50 San Diego Reader February 25, 2016
RESTAURANT BY IAN ANDERSON Free
Breakfast or Dinner
Purchase 1 entrée and 2 beverages, get 1 entrée of equal or lesser value free! Valid Mon–Fri, 7–10am or 4–8pm. Excludes Acai and Pitaya Bowls. No online or photocopied coupons accepted. Expires 3/31/16.
109 Jamacha Rd., El Cajon 619-373-1725
World’s priciest beans T is January, Bird Rock Coff ee Roasters received a Good Food Award, which recognizes envi- ronmentally responsible prac- tices in the artisan foods sec- tor, in addition to quality. Two hundred judges blind-tasted a couple thousand entrants across 13 categories, including beer, cheese, charcuterie, and spirits. Bird Rock was honored along with 16 other coff ee producers from around the nation, earn- ing the accolade with a rare Geisha varietal sourced from La Esmeralda estate in Panama. The Geisha is among the
world’s priciest beans. Coff ee trades on the com- modities market for $1.40 per pound, green. La Esmeralda’s top Geishas can go for $80 and much higher at auction. Bird Rock owner Chuck Patton paid a relatively modest $50 a pound for the award-winning bean, which means a single cup of prepared Geisha coff ee goes for $11 in his shop. It’s an extreme example reserved for special
occasions, but even on normal days Bird Rock pays between two or three times the market rate for its coff ee. So, Patton has to be certain his coff ee’s quality stays high enough to justify the price his customers are willing to pay. T at means he has to be good at cupping. Cupping refers to a specifi c tasting process
coff ee roasters use to assess beans prior to buy- ing them. Beans are roasted lightly, so no smoke or char fl avors are added. T e fresh, coarsely ground beans are added to a cup and sniff ed deeply to get a fi rst sense of aroma. Aſt er four minutes steeping in hot water, a spoon is used to crack open the crust that forms at the top of the concentrated brew for another sniff . Finally,
Bird Rock owner Chuck Patton examines a coffee’s aroma during a cupping.
small spoonfuls are slurped to examine its fl a- vors. Slurping allows the coff ee to cool so some of the deeper, sweeter fl avors reveal themselves. “If there’s anything wrong with the coff ee, I’m
going to identify it here,” Patton explains during a cupping at Bird Rock’s Morena District roastery. We sampled only three coff ees, and I struggled to remember the fl avors of one as I tried the next. On a purchasing trip, Patton might cup 100 different beans a day, harvested from nearby
farms, or different plots on the same farm. The beans at any specific origin taste roughly the same, so he’s got to focus his pal- ate to detect minor flaws and seek out highlights. He says, “There’s going to be one or two that are going to be noticeably sweeter, noticeably brighter, and notice- ably more complex. That’s what I’m looking for.” Cupping becomes an important
process when it comes to roast- ing the beans as well. Patton meets
with Bird Rock head roaster Heather Brisson and a trusted team of tasters to sample incom- ing coff ees. T e notes they take while cupping will determine that coff ee’s roast profi le and will contribute to the tasting notes customers read on Bird Rock’s coff ee menu. In the case of the winning Geisha, from La
Esmeralda’s Lino lot, these notes described “jasmine, honey, dried raspberries, cream and lavender with a velvety texture.”
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Stuffed hash browns. You read that right. “You’ve got to see this,” he said urgently, producing what looked like an inflated potato pancake. “It’s like a hash brown breakfast burrito!” My friend had just come
from the Hillcrest farmers’ market with a bizarre find: a thick, round hash brown
stuffed with chorizo, egg, cheddar, and avocado. He got it from a booth called Spudz Potato, where they call it an Hombre. If you order a ver- sion with bacon it is called an Egg Head. With pork and chile verde, a Real Deal. Fast forward 20 minutes,
and I was standing in front of the booth watching an Hom- bre being made. The grated
potato is packed into each side of a custom-made cast iron press — kind of like a pill-shaped waffle iron. The ingredients are packed in, the iron closed, and then it’s cooked over an open flame until both sides of the thing have browned a bit. “The thing.” I still didn’t know what to call it. On the Spudz website, the
owner describes the potato dish without naming it but does explain that the inspi- ration came from something made for him by a Brazilian friend. I did a little digging, and it seems to be what Brazil- ians call batata suíça, or Swiss potato. That dish takes inspi- ration from — you guessed it — a Swiss dish called rösti, described as a pan-fried potato cake or fritter.
Whatever you call it, here
it’s been reinterpreted as street food with a clear breakfast- burrito influence. And if that seems out of step with a farm- ers’ market crowd, the website would have us consider, “All menu items are gluten-free and use only fresh and local ingredients.” When I stopped by around mid-day, there were enough hungry shoppers to keep the three guys manning the booth pretty busy. After a good six or seven
minutes and several healthy shakes of salt, I had my fin- ished product. I can say this for certain: there weren’t any real surprises. The hash brown was browned and lightly crispy on the outside. Inside it got a little mushier where it hit a thick stretch of cheese melting with the guac
into the meat. The egg didn’t make much impact. While savory and filling, it didn’t feel super heavy. I think I could have ordered
better than the chorizo. Salsa was available at the booth, but a little verde sauce would have been welcome. While I’m in wishing mode, I’d have also liked some sour cream to go with it. Or, as the Brazilians apparently use, some requeijão, a ricotta-like cream cheese. At $9 to $10 apiece, this
Swiss-potato booth faces stiff competition against a dozen or so other quality food ven- dors in its immediate vicinity. But I sure went for it, and I believe that one should never bet against hangover food sell- ing well on a Sunday morning. by Ian Pike
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