Mission Mission

These guys should do a sponsorship deal with Table for One.

[via @ticklefight]

There are several reasons to favor this approach:

• This is America
• I don’t have a lot of time
• White wine tastes like juice anyway
• This is America

Thank you for your time.

And thanks, Lily!

Drink of the week is brought to you by Poachedjobs.com.

Right now at Dear Mom!

Mission Local today published a video profile of Scott Lie, who runs Basa Seafood Express on 24th Street. I love their fried seafood sandwiches, but I guess he’s most into doing sushi. It’s a great market, with something for everyone:

[link]

I don’t know when Dosa got a liquor license, but when someone raved to me about their drinks a few months ago, I was surprised and excited to check it out. I finally got a chance last night, and the story checks out – Dosa’s got a great selection of liquor behind the bar and the cocktails are brilliant. Drawing on the flavors of their South Indian cuisine (instead of drawing on the 1920’s, like hundreds of bars that get way more press), the list is full of curry, mango, chili and spices and a variety of liquors to go with.

The South Indian G+T, pictured above, includes the restaurant’s proprietary juniperless gin, made locally with curry leaves and Indian spices, and house-made fig and cardamom tonic.  It’s crisp but it’s also kind of musky, and it goes perfectly with the heavy, spicy food.  Also try the Trichy Swizzle – the mango syrup, made with three kinds of chili, would usually overpower a drink, but the combined strength of rye whiskey and angostura rum makes it through.

Drink of the week is brought to you by Poachedjobs.com.

Well, this sounds pretty delicious:

1st Annual Best Tamale Contest

Help us find the best tamale in the Mission, and help Marshall Elementary School at the same time!

Marshall Elementary School is hosting the first annual Día de los Niños Tamale Contest. For $20, you get to sample the full variety of tamales offered by our Mission-based tamale chefs – the parents of Marshall Elementary School students and our Mission neighbors – all while enjoying the live entertainment and festivities.

The chef judged as creating the best tamale receives $500. The rest of the money will help the Marshall Elementary PTA fund areas that are not covered in the school budget, to include (but not limited to) technology for the classrooms, science-based field trips in support of the school’s innovative Oceans Month program, and funding for organized team games and peer leadership during outdoor play.

The tamale tasting takes place from noon to 2pm on Saturday, April 27th at Marshall Elementary – 1575 15th Street, San Francisco (enter on Capp Street). For more information and to purchase advance tickets, visit besttamalesf.org.

You’ve read one restaurant review, you’ve read them all, right? Well, The Bold Italic‘s Jessica Saia today is blazing a new trail: she took a little kid named Desmond to Mission Chinese Food and took photos of his reactions to everything they ate. Excellent reading! Have a look!

Welcome to the “Drama Talk & Drinks” number three. This time our friends Katie Cruz and Brittany Janis went to see a burlesque show at the place that replaced the place that came after the place that was named for Frank Chu. Here’s their report:

[photo via Balançoire on Facebook]

It was Brittany’s birthday last Thursday, and we were looking for a place to get drinks. We heard that a new bar and performance venue was opening in what was most recently The Blue Macaw on Mission, Balançoire: “A full service restaurant, bar and nightclub featuring a French/Creole inspired menu, two dance floors and bars & a performance stage perfect for a variety of events”. The 18th was opening night, and their in house Burlesque company, Le Chat Roux, was performing. Since nothing says birthday more than pasties and tassels we had a bunch of friends meet us there for after-dinner drinks and, of course, drama talk.

Brittany: So I want to start off saying, I did have fun. Anytime you get a big group of friends together to drink, dance, and watch ladies take off their clothes it ends up as a good night.

Katie: True, but if I wasn’t with our group of friends I would have been like “WTF”. The place doesn’t quite have a clear identity yet. The inside had a poorly thought through chair and table layout, cheesy strobe lights, and bad music…something was just really off about the vibe. It also would have been great if they had a cocktail waitress.

B: I’m sure part of it was opening night jitters, but in burlesque the taking off of the clothes is the show. Instead, a few of these girls just danced all cray and at the very end were like “oh shit, guess I need to take this dress off” then they struggled with the zipper, pulled it off super quick, and then bounced up and down with their tassels twirling in a panic because their music had already ended.

K: The only performer who I really liked was Eva D’Luscious – she really rocked those large white fans of plumage.

B: I’m just happy I avoided getting birthday spanks, unlike the other birthday party that was there. Although the hostess Kittie Von Tittie was actually really fun, so I would have let her spank me.

K: I think our friend August said it best: “The show wasn’t amazing but I fully support courage in all it’s forms, especially if it could potentially piss off a republican”.

The Verdict: We probably wouldn’t go again, but if you have a big group and need a place to go that will provide plenty of space and some sort of entertainment then keep this place in mind. We can’t speak to the food but the menu was limited and definitely not cheap ($20-$28 range). Hopefully this place pulls it together, but due to it’s current bizarre atmosphere, bad drinks, and mediocre service we wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t last very long.

The Drama Talk: If you want to see girls struggle to take off their clothes, make sure you sit close to the stage. The space is oddly structured at the moment so the stage view is blocked to most of the bar by a row of tall bar tables.

The Drinks: BAD, but at least for cheap for opening weekend. A gin gimlet is not served in a pint glass on the rocks, enough said.

Balancoire just completed their Grand Opening Weekend, but they have lots of events on the horizon. Check out their Facebook Page for the latest.

SF Magazine has the scoop on what’s happening with the roof space above Lolinda:

No one has been up there since Medjool closed in early 2012, but we’ve known for a while that Paganini had something special in store. Late last week, he revealed that the roof will be called El Techo de Lolinda, offering a new menu of Latin street food and classic Latin cocktails like mojitos. El Techo will be open for dinner every night of the week, and for brunch on Saturday and Sunday. The whole space has gotten a major overhaul—apparently with some rather fancy and amazing Australian heat lamps. [link]

Street food! Mojitos! Brunch! Aussie lamps! Epic view! Coming in May! Can’t wait!

[Photo of the deck back when it was part of Medjool by Kevin Hahn]

Save KUSF!

[via Emily]