Mission Mission

Our buddy Lindsey snapped this photo of a “cool new art installation” at Valencia and Cesar Chavez, which must be a reaction to all this godawful weather. Looks like nobody’s stayin’ dry tonight.

This is most likely a joke (or an ambitious extracurricular activity of Andrew’s), but can you imagine if it wasn’t? Have robots already begun to take over? Watch out, delivery bike squad, for it’s only a matter of time…

Local design and technology studio Stamen is probably best known for all of the cool interactive maps they make, like Prettymaps and Crimespotting. They’ve just released a beautiful watercolor basemap to be used with OpenStreetMap data. It’s a great day to be a map nerd.

There are plenty of art alleys in the Mission, and almost everyone has traversed Clarion and Balmy. But how many of you have heard of Ames Alley?

This charming community gallery is tucked away on Ames Street (slightly west of Guerrero) between 22nd and 23rd. It began a few years ago as part of a neighborhood beautification project, and neighbors have been adding to the display ever since.

A foam-bearded Brian Wilson inhabits one end…

…and a sleepy bluebird proclaims his love for Ames from the other.

Local artist Justin Hager has a show up at Four Barrel right now, featuring his signature crude “drawerings and painterings” of puns on 90′s icons, including gems such as Urkel Jerks and E.T. Boz (pictured above). Hey Justin, how about rounding out that TLC series with, uh, Left Eye Peas or Chilli Cheese Dog? Or, you know, whatever you think of.

See more of Justin’s work here.

I’m probably (hopefully) not the first person to have thought of this, but it turns out that a teacup or mug of an appropriate circumference makes the perfect burrito stand, for those of you who like to multitask while you lunch.

[via WBTC]

I took my bike to the Heavy Metal Bike Shop today, and noticed this sign outside newly opened Rock Bar next door. Here’s a closeup:

Looks like Rock Bar is throwing an opening party next Wednesday, March 21, and of all things, a donkey is involved. I’m not entirely sure what that’s about, but I know one thing for sure — if it’s anything like this, I’m there.

This Sunday, Rice Paper Scissors will be serving up Northern-style beef pho, corn sticky rice, Vietnamese yogurt, and other brunchable delights at their first popup since returning from Vietnam. They’ll be setting up shop around 14th and Folsom from 11am to 4pm; the exact location is yet to be announced, so follow them on Twitter for the tip.

Here’s their blurb on what “Northern-style” pho entails:

There’s nothing more satisfying than a steaming bowl of pho in the morning — and while we were in Vietnam, we held off on eating it until we reached Hanoi — the place where it all originated.

After a late night and waking up Vietnamese style (that means at 6am!) we ventured down Xuân Diệu Street and came across a streetside pho house where locals and taxi drivers go for breakfast. We know about the latter group because one car almost ran over Katie to park and get his morning pho fix.

It was very simple: beef, noodles, damn good broth. Northern-style pho has no frills (aka no herbs and bean sprouts) and simply leaves you to the good stuff. That’s the way we like it.

Full menu and more details here.

These days, I can’t go a week without hearing someone lament the lack of a steady banh mi source in the Mission (usually, those rants are from Andrew Sarkarati). Lament no more, for starting tomorrow, Duc Loi Market will be selling five delicious Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches for $5 a pop, 11am-7pm every day.

And if you can’t wait until tomorrow, there’s an opening tasting party tonight, 3pm-6pm.

[via Rice Paper Scissors]