One of the pleasures of waking up late is spending the remainder of the morning reading the newspaper at a diner like Boogaloos. This is all but impossible on weekends in the City because of the lines that form at most brunch spots.
Lucky me, I had a special weekday morning with Templed Spuds topped with an egg and a side of Andouille. Home fries, melted cheese, green onions, sour cream, salsa, friendly service, lots of coffee refills and no one rushing you out the door -- nice.
22nd and Valencia
I miss the diners of New York with their ten page menus, no nonsense decor and that feeling of being at home in a bustling setting. Lunch at St. Francis Fountain definitely had the right atmosphere with its long counter, swiveling stools and a large menu of traditional diner food. The tuna melt came on nicely grilled sourdough, unfortunately the tuna salad was very dry and under seasoned. The cheddar cheese was melted though somewhat rubbery in texture by the time I bit into the sandwich. I would not order this again.
J thought the patty melt was o.k. and declared that "hey, it's diner food, it's supposed to fill you and just be food" he liked it enough to devour the whole thing. To be fair, there are many other items to try. I spied some pretty good looking pancakes as we left, and was tempted by some of the ice cream drinks -- it is, afterall, a traditional soda fountain. With Casa Sanchez just across the street and several other lunchworthy places a block away, I won't be back for lunch. Though I wouldn't mind returning for dessert or breakfast.
After a great run down the Bear Valley Trail, I headed to the Pine Cone Diner in Point Reyes Station for my reward. The diner is an old school place complete with booths on one side and counter service on the other. The menu is the familiar diner fare, but this is Marin, so of course there were some uppity elements like organic ingredients and high prices. For example, an organic mixed green salad with balsamic blue cheese vinegrette which was an ordinary salad with a very good dressing. The coffee was good and the refills came quickly because I was sitting right there at the counter. The service was a little cold as described on their t-shirts: 'good food, prickly service.' Hmm, seems like an excuse to give bad service which is what I saw other people getting. Good thing I didn't sit outside because those people weren't really getting any service at all. The Housemade Corned Beef Hash hit the spot. Good corned beef in one inch chunks with some potatoes mixed in here and there -- very meaty. I asked for the menu to see if they had a corned beef sanwich too, but they don't which is a shame. The menu also stated that they had daily cobbler and pies etc. When I asked them what the dessert was, the server said all we have is one piece of banana blueberry cobbler left. What about pie? We don't have pie, the only dessert we ever carry is cobbler -- this, despite the sign immediately behind her that says "fresh pie order on Wednesday pick up on Friday". I guess the pie is pre-order only? Anyhow I got the cobbler which was slapped into a bowl straight from the refrigerator, not heated or anything. It wasn't really cobbler, it was more like a bread pudding with blueberries, all soft and mushy. So, I was disappointed by dessert which should be one of the best things at any diner. At least the coffee was good and all of the food being brought out of the kitchen looked good too. Next time: stick with breakfast items, skip dessert or maybe skip the place entirely and get some cheese from Cowgirl Creamery across the street.
