Food and Drink

Yummy Cocktails at the All-New Royal Cuckoo

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

The Royal Cuckoo

All of a sudden, the intersection of Mission and Valencia Streets is a happening place to be.  The homestyle cuisine at Blue Plate has been a go-to staple for quite some time, and SoCha Cafe was a nice addition. But now the block is really blowing up. Locavore is making waves, and another newcomer just opened its doors: The Royal Cuckoo.

A rustic bar specializing in haute-mixology, The Royal Cuckoo serves up some seriously yummy cocktails. Here’s what they had to say about it at Urban Daddy:

Introducing The Royal Cuckoo, an eclectic cocktail den that’s equal parts bar, music library and hunting lodge, open now in the Mission.

Now, while this dimly lit lair might seem slightly scattered in its presentation of old furniture and deer head, goose and armadillo taxidermy, it’s nothing a couple of stiff martinis can’t help make sense of.

With drink in hand—you’ll have your choice of classics, or riffs on classic cocktails, but we recommend the Moscow Mule made with cachaça instead of vodka, ginger beer and kumquats—head to the back of the long bar, where you can thumb through the card-cataloged collection of hundreds of vinyl records (unless the vintage Hammond organ is the night’s musical entertainment).

The Royal Cuckoo

I’ll vouch for most of that — except for the part about the bar being in the Mission. (Bernalwood or La Lengua, take your pick.) I took the Royal Cuckoo for a test-drive last week, and it was fabu — the cocktails and the vinyl were inspired. Great flavors, great music, friendly barhops, and a really great addition to our glamorous neighborhood. By all means, do check it out next time you want to get your drink on. I predict you’ll depart as happy as I did. Tell them Bernalwood sent you…

Photos: Telstar Logistics

SF Weekly Samples the Super Sausage (on Sandbox Bread!) at Locavore, as 7×7 Sings Praises Too

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

John Birdsall from SFWeekly visited Bernalwood’s western frontier recently to field test the house-made sausage from Locavore on Mission Street. He liked what he found:

Jason Moniz was the opening chef at Oakland’s Flora in late 2007, back when Michael Bauer liked the place. Last fall, Moniz and his business partner, Mario Duarte, opened Locavore, in a deep, dark space on the Mission Street slope of Bernal Heights, across from Blue Plate. For lunch, Moniz makes and grills five kinds of sausages ― really good sausages, out of pork he sources from Riverdog Farm in Guinda ― slips them into buns custom-made at Sandbox, and sells them for an amazingly cheap $7 each. Last week we had Moniz’s spicy Italian sausage (pebbly-textured and chewy) half-buried under a ruffle of roasted fennel slices mixed with bits of preserved lemon. Today it was a fat maple andouille, lightly smoky, topped with shredded Treviso chicory, its bitterness balanced with honey. The andouille’s tight, crisp skin was black from the grill; the fine-textured meat within oozed juice. Perfect.

MEANWHILE, 7×7’s Antonia Richmond — she’s a Bernalian! — also loves Locavore:

My (second) favorite part of the meal was knowing that the vast majority of the ingredients came from local farms and purveyors like Marin Sun Farms, Happy Boy Farms, and Monterey Fish Market. So I could have my ethically-raised, sustainably-grown, ecologically-sound, whole-animal-cooked, world-peace making, cancer-curing cake, and eat it too.

Photo: SFWeekly/John Birdsall

Is This the Best Corner Store in All of San Francisco?

/ Todd_Lappin / 22 Comments

Cancilla Market

Bryan O’Sullivan (@bos31337) recently made a bold assertion:

Huh? Is humble Cancilla Market, on Folsom Street at the southwest corner of Precita Park, really “the best tiny little corner store in all of San Francisco?”

I can see how you’d make that argument. Cancilla’s came under new management not long ago, and it’s been a godsend for Bernalwood’s north slope. Under the regime of owner Gina Chu, Cancilla’s is now extremely well curated, filling a void that has long existed for Northsiders for whom The Good Life on Cortland is just too far away (and too far uphill) when you only need a little something-something.

Positioning itself somewhere between Bi-Rite and a standard corner store,  Cancilla’s has become a great place to grab a quart of milk, a quality piece of bread, some robust cheese (Bulgarian feta!), a good bottle of wine, yummy cured meats, organic green things, uncommon cooking ingredients… and kimchi. But in a respectful nod to traditionalists, you can still get a 24-ounce can of PBR:

But really? “The best tiny little corner store in all of San Francisco?” Since I live just a block away, I’m willing to believe.

Photos: Telstar Logistics

Yahoo Says: “If You Are Older, Like to Party, But Prefer a Classy Environment, Cortland Ave Is Right for You”

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

Our friends at Yahoo recently unveiled a new “Local” news page for Bernal Heights. It contains content from a variety of questionable sources that range from the merely dubious (such as Bernalwood) to the inadvertently hilarious.

The latter category includes a recent piece by Maryam Louise, in which Maryam evaluates the bar scene on Cortland Street from the perspective of someone who would probably rather be in South Beach, Miami. The result is an article that reads as if it could have been written by Lindsay Lohan during one of her drinky relapses:

To summarize the bars in Bernal Heights on Cortland Ave in a nutshell, they are geared toward people over the age of 25 that love budget happy hour specials. In addition, these bars close at 2 AM and offer a party animal spirit without the wild bar fights of the Mission District. If you are older, like to party, but prefer a classy environment, Cortland Ave is right for you.

