Savory or sweet?

Breakfast is always a tough decision, more so at Dottie’s, one of my favorite breakfast joints in the city.  Last weekend it was a tossup between a prosciutto, basil, roasted tomato, red pepper flake scramble with toast and potatoes and pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes with real maple syrup.

I guess my sweet tooth kicked in.

The neighborhood may be dicey and the wait may be long but breakfast at Dottie’s is always a treat. The food is simply scrumptious. I particularly love their homemade bread and muffins and their yummy homemade jelly. And of course, their pancakes are wonderful! The tiny dining room is charming, too. I find the the tables laminated with old movie star photos and the chandeliers made from cups and saucers delightful.

Breakfast starts bright and early at 730 AM and they’re open everyday except Tuesdays. Dottie’s is at Jones and O’Farrell in the Tenderloin. The wait during the weekends, obviously, can be extra long so it’s best to show up around 7 AM to get a guaranteed seat during the first wave. Otherwise, the wait may be over an hour. Grab a cup of coffee somewhere else, read the paper, or make friends while in queue, Dottie’s definitely is worth the wait.

One of the many great things about my new found freedom is being able to work from practically anywhere, anytime.  I just need my MacBook, my Canon, a pen and my notebook, a good book to read, and since I work well while caffeinated and in a sugar high, a tasty cup of coffee and some sweet treats would be preferable.

And so, I have been spending a lot of time lately making the rounds of the coffee houses in the city to come up with my list of the coolest cafés.

Let me start with the one closest to home, Farley’s at 18th Street in Potrero Hill.

Farley’s is truly a cool neighborhood coffee shop with lots of community events and activities like the Annual Pet Fest they host every Halloween and their evenings of live jazz and standards played by local artists.

Another cool thing about Farley’s is their wall where they display the work of local artists and photographers. For November, they are showcasing the charming photographs of the pets and kids in costumes at the Pet Fest taken by “Photo Booth” photographer Christopher Irion. Stanford actually made it to the wall! Can you spot the red corgi?

Farley’s beans are hand roasted by a local coffee company in the East Bay.  My favorite Farley’s sweet treat is their rich and yummy brownie.

Other notes: a cup of coffee is $1.75; wi-fi is free; there is outdoor seating; cookies and pastries are available and you can grab a sandwich next door at Hazel’s Kitchen and enjoy it at Farley’s.

Glazed. Chocolate Glazed. Custard filled. Creme filled. Cruller. Cake.  Donuts are one of my favorite things.

And the list just got even longer now that I have discovered Dynamo Donuts at 24th Street in the Mission.

Over the weekend, I feasted on vanilla bean, coconut, lemon pistachio and maple glazed bacon apple.  Okay, I know it’s a bit too much but you really can’t blame me. I was literally a kid in a donut store!

The saltiness of the little chunks of crispy bacon complements the sweetness of the maple glaze very well, which made the maple glazed bacon apple an instant favorite.  And the lemon pistachio donut definitely tasted as good as it looked.  The lemon icing and toasted pistachios were incredibly tasty.  They have taken donuts to an entirely new level.  Now, I can’t wait to go back and try their banana de leche, the donut is filled with dulce de leche and bananas and then tossed in sugar.

The coffee is equally tasty, too.  Beans are from Four Barrel Coffee, which is also in the Mission.  You can find Dynamo Donuts at 24th Street between York and Hampshire and Four Barrel Coffee at Valencia between 14th and 15th.

By the way, donuts are calorie bombs.  I’m not a party pooper but it’s good to treat yourself to a donut every now and then but not everyday!  It’s all about portion control and having a sugar fix every now and then!