Bernal Sushi Chef Deemed Best Bartender in San Francisco

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Neighbor Erik Ellestad, writes the cocktail-intensive Savoy Stomp blog, and works as a bartender. He admires Ichi Sushi on Mission Street for a very unusual (but very thoughtful) reason…

The other day, while I was working with him at Alembic, Danny Louie asked me what bartenders I admired in San Francisco.

I went through the litany of respected bartenders I admire in San Francisco and why.

But later, I was thinking about it, and another candidate for my favorite tender of a bar doesn’t make drinks at all.

Tim Archuleta and his wife run Ichi Sushi in my San Francisco neighborhood.

Tim runs his Sushi Bar more like a neighborhood Sushi Tavern, greeting guests as the come in. Asking them about their families or dogs. Keeping track of the progress of the various diners’ meals at his sushi bar. Pacing people’s meals so they don’t get too full or wait too long. All the while, cutting and serving some of the freshest sushi I’ve ever tasted.

I really admire the spirit he brings to the restaurant and to his guests.

Every time we go in, I usually just say chef’s choice and tell him how much we’d like to eat and what we are in the mood for.

It’s really fun, the way he paces the meal, starting with lighter fare, throwing in a few cooked dishes, and finishing again with lighter, almost dessert sushi.

Watching him work has made me think about how to properly pace and what order to serve people drinks. What drink is best first, what to follow with, what to finish with. If a guest asks you what to pair a dish with, what do you tell them?

PHOTO: Tim Archuleta, by John Storey via SFGate

It Was a Lovely Night for a 2011 Holiday Stroll

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Holiday Stroll

Holiday Stroll

Holiday Stroll

Holiday Stroll

Last night’s Holiday Stroll was really really lovely. The only thing that could have possibly made it better was 6″ of freshly fallen snow and a reindeer with a red nose pulling a sleigh down Cortland.

As it was, the weather was brisk-but-bracing, and Cortland was at its small-town best. Last year’s Holiday Stroll was terrific too, but my estimates, the 2011 edition was about 67% more charming, 81% more musical, and the sidewalks seemed 44% more crowded. In a very good way. It was great to see you all, neighbors!

Holiday Stroll

Holiday Stroll

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Give a Toy, Get a Drink, at the Stray Bar

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Stray Bar

Karen from the Stray Bar on Cortland is doing her part to make this holiday merry for some less-fortunate kids this year. Play along, and she’ll give you something yummy to drink:

Stray Bar’s Destination North Pole & 3rd annual SFFD Toy Drive Party

Join us in helping to fill Santa’s Sleigh — bring an unwrapped toy for a deserving Bay Area child and help spread the holiday joy! Receive a complimentary glass of wine or pint of beer for each toy. Our holiday party is Friday December 9th. Get in the holiday spirit with DJ Santa (aka Flirty G), enjoy hors d’oeuvres, holiday cookies, and party with the Stray Bar elves all night!

Help us break last year’s record of 3 full bins of toys. We hope to overwhelm our friend’s at the local fire dept with a few car loads of toys.

We will continue to collect donated toys through December 20th — at which point we will deliver the toys to the SFFD station on Folsom Street.

We know that December is a busy month filled with parties & celebrations — consider stopping by for a pre-party drink or pass this message along to friends and neighbors who might be interested. We appreciate your assistance in helping us gather as many toys as possible!

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics

Grinch Thieves Steal Laptop From Rock Candy Snack Shop

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This makes me so angry. Reader J. visited the new Rock Candy Snack Shop on Cortland today, but Heather Young, the store’s co-owner, had a very bad day:

I was walking by the new candy store this afternoon and finally went in for the first time to check it out. What I found was poor Heather sobbing uncontrollably while talking to the police on the phone. Apparently two people came in, the girl asked Heather for a glass of water, Heather nicely went to the back of the store while the other ran off with her brand new laptop. She was really shook up. She also told me this was the second robbery at her store! First time they took money, but not at gunpoint. I felt so bad that I couldnt help her so that I bought a chocolate advent calendar.

Grrrrrrr. Seeeeeeeeeeeethe.

Needless to say, if anyone has any information that could assist in the apprehension of the vermin who grabbed the computer, please contact the SFPD’s  Ingleside Station.

PHOTO: Heather from Rock Candy Snack Shop, by Telstar Logistics

… In Which I Am Revealed to Be Only Marginally Prepared for a Very Big Earthquake

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A few months ago, I volunteered myself, my daughter, and my home to serve as on-camera crash-test dummies for a series of earthquake-preparedness videos produced by Totally Unprepared, a public-awareness organization which describes itself as…

… what happens when you put forward-thinking state agencies, earthquake geeks, social media nerds, a web analytics genius, a professional filmmaker, a hot firefighter or two, and a bunch of unsuspecting Californians in a blender and hit frappe.

During their visit to our home, Totally Unprepared pretty much put us through a blender and hit frappe. But that’s what we’d signed up for, to foster better earthquake preparedness in California — and the Dominion of Bernalwood.

