Mission Mission

Daaaaaaang.  Per Eater SF, Mission Minis has been shut down by the health department!

The cupcakery at 22nd/Capp, which opened just a few weeks ago, apparently failed to obtain the necessary permits to stay alive and kicking.  Their Twitter, however (tsk-tsks Eater!), maintains that they’re simply building a new counter.

Both the Mission location and Marina kiosk are now closed.  Looks like you’ll have to go back to eating regular-sized cupcakes.  As if you mind, tubs!

[Photo from magicbeanbuyer]

Mission Loc@l posted a video (well, audio slideshow, really) behind the scenes at Arinell.

If you’re still on Windows 95, here’s the gist: employee Neil Aviles talks about eating “tons” of pizza (“like 3 slices… in 4 hours”… I’m pretty sure Andrew Sarkarati has broken that record), dudes passing out in the store, failed crank deals, mission gentrification, and yuppies.

Oh no he didn’t just drop the Y-bomb! Careful Neil… I got in trouble for that this week.

When Eater SF reported this week that Valencia Street Yucatecan restaurant Mi Lindo Yucatan is officially donezo, one memory came flooding back.

One Cinco de Mayo about five or so years ago, me and a couple friends and a girl I was dating decided to start our night with dinner here. We arrived early, were the first group seated, placed our order.

After a while, we realized we’d been waiting a while, but we were having a good time and kept waiting. After an hour, we started to grow grumpy, particularly after we noticed that the tables around us — groups that had been seated well after us — were getting their entrees, and we were still foodless.

At this point, we inquired as to our food’s whereabouts. Server made a holy-smokes face, ran back to the kitchen, and returned to tell us she’d forgotten to put our order in, but that it was in now and would be out shortly. She was very apologetic, but we talked it over and decided we had places to be and would wait no further.

We got up to leave, and when we were halfway out the door the owner or manager or something runs up on us, pleading, “Please, please, we are all very sorry; please stay and your dinner will be free of charge.”

Perhaps out of pride or something we said thanks but no thanks and exited. One of us even relayed the story to another group now on its way in, convincing them to rethink their dinner plans as well.

Now I feel bad. Had we stayed and paid our tab or at least not made a scene, might MLY still be in business today?

But seriously, in this economy it does seem dumb to have turned down a free meal. Did we do the right thing?

Photo by Squid!

Mission swing dance promoter Christopher Lee posted this great video of the local Gypsy Jazz group Gaucho playing at Tartine Bakery last night. Bet you didn’t know they have live music, right? Gaucho has been playing there 1st and 3rd Thursdays from 6-8pm for years. In the evening, the line isn’t so bad when people aren’t fighting over that morning bun.

In this video they are joined by a visiting NYC singer, Tamar Korn. She does that awesome 30s “operatic jazz singer” thing that is so rare these days. The tune is Honeysuckle Rose by Fats Waller. Have you listened to the lyrics to this song? It’s filthy.

I spent a recent weekend in San Juan Bautista, a town I recommend if you want to get out of the city for a day or so and see some of the great aspects of another kind of classic California. You can see the famous Mission, pick up some nice antiques, look for the local Oddfellows chapter,  have a chat with one of the chickens loitering all over town, try to match old pictures from postcards to their current locations, and end the night dancing to live music at Daisy’s Saloon.

If you happen to awake on a late, sleepy Sunday morning at either the San Juan Inn or the Posada De San Juan and wish there was an excellent brunch spot nearby, you may want to find your way to the corner of Third and Mariposa, to Mission Cafe. The inside looks pretty much as you’re picturing it.

Oh man. The brunch here. The eggs benedict was awesome with spinach, tomatoes and ham. Creamy hollandaise sauce all over the plate. The potatoes were less amazing, but good enough with the sauce.

Then there was the waffle and eggs special which also included bacon, hash browns and fresh berries. (Berries! Yes!) The waffle had some kind of extra almond flavoring. Both just under $10.

A special note of warning: there’s a rumor around the tiny town that Mission Cafe may be closing soon. Possible reasons varied, but if you find yourself in the area, go while you can.

What to do when the forecast is calling for rain all week to go with the already dreary January temperature?  Why not try the Mission’s answer to hot chocolate, a nice steaming cup of CHAMPURRADO.  A soul-warming melange of  hominy masa, piloncillo, cinnamon, chocolate, and milk; this beverage is available at several places in the area but my favorite source is the doorway stand at Taqueria Vallarta ($2).

There’s just something innately wholesome about being served this thick, rich beverage and walking off into the evening being comforted by its warm and wafting embrace.  Of course you could also just hang out in the restaurant and sample the delicacies of “Noah’s Ark” while checking out the acid binge that is their mural.

