Hungover And Hanging Out In The Mission.

It turns out that with great birthdays come great suffering. So come Saturday morning, we knew we'd had too much wine Friday night. But, hey, there was a birthday weekend to celebrate--more wine to drink and more pig to eat!

 The logical place to start was the Food Fair in San Francisco's Mission District. Several blocks 

of Folsom Street were cordoned off and lined with mobile kitchens from some of the City's
hippest dining establishments. Needless to say, it was jammed, and getting a bite to eat
meant a long wait in line.

 Even if all you wanted was a big-ass sandwich.

Suffering from hangover-induced hunger pangs as we were, we gave up on the food fair and walked over to Mission Street to our favorite S.F. taqueria, the imaginatively-named La Taqueria. After a delightful lunch of savory tacos and various aguas frescas (their watermelon juice is delicious), we decided to soak up some big-city vibes.

Mission Street used to be the core of a vibrant shopping and entertainment district, 

with retail shops, restaurants and bars, and theaters. It still is vibrant in its wonderfully 

seedy way, packed with discount stores, taquerias, bodegas, and masses of people 

from all over Central America. 

 The shells of the once-grand movies palaces are still there, 

either vacant or turned into discount clothing stores or 

Pentecostal churches catering to Spanish-speaking worshippers.

 Or parking lots. 

A sad fate for these lovely old structures. I only wish I could have explored the inside.

 The Mission (or La Mission) is also known for its murals. Almost every street has a few, 

and though they are decidedly variable in quality, their cheerful colors delight the eye

at every turn. 

 When we lived in S.F., our house was at the edge of the Mission, so walking around these
neighborhoods is like coming home.

 And speaking of coming home, here's where so many things started: 909 Montgomery.
Definitely not in the Mission. RWD, the agency where O and I met, had their northern 

California office on the second floor of this building. I was the creative director, 

O was the office manager, and she hired Aston to design our offices. 

That was the start of a beautiful friendship. 

Aston and Eileen still have their offices here. First door on the right.

 The Mission is still home to some great restaurants and bars, too. Lung Shan the disguise for

of Mission Chinese Food, which Bon Appetit just named one of the ten best new restaurants in
the country. You wouldn't think so to look at the place, inside or out, but the food was stellar.
They don't take reservations, so we arrived at 5:30 and put our name on the list.

 After an hour, we were ushered into the crowded dining room 

and wedged into a table with two other couples. It was hot and dim, 

and the air was thick with smoke redolent of chiles 

and roasted pork fat. My kind of place.

We ordered a lot of food because everything sounded so good. Our favorites were the mussels steamed in a a spicy sauce enriched with chunks of caramelized pork belly, slow-roasted char siu pork belly, and thrice-cooked bacon. Notice a pattern? Also good were the cold Dan Dan noodles and the Westlake rice porridge with oxtails and Dungeness crab. A memorable meal.

And by the time we came out, 50 to 75 people were standing outside on the sidewalk waiting to get in.

Afterwards, we went to Hayes Street Grill, one of our old haunts, for drinks and a creme brulee. They make the best creme brulee in S.F. One of the waiters still remembered us, and we talked with him for a while before heading back to Belmont for some much-needed recuperative sleep.

P.