Another breakfastary mini-roadtrip[1]: Sausalito, Marin County, CA
http://www.baysidecafe-sausalito.com/ Place: Bayside Cafe and Juice Bar Location: 1 Gate 6 Road, Sausalito, CA (by the Kappas Marina, in the Harbor Center) Hours: open seven days a week at 6:30am (closed every other day of the week) Meal: the Spinach Poacher ~ poached eggs on top of sautéed (I added the "é" there; please note: no G£êñ Bäçòń §čåłē points are ever deducted due to spelling/accentuation preferences) spinach, topped with pico de gallo and Feta, served with tortillas or toast; and a cuppa (with two refillas ~ it was a smallish cuppa) of whatever their house (café, whatever) Coffee might have been (I forgot to ask; the Coffee pots had Peerless Coffee & Tea® on them, but those may just have been promotional leftovers from when they might have served that specific brand of Coffee)
(This EweToobular video/song is just a reminder that we should all make an effort to get to and to see the World outside our window once in a while.) I really don't know why it has taken me over two years to make a return trip to Bayside Cafe and Juice Bar (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, March 22nd, 2015). I remember that I really liked my first visit there. I love that they open up at 6:30am... every day... and for breakfast (minusculed and un-italicized, thank you; I hope they never learn of that odious word "Brunch" here). Plus, breakfast (minusculed and un-italicized still, thank you) is served all day long (it even says so right on their web-site thing: "where breakfast is served all day" ~ of course, there it is italicized, but it's still in the minuscule, at least). And with a very extensive breakfast menu, this place is certainly Breakfastary Starting Rotation-worthy... if only they were a bit more local. This morning, I sat at one of the seats at the long diner-style counter. However, I probably shoulda sat outside at one of the tables in their covered/screened patio seating area (overlooking the marina/houseboats). The weather was perfect for it. Plus, no other idiots were even out there yet that early in the morning, I woulda had the entire space to myself. As I mentioned above, Bayside Cafe has a lot of other great-sounding breakfast entries, such-as: the Heart Breaker (omelette) ~ artichoke hearts, mushrooms, spinach & cheese; the Veggie Volt (if we can overlook the dreaded "Veggie" moniker) ~ scrambled eggs, zucchini, tomatoes, spinach, & Swiss cheese; Munga, Munga! (yeah, I have no idea what that means; I wonder if it was simply a misinterpretation of the Italian "Mangia, Mangia!" ~ "Eat, Eat!") ~ scrambled eggs, Italian sausage (which I would have omitted), mushrooms, Feta cheese, & salsa; Mediterranean (omelette) ~ spinach, tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, avocado, & Feta; or (off their weekend specials board) Breakfast Quesadilla ~ with eggs, bacon (No gracias.), cheese, and spinach, served with sour cream and salsa. I really did have a hard time deciding on which meal to go with this morning. There are way too many good choices; hence, I need to make more return trips oftener.
I knew that I was going to like this meal from the description, but I enjoyed it even more in conception. Feta and spinach?! Needless to say (but I am needlessly keyboarding it, anyway), I enjoyed this dish immensely. This ended up being sorta Eggs Benedict-estilo mexicano for the gluten-free crowd (those people really don't want to pay for their gluten) with a bit of an ελληνικός-twist to it, too. I like that they offer a choice of (corn or flour) tortillas or toast. I opted for the corn tortillas option, as I thought (correctly so) that it was the best way to go. I bet this dish would have been interesting with the tortillas under the spinach and poached eggs, too. It may have been a bit too soupy-wet, but I would liked to have tried it that way, anyway. For condimentary supplementation, Bayside Cafe had just Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce). I used some of my own Punch Drunk™Chocolate Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Sean!) on top of one of the poached eggs for some extra flavour, but their fresh pico de gallo was pretty tasty all on its ownsome, anyway. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: the Spinach Poacher ~ 6.8; Golden Gate Bridge and Bay views ~ 8.5 ___________________
1. The round-trip time there and back (including a forty-five minutes to one hour side-trip to the Golden Gate Bridge in an [unsuccessful] attempt to spot ol' Humphrey and friends) was exactly two hours. H*ck, I spend more time than that most times driving to a location just on the other side of town.
