Mission Mission

It’s back! Anchor Brewing released the California Lager last year as the first beer in its “Zymaster” series of limited edition beers, and they struck gold on their first try with the bright, bold California Lager. It was such a clear winner that they’ve brought it back indefinitely.

Light beers these days are boring!  Every craft brewery has a Kolsch that doesn’t taste like anything.  Anchor mined California’s past for the ingredients to their lager, including California barley and cluster hops, America’s oldest hop varietal, which add a dank, persistent bitterness and hop flavor that makes the beer distinctive and powerful enough to outshine the rest.  Highly recommended for drinking out of the bottle on your roof this weekend, but otherwise available on tap at Shotwell’s.  Did you guys notice that I made a few gold rush allusions?

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

When I’m not getting a “spiritous tequila drink” at Dosa or a very cheap pitcher of MGD at Zante, my drink of choice with Indian food is this thing, but I never really thought much about how you’d go about making it.

Our pal Eric (as part of his beautifully shot, edited and scored Thirsty For… series) shows us how it’s done:

This is the former Blockbuster at the Potrero Center, by Safeway and Petco (and above the Boston Market from my “Class warfare and McDonald’s” story). It’s gonna be a Smashburger, a slightly fancy burger chain that serves beer and wine! Here’s the deal, according to Wikipedia:

Smashburger is an American chain of fast casual burger restaurants that originated in Denver, Colorado.[1] The name comes from the process used to cook burgers, which entails smashing a ball of ground beef on a grill to “sear in the juices.”[2]

[...]

Smashburger was founded in 2007 by Tom Ryan, a veteran of fast food chains including Quiznos, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and Long John Silver’s. At Pizza Hut he introduced the company’s thin crust pizza, and while at Mcdonald’s he started the McGriddles, and the McFlurry.[citation needed]

[...]

Smashburger describes its mission as “to be every city’s favorite place for burgers.” In Denver, the alternative-weekly Westword named it the best locally owned chain for 2008.[6] Later that year, Denver Magazine named it “Most Likely to Succeed” and local ABC affiliate KMGH/Channel 7 touted it as the “best burger” on its “A List.”[7]

Sounds alright! Read on for more.

P.S. A few weeks back, Inside Scoop reported that this outpost is just one piece of a big Bay Area takeover.

Ever wanted to make fancy cocktails at home, because you’re thrifty and/or hate people? Over the past few months, Bi-Rite has been collecting cocktail recipes from restaurants like Aziza and the Slanted Door and printing them up on a handy little card, so you can take it home, put on suspenders, and start shaking up craft cocktails in the privacy of your one-bedroom apartment.

This month’s pick is a drink I’ve had before, off the brunch menu at Nopa, which is incidentally the best restaurant in San Francisco. Like a breakfast negroni, the Sunshine Fix is a bright and potent cocktail that is simple enough that even you could probably make it. In fact, you could probably make a whole batch of these, and then you wouldn’t have to do anything for the rest of the day except for figure out what to eat. So that’s a pretty good idea.

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

The semi-retired Bike Basket Pies crew comes out of semi-retirement this Thursday! Here’s why:

The amazing Donna of Pot + Pantry is shuttering her brick & mortar shop and moving to a soon-to-be new online shop on March 24th. Everything in her shop is 30% off, and she’s even selling the super rad fixtures (and maybe if you ask nicely she’ll sell the rad Le Creuset piñatas that she handmade). To sweeten those deals, I’ll be selling pies at her shop on Thursday evening, March 21st, 4-6 pm (or until I sell out).

I’ll have savory, sweet, and recipe booklets for sale. Champagne will be flowing!

Awesome! RSVP and invite your pie pals!

(For more on Pot + Pantry’s future, see here.)

UPDATE: Pie menu is “apple strawberry, shaker lemon, and potato, leek & cheddar.”

It’s “pastrami on pastrami” (says Rhea’s) and “it would make Buster proud” (says my pal Luke that just ate it). Yum! New today!

MM reader someJuan thinks he knows:

My wife’s family used to have a restaurant on 24th St., called Mi Casa during the ’80s. At the location where Delfin is at today. They were the first to serve big-ass vegetarian burritos. Anyone remember this place?

Unfortunately, I don’t remember this place, but I was also too busy watching Transformers and Gummi Bears cartoons during the 80s.  How about the rest of you?

[Photo by dapperdanj]

Lookin’ good! Word a few months back was that they were aiming for a March opening, so maybe this fresh paint job is signaling imminent good news! Fingerz crost!

(Thanks, Jess!)

UPDATE: Maybe not…

@missionmission I drove by that day and found out my painters have inverted my exterior colors. #stillawaystogo :/

— Rhea’s (@RheasDeli) March 18, 2013

The Priceonomics Blog wanted to know, so they figured it out, with the help of some local SF food trucks:

Bobby Hossain’s day starts early. Along with his family, he runs a food truck called Phat Thai that serves his mother’s Thai recipes “with a modern twist.” Although he won’t be serving customers for nearly 4 hours, he wakes up by 7:30am. He is working a double shift in the truck (lunch and dinner), so his brother is on prep duty. Bobby buys any last minute supplies they need – ice, more bean sprouts – from Restaurant Depot while his brother cuts vegetables and slices meat at the kitchen space they use in a friend’s restaurant. His brother then drives the truck to their parents’ house. They load up and Bobby is on the road at 9:30.

From 11am-2pm they work at Mission Dispatch – a location in San Francisco’s Mission district that hosts food trucks. It brings in a dependable lunch crowd. Bobby’s mother cooks, his employee Frank takes orders, and Bobby hands out completed orders while helping the other two. After three hours, Phat Thai has served around 200 dishes.

Once the lunch crowd dies down, they return to the commissary, a space where they can clean dishes and dispose of garbage. Bobby checks whether he needs to get more supplies for tomorrow, preps, and then drives the truck to North Beach. From 5pm-8pm they will sell Thai dishes alongside other food trucks at a “market” of food trucks organized by Off The Grid. On busy days, they won’t have a chance to eat lunch.

Read on.

Right now:

[via The Galley]