Mission Mission

I love the gypsy jazz band, Gaucho. I also love Django Reinhardt. This week I have been commuting to Rohnert Park for a three week summer intensive. Hasn’t been fun. But this morning, I decided to listen to a compilation of Django’s while I daydreamed about the business that I’m planning on opening in the Mission District. And then I remembered how much I love Gaucho, but how I haven’t had time to see their free weekly show at Amnesia. I used to go every week and drink Death & Taxes, and talk about Albert Camus, like I was in a Woody Allen movie. I think I’ll go right now, now that I’m unemployed and broke.

In May, we broke the story of Dolores Burrito, a Mission-style burrito place in Berlin. Our friend Anna was very excietd to hear the news (“OMG!!!!! oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!!!! how excietd am i???? sooooo excited!!”). She finally went:

Well, it was obviously not going to be like a tacotruck burrito … but, they had Anchor Steam!! (if there’s that then maybe there’s sierra somewhere in berlin, too, and then allan would have won yet another bet). Anyway, it was kind of complicated to order – six different steps, but you could get everything from guac to sour cream. Don’t know why they don’t just have a super-burrito option. They have 5 differnt types of spicyness and the most spicy was spicy (rare for German!). The types of meat you can get are not really authentic but everything tasted good. And it’s a little pricey for Berlin. But overall it’s a really cool place to hang out when you get a certain kind of craving and it does fill you up like a taco-truck burrito.

I can’t wait to try this place out! Note: Malcolm M. swears you can’t get Sierra Nevada in Berlin because of German beer purity law, but Allan suspects otherwise, because how can they not have Sierra Nevada?! It’s fucking good!

So if anyone knows of a place where they do…

Previously on Mission Mission:

How to Eat a Mission-Style Burrito

Chopped, Screwed Mariah Carey Video Features El Farolito Chile Relleno Burrito

Today I ducked into Paxton Gate for a few minutes, and I’m glad I did — the cacti in the back room are in bloom!

If I wasn’t heading for the park, or didn’t have a million-pound bag on my shoulder, I would have rounded them up in my arms and lovingly killed them softly with my less-than-green thumb. Check them out before the blossoms disappear for another year. If you adopt one, please keep us up to date on its progress.

I once owned a Paxton Gate cactus, and it erupted into bloom only once in the two and a half years I owned it. I continue to have a soft spot for blooming cacti. Here’s mine:

Previously on Mission Mission:

Sea Creature Pins at Paxton Gate

There has been a lot of talk lately about the new restaurant that occupies the space formerly occupied by the Last Supper Club. The first I really heard about it was back in May, when SFGate wrote about a robbery that occurred:

An Italian restaurant in the Mission District was robbed early Wednesday morning while about 10 patrons were eating their dinners, said police Sgt. Neville Gittens.

Police got a call at 1:21 a.m. Wednesday that a man had walked into Beretta on Valencia Street between 22nd and 23rd streets, waved a gun, and shouted, “This is a robbery! Everybody get down!” He didn’t fire his gun, and no one was hurt.

I don’t know about you, but if I eat at 1:21am, I don’t really consider it “dinner”. I consider any food I consume at 1:21am to be for medicinal purpose only.

In any case, SFGate just posted their official review of the place. And as much as I don’t really like the new outside paint job, and I miss the comfort food of the Last Supper Club circa 2004, Beretta sounds pretty tasty. I am generally indifferent to fancy pizza, because the only fancy pizza worth eating is at Tommaso’s, but on these warm nights, a margherita and a cocktail sounds divine. Also, if people were truly eating dinner at 1:21am, I’m thinking they might have been chefs/cooks eating after their shifts, and I’m always fascinated with where they choose to go. Was that the case? Should I check it out?

Link to Beretta.

Even on vacation, we’re always on a Mission mission. Here’s a picture of Allan at the Santa Barbara Mission on Monday afternoon (click to enlarge). In any case, we’ll be in Dolores Park by dusk on the 4th. Think it’ll be different in light of last year?

So today is my last day at my job that’s directly across the street from Aquatic Park, next door to Ghiradelli Square. My commute everyday consists of taking BART to the Embarcadero, and transferring to the F-Market, which passes the Ferry Building and Pier 39.

I pass by the Hyde Street Cable Car turnaround and the Buena Vista Cafe on my walk from the end of the F Line to the office.

If I look up from my tired haziness, I have a perfect view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

For lunch, I’ll either walk to Fort Mason:

or to Washington Square Park:

Sometimes I’ll play Bocce on the new, and empty, Bocce Court that’s next to the quaint North Beach Library.

Pure San Francisco five days a week.

Although I’ve seen some amazing things: dead sharks, stranded seals, birds that take shits the size of buckets — I’ll probably never come back.

It’s not my San Francisco. My San Francisco is warm weather, beer in the park, dirty sidewalks, Mexicans.

So Goodbye 8:30 to 5! Goodbye hour long commute! Goodbye Fisherman/Sailor/Pirate Bum and Bushman Bum! Goodbye Tourists! Goodbye 30 mph winds!