(Still no official-type web-site again.) Place: Dottie's True blue café Location: 26 6th Street (on the corner of Stevenson Street); phonicular contact: (415) 885-2767 Hours: open Thursday through Monday at 7:30am Meal: Banana Raspberry Rice Flour Pancakes ~ (self-explanatory, I would hope) with pure maple syrup; and a glassa milk Sticking to my self-prescribed Rhadamanthine schedule of going to Dottie's True blue café (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, June 11th, 2017) at least once a month for 2017, I made yet still another return visit there this morning. Once again I sat at "Seat #1" at the front counter. This was very easy to do as I was the fourth person in line this morning.[1] I had gone there with the specific idea of having either French toast or pancakes (something on the sweet side), depending on what was specialized on the weekend Blackboard. I liked the sound of this pancake choice better than the French toast option this weekend, so I went with that. I may have even had these in the past before, but after so many meals at Dottie's True blue café, I really can't be too sure. Otherwise, my back-up choices would have been: Fried Egg Sandwich ~ with prosciutto (which I would have ottantasei-ed), avocado, + Provolone on a biscuit, with fruit + potatoes; some kinda omelette combination ~ possibly roasted garlic, spinach, tomato, and goat cheese; or Spinach Provolone Strata ~ served with Italian sausage (No grazie.), roasted tomatoes, + fruit (which I just had back during my January visit, but wouldn't mind having again).
These came as three large pancakes and they were deceptively filling; I could only finish two-and-a half of them (barely). Because the pancakes were made with rice flour and not wheat flour, they weren't as fluffy or airy as "normal" pancakes might have been, but I actually liked how they made a nice crunchy shell/crust on the outsides. Kurt told me that it took him a while to come up with the correct formula (recipe, whatever) for using rice flour instead of wheat flour, specifically as a gluten-free option for those kinda cheapo people that don't like to pay for any extra gluten. I liked the flavour combination of banana and raspberry a lot, too. (And, once again, students, how many botanical berries were in these pancakes? Yes, there was just one... banana; because we all know that raspberries are not real berries.) I did not need to use any of Dottie's supplied bottled hot sauces, but I did use up all of the pure maple syrup (Duh!). Strange Ice Cream Interlude
Because of a conversation I had with complete strangers while standing in line[1, again], I decided that I had to make another stop at ShakeDown this afternoon. I had a small scoop (which is actually two scoops-size) of Satisfaction ~ peanut nougat, Chocolate ganache, citrus zest, and caramel swirls. The owner-scooper guy told me this was mostly inspired by and meant to be à la mode deSnickers® candybar. I actually liked it much better than any ol' Martian Chocolate bar and the peanut nougat crunchies in it really stood out. http://www.shakedownsf.com/ Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Banana RaspberryRice Flour Pancakes ~ 6.8; Satisfaction ~ 7.4 (Don't ever tell me that I can't get no... no, no, no!) ___________________
1. I actually got there right around 7:00am and figured that I would be the only idiot waiting in line for a half-hour for them to open. However, it was a nice enough morning (read: no fog for a change), and there were already three other idiots (one group of two and one single guy) ahead of me that must have had the exact same idea. Because we had a half-hour to kill (and because I am basically a Nose E. Parker), I started talking with them while waiting there. The guy just ahead of me was wearing a Y*nkees cap, but, even so, he seemed like a nice enough guy (just a bit misguided in his Baseball fandom). The conversation between the four of us ranged from breakfast ideas at Dottie's True blue café and to everything from the Boston Red Sox[a] v. Y*nkees rivalry (and why there really isn't the same kind of animosity between Celtics and Knicks fans) to Joe Montana's and Tom Brady's love-lives to where is a good place for Ice Cream (hence the above Strange Interlude this afternoon) in San Francisco[b]. [a](As luck would have it, I happened to be wearing my 2013 World Series Champions t-shirt this morning, too. Come to think of it, luck really didn't have much to do with it. I was planning on wearing something Red Sox-y today to help with the mojo over the current Y*nkees series; plus, I figure about one-fifth of my t-shirts are either Red Sox-related or San Francisco Giants-related, anyway.) [b](I made sure to point out that Humphry Slocombe is probably one of the best local Ice Cream joints in the city [and probably my favourite, too]. I also recommended ShakeDown, Bi-Rite Creamery, and the Ice Cream Bar. They all had been to Salt & Straw earlier this week already.) http://www.humphryslocombe.com/ http://biritecreamery.com/icecream http://theicecreambarsf.com/ https://saltandstraw.com/sf-locations/
