Mission Mission

I’m pretty sure the first time I ever had a whiskey smash was at Slow Club, about five years ago. Now it’s my all-time favorite brunch drink. The mint and lemon make the drink crisp and refreshing, but the unmasked malty bourbon reminds you that it’s really irresponsible to be ordering drinks like this in the middle of the day.

Slow Club calls their version the Sunday Smash, and it’s still the best one I’ve ever had. Even after making several at home, I haven’t been able to capture the magic. Slow Club sweetens theirs with maple syrup instead of honey, which is maybe what pulls it together so nicely.

It’s the perfect drink for resigning yourself to the fact that you’re not taking Sunday easy this week and you’re just going to have to tough it through Monday with a hangover. Try one this Sunday (they’re open, I checked), although that’s kind of cheating because you have two days off.

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

They’ll serve their last meal on New Year’s Eve. Mission Local reports:

The restaurant at 16th Street and South Van Ness Avenue serves Northeastern Italian and Central European food and wine has been highly rated since its opening in 2006. But Losa said the saturation of new restaurants on Valencia Street has impacted the foot traffic on 16th street and drawn customers away from Bar Bambino.

“Our location is being left out of this vortex of transformation on Valencia Street,” Losa said.

Yet, Losa has faith that 16th Street will see its own transformation in the future – even if it will be too late for Bar Bambino.

Sad beans! “Vortex of transformation!” Read on for more, including Christopher Losa’s letter to his employees.

Our pal TK of 40 Going on 28 had a great time:

[S]uddenly I was 17 again and seeing REM at the Mosque in Richmond Virginia and never had been in an unsuccessful first marriage and 9/11 had never happened and the only thing I had to worry about was how much Milwaukee’s Best cost and whether this girl I knew liked me.

[...]

You see, back in the 80′s, growing up far from any kind of “scene,” music seemed kind of stale and lifeless.  What you got on the radio was lots of classic rock (and country, I guess, if you wanted that). When we discovered REM, it seemed like a revelation – here was somethingdifferent, something interesting.  And it was like our secret!  We were in a special club.

Of course, REM, and what was then called “alternative music,” blew up after that.  REM went on to become huge and maybe The Most Important American Band of All Time (there can be a debate, but seriously? Who else?).  But you know what?  REM will always remind me of a certain time when I was growing up and figuring out how to be an adult and the world was full of promise and things didn’t seem as shitty all the time.

Read on for more on REM, and TK’s feelings.

From Mission Connections:

24th and Mission crotch staring – m4w (mission district)

You were crossing 24th street at about 6pm wenesday night.<19th. You walked at an angle directly toward me. Me a tallish older black male in fitted jeans grey sports coat knit cap talking on cell next to tree.At first you looked directly into my eyes and as you got closer you gave my crotch a long hard stare and then you were pass me. Want to stare some more? Reply with descriptiion. You were dressed boyish with a short boyish hair cut. Tell me your height approimately and color of your slacks. [link]

“Want to stare some more?”

It’s in the same building as Mission Bicycle, behind a locked door. To open the door, you have to check in using Foursquare or Instagram. (Or just ring the doorbell, I guess.) The door opens, you go inside, up a flight of stairs, and then you’re in Photojojo‘s secret store surrounded by lots of great gifts for the pro and amateur photographers and photography enthusiasts in your life.

[Photo by Photojojo]

Quite a format! Not sure anything like this has ever been done before. Here’s the lineup:

Caitlin Gill
Casey Ley
Kevin Camia
Ben Feldman
Shanti Charan
Kaseem Bentley
Sean Keane
Natasha Muse
Mike Drucker
Dave Thomason
Brendan Lynch
Joe Gorman
Anna Seregina
Jules Posner
Colleen Watson
Kevin O’Shea
Josef Anolin
Mary Van Note
Jesse Fernandez
Kevin Munroe
David Gborie
Joey Devine
Jesse Elias
Lydia Popovich
Red Scott
Andrew Holmgren
Juan Medina
Matt Gubser
George Chen
Clare O’Kane
Greg Asdourian
Rajeev Dhar
Kristee Ono
Drew Harmon
James Fluty
OJ Patterson
Kate Willett
Cameron Vannini
Kollin Holtz
Land Smith

Advance tickets here.

RSVP and invite your friends!

Surprise! You don’t buy a carton of eggnog!

Our pal Eric (as part of his beautifully shot, edited and scored Thirsty For… series) shows us how it’s really done:

Our friend Heather found this notice posted up at SF General, where she works:

Do not wear while going to Dynamo Donuts, El Metate, or Humphrey Slocombe

Probably best not to risk looking like you have a reputable job when patronizing said establishments anyway, you might look like you can actually afford it here.