Posts Tagged ‘pacific heights’
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
Get up to speed first.
Now, here are the debut menus for Baker & Banker. Click to expand:


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!”
Tags: +3, 1, 1701 octavia, 2, 2009, 4, American, baker, Baker & Banker, baker and banker, banker, bar, bus, bush, Collin Casey, contemporary, Cuisine, december, Designer, director, home, japantown, jeff banker, lori baker, market-driven, meetinghouse, menu, menus, michael brennan, Muni, New American, nimby, nimbys, octavia, open table, opening, pac heights, pacific heights, pine, quince, reservations, restaurant, San Francisco, wine, yelp
Posted in food and drink | Comments Off
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:

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:

More details, after the jump.
Bon courage, B&B!
(more…)
Tags: +3, 1, 1701 octavia, 2, 2009, 4, American, baker, Baker & Banker, baker and banker, banker, bar, bus, bush, Collin Casey, contemporary, Cuisine, december, Designer, director, home, japantown, jeff banker, lori baker, market-driven, meetinghouse, michael brennan, Muni, New American, nimby, nimbys, octavia, open table, opening, pac heights, pacific heights, pine, quince, reservations, restaurant, San Francisco, wine, yelp
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Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
Word comes today from Anna Bloom of the NewYork Timeseses‘ Bay Area Blog about how production of NBC’s horrible Trauma TV series will shut down tonight.
Certainly, Trauma has been traumatic for NBC, but what about San Francisco? Would we have been better off without subsidizing this inchoate production? Did we really pay SFPD officers to just hang out around the set for the filming of twelve episodes instead of having the cops do their regular jobs?
Duboce Park as seen by Troy McClure SF. Click to expand:

How does the Scene in San Francisco scheme work? The TV people pay for the cops but then we turn around and give the TV people all the money back?
“What costs are eligible for refund?
- Fees paid to City Departments for the use or rental of City property, equipment or employees including: Port, MUNI, SPFD [SFPD?], SFFD, DPT, DPW, Treasure Island, Recreation and Parks, and all City buildings
- All daily use fees paid to the San Francisco Film Commission
- All payroll taxes paid to the City and County of San Francisco.”
So after Unfortunate, Innocent-Looking Whore In Tube Top and Flip Flops #5 cashes her minimum-wage paycheck for two days of temping (no benefits obviously) and we pay the cops full salary (or full salary plus?) to not do their jobs, what are we left with?
Certainly, Trauma was good for certain people in San Francisco, but was it good for San Francisco and San Franciscans overall? Is this the kind of thing we want to do again? Are there any Lessons to be Learned here?
Mmmmm….
Tags: $28, 'Mercy, (AMTC), 2009, 22, 28th, Aimee Garcia, Air Medical Transport Conference, Air Medical Transport Conference (AMTC), all's fair, alley, amy chozick, Anastasia Griffith, angela bromstad, Anna Bloom, backlash, bad day at work, Bay Area blog, beaucoup explosions, big bang, Billy Lush, blogger, Boone, bowl, broadway, cancelled, CAS, Cast, casting, choppers, chuck, Cliff Curtis, commission, community, concourse, craigslist, Credits, Dario Scardapane, death watch, deathwatch, debut, Derek Luke, district, divisidero, doctors, Dr. Joe, drinking, dunnes, earthquake, emt, emts, episode, executive, Executive Producer, extras, filbert, film, Film 44, film commission, filming, financial, fresno, Friday Night Lights, gala, game, gigs, golden gate park, green, halloween, helicopters, hollywood, horrible, hospital, hulu, idiot box, idiot panel, Jamey Sheridan, jay leno, Jeff Reiner, july, just horrible, justin herman, Kevin Rankin, LLC, Marissa, music concourse, nancy, nbc, new york times, north beach, open 4 business, open 4 business productions, open for business, open4business, pacific, pacific heights, parks and recreation, party, Peter Berg, pilot, plaza, plot, police, police department, Polk, Producers, Productions, rabbit, ratings, sam, San Francisco, san jose, Sarah Aubrey, Scene in San Francisco, scenes, september, set, SFPD, southland, street, stuck, studio, suck. ems, sucks, taping, technology, television show, trauma, TV, twirlypopper, Tyler, union, Universal Media Studios, viewing, watching, Writer
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Monday, November 9th, 2009
Now, I’m not up to speed here – is Glenn the gay guy that just came out? Anyway, find out tonight on Channel 3.
“Glenn’s attempt to follow his heart puts his career — and safety — on the line. Meanwhile, Marisa gets a surprise visit from an old friend. Elsewhere, Rabbit helps a patient deal with his devastating loss.”
And guess what? Ratings are up a bit lately. If only certain judgmental people hadn’t been so negative, and if it didn’t cost millions and millions to film old-school, episodic, Hill Street Blues-style television in pricey San Francisco, well who knows, maybe Trauma could have gone a full season.
See this “delicious young lady doctor” tonight:

