Mission Mission

Remember back in 1998 when everyone our age was mixing up White Russians at house parties all the time? “Like the Dude, duuude!” That sure was a bummer. (So many stomach aches!)

Thankfully, milk-based cocktails did not take the world by storm. But we’re about to talk about one anyway: “The Dude,” which has been appearing at the bottom of the kitchen menu at Dear Mom lately. It’s kind of a White Russian, but with ice cream and cookies, and it made for an awesome dinner the other night: burger, fries and a shake with booze in it. Pretty simple, but since this week marked the 15th anniversary of the release of the Big Lebowski, we thought this’d make an appropriate Drink of the Week

P.S. The “Scotcholate Milk” at KronnerBurger is pretty killer too.

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

Fogbeard knows:

[T]he best burrito in Oakland is the ass end of my burrito that i brought on Bart from San Francisco [link]

Sorry, Oakland!

[Photo by escotto2000]

Three shots of whiskey: one $80, one $100, one $200. Yikes.

Bartender Luke (seen here at Whiskey Thieves in the Tenderloin) is charming, but not that charming.

The first one is a pork belly, the second one is noodles and mushrooms, and the third is bulgogi. All killer, but the veggie version was particularly fun. (A definite step up from the cold leftover spaghetti sandos I often make myself.)

I love Namu fyi.

There it is.

Before Mission Chinese Food Paris, before Mission Chinese Food NYC, before MISSION CHINESE FOOD for goodness’ sake (!), before Mission Bowling Club, before the Mission Street Food book, before Mission Street Food moved into Lung Shan — there was Mission Street Food in a little taco trailer parked at 21st and Mission. And this sandwich, the PB&J — pork belly and jicama — was the first thing any of us ever ate at their very first night in business way back in 2008. It was fucking awesome.

MSF’s menu changed every week, but this gem reappeared every now and then. And everybody was elated when it did. We had it for the last time back in June of 2010, on MSF’s last night in business. A sad day.

Fast forward to this past Friday night, in a different corner of the neighborhood, at The Galley’s gala anniversary party: There’s a pork belly sandwich on the specials menu and Chef Justin says to me, he says, “Imma make you the pork belly.” I was like, “I’m a little stuffed after [guest chef Rocky's] frybread and [guest chef Guillermo's] pretzel sandwich.” And Justin says, “Imma make you the pork belly.” A few minutes later, it came out, I took one look at it, and I nearly wept. “Is that–” “Yep.” And it was. And I ate the whole thing and felt like a kid again.

After literally months of having to choke down the same delicious cocktails, I was happy to see that the folks at the Hideout have finally added some new drinks to the mix. The menu, which is updated roughly quarterly, still has some of the hits like the G&C (C is for Celery) and the Whiskey in Church, but now includes about six new offerings. In addition to the ever-present gin, American whiskey, sweet vermouth, and all sorts of bitters, a couple of the drinks included Alpine liqueur, a piney herbal additive that makes a big impact on a drink.

This odd spirit made it into the night’s special, the High School Lover, an amped up version of the gin-citrus-champagne combo of drinks like the French 75. Adding dry curacao (which is a version of triple that doesn’t taste like candy), cucumber, and the Leopold Bros. Three Pins Alpine Liquor made the drink refreshing, potent, tart, effervescent, complicated, and novel. Plus that’s a sweet name for a drink that’ll knock you (or your date) on your (his/her) ass.

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

The Old Fashioned at Hog & Rocks (pictured above with a duck skewer) has long been my favorite Old Fashioned , so I’m intrigued bar manager Michael Lazar has added a whole new section to their cocktail menu called “Pimp My Old Fashioned.” (Obviously, they always do it the right way: no muddled fruit, no ginger ale, etc.) Here it is:

PIMP MY OLD FASHIONED

Bittered Sling (Eric Adkins) $16
Ch. briat hors d’age armagnac, gum syrup, bitters, grated nutmeg

Anticuado $16
Casa noble reposado, agave gum syrup, orange bitters

Oaxaca (Phil Ward) $16
Tres agaves reposado, del maguey ‘minero’ mezcal, agave gum
syrup, grapefruit bitters

Kingston $12
Appleton estate 12 yr rum, sugar cane syrup, chocolate &
orange bitters

The Willet 8 $ 15
H&R willet 8 yr barrel strength bourbon, gum syrup, orange
bitters

House Rock & Rye $11
Wild turkey and rittenhouse ryes, rock sugar, citrus, vanilla
bean, horehound

Smoker’s Delight (Gonçalo de Sousa Monteiro) $15
Laphroaig 10 yr single malt, tempus fugit creme de cacao, bitters

Can’t wait to have every single one! In one sitting! Like a pimp would!

Full cocktail menu here.

[Photo by Christina Castro]

A little birdie tipped us off that changes were afoot at Bruno’s (#yearofpaul), so we followed up. Acclaimed KronnerBurger barkeep Gabriel Lowe confirms the news thusly:

I’m unveiling a cocktail menu in the pussycat lounge (private room upstairs at Bruno’s) this Friday night. There may be a password. There may or may not be girls doing acrobatic (not stripping) pole performances dressed up like kittens. Kittens are hard to book short notice.

Awesome! Thanks, KronnerBurger for progressively giving us more and more reasons to venture further and further into the belly of Bruno’s.

[Both photos by Matthew Davis]

Or maybe my pal Nattles doesn’t know how to use a fork?

That’s right, can you believe it’s been a full two years since the Galley first changed the face of Clooney’s forever? Help ‘em celebrate the milestone this Friday:

In celebration of two tip-top years in the at kitchen at Clooney’s Pub, The Galley is throwing a party!  On Friday, March 1st, we’ll will be serving up Galley favorites, including our famous French Onion Sandwiches (portable versions of the soup), and Pickled Pepper Eggs.  The food doesn’t stop there: we’ll also have Navajo Tacos and more from Rocky of Rocky’s Frybread, and Guillermo from FogCutter/Dear Mom serving Fried Chicken Bao, Edamame, and other signature items.  Come help us celebrate, and bring your appetite — the Pickled Pepper Egg-eating contest (Starting at 7pm ) isn’t for the faint-of-heart.

It’ll be an epic rager for sure. (I’ve had the pleasure of partying with Chef Justin on a few occasions and I always end up wreckkkkked.)  RSVP and invite your friends!

P.S. Look at this picture of the Galley’s French onion sandwich.