Author: Todd_Lappin

Reborn Palace Steak House Returns to Realm of the Dead

/ Todd_Lappin / 12 Comments

Well, that didn’t take long. There was hopeful jubilation among Bernal Heights old-timers when the legendary Palace Steak House on the corner of Mission and Cesar Chavez re-opened under new ownership last year after having been vacant since 2009. But nostalgia and low prices were not sufficient to sustain the enterprise, because the Palace Steak House is closed again, with a sign in the window indicating that the business is for sale.

To be sure, there were problems. The Yelp page for the Palace Steak House is rife with so many one-star reviews that it now reads like a postmortem. Entertaining sample:

Yelp needs to give us the option of negative stars. I loved the old Palace Steak House and had many great memories of good steak for a reasonable price the whole family could enjoy. This place is worse than a dive, at least dives have some charm.  The best thing I can say about this place is that there were many empty sticky tables to choose from and that should have been my first clue!

My friend and I ordered the ribeye medium rare and it came back brown all the way though.  It was a weird cut and was thin.  I sent them back and asked for a steak cooked the way I ordered it-medium rare.  The second steak came back even worse than the first one!!  Since I ate their salad (it was ok) and their garlic toast (they claim they use butter but when he brought it out for the baked potato it looked like someone urinated in cream corn-could not use it), so I offered to pay for that but wanted a refund for the difference since it was inedible.  No refund so I refused to leave until he called the owner and said I would wait.  The owner did not come in until I started advising people to don’t order the steak-just look at mine. That’s when the insulting owner cae in with some guy who just stared at us (I guess waiting for us to leave).  He told me he would call the police if I did not leave and I told him to go ahead since his food was a crime. I told him I would be happy to leave once he repaid me and never come back.  After many tiresome threats from him to call the police, and a couple hours had passed I decided to call the police myself.  I knew that the SFPD could not get my money back (actually they told me my only option was the BBB and Yelp) but am glad I called them as my friend and I are elderly.  They gave us a friendly wave as we laughed our way into our car.  That was the friendliest smile and gesture during our whole dining experience.

Save your money (yes yes yes – I know it’s cheap) and find a different steak house.  These people do not deserve customers…and I am glad to say they did not have many.

There are many more like this. Yet truth be told, it was obvious even from afar that the new Palace was troubled. Indeed, the fatal flaw was quite literally visible from across the street (and in the top photo shown above).

How? I am not a food savant, nor a restaurant guru. But I did grow up in New Jersey, and there are two cuisines that survivors of the Garden State know well: steak houses and pizza joints. And the key insight that anyone from New Jersey understands intuitively is that you can be a steak house, or you be a pizza joint, but you should never, ever, EVER trust a place that tries to be a steak house and a pizza joint at the same time. The Stink of Death emanated from The Palace from the moment when that new “Steak & Pizza” sign was installed on the facade. Dooooooooomed!

Not because I wished it, but because it simply could be no other way.

Now, let’s all sing along together:

PHOTOS: Former Palace Steak & Pizza House on October 14, 2012, by Telstar Logistics

Another Very Lovely Photo of the Unlovely Spaghetti Bowl

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

The 101-280 “Spaghetti Bowl” interchange is not the sort of feature that might be called beautiful… unless you have a taste for Midcentury Infrastructural Brutalism. Nevertheless, our ace local photographers have succeeded in making it look lovely time and time again.

Now, another photographer has accomplished that improbable feat. Neighbor Jillian writes:

My friend Winni Wintermeyer took this shot at night on the corner of Bradford and Jarboe, looking South over the Spaghetti Bowl. Thought it was an interesting P0V which most Bernalites may not recognize. Took me a while to figure out anyway.

Lovely, eh? Thanks for the share Jillian, and kudos to Winni Wintermeyer.

PHOTO: Winni Wintermeyer

Do You Live on Precita? Want a Sidewalk Garden? Attend the Informational Meeting TONIGHT.

