Don't be fooled, there is no beach near this cafe.
I go up to San Francisco once in a while to try new places with my foodie friend Sherry. On this occasion we tried Mission Beach Cafe and ended up seated at the window bar next to a Google employee wearing the Google glasses. Impressed? A little. Would I buy it? Never. It seems like another tool to make people more disconnected. Have you ever read the Sci-Fi book, Feed by M.T. Anderson. This story is set in a futuristic time where people are connected to the "feednet" by an implant in their brains called a "feed." Advertisements are driven through this device and in short, it's data mining on steroids because ads are selected based on consumer preferences taken straight from your brain. One of my favorite books. I recommend it.
Anyway, I digress. We return to brunch in the city. Popular brunch places in San Francisco are always crowded. The wait can be over an hour sometimes. I think this wait was less than an hour but it was worth it.
($3.50) Arnold Palmer made with pink lemonade - Very pretty but I think it was a tad sour and tart.
($13.50) Spinach and Mushroom Benedict - housemade English muffin, caramelized onions, truffle mornay, crispy yukon potatoes. Mornay is a cheese sauce, just looked that up. This one was really good. Eggs and potatoes were cooked perfectly. English muffin and mushrooms were fresh. That's about all you need when it comes to a good brunch. And mimosas.
Egg yolk waterfall. We get artsy with our food photography. Sherry took a while trying to stage the perfect waterfall.
($15) Dungeness crab and bay shrimp benedict - housemade English muffin, lemon hollandaise, crab and bay shrimp (duh!). This was really good. No waterfall as you can see but the eggs were cooked nicely. I always love good seafood. And the potatoes were crispy. That's kind of a big deal when it comes to brunch. The potatoe always have to be extra crispy. I don't know how to make that at home, if someone has good directions, please send.
Afterwards we drove to get juice and on the way there, spotted this mural painted on a school building. This is Cesar Chavez. Very beautiful. I've been experimenting with my camera settings lately and this picture came out overexposed but I still wanted to show you the artwork. I'm working on it.
Ah juice. Glorious juice. I forget the name of this drink. It had kale and pineapple? I would not pick this combination again but it was not bad.
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
Another successful day in the city. The wait at Mission Beach is long but worth it. We've had longer waits before at other places too. Our benedicts were very satisfying and the service was quick. Parking can be hard to find on the street nearby. Sit next to the Google employee, I'm sure he'll be coming back again. Overall, I recommend Mission Beach for brunch. If you go to Sidwalk Juice, try a different combination.
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