Mission Mission

What with Ti Couz closing and all.

Such a nice big fresh bowl of big chunks of good stuff. Let’s go get one now! Perfect salad-eating weather, right?

[Photo by Mari Francille]

It hits stores in late July, but if you act now, a big chunk of your purchase goes toward reforming U.S. food policy! Here’s the deal, straight from the ol’ Mission Street Food blog:

We wrote a book about food. It’s more about the taste of food than the politics of food, but the process made us think hard about our values, and we decided to donate a portion of our book sales to food activism. We still believe in the importance of consumer choices, like buying locally, but food policy in this country is so messed up that we need a more direct and systemic approach–especially now, when Congress is preparing to work on the 2012 Farm Bill, which will affect the way we eat as a nation for years to come. We need to put our money where our mouths are, literally.

Together with our publisher, McSweeney’s, we’ve worked out an arrangement to benefit Slow Food USA in their campaign to make the next Farm Bill feed our nation, and not just the bank accounts of agribusiness. For every pre-sale purchase of our book through the McSweeney’s online store, a $10 donation will go to Slow Food USA. Copies purchased later or from other booksellers will result in a smaller donation.

Read on (and throw down).

Chef Kevin Kroger, formerly of Monk’s Kettle, was really flattered when we lamented the loss of his amazing mac & cheese masterpiece. So much so, that yesterday he decided to post a “making of” feature of the dish on his blog. His secret? Put some beer in it.

In addition to that, he shows you how to make “Chocolate Pop Rock Bars”. Seriously? This man is a visionary.

So in case you find yourself needing to feed 80 people with some extreme comfort food this weekend, head on over to urbanchefsf.com and check out the recipe. Don’t forget to pick up some butter and heavy cream first:

The Dave Hillyard Rocksteady 7 played an afternoon show at Bender’s last year and they are making a stop there again this Sunday.

This all-star group features members from the two of the best traditional ska revival groups of the ’90s, the Slackers and Hepcat. They will be joined by living legend and percussionist Larry McDonald of the Skatalites, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Toots and the Maytals, and Lee Perry. Expect heavy instrumental reggae and rocksteady sounds with Dave’s signature jazzy chops.

Free rocksteady and BBQ! Does it get any better? The show starts at 1:30pm 3pm at Bender’s on 19th and S. Van Ness. Here’s the event page, and a snippet from the last show:

Update: Dave says the show actually starts at 3pm.

This is the most amount of broken records ever observed on the sidewalk by me.

New facts have come to light that contradict my earlier report about last night’s phở riot.

Andrew in fact was waiting patiently in line and DID NOT use his blogger cred to cut it for a coveted bowl of snail phở. He would never do such a thing, and neither would I. (Vic probably would though.) Andrew did however end up in the hospital with a serious shoulder injury after a swarm of Guardian Angels tackled and beat him for failing to remove his hat in the presence of a lady.

First, our buddy MC found a bigass TV by the side of the road and asked for some help deciding what to do about it. Then, based in part on advice from Mission Mission readers, he turned it over to SFPD, and then had to deal with a months-long runaround over a TV he didn’t even particularly want. As of today, the TV is his, but he still needs some help. Here’s the deal:

After the requisite 120 days, no one had claimed the TV, so by all rules, I had a right to re-claim my found 42″ Plasma TV — the only question was: would the SFPD Property Room ‘lose’ it?

The short answer: no. So, kudos to them for keeping it honest.

As I waited to be called up a rough looking dude with neck tattoos was before me. He asked for, and received back, his $3,100 from a previous police seizure.

When the judge called me case, he chuckled and, like the rest of everyone who hears the story, said “So you found this on 24th and Capp? Really?” After the SFPD Attorney, Ronnie, said that she was prepared to release it back to me, the judge declared, “Congratulations — you are now the proud owner of a 42″ Plasma TV,” with a smile.

In minutes, I had the release order and was told to head to the Property Room in the basement. As I got there, it reeked of pot; they were blasting Ezay E, followed by the Humpty Dance. It was a pretty great site. After I handed over the order, and the cop behind the counter again laughed about the situation, he came back after 30 minutes with the TV. At this point, another dude trying to get back about 4 guns, and the guy with the money were intrigued, so I told them the story.

I ended with my plan to donate to an old folks home or something, and the rough guy said, “Donate to me!” to which I quickly replied with “Donate? You just got $3,000 bucks!” Which, then, he offered to buy the TV on the spot right there. I didn’t want to wait around to see how long it would take him to get cash back form the cops, so I carried the thing down the steps of Hall of Justice and flagged a SUV Taxi and threw it in along with my bike and brought it to my office. Now, it’s sitting on my coworkers desk while I figure out what to do with it.

So, the question is: what awesome organization near 24th & Capp would benefit from this large TV? I don’t really like the idea of kids watching TV, but maybe an old folks home? A waiting room for a free health clinic? Day Labor Center? Recommendations welcome!

Weigh in below:

Reader George S. has noticed that people keep declaring PBR dead. George disagrees. He says PBR is alive and kicking and wanted to share this photo — taken at Bender’s — as proof.

Thanks, George!

Reader Katie spotted this notice on the side of the Victoria Theater yesterday:

Looks like someone took issue with the historic Alber’s Flapjack Flour mural on the side of the theater on 16th and Capp! Soon when you want to “look for the miner” you’ll have to “look” elsewhere.

I can only guess that some local tightwads just can’t stand the fact that fattening breakfast foods, such as flapjacks (which are basically super-thick and delicious pancakes) are being marketed to children, particularly those that go to the nearby Marshall Elementary School.

Sure, it may not be a part of a balanced breakfast, but have you seen a picture of a balanced breakfast? There’s like two cups of juice, milk, toast, and like ten other things in addition to your cereal. Nobody I know ate balanced breakfasts and we turned out fine.

What’s next? A war on bacon? Home fries? Scrambled eggs that contain yolks? All I know is that I will fight to the death for my right to eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch in a peanut butter sandwich.

Never mind that Albers hasn’t made flapjack flour for decades. They are focused more on corn-based products now. Lame.

[Thanks the reader Katie for the tip!]

Update: You are right to be outraged, but this is an April Fool’s Joke. Sadly for all of us, it was way too believable. Folks from SFist even compared the violation form to the source image on Bernalwood (sans official letterhead and staff contact) and still had to ask me! We’re that good. Sorry. Next year we’ll do something obvious like “Chevy’s opening in the Mission” or whatever.

Update: A clarification.

Late last night I got a text from Andrew saying he was in the hospital and in need of a ride home. I was like, “Dude, I’m in NYC, you know I’m in NYC, are you okay?” I waited hours for a reply.

Apparently, Andrew went to hit up that Vietnamese pop-up street food spot he wrote up so delightedly yesterday. He showed up a little late though, and they were nearly out of the snail pho he was so excited over. Somehow — and this I do not condone, so it’s all kind of his own fault — he managed to use his blogger cred to cut the line.

Somebody recognized him, the crowd figured out what was going on, and a little brawl ensued. Somebody grabbed his pho, there was pushing and shoving and shouting. And then he found himself falling backward over one of the restaurant’s little red stools, and onto another, at just right (wrong) angle. Hence, one severely dislocated shoulder.

The mob relented and apologized profusely and got him a ride to the hospital. He heard at least one person say, “I don’t know what came over me.” Somebody even tried to give him back his pho, but he’d lost his appetite — probably because of the epic pain.

The worst part is, we were counting on Andrew to come up with this year’s Mission Mission April Fool’s prank, but this morning he was all, “I’m not feeling very funny.” So I don’t know what we’re gonna do.