Place:phoenix bar & Irish Gathering House Location: 811 Valencia Street (between 19th and 20th Streets) Hours: open at 10:00am Saturday & Sunday for "Brunch" Meal: Huevos Valencianos ~ roasted chiles, avocado, black beans, eggs any style, corn tortillas, choice of grilled Irish bacon or spicy sausage (both of which I ochtó-a-sé-ed, of course); and a large glassa grapefruit juice
(Today's EweToobular juxtaselections? Simples! Sir George Ivan just loves him some Irish soda bread.) In an attempt to revisit some places that I remembered really liking (and because I am running out of "new" places to try), I returned to phoenix bar & Irish Gathering House (see previous 'blog-entry from Saturday, November 22nd, 2014). Probably one of the reasons that it has taken me this long to make a return trip is that they open at 10:00am and they call the first meal of the day on Saturday and Sunday mornings "Brunch". (Okay, that's two reasons, but they kinda go hand-in-hand.) I find that when I have to "wait that 'late' to eat breakfast" (especially when it is called "Brunch"), it appears as if half the day has been wasted on just one meal. This morning, they seemed to ostensively be playing one-hit wonder songs from the 80's on the (Irish Gathering) House-stereo. (Seriously. Can anyone really name another hit that the Outfield ever had?!) There really isn't a lot of things from which to choose on their "Brunch" menu (and even less-so for stupid vegetarian-types); I counted nine entries only. Here are a few selected items: Irish Bacon Benedict ~ grilled soda bread, Irish bacon, poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce (I liked this idea of substituting the d*mn *nglish muffin with Irish soda bread; I suppose I could always order this gan an flesh ainmhí marbh lobhadh); Bacon Boxty ~ potato cake, Irish bacon, poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce (again, I would have had to order this gan bagún); and they did have an off-menu Special this morning: Fried Chicken & Eggs (I am not sure what that may also have included, but I almost felt like ordering it just to see which of the two they would bring out first...).
Once again, the meal started with them bringing out a small basket with some slices of their very good homemade (well, Irish Gathering House-made) Irish soda bread. I had finished most of the slices before the meal was even brought out. Last time I ate there, they brought out more when asked, but I figured I wouldn't need any extra this morning. I was expecting this dish to come out as a prototypical Huevos Rancheros dish, with the eggs on top of corn tortillas, on top of the beans, and all smothered with a salsa. Actually, this came out more as a deconstructed Huevos Rancheros where everything was separated. I ended up adding their tasty Salsa Valenciana to the eggs once I had cut them up a bit. I had ordered my eggs "over-medium"; however, they came out "just barely over-medium". They were still edible (just barely); I am not a big fan of runny, under-cooked eggs. phoenix bar had Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (three ways: Original Red Sauce, Green Jalapeño Sauce, and Chipotle Pepper Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce for use as condimentary supplements... and (because it is also an Irish Gathering House) bottles of HP™Sauce[1]. I had even brought some of my own hot sauces, but ended up not needing to use any supplemental hot sauces this morning because of their own above-mentioned tasty Salsa Valenciana. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Huevos Valencianos ~ 6.5 (this is factoring in their excellent homemade [well, Irish Gathering House-made] Irish soda bread freebie-starter) ___________________
1. How many people are aware that the "HP™" stands for "Houses of Parliament"? I was not aware of that myself until I looked it up this morning. I just assumed that it was the initials of the inventor of this most iconic British brown sauce. (Of course, now it makes sense why there is a picture of Big Ben and some other building on the labels.)