/ Todd_Lappin / 5 Comments

Our green-thumbed friends from Friends of the Urban Forest are planning to do a sidewalk garden planting in a few weeks, and they’re looking for homes along Precita Avenue to participate. Want a garden in front of your home? Cheep? There’s an informational meeting happening tonight. Ms. Fiona from FUF tells Bernalwood:

The Community Meeting will be held on Tuesday October 16th from 6:30-7:30pm at 274 Precita Ave.

I’ll be giving a short presentation setting out full details on how to participate in our upcoming sidewalk garden planting on Precita Avenue, scheduled for December 1st 2012. Interested property owners will need to submit two forms and a $160 payment to me – all of which I’ll explain at the meeting.

I’ll aim to answer any and all questions, and will leave everyone with the relevant paperwork.

PHOTO: Friends of the Urban Forest

Hurry! The “Art From Within Bernal Heights” Show at Inclusions Is Closing Soon

/ Todd_Lappin

I regret not having posted about this sooner, but when I went for a walk down Cortland on Sunday afternoon, I stumbled into the artists’ reception for the Art From Within Bernal Heights exhibit that’s now showing at the Inclusions Gallery.

This year marks our 4th annual show devoted exclusively to art created by Bernal Heights residents. Each year the show is comprised of the numerous submissions made by the creative community surrounding the gallery. This year we will be featuring nearly 100 works by 37 different artists. The works are diverse in subject matter, style, size and media including: oil, encaustic, acrylic, watercolor, photography, etching, mosaic, sculpture, letter press, screen printing, assemblage and collage. The work is very accessible, as are their price points. The sheer volume and diversity of pieces make for quite a dynamic show not to be missed. It’s a wonderful opportunity to catch a glimpse of the immense talent and creativity within the Bernal Heights community.

It’s a really good show, and a terrific greatest-hits collection of work created by your Bernal Heights neighbors. But you’d best hurry if you want to check it out; The show closes this Sunday, October 21.

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Did This Bandit Steal Your Home-Delivery Package?

/ Todd_Lappin / 6 Comments

By way of the Bernalsafe mailing list comes a useful warning about a bandit who has been stealing the contents of packages and parcels dropped off by delivery services such as UPS, FedEx and OnTrac:

There has been much discussion of this on the Noe Valley Parents group but I’m new here so not sure if it’s been discussed before. There is a particularly prolific parcel thief operating in the Noe Valley and Bernal Heights areas. The perp cycles around checking houses as he goes by and stops to open packages right there on the doorstep. He’s not in the least bit covert about his operations and I have even encountered him on my property (before I knew what he was actually doing). Apparently he sometimes carries a sack for his booty and follows the UPS van around.

His infamy is so great he’s even on YouTube! Yes you can see him right here:

That’s him wearing his typical garb: cap on backwards, jeans, sneakers. He’s mid-late thirties, dark complexion, about 5,9″ and is always seen on a bike. I know from the Noe Yahoo group that there are several individual reports to the police (me included)… I’d encourage the same if you are losing parcels.

HAT TIP: Noe Valley SF

Hottest New Photographer in Bernal Heights Hasn’t Attended High School. Yet.

/ Todd_Lappin / 7 Comments

There’s a hot new photographer in Bernal Heights, and her career is just getting started.

Neighbor Sarabeth Spector has been wowing me for months with her terrific photos of urban landscapes and the intimate details of everyday objects. Others have started to notice her talent as well: One of her pictures was selected by the Harvey Milk Photo Center for inclusion in the “Off the Beaten Path” exhibit that will open in McLaren Lodge tomorrow afternoon.

Oh, but here’s the thing: Neighbor Sarabeth just turned 12 a month ago.

In an exclusive celebrity interview with Bernalwood, I asked Neighbor Sarabeth what animates her photographic technique:

Contrast versus color: Especially in images I later change or colorize, I can see the contrast between what is really there and a scene where some element of the scene stands out if the surrounding colors are removed or turned down.

Detail versus noise: The camera allows me to slice away unnecessary clutter and frame detail that is easy to overlook otherwise.

I will be following along to see how Neighbor Sarabeth’s work evolves, and if you’d like to join me, look for her photos on Flickr and at  @sbsf on Instagram.

