— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
As 2012 comes to a close, it's time for blogs to reflect on what the last dozen or so months meant for people who read blogs. And despite all the countless top ten features and banal breakdowns, Eater's tastemaker's survey on what the best dining neighborhood of the year often stands out.
Suffice it to say, the list has historically been less about what neighborhood was best and more about piling the well-deserved accolades on the Mission. But 2012? Well, 2012's list is most definitely about the Mission, but it isn't the usual shower of compliments to which we're accustomed:
Josh Sens, San Francisco Magazine: Obvious to say, but the Mission
Brock Keeling, SFist: Anywhere but the Mission.
Jonathan Kauffman, Tasting Table: Clearly, this is the year when Valencia Street jumped the shark. No, really, people: OPEN YOUR DAMN RESTAURANT SOMEWHERE ELSE.
Yikes! Proposed restaurant moratoriums, now this? Some even went so far as to say, “fffffffff can't we just start eating in Bayview or something?” (I'm paraphrasing).
Does this mean 2013 is the year all the foodies declare the Mission “over” and move to Oakland or whatever?
Comments (19)
Well, obviously, it would be great if restaurateurs opened restaurants somewhere in SF other than The Mission but, obviously, THAT will never happen – so let’s just sit in our padded chairs and complain online about restaurants opening in The Mission! ‘|:(
Polk Gulch
Mission Street is still the Mission, but Valencia ain’t.
This.
Still the NIMBY blogger complaining about the mission changing - think tech newbies like yourself might have added to the change?
Do you even know what NIMBY means? Not sure how this post fits the definition.
Brock Keeling = tastemaker?! OK, then Chef Boyardee is representative of Italian food.
Josh Sens swooned over Rich Table; that’s like a hooker praising a ninety year old’s sexual stamina.
Exactly my thoughts, re: Keeling.
Brock’s great, stop hating.
Also re: “tastemaker”, I’m just co-opting Eater’s word. I’m sure most of the people on that list wouldn’t describe themselves as such.
Brock *says* he hates the Mission, but he can’t stop paying attention to it. I think it’s his secret shameful urge to love it. He can’t ignore it.
A budding bromance à la Frodo & Samwise……sniff.
Why all the Brock hate!?
OMG
so now we just have to wait for 12-18 months for all of the new shit spots to go out of business/move. thanks! ps smoke weed every day
780 Cafe just went out of business, so you might be on to something.
B-b-but they had a brilliant business model (as do all the other Valencia restaurants paying $8000/month rent).
As long as there’s a surfeit of venture capitalist ego dollars, there will still be idiots thinking that it makes sense to open a restaurant on Valencia while paying half their net in rent. But these restaurants will continue to fail, because no legitimate business can survive paying that much rent. The Great Valencia Food Bubble of 2010-2013 is a byproduct of the massive bank bailout (TARP, etc) carried out by the Bush and Obama admins. Eventually, the bailouts will dry up, the Great Valencia Food Bubble will fade into dust, the douches will return to the Marina, and Mission rents will come back to earth. I just hope some of the legitimate restaurants and retail shops can hold out long enough.
FYI rents don’t go down in SF just because some bubble bursts.
They went down some after the first dot com bubble burst in the early oughties, and they’ll probably go down some after this one bursts, too.
The Mission has been over since ‘82. [puts glasses back on with no lenses and drops mic ironically]