http://thegrovesf.com/ Place: the Grove - Fillmore Location: 2016 Fillmore Street (between Pine and California Streets) Hours: open Monday-Friday 7:00am, Saturday & Sunday 8:00am Meal: Warm Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding ~ topped with classic vanilla icing, served with a side of fresh strawberries; a side of (as oxymoronic as it may sound) Crispy Golden Rosemary Hashbrowns; and a cuppa (well, actually, more like a small bowla) Verve Coffee Roasters - House Blend (I am not sure if this is a blend/roast made specifically for the Grovecoffeehouses) https://www.vervecoffee.com/
(As far as I can tell, there really is/are no juxtaselections between cinnamon roll bread pudding and Tom Waits [or Matilda ~ waltzing or not]; I just like the song[1].) I went to the Fillmore Branch of the Grove (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, April 23rd, 2016) this morning. This location (opened back in 2002) was the second coffeehouse in their mini-chain; however, with the closure of their original shop on Chestnut Street a few years ago, this is now the oldest in their surviving mini-franchise. I have eaten at this location a few time before for lunch or dinner (or just for Coffee and snacks before or after a movie at the AMC Dine-In Kabuki 8), but this was my first breakfastary sojourn there. I have/had eaten breakfast at all of their other three joints already. There are currently just three coffeehouses, but a new one (which will be the existing fourth one, but their actual fifth one) is due to open later this year in the Design District/Showplace Square (South of Market Street). The Fillmore Street coffeehouse has a kind of a Western/Frontier theme going on: there is a rough, uneven wooden plank floor and it has a very tall, open-spaced ceiling (like you might have seen in an old Western/Frontier bar or saloon). There is lots of seating in various sized tables. I ended up siting in one of the bench-seat tables by the front windows (which were open this morning creating a nice breeze and fresh air). Plus, there are nine more tables for two on the sidewalk patio café. As with their other two locations (and like most coffeehouses throughout the city), you order first at the front counter, pay for the meal, they give you a number to place at your table (mine was #22 this morning, but I was actually the third person/group to order for the morning), and then they will bring it out to you when it is ready (and not before, dammit!). For "just a coffeehouse", they have a fairly decent breakfast menu and there are still some other ideas that I would like to try (maybe when the new space opens up later this year, I can make that an excuse to revisit and check out a different neighborhood ~ one where there is a dearth of good places for breakfast currently): Basil and Goat Cheese Scramble or Omelet ~ fresh torn basil and goat cheese, served with golden thick-sliced Semifreddi’s sweet batard toast and your choice of Crispy Golden Rosemary Hashbrownsor lightly dressed organic mixed greens (this meal would have been my choice if I wanted to go savoury instead of sweet this morning; I think this would be best as a scramble dish; and, as always, I would have opted for the potatoes over the silly rabbit food any day); Spinach, Fontina and TomatoScramble or Omelet ~ fresh spinach, Fontina and oven-roasted tomatoes, served with the same choices above (I also think this would be better as a scramble dish); Seasonal Veggie (ugh!) Scramble or Omelet ~ seasonal roasted vegetables, served with the same choices above (this one I would probably have gone as an omelette); or Veggie (ugh! again) Breakfast Sandwich ~ soft scrambled eggs, Fontina, oven-roasted zucchini, arugula, with a creamy spinach spread, served on a toasted Semifreddi’s brioche bun (they have a picture of this on their web-site and it looks very good; think Eggamuffin just with much more class and taste).