In the meantime, and on behalf of all the Citizens of Bernalwood, we send robust congratulations to Neighbor Sarabeth on the opening of the Harvey Milk Photo Center show this weekend.

PHOTOS: Bernal Heights, as seen by Sarabeth Spector

Paul Revere School Chalks Up Big Academic Gains

/ Todd_Lappin / 6 Comments

Amid protests by angry parents outside the school and the public spectacle of a drunk-driving arrest in Marin, it’s been a difficult year for Sheila Sammon Milosky, the principal of the Paul Revere School in Bernal Heights. But on the bright side, the scores are in, and academic performance at Paul Revere has improved dramatically.

The San Francisco Examiner reports:

Principal Sheila Sammon and her staff and students at Paul Revere Elementary School have something to celebrate.

The K-8 school in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood made the largest gain among The City’s elementary schools in the Academic Performance Index to put them within reach of the state’s performance target for the first time in its history.

Revere, along with three-quarters of the schools in the San Francisco Unified School District, celebrated gains in the test scores released Thursday by the California Department of Education. API is a state progress report that tracks year-to-year improvement. […]

Revere, where the API score rose from 683 to 753, has been making gains for years, which Sammon credits to students, staff and the focus on achievement that the Superintendent Zones allow.

“We were in the 5 percent of persistently low-performing schools,” Sammon said. “But we’ve had resources with the School Improvement Grants and the Superintendent’s Zones and we’ve obtained consistent gains each year. No one can call us a persistently low-performing school anymore.”

Sammon gives credit to her school’s teachers.

“Our teachers are reluctant to take personal responsibility,” she said. “They are coming at 6 a.m. and they leave at 6 p.m. They’re dedicated and they are passionate, and they really should be proud of the results.”

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics

Hillside Supper Club Prepares to Go from Pop-Up to Permanent

/ Todd_Lappin / 4 Comments

Bernalwood has been following the ongoing adventures of the Hillside Supper Club pop-up restaurant since waaaaay back when it was called the Bernal Supper Club — and wasn’t even in Bernal. Since its renaming, the Hillside Supper Club has set up shop two days a week inside the Cafe Cozzolino space on the corner of Precita and Folsom, amid much rejoicing from Bernal Heights neighbors and glowing five-star reviews from the crankypants critics on Yelp.

During the summer HSC launched a successful Kickstarter effort to take over the Cozzolino space fulltime, and work is now underway to make that happen. Chef Tony Ferrari brings this progress report:

So things are really going well. We reached and went over our Kickstarter goal, which we have been using for new equipment and a remodel. We started some projects offsite (bar, communal table, wine shelving, hostess podium), and will bring it all in to install during the remodel. We are about 95% in final agreement with landlord for a new lease, and our lawyer and financial advisor have been supportive through this. The remodel plans are done, and we will soon close for about 2 weeks to built it. Most logistics and legalities are all set. We are meeting every day with POS people, merchant accounts, vendors, insurance brokers, CPA/bookkeepers, investors, reservation systems, etc etc. It never ends. We have most of the funding required but need a bit more, and at this point we are looking at bringing on an investor/partner. We have been meeting with people here and there, and we’ve got some good opportunities. Michael Bauer came in to eat about a month ago and did a great little mention of us; That was pretty cool.

We wish and thought we would be open by now, but there was and still is a lot to do. Its amazing, this city in particular, of how much requirements, terms, taxes, payroll etc have to be final before a restaurant can open. Most of it has been a waiting game that’s out of our control. Every day we learn a ton — mostly that there is even more to add to our check-off list. We are working extremely hard every day to move this along and open ASAP. We hope for late November or early December, but it’s hard to put a date on it.

The neighborhood has been extremely supportive, and we even have some private lenders from Bernal that are apart of the funding, which feels really good. Maria and Marcello (Cozzolino) are like family to us now. We have become very close, and they are giving us a smooth and great transition. We have been consistent with our Monday and Tuesday pop-ups, in addition to lots of private events, dinner parties, and even two weddings coming up at the restaurant. We are very involved with Slow Food, and have partnered up with neighbor Arno Hesse to offer pre-bought meals to help fund the project, as well as Bernal Bucks. We are and want to be very involved with the community and its growth, especially the younger generation.

