John S.
Yelp
This is an embarrassing story. I wanted to take my parents to Parker Potrero for Sunday brunch. As you probably know, Parker Potrero is at the southeast corner of Missouri & 18th Streets in, of course, Potrero Hill.
As we drove there, I told my parents that I would drop them off before looking for parking, because parking in the neighborhood isn't typically difficult, but it requires walking up and down some steep hills that I no longer want to subject my parents to. So I dropped them off and told my mom to text me how long the wait was. If it were too long, I would either pick them up or walk with them to another restaurant, depending on where I parked.
I circled a few times and finally settled on a spot about halfway up the (steep-hill) block from where I had dropped them off. My mom called and told me it was an hour wait. An hour? I knew it was a Sunday, but for Parker Potrero? So I told her to wait right there, I would see her and my dad soon.
I walked down the street to collect them, but they weren't looking for their son on foot; my mom thought I meant I was going to pick them up. Anyway, we started walking, and my dad was annoyed because he didn't know what was going on, and I finally explained to them that we were going to try some other places that were within flat walking distance.
Chez Maman East wasn't my first (second) choice, but it was close, and when we got right to its front door, I could see that some people were leaving. My mom seemed fine with it, but my dad wondered if there were better places, like the place across the street. I told him that the better options were actually another block west. The very kind hostess eventually got us a nice table on the sidewalk. My dad was worried about how cold it was and that we were at an angle, but they do have effective heating lamps, and while the sidewalk is slightly angled, our table was pretty flat.
I'll get back to Chez Maman later, but when we were leaving after thoroughly enjoying our meal, I told my parents I would go get the car and pick them up right across the street from Chez Maman. That across-the-street destination ended up being Parker Potrero! Do you get what happened? Chez Maman is across the street from Parker Potrero. I didn't know that; I thought Chez Maman was across the street from Plough, which has a notorious line. But nope, I had my streets wrong, and I had dropped my parents off at Plough, which is at the southeast corner of Texas & 18th Streets. So I had the southeast-corner and the 18th Street parts right, but not the cross street.
In short: We probably could have eaten at Parker Potrero from the start!
So I still want to take my parents there, but I'm really glad I tried Chez Maman East, because I always assumed with like 97 percent likelihood of accuracy that Chez Maman East would simply be the easterly version of its pretentious original location in Hayes Valley. But you know what? I was wrong, and I admit it. Here:
I WAS WRONG! I ADMIT IT.
Chez Maman East isn't pretentious, so the original might not be as well--OK, OK, I'm getting a little carried away here. Anyway, the service was excellent, and the food was very good. Yes, it's French, but really only in an accented and design/look way, not in an attitudinal/culturally rude way.
I don't remember what breakfast item I had, but it was really delicious. My parents both enjoyed their meals as well. My mom especially, which is noteworthy because she doesn't really like eating breakfast out. My dad also really liked the coffee.