Mission Mission

Former Serpentine sous chef Eric Ehler wrote in to tell us all about Seoul Patch, his new late night Korean pop-up restaurant coming to the Mission this Friday.

Ehler started Seoul Patch in September, and they’ve been operating a lunch pop-up out of Rocketfish in Potrero Hill. Starting this Friday, they’ll be cooking up late night eats at Asiento on 21st and Bryant (that mysterious corner bar with the galaxy mural façade), every other Friday from 10:30pm to 1am. Menu offerings include wings, Korean pancakes, tofu, pickles, and BBQ, and prices will range from $5 to $10.

Pretty exciting stuff given the current lack of Korean fare in the Mission, and a good excuse to migrate over to some of the less traveled corners of the neighborhood.

What do you think this bear’s costume is? Spy vs Spy? Alec Baldwin from Beetlejuice? Some kind of fetishist? A bird?

Window display at Borderlands.

This is a special report by our pal Jess Stuenkel, a real-life San Francisco architect:

September is Architecture and the City month which means all the architecture geeks like me and non-architecture geeks (likely like you) get a month of seeing, hearing and talking about architecture in the city. Tonight Local Mission Eatery opened its doors for a community dinner and discussion about the restaurants concept and big-picture design process.

The name, Local Mission, couldn’t be more fitting as the restaurant is all about local sourcing and providing for it’s community. All the produce is purchased at local farmers markets daily by Yaron, the business owner, or his business partner Jake des Voignes the exectutive chef. The restaurant even has it’s own little farm outside the city where they raise chickens and grow what they can in the space they have. And they want you to know exactly where it comes from and what they are doing with it.

Here is an excerpt from their about page:

Our mission includes you. We hope you shop at the farmers market, bypass the supermarket, and cook from scratch: Simmer vegetables for your stock, peel tomatoes for your sauce, and roll-out dough for your crackers. We’ll help you. Ask us questions, join our cookbook library, take our cooking labs, stand at the open kitchen and observe.

With these same local and community oriented values they created the space. The architects at atelier KS worked closely with chef Jake des Voignes to provide his optimal cooking environment. The chef got out his work gloves to help build the cabinetry and when builder Sterling Tougas opened up a wall and found old growth redwood slats, the architects detailed them into the ceiling that directs you through the long skinny space. Speaking of locally sourced! The wood that constructs the entryway as well as the long community table came from the building a few doors down which was also under construction. All the tile came from just over the bridge in Sausalito, and the building supplies from Mission lumberyards. All topped off with mural by local screen printer Jon Fischer representing every intersection on 24th St. from Valencia to Vermont.

Yaron stated at dinner, “Owning a piece of the street is a big responsibility, as is employing people and feeding people.” He sees this responsibility to his community the same as his responsibility to his family, and that’s nothing less than good, local food, prepared from scratch for the people.

Also, if you haven’t gotten a chance to participate in Architecture and the City, check out the last few days of events here. The Rem Koolhaas movie on the 28th should be really good and best of all it’s free!

Thanks, Jess!

[Photo by Rahmin Sarahi]

If you’ve lived in California for at least a minute, you know about bubble tea, or boba. In its most basic form, it is a mixture of tea, milk, and a bunch of chewy tapioca balls (boba) that you extract from your cup with a giant plastic straw. Bubble tea originated in Taiwan, where the word “boba” also happens to be slang for boobs.

Our buddy Bin (aka YMFY) is about to launch his new boba tea shop in the heart of the Mission. He and his business partner Andrew plan to offer the traditional black milk tea as well as a few specialty flavors, all made from natural and artisanal ingredients. Last week, Bin gave us a preview of what lies ahead, and things are looking pretty tasty. Starting this week, the Boba Guys will be profiled in GOOD Magazine twice a week, so follow along as they build their shop from the ground up.

YMFY spotted this sword at the Wells Fargo ATM on Mission and 22nd. He wanted to pick it up and swing it around, but thought better of it. When he returned later, it was gone.

Bummer, dude. The sword of Wells Fargodor only presents itself to those who are truly worthy of low APR and bonus rewards. You missed out.

Although there still seems to be plenty of disagreement over whether it’s cool to eat food in bars, one place where you will not run into that dilemma is at the Blind Cat on 24th and Treat, home of the chilaquile bloody marys Mondays.  To help reinforce that fact, our pal Tom is posting up outside the door in the evenings to offer you some of the most delicious drunk food you can find.

Starting this past weekend, the Eagle Dogs cart is around most nights of the week (Monday-Saturday) from 6pm-midnight and features your basic no-nonsense, scrumptious, California beef hot dogs with heaping mountains of grilled (on pineapple) onions  and a fetching assortment of condiments to balance it all out.  Just what you need to sustain yourself for the inevitable whiskey binge that will be happening later that night.

Stay up to date on all the rock & roll hotdog news on his Twitter and Facebook page!

Seriously, I’m asking. I saw the sign after it was already too late to attend:

Big things in store for everyone’s favorite deli dive, Rhea’s. First, check out this architect sketch of the proposed new storefront:

Not sure what’s up with the pink-clad ballet ghost in front of the doors, or when to expect construction to start, but this seems to indicate business is good which is fine by me.

Also, Rhea’s Deli will be on Bay Area Check Please tomorrow night. If you actually still have TV, tune in and see some clueless dork complain about the lack of fine dining service and valet parking options. The rest of us can see it on their blog in a few days.

[via @RheasDeli]

Update: More great news: starting October the deli is open every day, with the possibility of extended hours.

A big window, with a plethora of bottles glistening in the sunshine. The folks at the corner of 20th and Valencia have got the right idea. Kinda makes me want to start day-drinking RIGHT NOW.

Also, if there’s ever a riot on Valencia, you know where to find me.