I don't know what I was expecting. Somehow, I figured this was just going to be served in a small(-ish) bowl. However, this came as a HUGE chunka bread pudding (I don't think you can truly gauge its size from the angle of my crummy photograph). It ended up being a lot of (good) food, but I ate it all anyway; I can always skip lunch today. The side of hashbrowns was very good and this turned out to be a great idea to cut some of the (much expected) sweetness of the bread pudding. For condimentary supplementation, the Grove only has Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce on every table, but they also have bottles of Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce for use if requested. I used some of my own Old St. AugustineDatil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on half of the potatoes and some Dragon's Lair Extra HotCayenne & Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the other half of the potatoes. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Warm Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding ~ 6.6 ___________________
1. This particular cover of a Tom Waits song was introduced to me by my brother Kerry several years ago now. He had sent me a CD of interesting (and some very strange) Tom Waits covers ~ that he titled "Lite Waits" (I told him that he could also have called it "Tom Waits for No Man"). I happened to be listening to this particular (or this peculiar) CD on my way to and back from breakfast this morning. Thanks, Kerry!
http://www.justforyoucafe.com/ Place: Just For You bakery & cafe Location: 732 22nd Street (between 3rd and Tennessee Streets) Hours: open Monday-Friday at 7:30am, Saturday-Sunday at 8:00am for "Brunch" (they actually opened at 7:30am this morning; I was expecting them to be operating on a holiday/weekend schedule, though) Meal: Cherie's Home Fry Special ~ home fries topped with stir-fried veggies and Cheddarcheese, with two eggs over-medium laid[1] on top of the pile; and a cuppa (and one refilla) Dark Roast N'Arlins-style Community® Coffee with Chicory http://www.communitycoffee.com/products/coffee/12-oz-ground-coffee-and-chicory
(Today's EweToobular juxtaselections should truly be self-evident: it is a well-known fact that Bruce Springfield, Cindy Williams, and Ryan [no relation to John, J.Q., or Sam] Adams are all big fans of homefries [it is unknown what their opinions on "the vile weed" are, though].) It had been a little over a year since I last ate at Just For You bakery & cafe (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, June 5th, 2016), so I figured it was about time for a return visit. I really do like this place and if it were (a lot) closer, it would easily be in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation. I have eaten there enough in the past that you would think that I would have tried all of their stupid vegetarian options already. However, there are still a few other ideas that I would like to check out (one of these days): (off their Today's Specials menu-insert) Red, White & Blue Waffle! (they actually added the exclamation point, not me!) ~ Belgian[2] waffle topped with fresh blueberries, bananas and a homemade (well, bakery & cafe-made) fresh raspberry sauce! (Again, the exclamation point was their doing!) Let your server know if you want whipped cream! (Well, duh! [And I am completely okay with the last exclamation point in that description!]); or (off the ¡Mexican Especiales [noted without an ending "!", I can only assume that they had run out of exclamation points by using them in the name of all the special dishes] section of both their Weekday Menu and Weekend Brunch Menu) Breakfast Burrito ~ 2 eggs scrambled with black beans, Cheddar cheese and green salsa (diced jalapeño & tomatillo) in a flour tortilla (I probably would have gone with the "with zucchini, mushrooms, onions, and spinach" option, and, if they would have let me, topped with some of their really tasty Huevos Rancheros Vegetarian red sauce HOT! [See? Another exclamation point! This is why they couldn't afford another "!"!]; don't worry, for those of you that do partake of the dead, decaying animal flesh, they have three other burrito options: "with bacon", "with chorizo", and "smothered in chili con carne" [by the way, all of these are noted ¡sin un signo de exclamación!]); or (off the Eggs, Scrambles, Omelettes, and More section of their Weekend Brunch Menu) Greek Scramble ~ 3 eggs scrambled with Feta cheese, onion, spinach, tomato, and Kalamata olives (this was to be my intended choice; I have had it before and really liked it, but I had never tried [that I can remember] the dish that I went with this morning). Additionally, for the meatetarians out there, (also off their Today's Specials menu-insert) they offered Pulled Pork Benedict! ~ Bbq pulled pork topped with two poached eggs & Hollandaise sauce over homemade (bakery & cafe-made, whatever) biscuits. Served with choice of home fries or grits.
