Mission District

This is What Evicting a Business Looks Like

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Earlier this morning, two Sheriff's Department squad cars rolled up to 24th and Folsom, a bunch of officers piled onto the street, stared longingly at the vegan blueberry donuts at Philz, and proceeded to supervise the eviction of the Purple Haze Smoke Shop.  Admittedly, I didn't stop to ask what was going on because there was a circular saw in play, but it's worth noting that this is the third business evicted from this corner in the last few months (the other two being Gunz & Bunz/Mike's Deli and the liquor store on the corner, which were both evicted back in November).

Anyone know what's up?

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

What Your Shoes Say About You

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Due to my gross apathy towards looking presentable, my feet are generally protected by the tattered remains of what once was a shoe, so I'm not one to talk.  But allow Dexn + Flexn to break this down:

At first I was like “holy shit, super hipster” with his headband and jacket and all.  Then I noticed the shoes and I was like “bro, quit frontin’.”

Yeah, bro.  And stop lookin' at that meat market like you're gunna buy a pound of rotting octopus.

The Summit Runs Out of Oxygen

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

I always found this place to be appalling, so please excuse my reluctant smirk, but the overly tech-centric Valencia coffee shop The Summit can no longer afford to pay their rent and are moving on to new things, says Mission Local.

From a message posted to their website:

After a year and half, THE SUMMIT SF will close it’s operations at 780 Valencia to re-open at a soon to be determined location. During this time, we’ve received press and accolades from Food and Wine to Business Week, created a community of entrepreneurs/digital thinkers/and creative like minds, helped launch many start-ups, hosted several culinary pop-ups, produced buzz worthy art shows, and threw some legendary parties. We could not have achieved such accomplishments without our amazing community of managers, staff, and of course, our patrons. We are proud of our time at 780 Valencia, and excited to take The Summit to the next level: a social enterprise spreading entrepreneurship and innovation around the world.

We are thankful for the opportunity to launch The Summit SF at IO Ventures and we wish them the best of luck on their future endeavors. We are hopeful the next tenants of 780 Valencia will carry on our spirit and become an asset to the vibrant Mission community.

Our doors are scheduled to close on 1/28/2012.

Should you be worried, the landlord (i/o Ventures, some nerdstuffs) is doing just fine and intends on finding a “new vendor” for the space.

(I should note, I don't quite know why I hate The Summit, seeing as though I enjoy buying a beverage I don't particularly like or want so I can thieve internet access.  But, yeah, something about that place makes you feel like an asshole.)

(Also, I sincerely apologize for that horrible “they're fucking dead” pun; I recently read Krakauer's Into Thin Air and I can't quite shake the image of a frozen, dying Nepalese Sherpa partnering up with a cup of Blue Bottle to found a social network and exchange warmth.)

[Photo by Indra Kupferschmid]

How Bad Can Medjool's Brunch Be?

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

TK has put together a compelling guide to New Year's Day brunching, and the brunch at Medjool is bringing out the morbid curiosity in us all:

At first I was all HA HA BIG JOKE I'LL PUT MEDJOOL ON THERE AND WE WILL LAUGH AND LAUGH and then I looked at the brunch menu and guys, it's a brunch buffet for $10.99, and the mimosas are THREE DOLLARS. It can't be THAT bad for brunch, right? I mean, the spiky-hair/shiny-shirt crowd will be at Circa, not here, right? Somebody talk me down. UNKNOWN STARS.

Uhhhhhhhhhhh, see you there?

[40 going on 28 | Gangsta photo by TJ DeGroat]

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

Out of Walls to Paint On? Just Paint the Streets

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

It seems that the folks responsible for keeping the walls and garage doors along Lilac Alley covered in murals have begun partitioning out plots on the street itself for artists to paint new works.  There's only a few pavement murals thus far (and some stray white tire tracks making their way down the street), but it sure looks like an interesting new direction for the alley:

New Farm-Fresh, Local Supermarket Coming to the Inner Mission

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Grub Street brings us word that the folks at Local: Mission Eatery (where I've tried to eat lunch at like a million times but they never seem to be actually open) plan on expanding their “empire” this summer with a breakfast-centric cafe at 23rd and Bryant and a market on Harrison between 22nd and 23rd:

Then there's Local Mission Market, an 2700-square-foot space with 70 feet of street frontage which will be moving into a former industrial space on Harrison between 22nd and 23rd. The plan there is for a full-service market, with cheese counter, butcher, dry goods, and fresh produce, all either made in-house or sourced from Northern California farmers and producers. This of course means no bananas or pineapples, ever, but it also means they'll be the only market in San Francisco who can boast this kind of purely local ethos. (The only exceptions will be coffee, chocolate, and sugar, which will still come from Northern California-based companies.)

Also, [owner Yaron Milgrom] wants to set a new standard for sustainability in the way the market runs. “Supermarkets throw out fifteen to twenty percent of their unsold perishables,” he says. “So with a full production kitchen doing all this canning and preserving, nothing will be thrown out. It's going to be about finding efficiencies to reduce waste from common supermarket practices.”

Construction on said market is slated to kick-off this February with the anticipated opening date penciled in for sometime mid-summer (although, these things never seem to go as planned).  They also plan on having an open-kitchen, so you can watch cooks “take a bunch of perfectly ripe peaches off the store floor” and “go back into the kitchen and start turning them into peach mostarda”—which means none of that fun, Anthony Bourdain-level 'hijinks' one might expect from an inner-Mission kitchen will be going down.

While some people will assuredly, ahem, “point out” that Local Mission Market is ripping off Bi-Rite and not serving the everyday needs of Mission residents, remember that Bi-Rite Market earns eight times more money per square foot than Safeway and needs a bouncer to keep the throngs of weekend traffic at bay.

[Grub Street]

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

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