We keep meaning to check out Foreign Cinema, but it’s just never happened. We want to actually go there to eat dinner and see the movie, but the movies run monthly, and whenever I’m in SF, it’s never a movie I want to see. So we’ll just have to save that for another visit. So instead, we went there for brunch to meet up with A and E. A has eaten here for dinner before, so she was eager to check out the brunch offering. Since I hate waiting, I acted like a proper adult and actually made a reservation. Oh, how I love opentable!

This place is pretty big. It was a nice day so we sat in the outdoor section. This is where they project the movies, when they project movies. It was too sunny so they did not do it that morning. There’s also a large indoor dining area too. Most of the people there were fancy. We looked like total schlubs. But I didn’t care.

A got the yellowfin sandwich. There was much confusion with our strange waiter about whether it would be tuna fish salad or a hunk of grilled tuna, but rest assured, it ended up being a grilled filet. It was supposed to have spicy slaw on it but A said it was not really flavorful nor spicy. She just thought it was an ok sandwich.

E got the fried eggs which were deglazed with balsamic vinegar, and also came with some potato hash, greens, and prosciutto. He thoroughly enjoyed this dish.

J got the khima, which was egg on top of a spiced chicken hash, and served with potato sticks. This was a great dish, I was absolutely crazy about, but J was disappointed that it was served with fried crunchy potato sticks instead of a healthier potato option, perhaps just roasted potatoes.

I went with the french toast. It was baguette french toast with bananas and walnuts and served with maple syrup. This was some of the best friggin french toast I’ve ever had. Kudos to foreign cinema for these. I don’t know what they do to make them, but they’re fabulous. This place is very nice, has good service, and serves up great, fresh, tasty food. It’s certainly not cheap though, for the food or the drinks. They squeeze fresh orange juice here, and it’s $5. But just suck it up and try it at least once. I want to come back and see a movie!

Walking down Valencia, we’ve passed Spork tons of time, but it always was closed. I guess it was just the timing as they’re only open for dinner during the week and also for brunch on the weekends.
It’s a pretty cute place on the inside. We didn’t have to wait, which was well appreciated. The brunch menu is pretty tiny, and not cheap. We both wished there were more options on the menu.

J got the skillet french toast which was a toasted french bread pudding served with fresh fruit, maple syrup, walnuts, whipped honey butter. This thing was like cake for breakfast. He liked it, but found that there was not nearly enough fruit or walnuts. He had a couple of perfect bites, but really neede some more of the fixins to make it great.

I got the mission eggs which was slow roasted carnitas, broken eggs, avocado, corn tortillas, spicy green cabbage, queso fresco, and a heaping helping of cilantro. It was a lovely layered dish. It was another dish where I liked every single one of the components, and they all worked so well together.

I about died at how adorable these little cookies were that they gave us with the check. I mean seriously, look at these teeny little burgers that were cookies! Service was just fine. They’re pretty vigilant about filling up your water glass. It was a nice brunch, but for us, the selection was a bit too limited and it’s on the pricey side. But the not waiting part was nice.

On a weekend in the mission, everyone does brunch. And because we’re not super early birds, by the time we want to go eat brunch, it’s when everyone else also wants to eat brunch. This all leads to long waits. I hate waiting. We attempted to go to Maverick but there was about a 45 minute wait there, so we kept on walking. We walked back to Valencia and saw a sign in front of Frjtz for belgian waffles. I had just mentioned wanting one so we decided to stop here. We had gone here before for dinner and had a great time, so things looked promising. We got a seat outside on this beautiful day. They have fresh lemonade and iced tea. J decided to literally mix it up and ask for a half lemonade, half iced tea, which they obliged.

Frjtz does brunch just on the weekend. Here’s the Rijks, which is two poached eggs on english muffins with prosciutto and chipotle hollandaise, served with home potatoes and corn bread. J found the prosciutto a bit too much on the salty side, but otherwise enjoyed this dish a lot. I particularly liked the home potatoes, which ended up being like an onion-y home fry fritter. It was really great! And although this cornbread was plain, I still liked it.

I wanted something a little sweet so I went with le Pompidou, which is brazilian style french toast (rabanada) served with date butter, maple syrup, strawberries, and mango. Whoa, this thing was decadent and delicious and beyond sweet. Everything is super sweet as the ingredients include tons of sweetened condensed milk, straight up sugar, etc. But damn, this is good. And the date butter is extremely rich but worth it. The fruit was also of high quality and especially ripe. Frjtz has never been busy either time I’ve been here. But I’ve enjoyed both my experiences. And hey, I love not having to wait for a table!