Mission Mission

I was all excited to review Ken Ken Ramen for all you nice people but last night when my friends and I arrived at their doorstep, we found, much to our surprise, that the restaurant was closed. Apparently it’s only open Thursday through Saturday each week at the moment, though they have plans to open for business on Wednesdays soon as well.

What made this particularly maddening was that a) I was so hungry I was almost hallucinating, and b) there were people in there eating pizza, taunting us. Oh, the pain! the suffering!

We decided to take a cue from the Ken Ken employees and get some pizza for ourselves, scooting over to Little Star as fast as our soggy, wet feet would carry us.

Hey Little Star! You know what you could do that would make me soooo happy? If you could give us vegans the opportunity to partake in your famous deep dish pizza! As I understand it, the only thing that makes the deep dish non-vegan-friendly is that they grease the deep dish pans with butter. Why they can’t set aside a few to grease with olive oil each night boggles my mind, and every time I go, I always ask them to confirm that this is still non-negotiable. It still is. As they say in Italy, il sigh.

The flat crust is still good though! Lots of flavor from the sweet sauce, roasted garlic, and kalamata olives. See?

Our pal Pavla made us VIPs for this showcase in which Carson Daly was gonna be introducing Thee Oh Sees. I don’t go to many official showcases, but Carson Daly introducing Thee Oh Sees? C’mon. So we get there and he introduces them and it’s awesome, and then they place and it’s awesome — and THEN, for their traditional closer “Dead Energy,” for which they sometimes invite up a guest drummer (such as Nick from White Fence or someting), they invited up Carson himself. I thought it was a joke but it was not. I almost died. Best night ever! Oh Sees rule!

Our colleagues over at Rolling Stone were in the house as well (albeit they didn’t manage to get as close as us) and managed to shoot some video. Watch it here.

There will be more thorough video on Carson’s NBC show next week.

[Photo by Lizbones] [Thanks, Pavla! Thanks, Sony Music Unlimited!]

Not quite as catchy as a Liger, but these American automobile companies have been kind of desperate lately so I suppose you have to at least give them credit for trying to resuscitate the luxury SUV market.

Dust off those Big Lebowski quotes and those shoes you snagged from Albany Bowl, Mission Bowling Club is opening next Monday, March 17. For the first week, hours will be 6-11pm. It’s located at 3176 17th Street between Shotwell and South Van Ness.

Here’s a draft of the Anthony Myint-curated menu. Glad to see it contains such bowling alley classics as Blackened Catfish and Bucatini:

And here’s a making-of video to tide you over for the next few days:

[via Mission Loc@l]

I can’t get over the pictures of the Lung Shan staff from this week’s Vice feature on Mission Chinese Food.

I’ve always been fascinated with the dynamic between these grizzled Chinese cooks and their young, hip, culinary hot-shot restaurant-mates. In case you never bothered to look up at the sign, Mission Chinese Food rents its space from Lung Shan and has essentially taken over. Lung Shan’s menu is now largely ignored.

Mission Chinese chef Danny Bowien mentioned that the owners have operated the restaurant decades and never seemed concerned that business was slow, they just liked having a place to hang out. Sure enough, if you ever go in on a weekday during off-hours you’ll see them sitting at the round table in the back chatting and reading the papers. When you order something off their menu, one of them casually gets up, strolls to the kitchen, and cooks it.

I hear a lot of criticism of Mission Chinese Food from Asian Americans for not being authentic enough, notably from my parents who are restaurant owners themselves. But I don’t think that’s the point. Bowien has always admitted  that he’s still learning to cook Chinese food. Still, it’s clear his fresh approach has struck a chord with a generation that these old-timers could never reach.

Chinese food has sadly taken a turn towards the junk food genre in America, being generalized a cheap take-out experience. Did you know that Panda Express is in the running for the “Best of Milpitas” list in the category of “Best Chinese (overall)”? Shocking. Sometimes it takes an outsider to break out of the mold.

Me? I like both the old and the new. My grandfather was a cook in a restaurant much like Lung Shan while I was a kid. At home, his food wasn’t gourmet, but I’ll never forget such fusion creations as “vienna sausage fried rice” and “fried fish with ketchup”. Not exactly traditional. He also was fond of peanut butter and cheese sandwiches, something that I urge all discerning palates to try.

Sometimes I feel the urge to dust off my shitty 1st-grade-level Cantonese and ask these guys about how they feel about this new crop of oddly-dressed kids dining in their restaurant. But I’m sure they would answer like many folks of their generation do, with a subdued shrug and “business is good.”

Update:

Arlo tells us that the photos are by Alanna Hale. More great photos of the Lung Shan gang are on her site and tumblr.

These days, I can’t go a week without hearing someone lament the lack of a steady banh mi source in the Mission (usually, those rants are from Andrew Sarkarati). Lament no more, for starting tomorrow, Duc Loi Market will be selling five delicious Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches for $5 a pop, 11am-7pm every day.

And if you can’t wait until tomorrow, there’s an opening tasting party tonight, 3pm-6pm.

[via Rice Paper Scissors]

Symmetrical pint stacking! Mass hysteria! Fun new game!

[via FUNTASTIC!]

Today, Mission Pie is celebrating circles and everyone’s favorite irrational constant with reduced price sweet slices all day. Tap into your inner nerd, sweet tooth, and cheapskate all at once!

Any other Pi Day specials going on today? Has anyone checked in with Pizza Love?

[Photo via Laughing Squid]

It’s called “Blackout Drunk” and it’s by Erin M. Riley. She also has lots of good tapestries that depict babes making out and smoking weed.

[via Kelly Kate]