Posts Tagged ‘bar’

NOPA Pwned – Street Youths Claim Gentrified Divisadero is “Just Like the Suburbs”

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Three of these youts (possibly Academy of Art students) crossing Divisidero the other night got a lesson about NOPA courtesy of a fourth, who was in Sightsee M.C. mode.

First, WiFi-enabled and MacBook-heavy Cafe Abir got dismissed as the ”Hastings* Study Group.” And actually, the phrase ”The Future Lawyers of America” was bandied about.

And then the whole of the new North of Panhandle Area got dismissed as being “just like the suburbs.”  

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Ouch. Kids these days…

*College of Law, University of California – the oldest, largest and fifth (or sixth) best law school in California.

The Bizarre Valentines Day Christmas Trees of Lombard Street

Friday, February 12th, 2010

Look at this huge Christmas Tree taking up all the space at a bar on Lombard Street’s Motel Row. 

It’s been covered over with Valentine’s day-related tchochkes, gewgaws, knickknacks, baubles, and lagniappes.

See? (Customers’ and employees’ faces darkened out of respect.)

Happy Valentines!

Jerry Brown Throws Down: Midas Auto Shop Franchisee Spanked Hard for Bait and Switch

Monday, January 25th, 2010

California Attorney General Jerry Brown can’t abide car repair shop owners who rip you off for unnecessary work. News comes this morning about a judge in Alameda County who signed off on a: 

$1.8 million settlement that prevents Maurice Irving Glad (aka Mike Glad), owner of 22 Midas auto shops throughout California, from owning or operating an auto repair shop in the state, after the franchisee “deceptively lured” customers with cheap brake specials and then charged hundreds of dollars for unnecessary repairs.”

Now what do you suppose Mike did with some of that ill-gotten booty? Well, he traveled the world, natch, but he also produced an Academy Award-nominated documentary (narrated by Edward James Olmos!) called Recycled Life. (So all those people in the East Bay and the South Bay who thought they were just fixing their cars actually were financing the Hollywood dream factory by paying an average of $268 more than they should have….)

Anyway, get the deets below to see how our California Bureau of Automotive Repair does sting operations. And get the other side of the story from Mike’s mouthpiece via Henry K. Lee right here.

El Protector De La Gente, Jerry Brown:

Read all about it, after the jump

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Menus of Baker and Banker, the New New American Place at Octavia and Bush

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

Get up to speed first.  

Now, here are the debut menus for Baker & Banker. Click to expand: 

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The neighbors, like Ashley H., seemed pleased, anyway:

“I live right around the block from Baker & Banker, and when I saw that a new restaurant was opening I was so excited to try it out, so I went for opening night, and it was great!

The inside decor is pretty nice and simple with low lighting and mirrors on the walls. To start I had a salad with goat cheese, pomegranate, persimmon, and I think pear, which was super delicious. It was a nice light way to start out the meal. For my main course, I had the scallop dish with brussel sprout leaves and sun choke puree, and it was superb! For desert I had the cheese cake apple crisp, and as a cheesecake expert, it was a great mixture of a traditional cheesecake with apple in the middle – I totally recommend it!

For me this place is a really cute neighborhood restaurant, and I definitely plan on going back. I also think it’s definitely worth a trip even if you aren’t in the neighborhood – it’s great!”

“Market-Driven New American Cuisine” – Baker & Banker Set to Open This Week in Pac Heights

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Combining our twin obsessions of food and money, it’s Baker & Banker! And they’re all set to serve up steak, cast-iron potatoes and more starting this week (probably tomorrow, December 1, 2009) at 1701 Octavia betwixt Bush and Pine.

Will our Quince replacement get along well with its NIMBY-ish neighbors in this residential hood? We Can Only Hope. 

As it looked a few weeks back:

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Eater SF has the deets:

“As you’ll recall, Jeff Banker (of Home fame) and his wife Lori Baker are opening a new American, “welcoming neighborhood restaurant” there, and lo and behold, it’s coming along quite nicely. Notable designer Michael Brennan has spruced up the cozy interior with some dark leather banquettes and a dark wood bar…”

Why don’t you drop by sometime and see the results of the efforts of this cute couple? It’s already(!) rated five stars on Yelp, so that’s a good(?) sign.

The aforementioned Baker and Banker:

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More details, after the jump.

