Mission Mission

I’m in New York this week visiting Mission expats and had to make a trip to vegan treats mecca BabyCakes NYC. For the uninitiated, BabyCakes has won lots of awards, notably New York magazine’s 2006 award for the best cupcake in New York. Just to confirm: not best vegan cupcake, just straight-up best cupcake. They’ve received countless other blue ribbons, trophies, and fan letters since then.

While I was buying my heavenly blueberry muffin and chewy oatmeal raisin cookie, pictured below, I asked the girl at the counter how long it would be before we got a BabyCakes of our very own. She said it would be awhile, since they are currently opening one in Chicago, but eventually we will get one, and IT WILL BE IN THE MISSION.

There you have it! Straight from the horse’s mouth. I motion we all start taking photos of empty storefronts and sending them to Erin McKenna so she has a new bakery to dream about while she works on her other new project (i.e. the baby she is growing in her belly). Until then, you can check out all their locations here and plan vacations accordingly.

The Corner AND Weird Fish got sold to some Boogaloo’s guy or something. The Corner will become a European-style cafe called the Perch. Weird Fish is staying the same, but it’ll close for a bit for renovations. Eater SF reports:

Expect Weird Fish to close this Saturday, allowing time for a few interior tweaks and the necessary permits to come through. It should reopen in early to mid-March. The Perch’s debut will happen about two months thereafter, complete with minor decor refinements and the aforementioned totally new Euro small plates shtick.

Read on.

[Photo by Google Maps]

[via WBTC]

UPDATE: Kevin did some sleuthing and found out it’s for real.

Everyone’s favorite hero of the park is now more mobile than ever thanks to this sweet new ride he was recently seen rocking at the park (rad colors!).  This can only mean more cold, convenient beer for everyone, for which we are grateful.  One word of advice though, sir–you could definitely cut down on trips if you affixed a basket to that thing!

Just look at him scanning the horizon.  Wherever there are thirsty people, cold beer will be there.

(Thanks Elliot!)

Previously:

• Cold beer, cold justice

These are glorious. They’re kinda like an expensive French version of an egg tart, but with that crackly caramelized sugar shell of a real crème brûlée. You can find them in a few places in the Mission, but I won’t tell you where, because everyone loves a good scavenger hunt. And if you can’t be bothered to have a little fun, you can use Google, much like how I used it to find the correct accent marks for those French words in this post.

Free PBR from 5-7! Free bike tuneups courtesy of Sports Basement from 5-7! Ten hours of Berlin-style ping pong on six tables! Food by Eagle Dogs and Sataysfied! DJ sets by the Haçeteria crew from 7-11. Live gypsy jazz by Panique from 11-2. Full bar! Beer garden! Absinthe!!!

It’s American Tripps: Berlin-Style Ping Pong Bash at Z Space and Coffee Bar and it starts at 5pm tonight!

Medjool is closing up everything but its roofdeck. Maybe this is why:

fyi @missionmission @tablehopper @eatersf @7x7Magazine @SFoodie rumor has it beretta folks r taking over medjool space. this isn’t a rumor.

— (^_____^) (@TheTacoGuru) February 17, 2012

I hope it’s true. Beretta does no wrong.

UPDATE: It’s true. Our pal Candy confirms it.

It’s part of SF Beer Week. Poutine, man! More info here.

[via Mission Local]

[Caroline has been writing this weekly column about being vegan in the Mission for a few weeks now, and as of today we decided to officially call it "Mission Vegan." Look forward to it every Wednesday!]

Can you tell the difference between the vegan bran muffins at Mission Beach Café and the ones at Four Barrel?

They’re the same shape, size and color; they both contain dried cranberries and yellow raisins, but no nuts. Both are sweet and toothsome, crunchy on top and chewy on the bottom, substantial but not dense. In other words, I consider myself a muffin connoisseur and I don’t think I could tell the difference if you paid me. I tried to do a side-by-side comparison for you, but 4B didn’t get any muffins delivered this morning (!) so you’ll have to trust me I guess.

The nice girl who works the coffee counter at MBC on weekday mornings says the muffins are made for them at a nearby bakery. Hmmm… if it was in the direction she was pointing, it was also near Four Barrel.

Well, Mission detectives, what do you know that I don’t? Same baker or just same recipe?

Inside Scoop has the inside scoop:

March 1, [executive chef Danny] Bowien will be moving to New York to open an East Coast branch of Mission Chinese Food, due on the Lower East Side later this year. They’ve got a space ready, and for the most part, the New York branch will incorporate many of the same aspects of MCF, including the menu and most notably, the charitable model.

Bowien — along with partner Anthony Myint — found a former takeout space on Orchard (between Rivington and Stanton), and will remodel it as Mission Chinese Food, though it will have the same DIY feel and shoestring budget as the original. A full bar is planned for the 39 seat-space. Lunch, dinner and takeout are the plan.

“It’s not going to be super fancy. It’ll be the same, but cleaner,” says Bowien. “But we know the food and we can design the restaurant where we’ll be more efficient.”

Cleaner!? That’s cool, I guess. Inside Scoop also hints that MCFNYC will be offering some sort of SF-inspired non-Chinese late-night menu. Sounds good to me. Can’t wait to visit! Read on.

[Map by Google Maps]