Mission Mission

When I heard the news I figured the vandalism and protests had finally taken their toll, but the official narrative seems to be that the business never really took off in the first place (despite great reviews in the Chronicle). Here’s the announcement:

On November 29, Local’s Corner will serve its last dinner.

When we opened in April of 2012, we never thought we would be writing this sentence just two-and-a-half years later. On opening, the food was beautiful and unique, impeccably sourced, and the fullest representation of local seafood in the city. The space felt charming and warm. We felt sure of our vision and its execution.

When we received our San Francisco Chronicle glowing, three-star review, we felt certain we’d be around for awhile. Yet diners did not come. Then came more accolades—San Francisco Chronicles Top 10 New Restaurants and Top 100 Restaurants two years in a row, Rising Star Chef, and others. All held the promise of success. Yet it never translated into a busy restaurant.

Before ACCE and vandalism, we were not in good shape. Certainly, neither helped. Though its impact was less financial than emotional. More than the sting, it was the cumulative wear.

We considered a pivot and shift, to reopen with a different restaurant. Though recently, as we weighed next steps, we bore significant departures of kitchen management, including Timmy, Chef de Cuisine of Local’s Corner, who will be headed to Seattle.

The operational challenge of hiring, emotional loss of losing key staff, and cumulative financial losses made an easy conclusion of a hard decision.

Thankfully, with Local Mission Eatery, Local Mission Market, and Local Cellar in their best shape, most of the Local’s Corner staff will stay within the Local family.

We are heartened to continue our relationships with the fish purveyors, farmers, winemakers, and brewers at our other businesses. Our unique partnership with Kenny of Two X Sea and Joe of Water 2 Table will find a deeper way into the Eatery and Market.

We hope to find a passionate operator to inherit the space and share delicious food with the neighborhood (and Yaron, who lives across the street). The space will be available for private events and pop-ups.

Over these next three weeks, please join us at Local’s Corner. We hope all who loved their meals will return for their last taste and all of those who have waited will get their first taste.

Sooo, what should replace it?

[via Inside Scoop]

[Photo by Jess Kelso]

Just got back from a fight with one of my best friends. We went to dinner at Chino and then had a drink at ABV and got into a long thing about political participation and net neutrality and revolution and convictions. He told me I don’t give enough of a shit, I made fun of his corporate job and BMW.

Then I got home and opened an email from Adam, of Jawbreaker (the most legendary Mission-based band of all time):

I just uploaded this to the Jawbreaker youtube page. It’s from a roll of super 8 film that i found over 20 years after I shot it — shots of Valencia and Mission between 16th and 24th. I set it to our song “Boxcar.” Check it and feel free to post if the spirit moves you

Man, it moves me like crazy. I love the Mission. I love how it changes. I love remembering how it was one decade ago, and I love watching videos about how it was two decades ago. I love reading articles about how it was in the ’80s, and I love my parents’ foggy remembrances about how it was in the ’70s. I love Burrito Justice’s futurist visions of how it will be in the ’20s and in the ’30s and ’40s and beyond. (I even love when I almost get run over by a Ferrari while it’s looking for parking outside Trick Dog.)

I love Obama and I love net neutrality and I love the Mission and I love my friends.

And I love a girl I know, a Mission girl, and how I got to see her sing “Boxcar” at karaoke in another state once upon a time, and how that was basically the best night of my life, so far away from home but feeling super-connected via this girl and this song… and thus feeling connected to everything and everyone, ever, and just loving life.

The thing is that I basically missed out on Jawbreaker, like most of us did probably, because we’re just a little too young or a just a little too from-somewhere-else or whatever. But Jawbreaker persisted, thanks to older pals talkin’ shit and making mixtapes and blog posts and playlists, and thanks to Thorns of Life shows at Thrillhouse Records and thanks to Forgetters shows at similar spots in Brooklyn or wherever — and thanks to lovable midwestern girls who dug Jawbreaker early and did whatever it took to make their way to California and San Francisco and into our hearts.

Why can’t we all just get along and save the world and abolish government and be in love forever?

Ugh. Let’s rock:

Thanks, Adam!

Let’s rock:

[Photo by Nicole, via It's Always Sunny in San Francisco]

[via killyoselfalready]

Cute.

Also, go Warriors! (They’re the best team in the NBA btw.)

Get a sweatshirt (also available in t-shirt) here.

[Photo by Shannie, via It's Always Sunny in San Francisco]

Everything’s gonna be alright.

[Photo by Andy, via It's Always Sunny in San Francisco]

Tonight:

Eliza tells us it’s “kind of like a temporary, physical incarnation of Mission Mission.” Can’t wait to see what that means. Will Tuffy be there, heckling me right to my face? I hope so.

RSVP and invite your friends!

Yesterday these robot butler boxes showed up all over town. And I guess they turned out to be an elaborate marketing scheme (wherein a marketing company leaves trash on a sidewalk).

Last night, somebody went pyro on them:

[Photos by open mouth, via thong2000]

Sounds weird I know, but it ruled.

The Tradesman, if you don’t know, is a new spot on Alabama Street just off the 20th Street Corridor. They’re open for lunch and dinner and have sidewalk seating and beer and wine and a BURGER WITH PEANUT BUTTER AND CHEESE ON IT THAT RULES.

Here’s a pretty cool photo of the burger beef aging: