Q: How do you protect your brand new Benz when parking in the mission?

A: With padded car diapers!

Apparently auto armor has evolved beyond the sports (car) bras of yesteryear, but added protection still comes with a price – the price of uglifying your ride with car diapers. Watch out for the “Bump Shox” box up front though – that thing looks like a battering ram!

Our friend Chris Wright just sent us photos of a morning fire currently blazing on Capp Street between 22nd and 23rd. The fire department is on the scene – hope everyone is ok!

All photos by Chris Wright

780 Valencia has had a rocky couple of years since The Summit opened and closed and 780 Cafe picked up the reins. It’s still a great cafe with a strong coworking community – but starting today if your order consists of a single coffee it’s going to come in a paper cup. That’s because 780 has instituted a new $5 minimum to sit – and if your order doesn’t hit it they’ll send you out the door.

Cafes in the Mission are in a tough spot – making rent off cups of coffee isn’t easy, and when hordes of laptop workers set up shop for hours they can deprive other customers of seats. Business owners have responded in a variety of ways – some have removed or limited their power outlets, others reserve tables for lunch, others grant WiFi bandwidth for every purchase, and others have cut the internet completely from the equation. There’s ups and downs to every approach, and the policy a cafe takes will determine its clientele.

As someone who occasionally works in cafes, I’m a big fan of the WiFi per purchase model – it encourages patrons to support the business by setting up a clear transaction with added value: in exchange for money I receive a good and a service. Establishing a minimum purchase point to sit down has the opposite effect – instead of an incentive it’s a barrier to entry. What’s your take?

Go Giants!

I hate to be quoted on this kind of thing, but sometime this morning, between 420 and 430, I heard a woman scream outside. There were a few bursts of screaming within a short time period (30 seconds, maybe), and by the time I was able to get to the phone, a car was speeding off with the passenger side door open, heading towards 19th (from the direction of 20th). I was not able to properly identify the make or even color of the car to the police, who I was at that time on the phone with. Another neighbor said she heard a woman scream that she had been attacked, and that someone was getting into her car. A few of us also heard some kind of collision, though we didn’t see any damage on the street. Though there were approximately 6 neighbors/witnesses in the street corroborating information, the police weren’t given much to go on. A minute after I called 911, two patrol cars came down san carlos, and we redirected them in the direction of the speeding car. 

Ok, so it’s not actually alive – but Namu Gaji‘s okonomiyaki pancake bears an uncanny resemblance to a living, breathing thing. The volcanic mass of kimchee, oysters, scallions and sauce is served atop a crispy pancake in a blazing hot cast iron cauldron, so it’s still cooking when it lands on your table. Pillars of steam sprout up from the sides, creating a breathing, crinkling effect as they rush through the forest of bonito flakes layered over the top. It’s not for the seafood squeamish or faint of heart, but it is damn good comfort food for a blustery San Francisco summer night.

An anonymous tipster writes:

“Around 3pm a man was shot outside W-K Market [in front of an apartment building] near the corner of 24th and Folsom. The victim was able to get into a car and go to the hospital. Police showed up quickly, and solicited information about the shooter from bystanders. Citizens milling around the intersection could be heard saying things like, “What the fuck? It’s broad daylight.” and “Jesus, didn’t school just get out?”

Post updated to reflect correct location on June 11th

Photo © Google

As everyone who has had a bike stolen knows, there’s really no way to make a bicycle 100% secure – you’re basically balancing an equation where the amount that you spend weighing down your bike with locks only increases the difficulty of the heist. (And according to bicycle law, all bikes should weigh 50 pounds.)

Gizmodo put 4 standard locks through the paces to see just how hard it is to steal a bike secured with a u-lock. Although a few of them fended off a beating from bolt cutters and a hacksaw, not a single one could stand up to a 5-second assault with a $40 angle grinder. Check out the video here – how does your lock fare?

Photo by dpwk

Answer: 6! One to write the ticket and the other five to cork it in. It’s like a reverse Critical Mass that gives you tickets instead of running red lights.

Has anyone ever been pulled over by a bicycle cop? Unfortunately I missed the chase scene so the mechanics are murky at best – do they always work in packs?

As in a trash bin full of squash. Savvy dumpster divers would be wise not to squander the opportunity!

Duc Loi Market at 18th/Mission officially kicked off its brand new kitchen today, and the star of the show is the “Authentic Vietnamese” sandwich, which owner Amanda Ngo serves piled high with cured ham, pork belly, chicken liver pâté, and head cheese. How does it compare with the $3.50 banh mi’s you’ll find elsewhere in the city? The quality of ingredients, proximity to the Mission, generous portions, and overall flavor package make it well worth the extra buck and change.

The menu also has a good breadth of variety – including a fried chicken sandwich, a BBQ menu, and a veggie portobello tofu sandwich that can be made vegan if you ask for no mayo. According to Helen Tseng, “It’s as big as your head and contains about half an avocado”. Hit the jump for a closer look!

The Authentic Vietnamese sandwich

Amanda is a total sweetheart and offered us a tasty side of Vietnamese salad while we waited

The Vegetarian Tofu Portobello sandwich

The full Duc Loi Kitchen menu. They’ll be open from 11am-7pm every day, so head on down!

5 Helens agree: Wise Sons running out of pastrami and corned beef at 1:30pm on a Friday hurts. Get there early folks!

Things you can buy for $3:

• Jimmy Buffett’s greatest hits
• This zine
• A gallon of gas, and then some, sometime soon, maybe

Enticing options indeed, but none of these things will satisfy your stomach like two quick and dirty street-style tacos from Taqueria Vallarta. The 24th Street shop may be closed for pigeon debugging, but that hasn’t stopped the neighborhood establishment from opening a fresh new squab-free spot on Mission next to the 16th Street BART, and they’re slinging tasty $1.50 taco treats like nobody’s business.

The toppings are simple, straightforward, and to the point — all you get are two tortillas, a heap of meat, and all the cilantro, onions, and salsa you care to pile on top. Shown here are the al pastor and carnitas, but if you’re feeling adventurous go for the cabeza, lengua, or crispy deep fried tripitas — they’re all tasty as hell and worth a try.