Today, Rosamunde Sausage Grill opened its new location at Mission south o’ 24th. Diverse experiences dictate diverse format: three sausages, three opinions.

Jen Gann: I got really anxious while waiting to order at the new Rosamunde location. Maybe it’s because the huge space allows for too many competing possibilities to swoop in. Finally, I decided on the Chicken Cherry sausage. I like sweet and savory. Unfortunately, I think I picked the wrong accompaniments. While the hot peppers were good (what hot peppers aren’t?), the grilled onions were somehow ill-defined and flat. The sausage itself was much better, with a pleasing texture and tasty bits of cherry. The toasted bun ruled. I regretted not ordering a beer but luckily, someone was nice enough to let me take a few sips (or a lot) of his.

David Cole: Great hopes! Great hopes of mine were dashed on this — this most wet of MLKJDs. The culprit: weisswurst with grilled onions; and an accomplice: potato salad. I ignored their veal’s reputation (mainly because I found out about its reputation after I finished eating). I am generally a fan of the stuff but my sausage had little flavor and the grilled onions were (as previously alluded to) unmanageably large and similarly flavorless. Okay, but potato salad is an easy victory for me. What! Filled with rubbery bacon and eerily slimy, Rosamunde’s potato salad was similarly disappointing. I’m convinced I would enjoy a different order and I plan to find out in the near future. Plusses: lots of seating, beers, beers, beers.

Tag Savage: Pork is a pretty reliable meat. It’s sweet and vaguely tropical and stands up to rough treatment. Unadventurous, then, I got the Hungarian sausage. It is smoked. It was snappy and butch. The buns at Rosamunde have a nice open crumb to them, and they are rigid enough to handle the heft of your meat but spongy enough to allow gobbling. Perhaps you can tell: I am a violent eater. I know well enough to skip the grilled onions at Rosamunde—they are slippery and bland—but the sauerkraut, which is oddly dry but still vivid and tangy, was as good as I remember. And yeah, the hot pepper mix is surprising in a sort of old-world way. Chunks of carrot and celery in it. It’s almost a brothless soup.

The new location feels like Cancun turned 90 degrees, a bunch of picnic tables crammed too close, forcing you to drop scarves and things into your neighbors’ food, forcing you to bang your butt into your neighbors’ heads every time you stand. Under certain circumstances this will feel convivial. There is also a table made from very large tree stump. It is very low to the ground, which means a long treacherous journey for your sausage as it travels from the tray to your mouth. Certainly pants are going to get ruined.

There is also a bar. The bar has bunches of beer and bunches of wine. The introduction of wine means that your can bring you mom. As of today, it was a more tolerable, if less novel, experience than the Toronado-annex situation in the Lower Haight. There are big windows and the light that comes through them is cottony and appetite-making. Toronado, by contrast, has a putrid bluish light that I wish they would do something about. I had a Damnation ale from Russian River Brewing. It was hella ripe, tasted like licking pear pulp from between someone’s very clean fingers. Not bad. Didn’t really go with my sausage, by that’s no one’s fault but my own.

Photography courtesy of Amandine Circumflex.

You knew it was only a matter of time before all that KogiBBQ hype found its way to the Mission, and now you get to see what all the fuss is about (provided you haven’t tracked down SF’s own version somewhere in the FiDi, Kung Fu Tacos).

Already known as the closest competition of Pal’s Takeaway for “Best Sandwich bought from a liquor store,” Rhea’s Deli (19th and Valencia) has expanded their menu from the already delicious Katsu Pork and Korean Steak sandwiches to embrace the ongoing “Mexicanization” of Asian food.

The next logical step:  Korean Burritos anyone?

Photo by Lolia S. via Yelp

(Via SFoodie)

Which is perfect because I’m pretty sure the name is pronounced “Rosa-Monday.”

Photo by @rosamundesf.

(via Eater SF)

Previously:

Rosamunde Sausage Shop Nearly Erected

Cafe Arguello Closes, Makes Room For Sausage

Still undecided about dinner tonight?  Perhaps it may be time to check out this street food scene you’ve been hearing about.  The carts are allegedly gathering in the usual nook by 19th and Linda at 6pm and will probably be there until they get rained on.

You have @magiccurrykart sporting both chicken and veggie Thai curry; @EvilJerkcart serving up grilled Jamaican jerk chicken; @sexysoupcart ladling black bean, cumin, jalapeno soup (it does kind of look like soup weather outside);  and @thechaicart handing out, well, you know.

Stop by for a nice amalgamation of locally-prepared ethnic cuisine, or you can just hang out and let them know how pointless and pretentious you think this whole street food business is.  Your call.

Bonus:  20% of all proceeds go to Haiti Relief Effort