Food review: "Eggs in a Tasty Nest"

Restaurant: Pork Store Cafe (Valencia St, San Francisco)
Food description: Two fried eggs (over-medium) over a bed of hash browns, bacon, green bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, and cheddar cheese, with an English muffin
Food rating: 6.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 3

Tasty Nest, gotta love the name first off. I mean, come on, don't you always picture your breakfast eggs in the bird's nest? It's oh so appetizing! I guess it's not that surprising, given that the place itself is named Pork Store Cafe. But beyond the whole "nest" concept, the "tasty" part is pretty accurate. You gotta love grease though, and chances are you won't be hungry til dinner. Bacon, eggs, cheese, hash browns, mmmm... So if you can handle all that grease you'll be good to go, because the ingredients all blend together into this hearty, meaty, cheesy goodness (needless to say, great for hangovers). The onions were caramelized nicely and worked with the bacon to supply most of the flavor. The hashed browns alone are normally crispy, but under the "nest", turned out a little mushier than I prefer. Their hash browns, though perfectly crispy on both sides, are very oily, so that's where this dish gets all its grease from. They went a bit overboard on the green peppers, plus they were a little too crunchy and could have been cooked more. The tomatoes were slightly overcooked and were turning into mush. And the eggs--well--let's just say I ordered them over-medium and they came out over-easy and I had to send them back. This is a common inconsistency at the Pork Store, where I never know if today I'll be sending my eggs back or not. It can get a little frustrating, and that's why I don't come here as much as I used to. But when I do, I like to get down with the Tasty Nest or the french toast.

"Piggy Special" (french toast, sausage, and eggs)

Restaurant: Pork Store Cafe (Valencia St, San Francisco)
Food description: Two fried eggs (over-medium) with french toast and chicken apple sausage links
Food rating: 8 out of 10
Times ordered: 4

Theres a reason I keep coming back to Pork Store Cafe. Cuz the food is damn good! For a kick ass American home cookin no-nonsense breakfast (or, if you are like me and can't get out of bed - brunch), I really have trouble eating at other places, because they always seem to come up a bit short. The chicken apple links still taste like links, not the froo-froo chicken apple stuff you might get somewhere else (good, but not breakfast!), and the french toast is like Mom made. Honestly, its not on some weird bread trying to be something that it's not, it's got just the right egginess to have given it that light and fluffy texture you crave in french toast. Top it with some maple syrup and you're off. Please realize that I'm not comparing this breakfast to some gourmet, can't pronounce the crap on the menu place, I'm comparing it to other good eggs, sausage, french toast, bacon, pancake type joints, like Kate's for instance, or maybe Top's. Actually, that gives me a good idea. I will go and get the exact same thing (or as close as I can get) at Kate's and Top's and I'll throw Home in the mix and I will repost each review with links to the others so we can have a little competitive side-by-side analysis. Let's see who will win the b-fast challenge? To be continued....