or bridled. 

Airport Breakfastary Food

Part the First

San Francisco International Airport (Wednesday, 09/04/13)

(The connection for today's EweToob video is simple: check the date.)


Of course, anyone that has ever traveled in the past century (or even the 21st Century) knows that you are automatically subjected to having to eat a meal or two at an airport restaurant somewhere along the way ~ some are better than others ~ but they are all always at least 25% more expensive than a comparable non-airport location. Like stupid parklets, there are really no valid explanations or excuses for this.

On my way out of San Francisco last week for an early morning flight to attend the wedding of my niece, Shannon, and newest nephew-in-law(?), Ryan, (Congratulations, Sheesha & Red!), I ate at Andalé[1] Mexican Restaurant (the one in Terminal 3). Andalé is a local Mexican (small) chain restaurant; I think their original restaurant is in Los Gatos[2]. There were a couple of other good restaurant choices in the same terminal dining area, I just liked their menu choices better.

http://andalemexican.com/

There were actually several good options on their menu for breakfast: Huevos Rancheros, Omelette a la Mexicana, and even Chilaquiles Guadalajara Style. However, I felt like a Breakfast Burrito (I'm sure that I looked more like an early-morning ass, though) ~ two scrambled eggs, homemade chorizo, Jack and Cheddar cheeses, refried house Mayocoba beans, and potatoes wrapped in a big flour tortilla, with fresh fruit on the side. I also had a glass (well, plastic cup) of guava (guayaba) agua fresca.

I am not sure how they prepare their Mayocoba refried beans, but they offered black beans instead for my vegetarian version of the burrito (and, of course, sin la carne de cerdo muerto y en descomposición). This was made fresh for me as it was the vegetarian version and not sitting wrapped-up and ready to go like the burritos for the stupid carnivores. Surprisingly, this was really not a bad burrito at all as far as airport food goes. The side of fruit comes in a small plastic cup and was cantaloupe (melón), honeydew melon (melón verde), and grapes (uvas). The guava agua fresca was as good as any in the Mission, too.

For condimentary supplementation Andalé actually makes a few of their own fresh salsas, but they also had two different types of El Yucateco® in bottles ~ Salsa Picante Roja de Chile Habanero and Salsa Picante Verde de Chile Habanero (I have had both in the past and they are pretty good; the green is actually hotter than the red for some reason). I used some of Andalé's own fresh salsa roja on my burrito. It was very good, and only gringo hot. I thought it might have been a chipotle salsa, but the chef-cook guy told me it was just a red Serrano chile salsa.

Afterward I got a cuppa Peet's® Pumpkin Latte at their kiosk at the end of the terminal to drink while I was killing time waiting for my plane and walking around looking at all the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame plaques on display. Just to name a few: Brent Jones (San Francisco 49ers; 2013), Joe Kapp (UC Berkeley/Cal; 2004), Billie Jean King (not quite sure what her connection to the Bay Area is; 2009), Chris Mullin (Golden State Warriors; 2006), Lynn Swann (Serra High School, San Mateo ~ which was the same Bay Area high school that Barry Bonds and Tom Brady went to; 2002), Gaylord Perry (San Francisco Giants; 2009), and Kristi Yamaguchi (born in Hayward, CA; 2004).

http://www.bashof.org/


Part D'oh!

General Edward Lawrence Logan[3] International Airport, Boston, MA (Tuesday, 09/10/13)

No trip to Boston or New England would be complete without stopping at least once at a Dunkin' Donuts® (actually I had some three times during the week). Dunkin' Donuts®  is a national chain, but there are not any yet in the Bay Area (and I am not sure if there are any in Northern California even).

https://www.dunkindonuts.com

There are several shops throughout Logan Airport, but I went to the one before the security checkpoint in Terminal C.

Dunkin' Donuts® has ten breakfast sandwiches from which to choose (which isn't that bad really). I had the Egg White Flatbread - Veggie ~ egg white omelet with a slice of reduced fat Cheddar cheese, served on a multigrain flatbread. I also had to get one of their doughnuts (that is the whole idea of going there, after all); I got a Pumpkin Pie Donut. I finished it all off with a cuppa their coffee (I am not sure which blend/roast it was, probably their standard roast).

The veggie egg white omelette is made with diced green and red peppers, diced green onions, and roasted mushrooms (which I am sure were also diced, Andrew). I liked it well enough; this beats your standard Egg-a-muffin any day, Ronald. 

This doughnut was absolutely disgustingly sweet (in the positive sense of the word); I was not surprised by it as I had one earlier in the week and knew it was just horrible enough for me to like it. The filling is a pumpkin pie buttercreme (this is actually how Dunkin' Donuts® has it spelled), and it is topped with a graham crumb topping. Seasonally, they also make a Pumpkin Donut ~ a standard cake-style doughnut (which I had on one of my other visits during the week) and a Pumpkin Muffin (sadly, which I didn't get around to trying this visit).

