The morning I left for yet another trip to San Francisco, I headed into the city for a quick bite at Rosa Mexicano, where they unveiled their incredible new breakfast menu.
The fact is, anyone can do breakfast – and everyone does breakfast, in varying degrees of creativity and difficulty, around this city. At its most basic level, you’ve got eggs and meats, pancakes – and even in that instance, you can find standard eggs, horrible eggs, or fantastic eggs. But there are a few places that really strive to take those basic things and turn them into something where, while you’re still aware you’re eating breakfast, you’re eating something just that much more special that lets you know you’re not at home anymore.
And we started with mezcal and sangrita.
Noplaes con huevo – cactus with eggs. I mean, come on, how many places do you know where you can get cactus – forget for breakfast, just in general. The cactus itself was fairly tame – I’ve actually eaten cactus before, and found this pleasant enough, not unlike eating green bell peppers with slightly less bite. The dish overall was enjoyable but not my favorite.
Machacado con huevo – shredded beef with egg – was slightly higher up the ladder for me. Tender, fragrant and flavorful, I found this incredibly savory and would have been made better if I had a yolk to pop over the meat, yumm… very tasty.
More delicious dishes; the first was actually my favorite, with crispy tortilla strips, covered in a delicious sauce I wanted to lick off the plate, and boasting Mexican ham. LOVE.
The bottom – breakfast tamale – delicious.
Bloody Maria with a spicy rim… stuffed French toast… items that looked delicious but I’m not particular to sweets for breakfast, and an afternoon flight meant that I wasn’t going to imbibe. Others around the table said they were both very good though.
Finally, the breakfast tamale – which was really tasty – and the egg white skillet with tofu. I was too full at this point to fully appreciate, perhaps, but I know they were both also very tasty.
But wait – one more thing. The Mexican hot chocolate… and let me just preface this with, Mexican hot chocolate and I go way back. So far back that I’ve never really had it before; why? Because every time I see it on a menu, I order it, but every time this happens, for whatever reason, the restaurant will tell me that they’ve run out or aren’t offering it that morning, much to my dismay. So I was ecstatic when I finally got to try it, and it was even better than I dreamed it could be. Almond and cinnamon played around in the rich chocolate – which was not too thick for me to drink happily – and the thick whipped cream on the side just added another layer of indulgence to the drink. I was over the top – I would go back just to get this, honestly. SO GOOD.
In the end, many of the dishes are worthy of a closer, second look. I think anyone would be silly to skip this opportunity to try Rosa Mexicano desayuno… so hurry your butt over there, because it’s only happening for a limited time (sorry – I tried to post this as fast as I could, but I was away in SF and life is just so busy!)!
Please note that I attended this preview breakfast as a guest. I was under no obligation to post about it, nor did I receive monetary compensation to do so, but express my opinion freely.
Rosa Mexicano – many locations, check here
For my friend Sarah’s opinion, click here
Dessert Zombie says
I wonder if Dos Caminos has a breakfast menu. Or they will. 😛
MmmMmm beef and eggs!!
Feisty Foodie says
It was good – if you like this type of thing, definitely check it out!
hungry says
I’m glad they did a proper Mexican influenced menu. Too often I see restaurants do an American breakfast when their lunch and dinner menu are far from that cuisine.
Feisty Foodie says
I know what you mean. That’s partially why I love ilili brunch so much; it’s unique, different, and stays true to what the restaurant is about, instead of just “let’s offer brunch so we can get people in the door.”