In some neighborhoods, nightlife is hard to find. Bars are scattered throughout the community and make it difficult to browse. Typically, most alcohol drinkers love to move from one bar to the other within walking distance. It is always nice to start at one place that is quieter and then move on to food or dancing.

On Cortland Avenue in Bernal Heights, bar hopping is an easy task to accomplish. Within 2 blocks, there are over 4 different bars to choose from. Sadly, there is not a bar that specifically focuses on being a nightclub seven days a week, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t dancing and dance music playing.

It’s now only a matter of time until Cortland is overrun with Hummer limousines and underage kids waiting in line behind velvet ropes to enter the Stray Bar. But in the meantime, if you see a slightly tipsy young woman in a cocktail dress wandering Cortland in search of a techno beat, approach her gently and ask if her name is Maryam. If she says yes, urge her to call her mom to come pick her up.

Terrible News for Bernal Heights and Mission District Jews Seeking the Traditional Christmas Dinner

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

Bad News for Jews
Devastating news for any Bernal Heights or Mission District Jews who planned to mark Christmas Day with a traditional feast of Chinese cuisine: Mission Chinese Food, the area’s most amazing Chinese restaurant (within a Chinese restaurant), is closed until Sunday, December 26. Oy! So so sad. And so unsettling for the Sino-Judaic Christmas alliance.

As a backup, might I suggest Z and Y Restaurant in Chinatown? Good luck.

Photo: Telstar Logistics

Bernal Heights Milk Punch: Our Official Complicated Cocktail for Winter 2010

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

Erik Ellestad runs a sweet blog called Underhill Lounge that’s about “Cocktails, Food, and Gardening South of the Hill in Bernal Heights.” The cocktail part comes first because Erik is serious about his mixology — so serious, in fact, that he created a special cocktail for the 2010 holiday season called (wait for it…) Bernal  Heights Milk Punch.

Erik says, “It is a tasty punch, though a rather odd procedure.”

He’s not kidding about that. Near as I can tell, if you start right now, you might enjoy your first sip of Bernal Heights Milk Punch by 2011. But the name is swell, and it sure looks cocktailicious. Thanks Erik!

Bernal Heights Milk Punch, Holidays 2010

1 Bottle Osocalis Brandy
1/2 Bottle Batavia Arrack
1/3 Bottle Coruba Jamaican Rum
2/3 Bottle Barbancourt White Rum
Peel 4 Grapefruit
Peel 8 Lemon
Peel 1 Orange
2 teaspoon Cardamom Pods, crushed
2 teaspoon Coriander Seed, crushed
2 Cassia Cinnamon Sticks
20 oz Water
16 oz Sugar
4 tsp. Hubei Silver Tip Green Tea

1 Quart Straus Farms Whole Milk

Method:
Zest citrus and add zest to Brandy, Rums, and Arrack. Juice Oranges, Grapefruit and 6 Lemons, strain, and add to aforementioned liquid. Add Spices. Allow to infuse for at least 48 hours.

Heat water and add tea. Steep 6 minutes and stir in sugar. Strain tea leaves out of syrup and chill.

Strain Peels and Spices out of Liquid. Juice other two lemons and add to Flavored Booze Mixture. Heat milk to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Add to Flavored Booze Mixture. Allow to stand undisturbed for 30 minutes and filter through cheesecloth, removing milk solids. Add Tea Syrup to filtered booze mixture and pour into clean containers. Allow to stand for a couple days*. Rack clear liquid off of any accumulated sediment into clean bottles and store. Chill well before serving. Serve on ice and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg. Makes about 3 quarts.

*If you have space in your refrigerator, storing the punch chilled will greatly accelerate the separation of the remaining milk solids from the other liquids.

A Paean to the Killer Quiche from the Liberty Cafe Bakery

/ Todd_Lappin

Bernalwood recently received a foodie tip from Bernalite Clare Middleton-Detzner, which we are republishing here as a gastronomic public service. Clare writes:

Sundays are for laziness. Yet even on lazy Sundays, there comes a moment between breakfast and dinner when a snack is required. (Lunch would be too ambitious.) For this, I head to the cottage behind the Liberty Cafe to grab a piece of their delicious, custard-like quiche.

Usually it is ham and cheese quiche. Sometimes spinach and cheese. But it doesn’t matter, because it will always be delicious, and it will always make you feel grateful to live in Bernalwood, the kind of place where you can get a slice of world-class quiche any day of the week.

Images: Clare Middleton-Detzner

Rumor Report: SoCha Cafe May Become a Wine Bar

/ Todd_Lappin / 4 Comments

socha cafe (3)

La Lengua’s chief spokesblogger Burrito Justice reports that the SoCha Cafe on Mission Street may soon become an outpost of North Beach wine bar Dell’Uva. EaterSF follows up with the note that “the manager on duty today confirms they’re in landlord negotiations for the space, but nothing is definite yet.”

This is no doubt good news to oenophiles. But it’s bad news for me, because the current cafe is terrific, and it’s one of my favorite places to get out of the house to some reading and writing. Oh well. On the other hand, a name change at SoCha might put an end, once and for all, to any lingering confusion about the proper name of the territory where the establishment is located.

Image: SoCha Cafe interior, by Carlos Almendarez