Mission Mission

Free PBR from 5-7! Free bike tuneups courtesy of Sports Basement from 5-7! Ten hours of Berlin-style ping pong on six tables! Food by Eagle Dogs and Sataysfied! DJ sets by the Haçeteria crew from 7-11. Live gypsy jazz by Panique from 11-2. Full bar! Beer garden! Absinthe!!!

It’s American Tripps: Berlin-Style Ping Pong Bash at Z Space and Coffee Bar and it starts at 5pm tonight!

Medjool is closing up everything but its roofdeck. Maybe this is why:

fyi @missionmission @tablehopper @eatersf @7x7Magazine @SFoodie rumor has it beretta folks r taking over medjool space. this isn’t a rumor.

— (^_____^) (@TheTacoGuru) February 17, 2012

I hope it’s true. Beretta does no wrong.

UPDATE: It’s true. Our pal Candy confirms it.

It’s part of SF Beer Week. Poutine, man! More info here.

[via Mission Local]

[Caroline has been writing this weekly column about being vegan in the Mission for a few weeks now, and as of today we decided to officially call it "Mission Vegan." Look forward to it every Wednesday!]

Can you tell the difference between the vegan bran muffins at Mission Beach Café and the ones at Four Barrel?

They’re the same shape, size and color; they both contain dried cranberries and yellow raisins, but no nuts. Both are sweet and toothsome, crunchy on top and chewy on the bottom, substantial but not dense. In other words, I consider myself a muffin connoisseur and I don’t think I could tell the difference if you paid me. I tried to do a side-by-side comparison for you, but 4B didn’t get any muffins delivered this morning (!) so you’ll have to trust me I guess.

The nice girl who works the coffee counter at MBC on weekday mornings says the muffins are made for them at a nearby bakery. Hmmm… if it was in the direction she was pointing, it was also near Four Barrel.

Well, Mission detectives, what do you know that I don’t? Same baker or just same recipe?

Inside Scoop has the inside scoop:

March 1, [executive chef Danny] Bowien will be moving to New York to open an East Coast branch of Mission Chinese Food, due on the Lower East Side later this year. They’ve got a space ready, and for the most part, the New York branch will incorporate many of the same aspects of MCF, including the menu and most notably, the charitable model.

Bowien — along with partner Anthony Myint — found a former takeout space on Orchard (between Rivington and Stanton), and will remodel it as Mission Chinese Food, though it will have the same DIY feel and shoestring budget as the original. A full bar is planned for the 39 seat-space. Lunch, dinner and takeout are the plan.

“It’s not going to be super fancy. It’ll be the same, but cleaner,” says Bowien. “But we know the food and we can design the restaurant where we’ll be more efficient.”

Cleaner!? That’s cool, I guess. Inside Scoop also hints that MCFNYC will be offering some sort of SF-inspired non-Chinese late-night menu. Sounds good to me. Can’t wait to visit! Read on.

[Map by Google Maps]

Okay, so it’s not quite as tantalizing a shot as yesterday’s picture of the meat version, but it’s a decent picture of THE BEST VEGGIE BURGER THIS CITY HAS EVER KNOWN. And guess what — it’s making a surprise appearance tonight. Laura over at Vegansaurus has more:

You all know how much we loved the Vegan Mission Burger while it was still around and if you don’t, you can read the insane tale of our mutual love here. I don’t think I’ve written so passionately about anything in my life, and I’m a very sensual person.

Well, TONIGHT, it is back for one night only! Along with drinks and Berlin-style Ping Pong, which we have no clue what it is but Allan from Mission Mission FUCKING LOVES IT so it must be alright.

Can’t wait! Read on.

[Photo by Kevin Montgomery / Mission Mission]

From a couple years back, in its heyday. Mmm. Now don’t forget, it’s back tonight, for one night only.

[Photo by porkbelly24]

RSVP and invite your friends!

Noise Pop and American Tripps this weekend present a two-night Berlin-style ping pong extravaganza featuring THE RETURN OF THE MISSION BURGER. Chef Anthony is taking this opportunity to preview some of the fare he’ll eventually be cooking up at the forthcoming Mission Bowling Club.

And looky here, Eater SF just published an exclusive look at this weekend’s menu:

Menu for Friday (2/10)
Mission Burger (granulated patty, caramelized onion, monterey jack, caper aioli)
CA Spring Roll (fresh peas, radishes, cocoa butter, rice, nori)
Sopaipilla (roasted cauliflower, pickled apple, edamame, eggplant)
Buttermilk Pannacotta (chamomile brittle, spring herbs, mint oil)

Menu for Saturday (2/11)
Spring CA Roll (fresh peas, radishes, cocoa butter, rice, nori)
Jerk Pork Shoulder (smoked, with black beans, sour cream, plantain flatbread)
Vegan Sandwich (chickpea, kale & shitake fritter, topped with fennel and spicy avocado)
Babamisu (mascarpone stuffed baba with espresso bubbles)

Omg! Must… formulate… plan… for not… getting so stuffed… I can’t… play ping pong.

Anyway, as if that weren’t enough, this party will also feature two ping pong tables, one foosball table, TWO FULL BARS by Stoli and Trumer and Hudson Whiskey and Fernet, DJ sets by DJ Wesley Frazee and DJ PJ, party photography by Allison Donlevy, bacon-wrapped chicken and waffle sandwiches by Soul Groove — and it all takes place at the brand-new Bold Italic headquarters, which was expertly designed and furnished by Kelly Malone. Phewf! Don’t miss out! (21+ only, sorry.)

RSVP and invite your friends (Friday) !

RSVP and invite your friends (Saturday) !

Do you know about the nautilus? First it was an amazing aquatic critter with a big ol’ shell, and now it is also a delicious pink vegan beer.

“Vegan beer? Say what? Not all beer is vegan?” you ask? Nope! It is sometimes filtered (“fined”) with weird animal products, and there is basically no way to tell whether beer is vegan by looking at it or tasting it. Example: Tecate and Modelo Especial are vegan; Dos Equis isn’t.

Basically the only ways to figure out if your beer of choice is free of animal products is to ask the brewers*, which I got to do Tuesday at Shotwell’s!

Patrick and Bryan, the brewers from Pacific Brew Lab had a release party for their new beer, Nautilus. It has hibiscus (like Jamaica!), orange peel, coriander, and ginger, my most favorite spice in the world. I’ll level with you: I couldn’t really pick out all the flavors, but it was tastily complex without being like, whoa, what’s all this weird stuff in my beer?

Plus, the boys were sweet as cherry pie and were happy to chat with me about everything from whirlfloc to Washington.

Run over to Shotwell’s before they run out. Hightail it!

*P.S.: You can also visit this sweet database that compiles info from all the nerdy vegan lushes like me who email breweries for fun to see if their beers are friendly to us!