Bushman Bum. He has succeeded, everyday for three years, to scare me. Every. Time.

Fisherman/Sailor/Pirate Bum: I have seen you three or four times everyday, and I dont want to show a photo of you. You are too precious. I will definitely miss you.

Now … does Dolores Park have wifi?

[All photos from Flickr. Click each to see photo page.]

I just found this mildly amusing take on the Brown Apple Moth spraying:

I did a lot of thinking on this subject. I know I’m not the only one who’s noticed the dumping by planes since I saw others post about it also. So I thought I’d share what I think it is.

I think what they’re dumping is dioxin since a lot of dioxin’s been turning up in the bay over the years that those planes have been cruising over the Mission, Bernal Heights and Potrero Hill districts dumping by air.

I’ve noticed they usually fly over more often when rain’s in the forecast and of course rain would carry that dioxin down the kids bounce house storm drains and eventually into the bay.

How can they get away with it? Look at who’s getting the blame. Scientists are blaming gardeners saying it must be pesticides being used by gardeners. But I don’t think the dumpers had the blame being put on gardeners on their minds. I believe the reason they’re dumping over the Mission, Potrero Hill and Bernal Heights districts is because during the rains the rain washes the dioxin down the storm drains and those drains lead out around the Hunter’s Point area of the bay. That’s where the navy used to dump toxic wastes. You see? So the toxic waste dumpers who dump by plane probably originally planned on scientists thinking the dioxin was coming from the polluted land at the Hunter’s Point area.

There should be further investigations into this and maybe a ban on small planes flying over the city but the scientists are lazy and blaming the gardeners saying they’re using a lot of pesticides!

In the mean time the planes keep dumping the dioxin in divided amounts to get rid of it in a sneaky way. If they dumped it all at once it would be obvious it was a toxic waste dump and wouldn’t look like it was gardeners using pesticides.

Link(or click thumbnail to enlarge). Find other spray coverage here and here.

Move over Straw Dogs — I’ve found my new favorite movie!

Friday, after sitting in Dolores Park and gorging on beer and snacks, I felt particularly nostalgic for a 1970s San Francisco movie. I decided to watch a film that I’ve heard about through my father-in-law who lived in the Mission in the ’70s. He always tells the story of how he saw the filming of the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers in North Beach one balmy day (balmy like Friday … dun dun dun!)

Although it was filmed entirely in San Francisco, there’s no sign of the Mission District. Which I wasn’t expecting anyway because most blockbusters that are set in SF don’t really show the Mission. So when I watch a movie set in San Francisco, it feels foreign to me. Does anyone else feel the same?

Anyway, the movie is AWESOME. When it was finished, I walked around the dark apartment, scared that I would hear the pod-piercing scream from the open windows. It also didn’t help that someone was lying in bed, pod-person-like, recuperating from an achey belly.

Also, the film has the most romantic kiss I’ve ever seen. And it’s currently in the free movies section on Comcast OnDemand.

Hmm… this wasn’t in the film, but:

White dude to hot buxom brunette at the bar:

“Yeah, I know Jonathan, his ex-wife, his brother-in-law. I’ve hung out with them a few times. It’s a pretty small little scene. So could I call you sometime?”

I looked up “san francisco style burrito” on Wikipedia, and found an interesting section called How to eat a San Francisco burrito:

When a true San Francisco burrito is first encountered by an initiate, its large size and protective tin foil wrapper may lead the beginner to surmise that all one has to do is remove the foil and begin cutting away at the tortilla shell with a knife and a fork. This is not recommended. The correct method for consuming a San Francisco burrito is to forgo utensils entirely and to eat with one’s hands. Use the foil as a supportive exoskeleton to facilitate burrito consumption, and begin the process by tearing an inch of foil down from one end, being careful not to bite into the foil with your teeth. Adding salsa to the burrito before each subsequent nibble is a popular technique.

This reminded me of a funny incident that involves eating a San Francisco Burrito not made, and not eaten in San Francisco:

I recently went bar-hopping in midtown Sacramento, and discovered that after midnight, choices for late night are limited. I found a newly tobogan hinchable opened taqueria that was still serving. In the front of the line were two seriously drunk sorority girls (the kind with the white/black flat-ironed hair and sequiny halter tops). Their shenanigans included puking in the bathroom, setting off the fire extinguisher, hitting on some guy, and passing out in their chairs, all within a matter of 10 minutes.

When their burritos arrived, the fatter of the two forgot how to operate her hands. She instead had her friend tear apart the top of the aluminum foil. She then plunged her face into the burrito, biting at the contents like a dog eating from his food dish. In 10 seconds, she was done.

I suspect she ate some of the foil, which was probably tastier than the burrito I might add.

Previously on Mission Mission:

La Cumbre Taqueria: Awful Carne Asada, Great Visuals

Chopped, Screwed Mariah Carey Video Features El Farolito Chile Relleno Burrito

Carnitas at Taqueria Can-Cún! Finally!