Now in spite of the odious "veggies" wording in the ingredients list and especially the inclusion of a preposterous preponderance of the most spitefully odious "the vile weed", I really liked this meal. Fortunately, the other "veggies" (ugh!) on top of their really good homefries included: zucchini, red bell peppers, white onions, mushrooms, and spinach ~ all of which I really like. Once again, any time potatoes are the basis (and, in this case, also the base) of a meal, I will normally like it.
Just For You bakery & cafehas probably the best selection of condimentary supplementation (outside of my refrigerator[3]) of any restaurant that I can think of. They offer a virtual panoply of picante preferencias. I could list all of the bottles on their shelves... but I won't. I used some of their Cholula®Hot SauceChipotle on top of one of the eggs and some of my own Palo AltoFire Fighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce[4] on top of the second egg. I was going to use some of their Try Me®TigerSauce instead of one of the hot sauces that I had schlepped with me, but luckily I read the ingredients before pouring any out; it includes dead, decaying piscine junk (in the form of anchovies). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Cherie's Home Fry Special ~ 6.8 (I am deducting 0.1 Glen Bacon Scale points due to the overt inclusion of "the vile weed", but I really liked it all still); Community® Coffee with Chicory ~ 6.9 ___________________
1. That is as in "placed (on top of... )"; these were not freshly ovulated by the neighborhood poultry in the kitchen area.
2. Here's a little-known Cliff Clavin-ism fact: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and little Benjy Franklin were all of Belgian descent. They originally were in favour of a Black-Yellow-and-Red coloured national flag instead of our current Red-White-and-Blue schemed Ol' Glory. They finally decided against it when they found it too hard to rhyme "Three cheers for the Black-Yellow-and-Red". (Hey! I don't make this stuff up. I read it on the Intro-Net, so it has to be true!) 3. Because inside my refrigerator it's way too cold and claustrophobic to eat breakfast (or "Brunch" even), anyway. 4. I forced... er... poured some of this hot sauce into a small plastic ramekin for my friendly waiter-server-guy person to try later when he had his breakfast break. I would really like to see more local restaurants offering this great hot sauce. Hopefully he will inform the owner-lady person, Adrienne, about how tasty it truly is so that she might procure some for customers to use in the restaurant (bakery & cafe, whatever).
(No official web-site.) Place: Big Joe's Location: 717 Monterey Boulevard (at Gennessee Street); phonicular contact: (415) 333-2878 Hours: open for "Breakfas"[1] Tuesday-Friday at 7:00am, Saturday & Sunday at 8:00am (well, somewhat; I had arrived just at 8:00am and they were not anywhere near ready to open; so I walked around the neighborhood for about ten minutes and when I returned they had finally opened [and three other couples had already been seated and beaten me inside]) Meal: Spanish Omelette (or "Omelete") ~ Yukon gold potatoes, bell pepper, avocado, Cotija cheese[2], topped with mild roasted tomato salsa, mixed greens, toast; and a glassa orange juice to drink I drove back over to "(not so) Sunny"side this morning for a return visit to Big Joe's (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, February 15th, 2015). It was a nice enough drive over there this morning; I cut through Saint Francis Wood and Monterey Heights to get over to "(not so) Sunny"side, but the thick morning fog was still hanging in there. This is a nice, friendly little neighborhood diner-type joint. They have a decent selection on their menu for "Breakfas" options. Some other ideas that I could have gone with: Brioche French Toast ~ pears, pecans, vanilla and Mascarpone cream, syrup (if I am in a sweet [or "swee"] mood the next time I go there; this will have to be my choice); Spinach and Egg Breakfast (or "Breakfas") Sandwich ~ avocado, tomato, Cheddar cheese, ciabatta (or "ciabata") bread, home potatoes or mix greens; or Breakfast Burrito (or "Breakfas Burrio") ~ scrambled eggs, Yukon gold potatoes, yellow onions, Cheddar cheese, mixed greens - salsa on the side.[3]