Dunkin' Donuts® standard coffee roast/blend is pretty good ~ mild, not too strong; it pairs well with sweet doughnuts and such. The coffee cup had a New England Patriots logo on it ("the Official Coffee of…" Seriously?! Somehow I doubt you will ever see Tim Brody or Bill Bellychuck sipping on one, though).

D'oh! I noticed after I had already eaten that I could have eaten at Jerry Remy's[4] Sports Bar & Grill in the same area at the airport. (Plus, they serve Peet's® coffee at this location.)

http://www.jerryremys.com/index.php/locations.html


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Andalé Breakfast Burrito ~ 6.3; 
Peet's® Pumpkin Latte ~ 6.7; 
Egg White Flatbread (Veggie) ~ 5.5;
Dunkin' Donuts® Coffee ~ 6.0;
Dunkin' Donuts® Pumpkin Pie Donut ~ 6.3


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer del día, número uno:

In case you have never seen a Speedy Gonzalez cartoon when you were a kid, "¡Andalé!" simply means "Come on!" or "Let's go!" in Spanish.

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer del día, número dos:

"Los Gatos" in Spanish means "the Cats". The town of Los Gatos is about an hour due south of San Francisco in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. "The Cats" here references the indigenous cougars, or they were when the town was settled in the early 19th Century.

3. Yeah, who?!

Edward Lawrence Logan was an American officer in the Spanish-American War. Apparently he was a Southie and that is why they renamed Boston Airport in his honour. I guess they couldn't find any respectable residents of East Boston to name it after.

4. Gerald "Jerry/Rem Dawg" Remy was a former Boston Red Sox Second Baseman (1978-1984) and is currently the colour-guy for Red Sox games broadcast on NESN. He was born in Fall Reev, MA.

Eats

"Why does man kill? He kills for food, and not only food: frequently there must be a beverage." ~ Allan Stuart Konigsberg

(Still no official web-site)

50 Clement Street (on the corner of 2nd Avenue)

phonicular contact: (415) 751-8000

(In case you are trying to figure out what correlation there is between today's EweToob selections and today's breakfast, well, Colin Hay used to be in the band Men At Work. Get it? Today is "Labor Day" ~ or "Labour Day" up northways in Canadialand. The second song has nothing to do with anything else, I just like it.)


Is it just me, or does it not seem fair that restaurant employees have to work on Labor Day (or Labour Day, eh)?

Continuing with my workout of my Breakfastary Rotation, I went back to Eats (see last 'blog-entry from April 21st, 2013) this morning for breakfast. I sat at the window counter seating overlooking the sidewalk along Clement Street. There are six sidewalk tables (this is new for them in the past year or so) that can seat 2-3 people (and several canine buddies, if you have 'em), so there really is no need for any…

stupid parklet mini-rant of the day
 
"parklets come to (invade) the richmond!" 

noooooooooooooo!!!

The newest of these urban abominations (and a three-parking spaces one at that) is on Clement Street on the corner of 3rd Avenue. This is another example of completely wasted space: 1) parking is always at a premium all along Clement Street (there are no real nearby public parking garages); and 2) if you really want to enjoy your stupid "Double Vente Mochachino Latte with non-fat Soy Milk and a twist" while sitting outdoors, just get off your fat-assed Yves Laurent-suited bottom and use your damn Gucci-shod feet to walk the seven blocks over to Mountain Lake Park or the five blocks "all the way over" to Golden Gate Park ~ that is what they are there for. If you say, "But what if I don't have time to walk all the way over there?” ~ where did you end up parking your stupid Mercedes or Beemer in the neighborhood as it was?!

Hmmm? Maybe I should petition the city to cement over portions of those city parks for parking spaces.

mini-meh! 

(mini-rant over, back to breakfast)

Seeing as I have pretty much exhausted all of the items on their menu that are fit for vegetarian consumption, I once again ordered Farmer's Scrambled Eggs ~ (v) mushrooms, corn, zucchini, spring onions, basil, goat cheese, and parsley; comes w/toast & choice of (Excellent!) Roasted Home Potatoes/mixed greens/or side fruit cup. I also had a cuppa Equator Coffee.

I had pretty much decided on this meal or the Spicy Tomato Skillet (which is really good and has a lot of kale in it), but I had just had that one a little more recently. The "v" must stand for "very verdant" as it was all pretty green with most of the ingredients. I noticed that it also included some summer squash (which was not listed, but is still a good addition); this just added to the crunch and freshness from the corn and all. The ingredients tend to change from season-to-season: with kale and cauliflower being in the mix in the past also. I chose multigrain bread for the toast. There was a big chunk/slice of watermelon[1] garnish on the plate that I made sure didn't go to waste either. My only minor complaint (mini-complaint) was that there were just/only two cloves of garlic in with the Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes this morning. But it is all good ~ luck (or lucklessness) of the draw or such.

