Mission Mission

Cheap Time rules! They used to tour with Jay Reatard and they’re responsible for a couple of the best live shows I’ve ever seen in my life and they’re headlining the Knockout tonight! Also, they wrote the best song ever:

really feeling the bart operator BEGGING everyone to "stay in the train and be safe" so that we can leave the station.

— andmarywaslike (@andmarywaslike) February 4, 2014

direct quote: "please stay back from the yellow line. yes, you. you near the end of the cars. you're hurting my feelings."

— andmarywaslike (@andmarywaslike) February 4, 2014

Aww.

Mission Local reported over the weekend that plans have been submitted to the city that involve destroying the building and replacing it with a big condo complex. And then in the comments section:

Matt Shapiro, co-owner of Elbo Room, here. We are not going anywhere anytime soon…the building owners (close fiends of ours), submitted a proposal (which has to be public), but are not acting on it….I find it funny that no one bothered to check with us before writing their articles. [link]

Soooo, what’s the deal? Nobody seems to have any ideas why a building owner would go through the process of submitting such a proposal and then decide not to act on it.

[Photos from "Hot Faces" shoot outside Elbo Room, 2010]

UPDATE:

@missionmission Approvals will take 2/3 years, plus another year for permits & financing. So 2017, maybe. By then we could be in recession

— J.K. Dineen (@SFBIZjkdineen) February 3, 2014

[via Jen Gann]

[via xtina]

[via Darby]

Year of the Horse! How to celebrate? Perhaps brunch tomorrow with Rice Paper Scissors at their new permanent home in the Mission! Just look:

Starters

Fried Daikon Cakes – 6
crispy rice cakes made with daikon, Chinese sausage and dried shrimp

Pho Bao – 6
steamed buns filled with beef pho broth, ground beef, scallions, cilantro, and lime

Banh Chung – Tet Sticky Rice Cake – 7
sticky rice with ground pork and mung beans, steamed in banana leaves

Mains

Chicken Xiu Mai Banh Mi – 9
chicken meatballs in a ginger-tomato sauce pate served with housemade mayo, chicken liver pate, cucumbers and cilantro

Pho Ga – Chicken Pho – 13
fresh rice noodles in ginger chicken broth, served with poached chicken, shaved onions, culantro, scallions and lime leaves.

Pho Ga Dac Biet – Special Chicken Pho – 15
same as above plus confit gizzards, quail eggs and chicken feet

Buddha’s Delight – 13
cellophane noodle stir-fry with tofu, shiitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, lily buds and roasted ginko nuts

Thit Heo Kho – Caramelized Pork and Egg Rice Plate – 13
caramel claypot baby backribs braised in star anise, coconut water and fish sauce, served with a soft egg and broken rice and dua gia.

Banh Bia – 5
Vietnamese mooncake with flaky crust filled with mung beans and a salted egg yolk

Drinks

Jasmine Tea – 3

Vietnamese Iced Coffee – 3
slow-dripped Trung Nguyen coffee with condensed milk

Kumquat Ginger Beer – 3
housemade ginger beer with candied kumquats
Kumquat trees are often used to decorate the house for the Lunar New Year.

Daaaang that is a legit menu! RSVP and invite your friends!

I saw this variation on the Ping Pong Nite poster just now and I immediately thought of Planet Hillary. Right?

Planet Hillary:

Regular Hillary:

Regular Ping Pong Nite:

[via Ping Pong Nite]

UPDATE:

Thanks, Helen!

Mission Local reports:

Carlos Barrios and his daughters, Betty and Luna, said Tuesday that the restaurant has passed all its building inspections and is now awaiting clearance from the Health Department.

They expect to be open at the end of February. [link]

Finally! Gosh, whole generations have come and gone, whole industries have boomed and busted — and La Rondalla just laying there dormant. Can’t wait!

That being said, we’ve reported that La Rondalla “is about to reopen” like a million times over the years. Hopefully this time it’s forreal.

Bernalwood, our favorite neighborhood blog, yesterday published a guide to the anagramified secret messages hidden in the names of all the streets up on the hill. Today, we submit that the Mission’s secret messages are even better. Check these out:

Harem Ship = Hampshire
Air Horns = Harrison
Tater = Treat
Shaven Snouts = South Van Ness
Anal Vice = Valencia
Albino = Albion
Red Baron = Dearborn
Carnal S.O.S. = San Carlos
Rod Fail = Florida
Czar Have Sec = Cesar Chavez
Doe Cub = Duboce
Two Hells = Shotwell
Carpet Pest = Capp Street
In Carol = Clarion
Tart Belt = Bartlett
Ably Lamely = Balmy Alley
A Goner = Orange
Lava Road = Alvarado
Pig Deal = Lapidge
Old Sore = Dolores

Highlight the list to see the translations. Killer titillating anagrams, am I right?

[Photo of my friend Carol by American Tripps]