I always like it when potatoes are already incorporated into a dish... but I still thought about getting a side of home potatoes (restaurant potatoes, whatever), anyway. (You can never have too many potatoes for breakfast [even when it's for "Breakfas"].) Just a minor quibble here: the home potatoes (restaurant potatoes, whatever) were in large chunks (much like you would expect from homefries); however, I think this would have made for a much better manageable omelette (or "omelete") if the potatoes had been sliced into smaller/thinner pieces. The green bell peppers were charred/grilled first before adding them inside the omelette (or "omelete"); I thought that this was a nice touch, too. I went with sourdough as my toasted bread side, and they were nice enough to substitute a small bowla fresh fruit in place of the rabbit-food stuff. This was a nice double-surprise as the fruits included had a lot of chopped/diced mango (as well as strawberries and white/green grapes); because of which, I am adding an extra 0.1 Glen Bacon Scale points to the meal total (or "toal"). For condimentary supplements (or "condimenary supplemens"), Big Joe's offers both Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatio®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. I used some of my own Lucky Dog Medium Fire-Roasted Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on top of the omelette (or "omelete"). I suppose this really didn't need any extra-added heat as their mild roasted tomato salsa had a nice flavour to it already. Anyway, with that dosage, I killed yet another soldier from my collection. That leaves only twenty-five more bottles of hot sauce left to use in my refrigerator (or "refrigeraor"). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Spanish Omelette (or "Omelete") ~ 6.7 ___________________
1. [ sic ] (as printed on their menus) My guess is that they only serve Coffee and no "tea" during the early morning meal... However they may spell it (or mispel it), it beats being called "Brunch" (or "Brunc"). 2. http://www.cheese.com/cotija/ 3. If it seems that I am unduly making fun of a simple typo (or "ypo"), well, I am. I am not trying to play Intro-Net Nazi Grammarian here. I just think it is funny how anything can go to a professional printer (or "priner") now-a-days with a pretty (or "prety") obvious error and not be corrected (or "correced"). You would think that two auto-spell-checker-thingys must have failed their duty (or "duy"). (And I can tell you that my auto-spell-checker-thingy is having a fit this morning with all of these silly mispelingz.)
(No hay el sitio-web oficial.) Place: the Castro Republic Location: 2295 Market Street (on the corner of 16th Street) Hours: open Saturday and Sunday at 9:00am para el desayuno Meal: Huevos Escalfados[1] ~ poached egg/s [ sic/s ], olive oil, lemon, sea salt, Marash pepper[2], served over toast, topped w/ avocado and spinach salad with cherry tomatos [ again sic ]; a side of Grilled Potatoes (or possibly "Potatos", Dan); and a glassa Blood Orange Lemonade(which came served in a Ball® jar-glass) A few weeks back, when I ate at KITCHEN Story, I happened to notice a new(-ish) restaurant in the same neighborhood that I had never had breakfast at before. the Castro Republic[3] has only been open a little over a year (and the last time that I had breakfast in the Castro was about two years ago now). I liked the look of their menu de desayuno and made myself a mental note (♪) to get back there one of these days. Well, because today happened to be "one of these days", and I have about run out of new places to try in San Francisco, anyway, I figured that today was as good a day as any to finally play that mental note (♪). the Castro Republic is a small-to-medium sized place with seating of twelve tables for two and two tables for six. Plus, outside on the Market Street sidewalk, there are five tables for four (it was still way too chilly to sit out there at 9:00am, but I bet it's a great spot when the Sun is shining... well, if the Sun is shining). There were several otras buenas ideas from which to choose (however, I am just not sure when I will be getting back there again any time soon to make any of these choices): Chilaquiles ~ crispy corn chips with scrambled eggs, chile sauce, queso, crema, Fresno chiles[4], avocado and cilantro, served with black, pinto beans or salad; Verde Benedict ~ sautéed spinach, mushrooms, roasted tomatoe, served with grilled potatos or salad with citrus dressing (they do not specify anywhere on the menu that this comes topped with Hollandaise sauce, though; I might have ordered this one, but I just had another version of really good Huevos Benito last weekend which I figured would be hard to top ~ with or without any Hollandaise sauce); California Omelette ~ avocado, greens mix, green onion, Jack cheese, mushrooms, and cherry tomatos, served with grilled potatos and toast; Monte Spinach Scramble ~ eggs, baby spinach, queso, grilled potatos, salsa fresca and avocado; or Sopes Con Huevo y Carnitas ~ hand made corn sopes, with carnitas (which I would have ochenta-y-seis-ed, of course), tomatillo salsa, sunny side eggs, queso, crema, & salad or black or pinto beans.
