Mission Mission

Anybody got a kid I can borrow? I want to eat all of those things. (And connect the dots.)

[via Namu Gaji on Twitter]

It’s like French onion soup but in a sandwich, with roast beef that melts in your mouth! This is me eating one on Treasure Island yesterday (or… wait, what day is it?) (anyway…), but you can eat one everyday (and I think I’m gonna eat one everyday) at The Galley.

The Bold Italic takes a look at Suika, the Ken Ken offshoot just opened on 18th near Mission:

What’s special about Suika is that it has no set menu. “Everyday is different,” said chef Taka. “We decide on the menu the night before.” He likes to get experimental, so customers can experience all the endless bento combinations. The only thing you can count on is that there will always be a meat, fish, and veggie option available. Some past creations include saba (mackerel), pumpkin croquette, kimchi pork, minced beef katsu, and even hamburger bento. Each lunchbox also comes with assorted sides such as rice, tamago (egg), burdock potato salad, hijiki seaweed, nasu eggplant, or kabocha squash.

They’ve also got desserts and Boba Guys boba drinks. Read on for lots more info and pics.

It’s been around since 2008! So why did nobody start drinking it until a minute ago? I have two theories so far:

1. I heard it’s huge in the south, so maybe they introduced it there early and it didn’t make its way to California til more recently? Or,
2. Maybe we had it here all along, but nobody gave it a try because, let’s face it, it doesn’t seem super appetizing at first. It’s not until someone raves about it that you decide to get to work.

But the main thing is, they have a super-hot spokesmodel which I think is a big reason for its rise in SF.

P.S. Thanks to the Treasure Island Music Festival (and mostly Girl Talk) I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how great 2008 was. Too bad for me I wasn’t a BLL early adopter.

[via Abby]

Drink of the week: travel edition continues with a dispatch from Buenos Aires, the only place I know of that likes Fernet Branca anywhere near as much as we do. (My relatives from Italy, Fernet’s home country, don’t go near the stuff.)  Here in BA, it’s mainly mixed with Coke and consumed in the hours between dinner and sunrise. After a few tries, though, I’ve convinced bartenders to pour me a shot. “Sin coca?” “Si, sin Coca.” “Sin hielo?!?” “Si, sin hielo.”

I’m half convinced it tastes different, and better, here in Argentina. It’s smoother, slightly less mouthwashy, and it still dries your mouth out, but not quite so violently. It’s produced domestically here, so it’s certainly possible. But maybe I’m just imagining things. One thing is exactly the same as in S.F. though – out of the people I’ve spoken to, no one can explain why they drink it.

[photo]

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

Since American Tripps has been on walkabout over the last couple weeks, and I’m leaving the country tomorrow, it’s time for Drink of the Week: Travel Edition. While Tripps was in Portland, word came back of the Sore Loser, from bartending celebrity Jeffrey Morganthaler. (I’ve been meaning to make Morganthaler’s tequila and sherry egg nog for years now – hopefully this year I’ll finally get it done.)

The Sore Loser is bourbon, peach liqueur, sherry, pernod and bitters.

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

Our pal Idiot Temper recently got his hands on some contraband Sriracha unlike anything we’ve ever seen:

My friend Jasmine moved to Mexico today. The first thing she did was go to a “Mexican Walmart” to buy Sriracha. LOOK AT THAT SHARK! WHY DO WE HAVE A ROOSTER! CAN WE ALL GET SRIRASHARK TATTOOS?!

Indeed.  I mean, just LOOK at that shark.  The only downside is you won’t be able to say, “Hold on a minute while I wipe all of this hot cock sauce off of my face.”

The RPS gals are popping up at the Ace Hotel in Portland tonight as part of the Bold Rush:

We’ll have American Tripps’ Berlin-style ping-pong for folks to play with music from DJ Identical Twin of M’Lady’s Records spinning lots of soul and dance tunes. Rice Paper Scissors will be on hand to feed the crowd with two types of Vietnamese Bo Bia (spring rolls).

Three types, actually: vegan, veggie and sausage-and-egg. And the party is free! Invite your friends (or RSVP)!

Yum!

Yum! YUM! I mean, YUM!!!

[via Brock Keeling]

[graphic via The Cornicopia Institute]

We don’t do that much politicking here (there’s plenty of that on the internet already), but it is a big election year, so expect some issues to pop up as we find them relevant or particularly pressing.

Local grocery cooperative, Rainbow Grocery Cooperative, is officially endorsing California’s Proposition 37, the Labeling of Genetically Engineered Food Initiative. This endorsement is not shocking, since 2000 Rainbow has officially opposed the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs):

“We will ban these foods from any private label product we carry, and support efforts to label and/or ban such foods until a time when they can be proved safe for consumption and the environment.”

Christa Irwin, of Rainbow’s Ecology Committee says of Prop. 37:

“People want to know what they’re eating. Just because a product says ‘natural’ does not mean that it hasn’t come from a GMO crop or possibly processed with or contaminated by one. This fight is imperative and hopefully will change labeling on a national level.”

You have to wonder why the food companies would pay so much money to stop us from knowing how they’re making our food and what they put into it. Since the above graphic was made the numbers on the red side have continued to go up. Fog City Journal has an informative write up on the matter. I just don’t trust companies like Monsanto and Phillip Morris, excuse me, Altria, to hold our health as their top priority. Anyone remember StarLink? If it costs less to do recalls or payout lawsuits…

I think the consumers have a right to know. If the companies believe that GMOs are safe then don’t hide them, convince us. It’s a bummer though, I like a lot of the products in the left column. I think Prop 37 is just the first step in getting to a better place with the development and use of GMOs. Much more testing should to be done, especially focusing on long term effects. Unfortunately there seems to be very little push back on the chemical/food companies making them, and much of the changes they are making are likely irreversible. If Prop. 37 passes consumers will be able to weigh in on the matter with their wallets, which is what the Big Ag companies are afraid of.