Click to expand
And see Aimee Garcia whenever you want, right here. (You know, some people were able to walk off the Hindenburg without a scratch - maybe A.G. will similarly escape Trauma without injury)
Read about the five reasons Trauma got axed here before you tune in tonight.
Set your Tivo for 9:00 PM.
Tags: $28, 'Mercy, (AMTC), 2009, 22, 28th, Aimee Garcia, Air Medical Transport Conference, Air Medical Transport Conference (AMTC), all's fair, alley, amy chozick, Anastasia Griffith, angela bromstad, backlash, bad day at work, beaucoup explosions, big bang, Billy Lush, blogger, Boone, bowl, broadway, cancelled, Cast, casting, choppers, chuck, Cliff Curtis, commission, community, concourse, craigslist, Credits, Dario Scardapane, death watch, deathwatch, debut, Derek Luke, district, divisidero, doctors, Dr. Joe, drinking, dunnes, earthquake, emt, emts, episode, executive, Executive Producer, extras, filbert, film, Film 44, filming, financial, fresno, Friday Night Lights, gala, game, gigs, golden gate park, green, halloween, helicopters, hollywood, horrible, hospital, hulu, idiot box, idiot panel, Jamey Sheridan, jay leno, Jeff Reiner, july, just horrible, justin herman, Kevin Rankin, LLC, Marissa, music concourse, nancy, nbc, north beach, open 4 business, open 4 business productions, open for business, open4business, pacific, pacific heights, parks and recreation, party, Peter Berg, pilot, plaza, plot, police, police department, Polk, Producers, Productions, rabbit, ratings, sam, San Francisco, san jose, Sarah Aubrey, scenes, september, set, SFPD, southland, street, stuck, studio, suck. ems, sucks, taping, technology, television show, trauma, TV, twirlypopper, Tyler, union, Universal Media Studios, viewing, wall street journal, watching, Writer
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Monday, October 26th, 2009
Leave us travel back in time to October 21st, 2009, when we last heard from NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin and NBC Entertainment chief Angela Bromstad:
“Gaspin and Bromstad are expected to make their next key moves to boost NBC’s fortunes within the next few days, when the network will decide the short-term fates of newcomers such as ‘Mercy,’ ‘Community,’ ‘Parks and Recreation’ and ‘Trauma.’”
Trauma? Don’t they film that in our little town, (the fourth-largest in the whole state, I’m proud to say)? Yes they do! Maybe NBC could commit to nine more episodes (the “back nine”) so we could have a full season of on-location shoots?
Well, here’s the news from last Saturday (the Day Without Wind, incidentally):
“NBC has picked up full seasons of Thursday night comedies “Community” and “Parks and Recreation,” as well as its Wednesday night medical drama “‘Mercy.’”
Well, what about Trauma? Hello-oooo, NBC? Hello-ooooooooo?
Uh oh.
No matter, twirlypopper pilot Aimee Garcia will still maintain her official website regardless of when Trauma gets cancelled. (You all seem to just love her.)

Click to expand
In light of recent developments, the unofficial NBC Trauma Deathwatch™ over-under date has been officially moved up to: November 30, 2009.
Adjust your wagers accordingly.
Enjoy it while it lasts – a new show (the Halloween one?) is on tonight at 9:00 PM.
[UPDATE: News tonight from the Hollywood Reporter is that Trauma is history as of today, October 28th, 2009. Oh well.]
Tags: $28, 'Mercy, (AMTC), 2009, 22, 28th, Aimee Garcia, Air Medical Transport Conference, Air Medical Transport Conference (AMTC), all's fair, alley, amy chozick, Anastasia Griffith, angela bromstad, backlash, bad day at work, beaucoup explosions, big bang, Billy Lush, blogger, Boone, bowl, broadway, cancelled, Cast, casting, choppers, chuck, Cliff Curtis, commission, community, concourse, craigslist, Credits, Dario Scardapane, death watch, deathwatch, debut, Derek Luke, district, divisidero, doctors, Dr. Joe, drinking, dunnes, earthquake, emt, emts, episode, executive, Executive Producer, extras, filbert, film, Film 44, filming, financial, fresno, Friday Night Lights, gala, game, gigs, golden gate park, green, halloween, helicopters, hollywood, horrible, hospital, hulu, idiot box, idiot panel, Jamey Sheridan, jay leno, Jeff Reiner, july, just horrible, justin herman, Kevin Rankin, LLC, Marissa, music concourse, nancy, nbc, north beach, open 4 business, open 4 business productions, open for business, open4business, pacific, pacific heights, parks and recreation, party, Peter Berg, pilot, plaza, plot, police, police department, Polk, Producers, Productions, rabbit, ratings, sam, San Francisco, san jose, Sarah Aubrey, scenes, september, set, SFPD, southland, street, stuck, studio, suck. ems, sucks, taping, technology, television show, trauma, TV, twirlypopper, Tyler, union, Universal Media Studios, viewing, wall street journal, watching, Writer
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Saturday, September 12th, 2009
Were you “jolted awake by a blinding white fireball that engulfed” your building this morning around 8:36 AM, Saturday 12, 2009? If so, you were not alone. And if you miss that kind of stuff, as world-famous Xeni Jardin does, then you’re not alone, again!
It sounded like an airplane crashing into the Fillmore Center, if you happened to be at the intersection of Geary and Divisidero as I happened to be. Was it a groundstrike into Hayes Valley or the Western Addition or (or the NoPA, oh no, not the NoPA!) or Pacific Heights?
Of course the Pigs Giraffes & Elephants at our local PG&E power monopoly were dealing with power outages earlier this morning, but some additional service was lost by this big strike. (“Saint Francis Woods,” like there’s more than one? Where do these writers live, freaking Walnut Creek?) Utility workers should focus their attention on soggy Golden Gate Park to make sure that Alanis Morrissette can put on her show this afternoon at Power to the Peaceful.
Did a transformer get hit? We’ll find out soon enough. Power at Post and Webster was out this morning just after the Big Boom of 9-12-9, so the strike couldn’t have been too far away.
Courage people, courage.
[UPDATE: Jay Barmann at SFist has the scoop. Here's the clap of thunder (craaaaaack!) and here's the result via PDX503. That's one less Audi, Chariot of the Yuppie, on the Streets of San Francisco.]
If only Megan Fox were here, to fix our transformer.
Oh, here she is, fixing the transformer of a 1969 Camaro in the movie Transformers:

Or maybe PG&E, perhaps they could help….
It was Miller Time at the scene of yesterday’s lightening strike after workers towed away the cars and patched things back up. Actually, strike that, the bolt darkened the ground so let’s call it a darkening strike.

For all you do, this Miller Time is for you.
Tags: 8:36, 8:40, Alanis Morrissette, am, Big Boom of 9-12-9, City Hall, divisidero, dpw, electricity, fillmore center, fireball, geary, grove, j-town, japantown, lighting, loud, morning, noise, NOPA, octavia, pacific heights, pg&e, police, post, power, power to the peaceful, rain, San Francisco, SFPD, sleep, street, strike, thunder, transformer, wake, weather, webster, western addition, woke, woken up
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Saturday, July 4th, 2009
Tonight’s Fourth of July fireworks show had a fairly high fog ceiling, so it would have to rate as better than average. Better than last year anyway, but not as good as 2007.
Here’s an excellent eight-second exposure of the northern waterfront show from Lafayette Park in Specific Whites Pacific Heights. Click to expand:

via bendjsf
And here’s a real-time shot of the same show from Twin Peaks:

Everything is done double – that’s the way they do it. Here’s a double double:

But this is what happens when the fireworks get too high – you can only see the bottom halves sometimes due to the fog:

Let’s look across the Bay over at Sausalito. That’s USF in the foreground:

Now here are some illegal explosions in San Francisco. This was an impressive burst above the northern Mission district:

And here’s Mission Bay / Dogpatch with Alameda / Oakland in the background – very nice:

The Mission and points south all had lots of illegal fireworks booming:

Oh noes, it’s a flare, shooting high above Twin Peaks…

…and then landing somewhere in the Castro District:

