Mission Mission

Cider fanatics: Have you tried @tworiverscider Pear #Cider featured on tap right now? It’s the stuff of #glutenfree legend. #SF

— Rosamunde Sausage Gr (@rosamundesf) November 9, 2012

I loved the blood orange version over the summer. Trying pear soon.

Last month, a true SF kitchen legend fell victim to violence here in the Mission. This weekend, his adopted family at Serpentine are having an event to benefit the actual family he left behind:

Silent Auction and Benefit @ Serpentine Restaurant
Location: 2495 3rd Street San Francisco, CA 94107
Date and Time: 11.11.2012 & 6pm to 9pm

As I’m sure many of you already know, San Francisco recently lost one of its highly valued residents. A senseless, unexplained act of violence in the Mission left our friend in a coma. His wife ultimately made the decision to take him off of life support and donate his organs to families in need at SF General.

Cesar worked at Serpentine since the day its doors opened 5 years ago. He was an invaluable and much loved member of our restaurant family. If you’ve dined with us, you have in some way been touched by what he has done for this restaurant and – in a larger sense – for this city as a whole. Cesar cooked, cleaned, and staffed more restaurants than any of us can list.

Cesar left a wife and four children in a small village in Mexico. He came to San Francisco to provide for his family and give them a better life. He left San Francisco with a beautiful legacy, a legion of friends, and the gift of life. We are asking your support with the expenses of getting him home and assisting his loved ones. You may never know the amazing person he was, but know that we have been touched and will walk forward as better people because of it.

Donations can be made in the form of silent auction items, purveyor materials, and – more importantly – your spirit and attendance.

If you would like to attend the benefit; we are asking for a $20 donation at the door. This includes a hosted taco bar. Cocktails will be available for purchase and we are having a silent auction as well.

We thank you all for your support.

More information about Cesar here and here.

Jose Cesar Chuc Family Fund

Attention fans of this notoriously poorly distributed Japanese Stout dark lager : you can consistently find it at Ken Ken Ramen, the semi-new ramen joint on 18th and Capp. Unlike most locally produced dark beers, Asahi Black is smooth and easy to drink, like a crisp, less creamy Guinness. Enjoy it at the bar with some edamame, or better yet, the karage (Japanese fried chicken), which is outstanding, especially at $4.50 a serving. Kanpai!

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

Who would’ve guessed that before Nate Silver was using his “witchcraft” (ahem, math) to forecast election results with uncanny precision, he ran a burrito blog? In true Nate Silver form, he evaluated burritos and Mexican restaurants across Chicago and ranked them using a bracket system. Math and burritos?! Man after my own heart!

And thanks to Nate Silver, we can finally settle this age-old question:

Eater SF‘s “The Gatekeepers” series this week sits down with Mission Chinese‘s Greg Wong:

What have you been bribed with? Mainly money. Usually if someone brings stuff it’s gifts for the kitchen anyways, and people bringing gifts tend to be very relaxed and willing to wait. It’s almost the opposite of what you’d expect.

What is the most outrageous request you’ve received? One time a lady walked past me and was like, “I’m here for Mission Chinese.” I was trying to tell her, but she said “no” and acted like she knew what she was doing. She stormed through the restaurant saying “I’m here for the other restaurant.” She grabbed her whole family and stormed through all the way to the kitchen. I think she was looking for this fancy other restaurant and she ended up at the bathroom. She must have read there was a restaurant in a restaurant, and we get that question a lot. But I’ve never had anyone dismiss me and then act like she had been here before.

Read on to find out about Greg’s favorite customers, favorite dishes, VIP treatments and more.

[Photo by Aubrie Pick via Eater SF]

Beautiful. So much better than the usual design.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezq_96rookw

As we mentioned last week, the final installment of Vice TV’s Fresh off the Boat: Bay Area series involves burritos. Vice TV’s Eddie Huang concludes his Bay Area tour by sampling several of our unofficial official local dish, comparing them to Asian food, and crowning a favorite. I wish he would have sampled more burritos, but let’s be real, burritos are huge, how many could one possibly eat in a day?

North Coast Brewing Company is better known for its stouts, Old Rasputin and Old No. 38, but my favorite beer of theirs is Red Seal, their understated and perfectly balanced medium ale. Classified as an amber or red ale, it’s got the bright hops of a typical CA pale, with the malts and body to balance it out.

For those who want to try a different take on this CA classic, Valencia’s new beer-nerd bar Abbott’s Cellar is offering it on one of their two cask setups. Cask-conditioned ale is unfiltered and only slightly carbonated, served from the container that it is put into after primary fermentation, with no additives after the initial process (except perhaps some additional hops.)

In this case, the cask-conditioning results in a much tamer, less hoppy taste and helps bring out the easy-to-miss caramel malt flavors of the beer, as well as imparting some oak.

The beers at Abbot’s Cellar are constantly changing and really fun and challenging for people who like that sort of thing. Cheers to another great addition to the list.

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

Any takers?

[via Valerie]