Mission Mission

When Bernalwood reported a few days ago that the Palace Family Steakhouse was likely to reopen soon, I think we were all understandably overjoyed. Unfortunately, it sounds like maybe the name is going the way of the old interior. (Which I guess would also mean there’s a bit of exterior work still to come too, which could hold up the grand reopening for longer as well.) Reader jacobe chimed in in the comments of our post on the topic:

I talked to the new owners recently… they also own a Moroccan food/hookah joint somewhere in the Richmond.

Said they were going for a 50′s diner feel and it was going to be renamed to something I can’t remember.

So I followed up:

Renamed!? But you can’t remember to what?? For goodness’ sake, try to remember! Any thoughts at all?

And jacobe replied:

It was something really horrible like Mama’s Diner… or maybe it was a woman’s name.

I remember after walking away from the conversation, and after being so terribly excited that it was re-opening, telling my girlfriend that we should have suggested they keep the Palace name.

If I see someone in there again, I’ll do some sleuthing and ask.

Thanks, jacobe! (Hey, maybe they should call it Steakolandia!)

[photo via Bernalwood]

The rusted hull of the official GWAR summer camp van. Don’t you wish your parents sent you to a rad camp like this instead of some Tom Sawyer or Boy Scout nonsense when they wanted to get rid of you for the summer?

Previously:

GWAR Porta-Potty

Our previous post about this beauty took a controversial turn when it was posited that this piece was perhaps the work of the Discovery Channel. The comments section exploded, for various reasons. And then a commenter claiming to be the artist wrote in and stated that he has no connection to the network — and doesn’t even own a TV. Cool.

The only problem is, now it just looks like a painting of a shark instead of a really trippy traffic symbol:

(Thanks again for the photos, Marcus!)

Last week Grub Street reported that the new business going into the old Discolandia space would be called Pig and Pie and that the business had applied for a liquor license [link]. Today, Miles Pickering, one of the owners gives us a few more details:

Somewhat obviously, Nate and I are opening a restaurant.  Pig and Pie is going to serve handmade sausages with unique dressings and homemade pies for dessert.  We’ll have a standard selection, including a vegan option, as well as rotating specials and a variety of interesting side dishes.  The pies will be made from local seasonal fruits and be accompanied by ice cream from one of the local ice cream houses.  We’re looking to create a place where you can get upscale food at a downscale price in a casual setting.  We think that sausages present a unique culinary opportunity, there’s so much you can do with them.  There are a lot of great ideas floating around, you’ll see stuff on our menu that nobody else has.

We’re very excited about opening a restaurant on 24th St.  I’ve lived in the ‘hood for well over a decade and have wanted to open a restaurant of some kind for about the last 5 years but all the pieces didn’t come together until now.  The biggest piece of that was finding my business partner Nate.  Nate is a butcher and a chef, he makes a mean sausage and I’m happy to have him running the kitchen.  The other piece was locating a space.  I’d actually been looking for a space on 24th St. for a few months (considered the old Papa Potrero space but decided to pass on it) so when I saw that Discolandia was shutting down we jumped on it.  It’s really our ideal location.  We’re still waiting for the conditional use permit hearing with the Planning Dept which should happen sometime in September.  With any luck we’ll be able to open by November.

Can’t wait! (And can’t wait to see the menu.)

[Photo by Rob T.]

Unlike most, who bought Chad Robertson’s Tartine Bread book as a last-minute Christmas gift for a “foodie” friend who probably hasn’t opened it since, Mr. Eric Sir actually tried baking the country sourdough recipe in his undoubtably tiny Mission kitchen, with some degree of success.

Here’s a snip:

For those not in the know, Tartine’s bread recipe is old-fashioned naturally leavened bread. That means you basically put some flour and water out on the shelf and let it go “bad,” and that’s your yeast. That’s right, no little packet of yeast; it just comes magically from the air. (Cool, huh?) So the only ingredients you need to buy are flour, water, and salt.

Flour, water, and salt? Sounds easy! Not so much. Apparently it takes an all day to do the prep and baking work, which is only slightly faster than actually waiting in line for the real thing. He’s on his 3rd try and still working it out.

Read on and follow his progress over at Mr. Eric Sir.

Enter all the items your party wants in a spreadsheet on your iPhone one by one. This way nobody has to keep everything in their head and waste time trying to remember what that one last item was. Plus, you don’t run such a risk of ordering too little or too much since you can all double check and mull your order over thoughtfully before actually placing it.

Makes the waitstaff’s job easier too:

You know how people always make fun of rednecks living in the South who insist on keeping their broken down automobiles parked on their front lawn despite the fact that these vehicles have no hope of functioning ever again?

Well, in that case, a broken down scooter that’s been parked on the sidewalk in front of your shared flat in the Mission for so long that plants are growing through it definitely qualifies as the hipster equivalent.

Which means . . . I’m living down the street from hipster rednecks.

Two Rivers Cider Company, makers of that fine pomegranate cider you see on tap everywhere, held their 15th anniversary party at Pi Bar last week. To mark the occasion, they brought along some special barrel-aged ciders, and some of them might still be available this week. Last night, we tried this saison-style cider and it was as tasty as it was photogenic. Today, there’s supposed to be something that was aged in tequila barrels!

[via Corntard]

And it looks not half bad! Bernalwood was able to sneak a peek:

Though from the outside it looks pretty much the same as it has since it closed in 2009, there’s lots happening behind the sheets of brown paper that cover the windows of the venerable Palace Steak House at the corner of Mission and Cesar Chavez. Four decades worth of accumulated kitch and grunge have been removed, and based on these exclusive photographs captured by the Bernalwood Spybot, it seems the interior of the Palace Steak House has been throughly remodeled to look retro-shabby-chic.

Read on for more reportage and more photos and the Palace Family Steakhouse theme song.

Leed’s! Isn’t that where the Who played that one time?

[via BlowJoe]