Mission Mission

Ever since the legendary Bike Basket Pies folded up shop last year, I figured the heyday of bike-powered anything in SF was over. Not so. The Bold Italic last week profiled a handful of locals who do business on their bikes, such as Brad from Boozely’s:

Brad began his pickle peddling two years ago in the street food scene, with his DIY goods laid out on a blanket for passersby to stumble upon. Soon SF-dwellers caught on – as Boozely’s products started flying off the shelves (blanket, rather), Brad commanded the attention of some major SF institutions. Zeitgeist now features his pickled green beans in their infamous Bloody Marys, and Bi-Rite, Cheese Plus, and Tony’s Market have picked up his signature cukes, green beans, okra, and Brussels sprouts.

Read on for coffee, banh mi, flowers and curry!

Eater SF spoke with the owners about their ambitious plans for their new place, coming this fall to the corner of 20th and Harrison:

So you’re going to flesh out the menu at the new place? Yes, in fact, my dinner tonight is going to be burger testing at Pinkie’s. We’ll use their amazing burger buns. Were going to be open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. at the Mission location, and our new dinner service is going to have a lot on it besides grilled cheese.

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We are going to rebuild the bar entirely. It’ll be a hyper-local beer bar. I’m friends with the guys at Brewtruc and Pacific Brew Lab, and very much in touch with the young, new artisan brewers in town.

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We’re also offering espresso service for the first time. I just bought a La Marzocco espresso machine. We’re speaking to De La Paz about the beans. No one else has them in the area.

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Our baking operation is going to grow. People think of us first for grilled cheese, but we do an amazing breakfast business. We make muffins in flavors like coconut pineapple and bourbon apple banana from scratch every morning. We also do blondies and cream biscuits. The flavors are always changing. Like we just did a jalapeno cheddar biscuit and one with smoked turkey and chive.

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We’ll also do some sort of casual brunch.

Sounds good. Read on for lots more.

[Photo by Octavia Minor]

SFist reports:

At 10 a.m. Tuesday, Mayor Ed Lee and the Golden State Warriors front office are scheduled to make good on months of rumors by officially announcing a deal to bring the NBA franchise back to San Francisco proper. According to the Chronicle, the deal will bring a $500 million, privately financed 17,000 – 19,000-seat arena to Pier 30 along the southern Embarcadero. The new arena is expected to be completed in time for the team to start hosting home games on the waterfront during the 2017 – 2018 season.

This is so exciting! (But hopefully we can all still afford to live here by then. It would suck to have to commute from Oakland to SF to see the Warriors, am I right?)

Read on for lots more details and a pic of Gavin Newsom thanking everybody for not tearing down Red’s Java House.

Anything Glob, my favorite Lower East Side blog, is pumped about MCF:

迎 簡 計 大MMIISSIIOONN CCHHIINNEESSEE FOOD NYC!迎 簡

MISSION CHINESE FOOD 100% DEEELISH.;D

You gotta gotta go, just opened!

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This is the only celly pic I managed to take because I was eating everything on the menu. Try The Braised Wintermelon soup, I use to have that every morning before school. Mission makes it with spicy flavor, super yum. Also try the Tea Smoked Eel.

And they’ve got Laura Palmer on the wall? Sounds cool. Read on for more pics and more recommendations.

I think these guys are gonna start losing hearts and minds. Changing Tartine to “Fartine” was pretty funny, but using “dyke” is another story, obvs. Maybe we should all stop blogging about them?

SFist has more here, including an exhaustive list of all the other fake ads, many not related to the Mission.

Alley Cat’s Dan Weiss hips us to the news (via an email titled “I wish I was big”):

Here he is, ZOLTAR in his new home in the gallery at alley cat books on 24th @treat. We have big plans for him that may or may not involve giving book recommendations, for now though he’s in basic fortune-telling mode. Incidentally we are also looking for suggestions for a name for our gallery and offering 50 dollar gift certificates to the best three ideas (Alleycatbookssf@gmail.com)

Thanks, Dan!

Smithsonian just published an interview with taco expert Jeffrey Pilcher, in which we learn all about the history of the taco, from its origins in Mexico to its immigration to the USA:

What role did the taquería play in Mexican history? Who ate there?

For a long time taquerías were in the working-class neighborhoods. Industrialization brought migrants from all over the country, and particularly women, to Mexico City because of light industry. Women brought with them their regional cooking skills. Every state, every region, every town has slightly different foods, so Mexico City was a bubbling stew where all these foods were available. People were able to sample a cosmopolitan world of dining that was not for the rich. This Mexican popular cuisine was the origin of what we think about as Mexican food.

Read on.

[via kottke.org] [Instagram by Lindsey]