I’ll admit I was a little skeptical when it first arrived in the mail. Being a neighbor living within 500 feet of the new proposal, I received a letter from owner Jeff Segal about his ambitious plans to open a wine bar just around the corner, right next door to my landlord’s laundry place (damn–I knew there was a reason why there’s no washer or dryer in my building!).
It was full of well-intentioned statements like (paraphrasing) “I live in the Mission, and I saw a really big need in the community for a place that brought wine and food to a place that makes it accessible,” and “I’ve been waiting my whole life to start a wine bar and restaurant like this.” My roommates and I each rolled our collective eyes and thought “here we go again . . .“ Who needs another douche-and-yuppie magnet on Valencia Street?
Well, it’s finally here. Furthermore, I think I might actually go check it out. Perhaps Rosumunde and Pi Bar have softened me up to the idea of the casual eat-and-drink spot, but I find myself kind of rooting for this place a little bit. The collaberation with Kitchenette might explain some of that, since so far every time I’ve biked out to the Dogpatch to try them out for lunch I’ve been greeted by an hour-long line. Now maybe I’ll finally get to taste one of their beef & pork polpette sandwiches with amatriciana sauce (tomato, fatted calf bacon, chile flakes) and parmesan cheese or their sautéed chinese broccoli leaf and roasted butternut squash side salads with sultana raisins, slivered almond, chili oil. They really know how to title entrees.
And it doesn’t look that bad in there! I don’t know. Am I misguided? Do we really need a place like this on Valencia? I do know one thing however: the fact that co-op Arizmendi Bakery (whose mission is basically to bake delicious bread while training its staff how to own and operate their own bakery) is also opening a location right next door is a damn good thing for Valencia.
UPDATE: MissionMission reader Mike Z. saw it go down:
i got a burrito at papalote yesterday and the crew that were putting up the sign on that place were punk/metalheads. they had just finished and were drinking beers out of bags. outside the wine bar.
[exterior photo from SFoodie]
[interior photo from Judy Parker]