Jonathan and I can’t even explain or express what this opportunity means to us. All the amazing feedback, the warmth of Bernal, and just being happy in the kitchen feeding people great food makes it all worth it. This is our dream finally has a great foundation and story to back it up. Its really happening.

On another note, we would love to move to Bernal but its either too expensive or there is nothing available that suits us. Ideally, individual studios would be best, but a 2 bedroom could work too. We were kicking around the idea to barter food for rent or whatnot? Suggestions?

So yeah… all in all, things are going well, and very busy. It’s all positive, and we can’t wait till the restaurant is open already. We even have the sign done for the outside of building.

PHOTO: Top: Chefs Tony Ferrari (left) and Jonathan Sutton of the Hillside Supper Club. Photos via Hillside Supper Club on Facebook

Is This Your Cat? Cute Black Kitty Found on Moultrie

/ Todd_Lappin / 20 Comments


Neighbor Brian just filed a Found Feline Report with the Bernalwood Office of Animal Repatriation. He says:

This black kitty showed up in our back yard on Moultrie near Tompkins about two weeks ago, and it hasn’t left. Every day since then, the kitty has been in our yard meowing and looking for some love. He doesn’t seem to be a stray and is very affectionate, loves to be pet, and will even let you pick him up and hold him. He doesn’t have a collar, but seems to be pretty healthy. I’ve kept my eyes open around town for ‘lost cat’ signs but haven’t seen any. We’d love to reunite this pretty black kitty with its owner if possible or give him a home if we can’t find his owner. Unfortunately we’ve got a couple cats already, and can’t really take in another. Hopefully, if we can’t his owner, a fellow Bernalwoodian would want to take him in.

Bernal Resident Creates RidePal, a Private-Shuttle Alternative for Everyone Else

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

Lately we have been somewhat obsessed with the secret network of private shuttles that ferry Google, Apple, Yahoo, and eBay employees to and from San Francisco and Silicon Valley. But what if you commute down the Peninsula, but don’t work for one of those BigCos? Thanks to one of your clever Bernal neighbors, there’s a shuttle available for you too… and it even stops on Cortland.

The company is called RidePal, and it describes its service as a “Google shuttle for the rest of us.” They’ve gotten some nice write-ups in The New York Times and TechCrunch. Bernal neighbor Nathalie Criou is RidePal’s CEO, and she tells us:

We are launching a slightly modified set of routes so there will be FOUR RidePal stops that are suitable for Bernal Heights residents heading out to the Peninsula and South Bay.

Existing two stops:

  • Mission and Cortland to Downtown Mountain View and Middlefield
  • Cortland and Folsom to Downtown Mountain View and Middlefield

Two new stops:

  • Cesar Chavez and Valencia to Mountain View Shoreline and to Menlo Park
  • Cesar Chavez and Harrison to Mountain View Shoreline and to Menlo Park

Cost is basically the same as that of Caltrain and anyone can sign up on the website.

PHOTO: The RidePal shuttle on Cortland, by Nathalie Criou

Supervisor David Campos Explains His Vote to Reinstate Ross Mirkarimi as Sheriff

/ Todd_Lappin / 48 Comments

With District 9 Supervisor David Campos casting a deciding vote, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors moved to reinstate Ross Mirkarimi as Sheriff yesterday, despite Mirkarimi’s guilty plea to charges of false imprisonment, and despite the City Ethics Commission’s determination that Mirkarimi engaged in official misconduct.

The SF Chronicle reports:

Four members of the board voted against the motion to uphold the finding of the city Ethics Commission that Mirkarimi had committed official misconduct, an allegation that stemmed from a New Year’s Eve fight with his wife that resulted in him pleading guilty to misdemeanor false imprisonment. The other seven supervisors voted with the mayor.