Bon courage, B&B!

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Beth Spotswood’s Soberversary is San Francisco’s Affair of the Decade

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

San Francisco’s online world was all a Twitter last night due to writer Beth Spotwood’s First Annual Soberversary at Yelp-rated Rye in the Theatre District.

Hundreds of well-wishers tried to pack into the place – it was truly San Francisco’s Affair of the Decade of the Aughts.

Here are just a few…

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…of Beth’s supporters.

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This was as close as I could get to the program next door due to the standing-room-only crowd. Emcee Melissa Griffinintroduced the always-dapper, besuited Senator Mark Leno, who presented an official certificate to Beth:

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And here’s Beth in action, doing spoken word in front of a brick wall.

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Congratulations, Beth. Bon courage!

World Series Mayhem – Ace’s Bar is a Little Bit of Noo Yawk in San Francisco’s Tenderloin

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

This was the scene last night on Sutter and Hyde in San Francisco’s Tenderloin (aka Tender Nob, aka “Theatre”) District last night just after the New York Yankees won the World Series. With all the boisterousness, passersby could tell that some kind of mayhem was afoot even from a block away.

And then when the crowd started belting out New York, New York,” well, you started to suspect that Yelp-rated Ace’s Bar just might have a New York theme.

Welcome to the Bronx Zoo” juxtaposed with “Quiet Please - Click to expand:

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Neon signs celebrating both the Yankees and the Mets:

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Owners Scott and Barbi beseech you to “Get your ass to Ace’s

“With inexpensive prices and the cleanest bathrooms in the city, Aces brings the unique vibe of NY to the laid back streets of San Francisco.”

So, when you pine for Fair Gotham, Get Your Ass to Ace’s post-haste.

It’ll soon become your little piece of 10001 in the 94109.

Hyatt Regency Embarcadero Shows Our Fear of, and Attraction to, the Number Thirteen

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Of course we hates the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero, we hates it forever, ’cause of the forever nonrevolving restaurant they have up on the roof, oh, how it mocks us, but leaving that aside, isn’t it funny how it lacks a 13th Floor

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… but the name of the bar in the lobby is/was called 13 Views?

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So, when you want to be safe at night, well, 13 is just too much bad juju for us to deal with, but when we tire of safeness, when we want to cut loose, put on our pretty shoes, and meet an exciting, dangerous stranger at a hotel bar, well, 13, that sounds… intriguing.

That’s the way it used to be, anyway, before the lobby bar closed down. Oh well.

Triskaidekaphobia – Catch It!

The Bravest Cyclist in San Francisco Rides His Bike on Whichever Sidewalk He Wants

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Well this was the scene a few nights back at the Fairmont Hotel, which at the time contained former presidential horndog Bill Clinton, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods, you know, people like that. (Who knows, maybe Barack Obama will be there soon.)

You had the TASER-equipped California Highway Patrol, the Secret Service, all kinds of security blocking pedestrain access to this part of California Street so the V.I.P.s could get to their waiting motorcades.

But what’s this? Biker dude just wanted to go home so he’s not caring about which sidewalk is verbotten. He powered up the block, dodging through all the scaffolding, the CHP, the startled security agents, nothing slowed him down. You might think he’d instead just use the roomy, traffic-free slow lane in the foreground…

Check it:

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I used to think that this guy, Andy, was the bravest cyclist in San Francisco. But now the crown must pass to the new fellow. (In San Francisco, most sidewalks are off-limits to most cyclists, so it would have been a piece of cake to cite and release the biker.)

He probably also drives his ride as slow as he can in front of harried moms in the East Bay – just for kicks, you know?

(Also noteworthy is the name Tonga on the sign advertising our famous $13/drink tiki lounge, the troubled Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar. With a name like that, it deserves to be shut down, or some people might think. What’s next, Kung Fu Tacos on wheels appearing regularlyat Sansome and Jackson?)

Oh well.

Drinking and Watching Gaelic Football at 6:00AM: Your Right as a San Franciscan

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

The popular Kezar Pub and Restaurantat 770 Stanyan in the Haight Ashbury / Cole Valley area allows patrons to watch live Gaelic Football all the way from Ireland.

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As long as you aren’t a tagging L.A. Dodgers fan, you’ll more than welcome. 

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Just follow KezarPub on Twitter to keep up with what’s going on….