Mission Mission

This is what we call “comedy gold.” I’ve heard stories over the years from my one or two female friends that guys catcall a lot in the Mission.  I’d imagine there are two reactions you can have to being hollered at all the time: 1) cry about it and move to the suburbs or 2) start a twitter account.  Keep your chin up ladies because, wow, you are so attractive.  yes you.  hi.

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Amber writes in with an update on Four Barrel’s business model and accompanying photo:

Four Barrel has returned to it’s roots and reopened the alley for coffee service!

In addition to the full cafe in the front, you can now get tasty espresso and coffee drinks to enjoy in one of SF’s picturesque alleyways, located around the back of the cafe/roastery on Valencia between 14th and 15th.

Enter off 15th, just east of Valencia, and walk down Caledonia alley.

Glad to hear the shop is keeping it real.  Looking forward to scoping out the new barista (or should I say BARKista, HELLO!) in person.

P.S.  If anyone can think of a pun that incorporates both dogs and coffee, PLEASE, for the love of blog, help a girl out.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can stay culturally relevant in 2010.  Facts: PBR/Tecate/Olympia are getting slutted, Mission Mission commenters tell me that Bender’s was just a 2009 meme, and fixies are a little too mainstream.

Luckily I just spotted this (spot on) video, hipsters discussing cyclocross, thus answering one of these questions.  Cyclocross (or “cross” for those obsessed with sparing syllables) bikes will replace color-coordinated fixies as the 20-something bar-bike of choice in 2010.  ’makes total sense.  A little known fact about ‘cross racers is that they already needlessly color coordinate their bikes, among other cool things.  Take my roommate’s bike:

His ride is so hip for many reasons*:

1. It’s almost completely white.  White is so euro right now.  White is the bleeding edge of cool.  Plus when you get hit by a Muni, your friends don’t have to paint your bike ghost.
2. Almost all the parts are made in Asia.  Asian bike parts are pretty hot in the cool kid community right now so the transfer of legitimacy will be easy.
3. His frame is handmade by Mike Ahrens, which means he paid more than $150 for it.  Being “limited” (via gringo economic superiority) is pretty important these days because it helps demonstrate your uniqueness (read: unfettered access to your trust fund).
4. He has to glue his tires onto his rims, thus giving him two ups over urban fixies: 1) he “accidentally” becomes “lightheaded” while fixing a flat tire and 2) he has just that much more connection to the ground.  He can feel his skid stop, the cycling equivalent of sex without a condom.  Reckless.  Feels so good.

(* none of these stereotypes apply to my roommate.  He actually works hard for his money and has a very nice haircut)

So, what about beer and bars?  The beer question is pretty easy.  I have no doubt that Colt 45 will become the beer of the year.  It’s pretty hard to find it in bars in the Mission, giving it the necessary level of rarity and exclusivity to become the next top brew.  I also watched a bunch of cool kids crushing Colts at the OTHERSIDE Cafe (vegan sandwiches until 2am, beer, bicycles, and website is a MySpace page) on a recently trip to Boston, indicating that the messenger community back East is embracing the malted goodness of Colt.  I even ordered some myself to fit in.  They’re pretty tasty.

I still have not figured out what the cool Mission bar of 2010 is.  When I figure it out, I’ll be sure to post about it once a week, minimum.

I don’t want to distract you from Buy Nothing Day (this Friday, as if you didn’t know), but I bought something that I think is worth mentioning. Dog Eared Books carries these little sketchbooks/journals made by a person called Doug, of Recover Your Thoughts. They’ve got hard covers taken from discarded library books, are spiral bound and contain blank paper discarded from print shops. Meaning, basically, that they’re mostly made of trash. They occasionally have a few pages from the original book scattered throughout.

Anyway, I think they’re a great idea. Here’s the one I got:

And, sorry, but here’s one more picture I took while I was at Dog Eared, looking through their cool window art:

Pie party!  Fill ‘er up.

From Don’t ask me, I just work here.

Whoa!  So I don’t mean to start a Mission Mission sausage fest, but I came across an ad for this and got stoked:

Union SF Presents: The Classics: Makin’ Bacon and Sausage 101!

Let us demystify the process of curing and smoking your own bacon. We will also demonstrate sausage blending, and provide some simple tricks that can transform a basic cut of pork into something to savor.

Led by Rick Abruzzo and organized by members of Slow Food, this intimate workshop will first focus on the basic bacon-making technique of flavoring, curing, and smoking your own slab of pork belly. We’ve selected a savory dry cure recipe, and Rick will lead a demo and tasting of two bacon recipes.

Yep.  It’s Sunday, December 6th from 1-4 p.m. at $25/person.  2125 Bryant Street between 19th and 20th.  More info here.

Good idea or bad idea?:  Make this a swine flu benefit with the tagline “Cure swine flu by curing swine.”

From Ben, via the email.  ”Is this this new lipdub?”

Copying:

Remaking:

I’ve been enjoying New York Shitty ever since Broke-Ass Stuart recommended it to me.  It’s like Mission Mission except it’s about all of New York and is far more interesting.  What makes it even more epic is that it was a blog that was started to document people letting their dog shit all over the proprietor’s neighborhood.  Now it covers street art, car crashes, and occasionally talks about the search for good vegetarian enchiladas.  I love vegetarian enchiladas, even in cities that I only go to once every 5 years.  And rubber duckies affixed to tree stumps.

westbymidwest peeped this street art the other day.  I always knew those damn penguins were an enemy of progress.

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Also, westbymidwest also snapped a great shot of some transvestite sticker art.

EPA has the scoop on some hot new sticker art in the Mission.