Mission Mission

They’re taking over the El Zocalo space, right on Mission Street, a little closer to the Mision. It’ll be bigger, and it’ll have a bigger menu too. Bernalwood, which claims this new Emmy’s location will complete the Bernal/La Lengua Liminal Zone ”Bermuda Triangle of Yum,” has the scoop:

Restauranteur Emmy Kaplan, a native of the neighborhood and a fixture in the local culinary scene since opening her original location 13 years ago, is excited about both expanding the restaurant’s square footage as well as helping preserve the character of the neighborhood by remaining at the juncture of the Mission and Bernal Heights.

“The current location of the Shack is over capacity, the lines are long and we’re constantly turning away large parties,” says Kaplan. “I’m really looking forward to sharing more of what we love with the people who love us with more legroom for our regulars and new friends as well.”

Yeah I popped in at about 8:30 last night and there were five parties waiting ahead of me. On a Tuesday! (So I went to PizzaHacker.)

Read on for lots more on Emmy’s, and what’s happening with El Zocalo.

This all started when I sang 45 songs in May and wanted to brag about it, but also, I just wholeheartedly want to give props to the local karaoke scene (and karaoke scenes around the world) for making me feel so good all the time. This month I sang an Ian Dury song for goodness’ sake! Can you imagine!?

1. I Will Follow — U2
2. Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick — Ian Dury
3. All My Friends — LCD Soundsystem
4. Ape Man — The Kinks
5. Leave It Alone — NOFX
6. Perfect Day — Lou Reed
7. Could You Be Loved — Bob Marley
8. It’s Oh So Quiet — Björk
9. Tubthumping — Chumbawumba
10. Pompeii — Bastille
11. Boots — Nancy Sinatra
12. Wannabe — Spice Girls

In particular, I want to mention KJ Eileen, who, in a crazy twist, doesn’t have a website! I think she does last Fridays of the month at Bender’s and some Sundays at Maggie McGarry’s in North Beach? Anyway thanks to her I got to sing the Kinks, NOFX and Lou Reed in one 2-hour period! I couldn’t believe my luck!

Also, “Pompeii” is exactly as fun as you’d imagine. Thanks, DJ Purple!

Late Saturday night my buddy Malcolm bought nine bacon-wrapped hot dogs for a party of four people, only two of which were actually hungry. I ate half of one and took another to go. I popped it in the fridge and forgot about it until just now. And now I’m hungry.

Let’s talk logistics: I’ve got a can of Tecate and a bag of maple-bacon Kettle Chips on the side, and a vintage KronnerBurger placemat/menu in case there’s any spillage. And I’m listening to the Gooch Palms album for moral support.

I’ll update this post as the project progresses. Okay here I go…

UPDATE (12:54): All the fixins’! Looks not too bad. Smells great! Feels real cold, fresh from the fridge.

UPDATE (12:58): First bite! Tastes great! Plenty of mayo, which is a must. Cold hot dog basically tastes like bologna, as you know. Not bad! Into it!

Yum! It even looks good!

DAMN, the Gooch Palms rule! You should read my post about them from over the weekend in case you missed it.

UPDATE (1:01): Uh oh, a momentary twinge of heartburn!

UPDATE (1:03): First bite of jalapeno! Still nice and hot!

UPDATE (1:04): I’ve got two likes on my Instagram post about this undertaking, and two comments, one of which, from my pal Christina, who always tells it like it is, is: “Gross tho.” Yup!

I’m really glad I’ve got this Tecate.

UPDATE: (1:06): Just kidding, I’m totally loving this. I’m really surprised the bun is totally intact. Virtually zero sog. Even though there is a LOT of mayo (and other sauces and vegetable-related moisture), none of it got into the bun! Science!

UPDATE (1:08): The heartburn comes and goes.

The maple-bacon Kettle Chips pairing was unplanned, I just happened to have them lying around, but it’s pretty good. Contrasting the savory bacon dish with the sweeter bacon dish is fun.

UPDATE (1:09): I just burped! And man, it was a big one!!

UPDATE (1:13): The burp cleared out plenty of room for my to finish the rest of the dog. Here’s proof I’m almost done:

UPDATE (1:15): I had to spit out some inedible bacon gristle, no big deal. About to take that last bite!

UPDATE (1:16): Taking the final bite as, appropriately, the Gooch Palms beautiful album closer “Don’t Cry” plays. Yum! Swallowed it and burped again!

Okay, I did it! No ill effects really. I can’t believe it took me a whole 31-minute album to eat a hot dog, but whatever. Seriously, listen to this album, it’s on Spotify and stuff.

I guess I’ll update again if there’s any blowback, but I don’t anticipate any.

Thanks for your support!

I was at a party in a backyard yesterday and I watched five people in a row (myself included) eat a Casa Chicas organic yellow tortilla chip and immediately go, “Daaaaamn, what kind of chip was that??” They were really good. You can get them at Rainbow Grocery.

Muni fares increased yesterday.

So, via old-school San Franciscans Shimshang and Crazycrab, this old-school hacked billboard:

Boy, imagine a time when billboards were owned by a little company founded by two Northern California boys, Foster and Kleiser, rather than international media conglomerates like CBS and Clear Channel. More about all that here.

Local blogger anadromy tells us about his current living situation:

Some bees have made a hive inside one of my bedroom walls. I guess I’ll have to tell the landlord about it but I’ve been too busy lately. At night, the bees make a faint ticking sound above my head. I think it’s the sound of them doing whatever it is they do inside the insulation. The sound is almost exactly like the sound of rain and in the middle of the night, I wake up and forget about the bees and I get sort of happy because I love the sound of rain and we’re in the middle of a terrible drought and really need rain here. Then I wake up and remember it was just the bees. [link]

Well that’s pretty pleasant. Much more so than all those unexplained bee attacks.

[Photo by Sami Lynch]

[via Emily]

[via Alicia]

The Gooch Palms are definitely my favorite new band of late, and even though they’re from Australia, they’re playing tonight right here in San Francisco:

It might be Sunday, but THAT DOESN’T MATTER cause it’s also Labor Day eve!!! So come celebrate having Monday off with killer cuties POOKIE & THE POODLEZ, Aussie punk sweethearts THE GOOCH PALMS and doo-wop punker ELVIS CHRIST!

August 31, 2014
8:30 pm – 11:55 pm
$7
Hemlock Tavern
415-923-0925
1131 Polk St. , San Francisco, CA 94109 United States [link]

Watch this video if you wanna hear the best song you’ll hear all day: