Jay B writes in and hips us to the recent opening of the San Francisco Mead Company, a meadery looking to bring back the overlooked flavors of Europe's preferred honey drank:

This company opened up recently around the corner from my shop in the Bayview, at [1180 Shafter Ave]. They have tastings from noon to 6 Friday-Sunday. The taste is surprisingly dry on the front with the sweetness and honey flavor kicking in at the end. They also have a hopped mead, and an apple juice and spice desert one in the works. Worth a trip. Nice folks.

If you’re looking to go out and give it a taste, might I recommend also hitting up the Speakeasy Tap Room and making an afternoon of it?  Otherwise, you can get some a little closer to home at Rainbow, Zeitgeist, Mission Cheese, or Bi-Rite on Divis.

(Thanks Jay!)

Charles Hodgkins is set to retire his long-running burrito reviewing project, Burritoeater, when he reaches 1,000 reviews (and he's only got 7 to go).  Eater SF caught up with him to talk about his love affair with burritos, and the interview really got going when they ask him about La Taqueria, which he recently called a “total travesty”:

This is a perfect time to ask, because I just had one about twenty-four hours ago. Where do I start? I'll start with the size. Even before you bite into it you look at it, and it's just a sad little thing. They're really narrow. The tortilla is steamed, which isn't the end of the world, but my burrito was just sticky, pretty uninviting. You bite in, and it's like 40 percent meat. That's a lot of meat. Obviously there's no rice. Some people love that. I think it's…not okay. So I always give them a zero for rice. It brings down the quality of their burritos. They get drippier because of that. Their pinto beans are really flat-tasting, too. I always ask for my burritos to be spicy, and got zero spice yesterday. The mix was kind of off, even though it was tiny. It's not like it was this gargantuan thing where there's an area code over here and an area code over there. It just was not satisfying.

Damn.

Read on for his thoughts on Papalote, El Burrito Express, and $10+ burritos.

[Eater SF | GIF by Burrito Justice]

As the Twitter commentariat pointed out yesterday, it's about time for a new cocktail bar to open up around in the Mission.  And, fortunately, a team of esteemed Mission cocktail founders intend of doing just that in the former shell of Tokyo GoGo.  Alcademics has the scoop on ABV, which is slated to open January next year:

The concept is a bar that will offer about 10-15 cocktails and around the same number of small plates dishes, also priced around the same as each other (ten bucks more or less). So, like at Beretta, if you are having great drinks there you may as well order something to great eat as well. […]

The space won't be completely gutted for the rebuild, but they will make the kitchen smaller and remake the bar bigger; extending it to be the focus of the space. You shouldn't expect to too many bar design elements that they feel have become cliched, liked reclaimed wood and bare Edison bulbs. Seating will be primarily at high-top tables and shared tables in the back, to avoid that situation where people at low tables have standing bar patrons' butts in their faces. It will not be a lounge. They'll have some sort of table service and a doorman checking IDs, but not a host stand or typical restaurant reserved seating.

It's important to note they're avoiding gimmicks—not only are reclaimed wood and Edison bulbs getting the shaft, but buzzable things like barrel-aged and bottled cocktails won't be found at ABV.  But need you worry, cocktail aficionados, they'll have “great ice.” (Not that “great ice” is a gimmick or anything.)

[Alcademics] [via Eater]

Waiting for final inspections to go through, the folks from the Mission's lowlife clubhouse are just days away from opening Emperor Norton's Boozeland, their Tenderloin “rock ‘n’ roll lounge” within the old Deco Lounge.

Regulars who stopped into their soft opening during Pride Weekend tell Uptown Almanac that “the place is pretty fucking rad” and “they have a sick patio”—high praise, even if it is short on specifics.  Fortunately, Bender's owner Johnny Davis gave some details to Tablehopper to get us excited:

The gutting, cleanup, and buildout of the space over the past seven months has been significant—he tells me they removed seven layers of flooring, gaining practically a foot in height! (It now has a poured concrete floor.) They kept the awesome vintage bar, and removed the wall behind it so you can see into the other room. Look for a bust of the namesake Emperor Norton himself in the ticket window, and there will be a portrait of him inside as well. As for the creepy downstairs (which felt like a dungeon), it won’t be open to the public, but you can hang out on the back patio until 10pm, and you no longer will have to duck your head on the stairs either.

Follow them on Facebook to get the news of their official opening date.