I think that this was supposed to have been served Eggs Benedict-style with the poached eggs on top of each half-slice of the avocado toast (at least that was the impression that I got from the description on the menu). After eating one half-slice of the toast and one poached egg, I decided to do just that and laid (placed, whatever) the remaining egg on top of the toast. In my opinion (and if'n you don't wanna hear my d*mn opinions, why are you reading this silly l'il 'blog-thing in the first place?), this was the way to go. I did like the Marash chilli flakes (which were sprinkled on both of the poached eggs and on the avocado toasts); I would liked to have had more even of those, too. The side of grilled/roasted potatos was very good. It was made with both your standard yellow/white potatos and sweet potatos, and with lots of red onions mixed in with them. I would rather have seen this as an optional side in place of the baby spinach and cherry tomatos pile (even I can open a bagga baby spinach and cut cherry tomatos in half.... well, given an hour or more to prepare it). Surprisingly, the Castro Republic only had Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) for use as condimentary supplementation; I would have expected a good Mexican restaurant to offer a few other hot sauces, too. Luckily I came well-equipped and I used some of my own Dat'l Do-it®Scorching Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of both poached eggs (just a few drops on each for a bit o' heat and flavour) and some Sunbelt Plantations Vidalia® Onion Picante Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) all over the potatos (about the amount a normal person might use ketchup). Strange Coffee Interlude of the Day When I was back in Massachusetts (the newer one in New England, not the older one in Olde England) last month, my brother Kerry had given me a pounda Coffee for my birthday: Gold Star Coffee Inc - Hawaiian Kona Extra Fancy (Thanks, Kerry!). So I made sure to brew me uppa (well, drip me downa) cuppa to enjoy while keyboarding uppa this here 'blog-entry. I still am working my way through several of my Christmas gifts of Coffee, but did manage to finally use up one of those and was able to break into this newest bagga last week. I normally am not a big fan of Kona Coffee. I have always found it to be a bit on the weaker side for my tastes. This may be due to the fact that Kona Coffee is normally produced as a Light or Medium roast. However, this stuff is labeled as a Medium roast, but it really is more of a Medium-to-Dark roast and I have been enjoying it immensely. It has brought Kona Coffee to a new light in my eyes. http://goldstarcoffee.com/products/4-kona Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Huevos Escalfados ~ 6.8 (this is factoring in their mighty fine roasted potatos to the meal); Gold Star Coffee Inc - Hawaiian Kona Extra Fancy ~ 7.5 ___________________
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer del día: "Huevos Escalfados" literally translates from Spanish into English as "poached eggs". I was hoping it was going to be some kinda cool nickname for the dish. 2. Ne dedin? https://www.zingermans.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=P-MAR (There were several other on-line links from which to order Marash pepper flakes. I chose this one from Zingerman's® on purpose. I bet that I can find them locally and will not have to have them shipped from the Republic of Ireland, though.*) *(I am sure that only a few ex-residents of Sharow, Ripon, North Yorkshire, England will get that stupid joke.) 3. the "Castro" Republic? I was expecting some kinda restaurante comunista cubano. (Besides, everyone knows that there are no "Republicans" living in the Castro. That would be like a Mormon coffeehouse.) 4. http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Red_Fresno_Chile_Peppers_8101.php
