Mission Mission

Noise Pop and American Tripps this weekend present a two-night Berlin-style ping pong extravaganza featuring THE RETURN OF THE MISSION BURGER. Chef Anthony is taking this opportunity to preview some of the fare he’ll eventually be cooking up at the forthcoming Mission Bowling Club.

And looky here, Eater SF just published an exclusive look at this weekend’s menu:

Menu for Friday (2/10)
Mission Burger (granulated patty, caramelized onion, monterey jack, caper aioli)
CA Spring Roll (fresh peas, radishes, cocoa butter, rice, nori)
Sopaipilla (roasted cauliflower, pickled apple, edamame, eggplant)
Buttermilk Pannacotta (chamomile brittle, spring herbs, mint oil)

Menu for Saturday (2/11)
Spring CA Roll (fresh peas, radishes, cocoa butter, rice, nori)
Jerk Pork Shoulder (smoked, with black beans, sour cream, plantain flatbread)
Vegan Sandwich (chickpea, kale & shitake fritter, topped with fennel and spicy avocado)
Babamisu (mascarpone stuffed baba with espresso bubbles)

Omg! Must… formulate… plan… for not… getting so stuffed… I can’t… play ping pong.

Anyway, as if that weren’t enough, this party will also feature two ping pong tables, one foosball table, TWO FULL BARS by Stoli and Trumer and Hudson Whiskey and Fernet, DJ sets by DJ Wesley Frazee and DJ PJ, party photography by Allison Donlevy, bacon-wrapped chicken and waffle sandwiches by Soul Groove — and it all takes place at the brand-new Bold Italic headquarters, which was expertly designed and furnished by Kelly Malone. Phewf! Don’t miss out! (21+ only, sorry.)

RSVP and invite your friends (Friday) !

RSVP and invite your friends (Saturday) !

Fashionist spotted this pair on Mission Street. See the rest of them here.

Do you know about the nautilus? First it was an amazing aquatic critter with a big ol’ shell, and now it is also a delicious pink vegan beer.

“Vegan beer? Say what? Not all beer is vegan?” you ask? Nope! It is sometimes filtered (“fined”) with weird animal products, and there is basically no way to tell whether beer is vegan by looking at it or tasting it. Example: Tecate and Modelo Especial are vegan; Dos Equis isn’t.

Basically the only ways to figure out if your beer of choice is free of animal products is to ask the brewers*, which I got to do Tuesday at Shotwell’s!

Patrick and Bryan, the brewers from Pacific Brew Lab had a release party for their new beer, Nautilus. It has hibiscus (like Jamaica!), orange peel, coriander, and ginger, my most favorite spice in the world. I’ll level with you: I couldn’t really pick out all the flavors, but it was tastily complex without being like, whoa, what’s all this weird stuff in my beer?

Plus, the boys were sweet as cherry pie and were happy to chat with me about everything from whirlfloc to Washington.

Run over to Shotwell’s before they run out. Hightail it!

*P.S.: You can also visit this sweet database that compiles info from all the nerdy vegan lushes like me who email breweries for fun to see if their beers are friendly to us!

[Photos by shanestar]

If you’ve ever wanted to meet the likes of some of the city’s most popular chefs like Michael Gaines of Flour + Water or Bar Agricole’s Brandon Jew, now’s your chance as they happen to be getting together with some other notables at the Commonwealth Club next Thursday to dish on current trends and styles in a rowdy panel discussion.  Of course, it wouldn’t be fair if you didn’t get to try the food as well, so the fun continues the following Monday as they each collaborate on a special 5-course pre-fixe dinner for you and the rest of the guests!

Check out all the details here.

[Photo via Eater]

Previously:

• Steve Jobs at Flour and Water

Reader Zarah P. shares these photos and this piece of news:

Just got an update from an officer. The US Bank was robbed and the suspect(s) is still at large.

Thanks, Zarah.

UPDATE: Mission Local has a great quote from SFPD:

According to Mission Police Captain Robert Moser, a suspect slipped a note to the teller asking for money. “He was too slick, he got away,” one officer on the scene said. [link]

Here’s the reason for the distorted ratio of food trucks to people who would eat at food trucks in the Mission:

Currently, food trucks aren’t allowed to park within 1,500 feet of a middle school or high school — as several members of his working group have pointed out, that’s 500 feet more than the limits imposed on medical marijuana dispensaries. “This puts off limits huge swaths of the city, including most of the Mission,” Wiener adds, encouraging what he calls “overconcentration” of trucks downtown.

The quote is from Supervisor Scott Weiner, who is working on legislation that will open up more of the city. Personally, I’m conflicted, since food trucks are so tasty but have long lines of people wearing hats and terrible graphic design. Still, senseless laws are senseless, especially when they interfere with someone making a buck. What do you think?

Read on at SF Weekly.

[photo]

Burrito Justice snapped this pic of the golden phonebooth out front of what used to be the International Club. (Tiffany is that diagonal street cyclists and pedestrians use to get from lower Valencia out to Mitchell’s and the Front Porch and San Jose Avenue and points south.) Now it’s gonna be Rock Bar, a cocktail place with a bunch of fancy cocktails named for rocks and stuff.

Note that there’s a menu in the phonebooth too. I’m looking forward to trying a “Fire in the Hole” (which consists of a beer, a shot and some charcuterie). Burrito Justice has a shot of the full menu here.

City Insider reports:

On Jan. 28, two tractors that were used to construct the park’s playground — a $3 million renovation — were discovered damaged at a cost of up to $20,000, said Connie Chan, a spokeswoman for the city’s Recreation and Park Department.

In addition, branches on up to three medium-sized trees were cut, glass on three lampposts was smashed and 20 to 30 plants ready to be installed were thrown around, all at a cost of up to $5,000, Chan said. A gardener discovered the damage around 6 a.m. that Saturday.

The tractors were removed from the site and much of the damage was cleaned up, Chan said. This morning, vandals struck again, damaging the replacement equipment, she said.

Chan fears this may be some sort of organized effort. And it’s working because the playground is no longer expected to open on time. Read on. (Thanks, Herr Doktor Professor Deth Vegetable.)

[Photo by Dolores Park Works]

And apparently this message is rated PG-13.

[Submitted by Kseniya M via our Facebook wall. Thanks, Kseniya!]