Lee needed nine of the 11 supervisors’ votes to oust Mirkarimi. Supervisors David Campos, John Avalos, Jane Kim and – in a major blow to Lee – the mayor’s appointee, Christina Olague, voted to reinstate Mirkarimi. The four said they condemned Mirkarimi’s grabbing his wife’s arm, but that it didn’t amount to official misconduct.

“I don’t believe that we should do anything to minimize how serious this was,” Campos said. “There is simply no justification for anyone grabbing another human being’s arm and bruising that arm.

“But that egregious misconduct does not fall within the definition of official misconduct,” he continued. “We must interpret this provision narrowly or open the door, open the door wide, for potential abuse.”

Campos’s attempt to parse some sort of meaningful distinction between “egregious misconduct” and “official misconduct” seems tenuous, to say the least. Even more troubling, however, is the rather obvious fact that despite Campos’s declared intention, voting to reinstate Mirkarimi as Sheriff is precisely the kind of gesture that minimizes the seriousness of Mirkarimi’s behavior. A therapist might even call it enabling. Campos is running unopposed in next month’s District 9 election. Yet for me, his handling of this matter is disqualifying.

Agree or disagree, Bernal neighbors and District 9 constituents are invited to discuss in the comments.

PHOTO: Ross Mirkarimi (center) confers with attorneys Shepard Kopp (left) and David Waggoner during yesterday’s hearing before the Board of Supervisors. San Francisco Chronicle photo by Jason Henry.

Confirmed: A Spiritually Significant Owl Sighting on Gates Street

/ Todd_Lappin / 11 Comments

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Bernal Heights is famously fashionable and always avant garde, but there has been a sadness at our spiritual core ever since the wonderful Great Horned Owls of Bernal Hill passed away in 2007.

Now, however, we are pleased to reveal that we have owl(s) living among us once again. Neighbor Lonnie reports from Gates Street:

Sunday morning a friend stopped by to say hello and greeted us with the news that he’d just seen an owl fly out of the tree in front of the house and take up a perch beneath the hedge next door.

We quickly grabbed some binoculars and a copy of The Sibley Guide to Birds and determined it was most probably a Burrowing Owl — “Only small owl likely to be found perched in the open in daylight,” according to the guide.

At first it was too far under the hedge and in darkness for me to get a good photograph, but after a while we noticed that it had moved out to the edge of the concrete steps leading to the side yard. Except — and I can’t be sure because I’d gone inside and didn’t see it actually move out from under the hedge — the owl on the steps appeared to be considerably smaller than the one we’d been looking at earlier, which leads me to believe there may be a pair roosting nearby.

In any event, our new neighbor stood there on the step a while looking at me and my camera and at a few people passing by toward the Gates Street stairs, before it turned and swooped down the narrow space between the hedge and the house, up to the top of the fence at the back of the yard. In a moment it was gone into the taller trees.

I’ve been told The Dakota Hidatsa Indians saw the Burrowing Owl as a protective spirit for brave warriors, which I’d like to be true on all counts.

PHOTOS: Neighbor Lonnie

Fashionable Photo Shoot at the Coso Street Cable Car Stop

/ Todd_Lappin / 7 Comments

Exciting news for Bernal Heights commuters: We just got a new cable car stop on Coso!

Neighbor Becky filed this report yesterday:

Cable cars on Coso street? Imagine my surprise to see a cable car running on Coso St. this morning.  And what is this city coming to? it’s decked out in Christmas decorations but it isn’t even Halloween!

Either that, or it was a photo shoot, of course. Which would explain the photographers.

Indeed! Actually, it was a photo shoot, for a Holiday fashion catalog that our sources were not able to identify. And it was an actual, for-reals cable car — albeit a motorized cable car, which is transit geek-speak for a retired cable car mounted on an internal combusion-powered truck chassis. (This particular former cable car was converted by the late, great Arnold Gridley.)

But who cares how the thing climbs up a hill? The catalog shoot affirmed our glamour credentials, and the presence of the cable car affirmed that Bernal Heights would look rather stylish with our very own cable car line. Although, we already knew that.

PHOTOS: From top, Neighbor Becky, Mrs. @LeCornballer, and @Jobius/Joe Thomas