And there you have it.
Tags: 2007, 2008, 2009, 3rd, 511, aquatic park, at&t park, ave, avenue, Bay, bay area, bernal heights, bicycles, bike, blanket, bus, cable cars, chapel, clouds, coit tower, county, Crissy Field, district, film, fire works, fired up, firework, fireworks, fishermans, fishermans wharf, fishermen's wharf, flare, fog, forecast, fort mason, forth, foruth of july, fourth, ft. mason, herb caen, hunters point, hyde, Ignatius Heights, illegal, Jefferson, july, lower, marin, marina green, mission, movie, Muni, Municipal Pier, Oakland, pacific heights, park, parking, photographs, photos, pier 39, potrero hill, presidio. telegraph hill, prohibidado, prohibited, russian hill, San Francisco, sausalito, SFPD, street, transit, twin peaks, university of san francisco, USF, van ness, walking, way, weather, wharf, youtube
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Friday, July 3rd, 2009
When they tell you “Fog could shroud S.F. fireworks“ up in Fishermans Wharf at 9:30 PM on the Fourth of July 2009, what they really mean is Fog WILL shroud S.F. fireworks, barring some Act of God, or Gaia, or Whomever.
Sometimes the weather is good, sometimes not. This year, not.
Check it out from 2008. Click to expand:

Eliya via Flickr
This is by no means the worst case scenario. So when they talk about special low-level fireworks and let’s cross our fingers, they’re spinning. And spinning is just the polite term for lying. So, what do you do? Head on over to the Mission District, where they’ll have oodles of Yelp-rated, illegal, illicit, MUY PRO HI BI DA DO (now I say that in Spanish because that’s how exotic and not allowed it is) fireworks, fog-free, for free. Just check out this screen saver album from 2007.
Of course, you can always go with the flow and follow the madding crowd northward into la niebla, le brouillard. And who knows, maybe it will be clear the way it was in 2007. Thusly:

This is the view you had from Crissy Field on 7-4-2007 – those lights at the bottom have something to do with Fishermans Wharf.
But dude, don’t drive up there. Even if they didn’t block off the streets and you already had a parking space waiting for you, you’d still have to drive out of there in a traffic jam when the show’s over at 10:00 PM. Of course, you could always hang out at all the places that will be open up in the Wharf after the show, but maybe you’d be better off driving into the City with your bikes in tow and parking South of the 101 near the Giants’ AT&T Park. Then you could ride up the flat, flat Embarcadero (on the sidewalk – it’s legal) back and forth.
Can you dig the colors, man?

But if that doesn’t pan out, you could follow the cable cars on Hyde (that’s the one north-south street they don’t block off, in my experience) and drop off the brood. Whatever you do, stay off of Van Ness. Or you could BART it to the Embarcadero Station and then hoof it up to Pier 39. But forget about MUNI, ’cause walking would be faster.
And most likely it will be foggy anyway, you’ve been warned.
Dress warm. Panthers out.
Fourth of July Waterfront Celebration
Saturday, July 4, 2009
1:00 PM to 9:30 PM
“PIER 39 invites you to enjoy a fun-filled Independence Day celebration. Rock out with ‘Take 2′ from 1-4pm followed by San Francisco’s favorite 80’s cover band, ‘Tainted Love’ from 6-9:30pm. Immediately after the entertainment look to the sky as the City of San Francisco lights up the night with it’s Firework’s Spectacular, accompanied by a musical simulcast from KISS FM 98.1. PIER 39 has the best viewing area on the bay! In addition, 39 of PIER 39’s businesses will remain open after the fireworks so that guests can miss the traffic, enjoy the PIER, have a drink, get a bite to eat, and shop. Click here for the list of locations open after the fireworks. Sponsored by Crystal Geyser ALPINE SPRING WATER, DeLoach Vineyards, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, The San Francisco Examiner, Tawain Tourism and Asus.”
Tags: 2007, 2008, 2009, 511, aquatic park, at&t park, ave, avenue, bay area, bicycles, bike, blanket, bus, cable cars, clouds, coit tower, Crissy Field, district, film, fire works, fired up, firework, fireworks, fishermans, fishermans wharf, fishermen's wharf, fog, forecast, fort mason, forth, foruth of july, fourth, ft. mason, herb caen, hyde, illegal, Jefferson, july, marin, marina green, mission, movie, Muni, Municipal Pier, of july, pacific heights, park, parking, photographs, photos, pier 39, presidio. telegraph hill, prohibidado, prohibited, russian hill, San Francisco, SFPD, street, transit, van ness, walking, way, weather, wharf, youtube
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