Mission Mission

My review of Danny Bowien’s new Chinese Burrito is a pretty good read, but this brief excerpt is pretty key:

(They’d been talking about maybe doing it without cheese.)

Oh and here’s a great new photo of the beast, by food writer Omar Mamoon:

Just look at it:

FOB Kitchen (recently named “Best restaurant in the Mission“) currently pops up every Wednesday evening at Gashead Tavern on Mission Street.

Get it while you can:

[via Nattles]

Big week for Danny: on Monday he partied with Mission Mission, and last night he partied with the Tonight Show! Here’s last night:

(Mission Mission didn’t make him turn his shirt inside out.)

After years now of salivating over the wild stuff Danny’s been doing in New York (and posting on Instagram), I was thrilled to find out they’re about to do something wild here.

Danny’s been back in town for a couple days, perfecting the recipe and preparing to formally launch this new concept. They’re gonna do one version at a time, and change it up maybe every month or so. It all kicks off at Mission Chinese Food on Thursday.

Yesterday for lunch I had two halves of the Pork Ma Po Tofu/salt cod fried rice version, one half with cheese, one half without. (The verdict: “Fuck yeah cheese.”) This is a great burrito, and a very fulfilling lunch.

Here’s Danny posing for a photo for Lucky Peach:

Then last night I got really drunk and went back for the Kung Pao Pastrami/salt cod fried rice version (which I think is the one debuting for real later this week).

Initially I wasn’t gonna publish a photo of the inside of the burrito, so as not to spoiler it for anybody, but it’s just so darned colorful:

God damn this was a great burrito, and an INCREDIBLY awesome late-night option.

Here are Danny and partner in crime Anthony Myint, late last night, making plans:

Lastly, I woke up hungover and had a cold leftover Chinese Burrito straight out of the fridge, while watching the first episode of the new Daily Show. It was a little soggy and still really nice and spicy. It perked me right up. This is a great burrito, and a KILLER hangover cure.

In short:

1. Great for a normal sober lunch
2. Great for a drunken late dinner
3. Great for fixing you up the next morning

Thanks, everybody!

UPDATE: I forgot, the pastrami one comes with a dish of crema that you can drizzle onto each bite, and they all come with a nice hot sauce too…

(These last two photos by Jess Kelso, thanks Jess!)

They’re moving to Oakland, and bigger digs, which is nice for them (but sad for us here in the Mission).

Inside Scoop reports:

In sad news for lovers of the 24th Street sandwich shop — Pal’s is heading to the other side of the Bay. But, what’s San Francisco’s loss is Oakland’s gain.

According to [Pal #1 Jeff] Mason, he’s collaborating with Firebrand Artisan Breads ‘Matt Kreutz and Colleen Orlando on their forthcoming bakery/restaurant space at the Hive.

Pal’s is just one of several food/drink projects, including Firebrand, that are setting-up shop at the Uptown Oakland development. Others include Numi Tea, Calavera and Drake’s Brewery.

Mason has been buying bread from Firebrand for years and has a close working relationship with Kreutz and Orlando. When they approached him to see if he wanted to oversee the sandwich program at the new 5,000-square-foot bakery, Mason said yes.

In addition to full creative control over the sandwich menu, Mason’s getting something else — a full kitchen. For someone who has worked his sandwich magic in tiny makeshift kitchens, this is huge.

Read on for lots more info.

And for goodness’ sake, enjoy yourself some Pal’s while you still can.

I guess sometimes you have to leave the Mission?

[via Omar]

Epic poster art, right?

Here is the press release in full:

We, the shegetz of Shegetz Bagel, don’t believe that it takes a New York City zip code (or water supply) to make a killer bagel, and we intend to prove it by boiling and baking them up, right here on the West Coast.

Shegetz is a collaboration between two San Francisco natives, Oliver Steele and Ben Kaminsky, and their long-time conspirer Alex Rogers; all three well-known staples in the Bay Area food and coffee scene. Rogers developed the lauded bread recipe for Local’s Corner, and became well-versed in bagel-making, working with Michelle Polzine at 20th Century Cafe (though Shegetz will be more akin to the New York style). Steele, a member of the industry darling Pizzetta 211, is a practiced set of hands in the world of dough and pastry. Kaminsky is a three-time US Cup Tasters Champion. After a three year stint as the Director of Quality Control and Espresso at Ritual Coffee, he has become a sought-after international coffee consultant and most recently helped launch Saint Frank in Russian Hill.

Some things to know about our pop-ups:

Bagels will not be toasted. Fresh bagels do not need to be toasted (because, you know, they were just in an oven.)
Our West-Coast style bagels use sourdough starter
Bagels will cost $5–12 depending on toppings.
We will try to always have a full staff so you don’t have to wait too long.
The bagels are likely to go fast.

The first Shegetz Bagel event is this Sunday the 27th at PizzaHacker.

[via Mission Chinese Food on Instagram]

By all accounts, it’s gonna be the best one ever. Don’t miss out.