Eats offers the San Francisco Triumvirate of Condimentary Supplementation: Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red); Cholula® Hot Sauce; and Tapatío®. But as Stevie Nicks' dad, Maxell, would say: it really didn't matter as I used some from my own collection that I had brought with me. I used some Hula Girl Chipotle Habanero (Thanks, Jim! I really am enjoying this one; it has lots of flavour and just about the right amount o' heat for me) on the Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes, and some CaJohns Fiery Foods Oaxacan Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian! Using up the last of that bottle, too; that makes two down in two days ~ at this rate I should be able to use up the rest of the bottles by early 2034 at least) in with the scramble junk.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Farmer's Scrambled Eggs ~ 6.9; Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes ~ 7.475 (I normally rate these at 7.5 GBS Rating, but I docked them .025 points for only two cloves of garlic)


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

Just because I haven't spammed everyone with one of these in the past few 'blog-entries, here is "watermelon" in a few ferren languages:

Afrikaans ~ waatlemoen (pronounced: "WATTLEmoon" or close enough; I only included this one as historically watermelon is thought to have originated in southern Africa ~ consider that a "stupid, useless horticultural pointer of the day" at no extra charge)
Deutsch ~ Wassermelone (pronounced: "VASSERmelona")
Español ~ sandía
Français ~ pastèque
Greek ~ καρπούζι (pronounced: "karpOOzi")
Hungarian ~ görögdinnye (I will leave that one to Greg Kipe to pronounce for you)
Italiano ~ anguria (pronounced: "ANgooriya")
Russki ~ арбуз (pronounced: "ARbooz")

Ella’s

"The one with the green beans, roasted beets, grilled carrots, and havarti ~ potato scramble."


www.ellassanfrancisco.com

(The first EweToob video should be self-explanatory by the name of the restaurant. The next two songs are just to honour Van Morrison as his 68th birthday was yesterday. I would have linked my All-Time Favourite of All-Time Van Morrison song, "Tupelo Honey", but I see that I have already linked it here three times before; maybe for Van's 70th. Save me a big slice o' that humble pie, Johnnie Ray!)


Today's breakfastary destination was to another in my Breakfastary Rotation ~ Ella's (see last 'blog-entry from April 6th, 2013). Once again, I sat at the counter overlooking the bakery/kitchen area and got to see "the show"; today, el maestro was preparing buttermilk biscuits and cinnamon buns.

Mobular Rant of the Day
Parents, if you are eating at a crowded, noisy restaurant, don't answer your phone and say, "I can't hear you, it's too noisy in here. Can I call you back later?"

1) What kind of example does it set for your kids when you are talking on a phone at the table during a meal? It is not only rude to everyone else at the table, but obnoxious to the caller, too.
2) Why answer it at all, does your voice-mail not seem to work when you are eating out?
3) What makes you think that everyone else around you cares to hear you screaming on your stupid phone and listen to a half-conversation (either put the caller on speaker-phone so the rest of us can eavesdrop and know the entire story, or just speak at a normal non-harpish level)?

Idiots! (Yes, in case it wasn't quite apparent, I dislike the whole stupid current i-telephony fad. Now back to the actual breakfast part of the 'blog-thingy.)

Ella's calls their early morning meal "Brunch" on the weekends, but opens up at 8:30am and can be forgiven that snooty-assed moniker. There were a few interesting items from which to choose, but I ended up ordering potato scramble ~ with green beans, roasted beets, grilled carrots, and havarti ~ with added eggs; served with choice of fresh baked bread/toast or biscuit. I also had a Ginger Orange Juice Punch. (I skipped any coffee with breakfast, but made myself a nice cuppa Bettys Tea Room Blend ~ tea, that is ~ to enjoy while typing out this morning's 'blog-entry.)

(Yeah… well… maybe I meant for the photo to look that blurry... ummm… Its ethereal appearance was meant to signify another one of Van's best songs, "Into the Mystic"… yeah, that's it.

Of course, if you believe that lame excuse, maybe you were truly "born before the wind". 

The really sad thing is that this was the best of the three that I took.)


This was a very good choice and I liked all of the ingredients. The beets were my deciding factor in getting this meal this morning. We 'mericans don't seem to eat enough of these maroon taproots; but, I just loves 'em. However, I think it would have been cool to have included all subterranean fruits in it: potatoes (both regular and sweet?), beets, carrots, and fennel root, or something else (turnips, rutabagas, or parsnips). My toast choice was honey oatmeal raisin once again, it's really one of their best; they actually use golden raisins (Sultanas?! Whatever their nobility is.), but if I had used "raisin", people would assume that I suffered from deuteranopia. 

Ella's offers as condimentary supplements just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both the standard red and the green Jalapeño). I used some of my own Serious Food… Silly Prices Sweet Heat Hot Sauce (Thanks again, Cindy & Greg!) on about 2/3 of the scramble (which killed the last of that bottle; now I only have another 5-6 bottles to use up… before I will be under ten bottles and can even think about buying any more) and some Youk's Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the remaining half of the scramble.

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude
I saw a small flock of about six Wild Parrots flying overhead (I heard them first, then looked up and saw them) on my way to the restaurant this morning. I was surprised, because you don't normally see them this far west into the city.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: potato scramble ~ 6.8; the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5