SF Giants Fan Appreciation Day: An easy, but disappointing, day hike

(Editor's Note:  I see a lot of incoming traffic to this post about the SF Giants Fan Appreciation Day...this is a post from before the 2011 season, so you might need to go back to your search results to find what you are looking for.  Best, Cabin Jim)

Today we are taking a break for an update via cross-post from the Breakfast at Epiphany's blog, in which Brian posts about a "hike" he took one morning, after breakfast.  Original link is:  http://breakfastatepiphany.blogspot.com/2011/02/sanjalisco.html 
*Sorry Brian, this clumsy interface won't let me bring it over without the formatting.
**As Brian himself might say, "There was no rock scramble, but the eggs were hard to beat...on second thought, I guess you have to beat the eggs for a scramble."



¡Desayuno, sí! ¡Béisbol, no!

http://www.sanjalisco.com/


When I got up this morning, I was pretty excited as I planned on having a nice desayuno típico mexicano at SanJalísco™* (in the Mission District; see 'blog entry from June 19th, 2010) and then attending the San Francisco Giants Fan Fest 2011 at AT&T Park. I was planning on getting my picture taken with the World Series Championship trophy. Were you aware that the San Francisco Giants were the 2010 World Champions? Well, apparently 100,000's of other fans had the exact same idea ~ to go to the Fan Fest, not to eat at SanJalísco™ ~ I had no problem getting seated and fed there (the secret of the San Francisco Giants winning it all must have been leaked by the D*mn D*dgers press).

I headed over to AT&T Park after a hearty breakfast and found a (free and relatively safe) parking spot as close as I could, which was about ¾ mile away; no big deal, I figured I could walk off some of the food before waiting in the long lines for autographs and to get my picture with the trophy. I got there about an hour before they opened the doors ~ I figured "early enough to beat the crowds". I have been to the Fan Fest several times in the past, so I knew that there are usually long lines of fans there for the same purpose. However, there was no way that I was prepared for the unbelievably long line of people waiting this year. The line was at least a mile long (this is not an exaggeration, it really did wrap around outside the park for many blocks). I decided to walk to the end of the line as I was already there and figured I didn't have anything else planned for the day. After walking all the way to the end of the line (and seeing that thousands of more fans were still arriving), I decided to bag it; my mamácita didn't raise no tonto** (well, I can't speak for my other siblings, but I am pretty sure I don't fall into that category). Luckily for me, the breakfast was a very good one or my whole day (or weekend) would have seemed shot.

[Note to Jim Turner (author of 'blog extraordinaire Hawksbill Cabin): As I had to walk the entire mile or so to the end of the line and then all the way back, another ¾ mile to my car or more, I am counting this post as a cross-'blog hiking one (JT, please feel free to post it on your 'blog). I am pretty sure the altitude didn't change much from sea-level (well, seeing as the San Francisco Bay was visible from wherever I was walking, let's say it was bay-level) and it was a pretty easy hike there and back (no rock scrambles that I can remember; there were a couple of tricky steps in areas of poor or no sidewalk, though). No bottled water was even consumed during the entire journey.]

Anywayyy… SanJalísco™ offers some typical Mexican specials for the weekend breakfast crowd (none of which I can eat as they are not very vegetarian- nor kosher-friendly): Pozole de Puerco, Menudo, Birria de Chivo, and Caldo de Res; all of these seem to be pretty popular fare (don't ask me what they all entail… actually, I think "entails" are part of the main ingredients in most of them). They do have many good options for those of us that aren't into little dead piggy cuisine. Today I had Nopales con Huevos ~ Two large eggs scrambled with nopales***, onions, and tomatoes; which come con frijoles refritos y arroz, a small side salad, and fresh, warm, homemade corn tortillas. I also had a cuppa Café Mexicano ~ coffee with lots of azúcar and leche added generously to it (when I'm eating Mexican food is usually the only time I will ever add sugar or milk to my coffee).

There was lots of nopales in the scramble. I had specifically requested two of their tasty, fresh tortillas only, as I knew that three would be way too much food for me; they ended up giving me three tortillas, anyway. It really was a lot of food, as I figured it would be. I did finish all three of the corn tortillas (they are really way too good to waste). I told the owner/manager that because I finished all of their "stinkin' tortillas", he owed me a cerveza as I was planning on having two or three beers at the Fan Fest, but was now too full and would probably only be able to finish one beer. In protest, I did leave most of the side salad; who eats salad for breakfast? As an appetizer before the meal (because an appetizer at the end of the meal is called a dessert), they bring out a bowl of corn chips and some of their fresh, homemade "keeler" salsa (otherwise, they only offer Tapatío® on the tables as a hot sauce condiment); when the meal arrives, I usually like to make a nice chip-dip by mixing up the refried beans and rice, and some salsa.


So that the disappointing trip over to AT&T Park was not a complete bust, Dolly, I stopped by Philz Coffee™**** One Cup At A Time (the one on 4th Street, which is just a block away). I had a Philharmonic today. It was very good, too.

http://www.philzcoffee.com/


SanJalísco™: new name, new sign, new logo; same owners, same great food. As for the rest of the morning, you know what they say, sometimes the best laid plans of ratones y hombres, Jorge…

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Nopales con Huevos ~ 6.8; Philharmonic ~ 7.2; San Francisco Giants Fan Fest 2011 ~ 5.1

*(Good for them, they have actually trademarked their name. I think this was done just in case los hijos de puta at J*rritos decided to create a new line of their crappy sodas called "San Jalísco".

In case anyone is interested in more informacíon on the Mexican State of Jalísco, here is the Wikipedia link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalisco )

**(Useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:  Did you know that "Tonto" in Spanish actually means "fool"? Hmmm, I wonder if "Ke-mo sah-bee" really means "Kiss my shiny red ass, stupid white devil!" in Potawatomi.)

***(Nopales area simply a vegetable made from the pads of the prickly pear variety of cactus, or paddle cactus. They actually taste a lot like green beans, and appear very similar when they are sliced into green bean sized pieces. The fruit of the prickly pear are pretty darn tasty, too; I think they taste a little like a cross between a fig and strawberries.)

****(It is interesting to note that this name is also trademarked; probably just in case those bastages at St*rbucks decide to market a new line of coffeez.)