The videos have been now released as a series of installments optimized for Web-length attention spans, and they feature both me and Bernalwood’s brave Cub Reporter. In the first episode, our home is given a thorough inspection, and we are subjected to a somewhat terrifying jostle in an earthquake simulator — which the Cub Reporter endured with true native-Californian aplomb:

In the second installment, we hone our duck-and-cover technique in various awkward and uncomfortable places throughout our home:

The third episode reveals (somewhat embarrassingly) that I had neglected to properly secure the bookcase that sits next to the Cub Reporter’s cute little Hello Kitty bed. DOH!

Thus, with my humiliation complete, I now encourage you to find out more about how to prepare for the Big One.

Canine Costume Contest, During Cortland Holiday Stroll

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In the ecumenical spirit of the 2011 Cortland Holiday Stroll tomorrow night, there’s a special event for our canine friends during the evening’s festivities, as part of Fit Bernal Fit’s superchic Doggie Holiday Winter Wear fashion contest.

fBf & Photography by Jean Pedigo’s annual Doggie Holiday Winter Wear contest returns 12/8/11 from 6-9 pm during Bernal’s Holiday Stroll! Get your dog’s winter wear ready. All dogs are welcome to participate.

Step it up, style hounds, and we’ll see you on the street.


PHOTO: A 2010 contestant,  via Fit Bernal Fit

This Week: Raffle to Benefit Bernal Library Mural Project

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Neighbor Brandon dialed the Bernalwood hotline this morning to alert us to a raffle that’s being held this week to benefit the new mural on the Bernal Heights Branch Library:

You can win awesome prizes from local merchants (and a certain neighborhood dads group…) in the Bernal Library Artwork Project’s holiday raffle! Tickets are 5 for $10, with all proceeds going directly to fund the new murals for our local library branch. Raffle tickets are on sale now at Heartfelt on Cortland, and also during the Holiday Stroll on Thursday evening!

Your raffle ticket could win:

  • One of two $100 gift certificates from Heartfelt
  • Opinel French pocket knife from Savoie, designed in 1890s, courtesy of Bernal Cutlery
  • One of two $25 gift certificates from Cole Hardware
  • One of two coupons for 10 cups of coffee, courtesy of Charlie’s Cafe
  • Two jars of pickles of the winner’s choosing, courtesy of Paulie’s Pickling

And the Grand(?) Prize…

Winners will be drawn 9:30 pm Thursday, 12/8, at our fundraiser at the Lucky Horseshoe on Cortland. You don’t need to be present to win, but come on out and enjoy the Annual Holiday Stroll and stop in at the Horseshoe for drink specials which benefit the library mural.

Ho-Ho-Ho! The Holiday Stroll Comes to Cortland Thursday Eve

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Holiday Stroll

Holiday Stroll

Last year was the first-ever Holiday Stroll on Cortland, and as you can see from the nostalgia-tinged photos above, it was glamorous, festive, and fun. It was so much fun, in fact, that the Bernal Business Alliance has decided to do it again this year, on Thursday, December 8, 2011 from 6-9 pm. The BBA sayeth:

Last year’s inaugural holiday stroll was such a success that – yes, you guessed it – we’re doing it again! […]

This year it will be even better…

  • live music
  • refreshments, treats and wine tasting
  • carol singing with the San Francisco Boys Chorus
  • special offers and competitions

And of course, more than 30 of our local businesses will be open late from 6pm through 9pm so you can take a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood without all the crazy downtown crowds and get your Christmas Shopping done a little early.

So wrap up warm and come and support your local merchants while having some seasonal fun at the 2nd Annual Bernal Heights Holiday Stroll!

PHOTOS: Top, Telstar Logistics

Kid Capitalists Create Delicious Popup Juice Stand

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Ellsworth Fruit Punch Stand

Ellsworth Fruit Punch Stand

Ellsworth Fruit Punch Stand

Who needs Odwalla or Naked Juice when we’ve got Clara, Audrey, Hannah, and Esme?

And why pay three-plus bucks for a factory-produced bottle of glop shipped in from godknowswhere, when you can pay just 25 cents for an all-natural cup of delicious fruit punch made by hand, with love, here in our own neighborhood? Seriously!

Last weekend, on Ellsworth just off Cortland, I sampled the beverages created by a gaggle of girls from the Bernal Heights Junior Capitalist Collaborative, which they offered for sale exclusively through their popup sidewalk distribution facility.

I have no idea what was in their top-secret recipe, but I do know for sure that it was packed full of yum. And watermelon. I’d say their business prospects are good, so long as they can avoid sampling too much of the merchandise:

DSC_3736.jpg

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Lone Runner Organizes, Wins the Inaugural Bernal Hill Marathon

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Bernal Heights Marathon, 2011

Bernal Heights Marathon, 2011

Bernal Heights Marathon, 2011

Dick Draxler is a 62 year-old Bernal Heights resident who likes to run long distances. Before this weekend, he’d completed 27 marathons. On Sunday, he notched number 28. He did that becoming both the organizer of and lone participant in the inaugural Bernal Hill Marathon, which took place with little fanfare yesterday on Bernal Heights Boulevard.

In an email Dick sent out on Friday night, he explained how the idea for the marathon was hatched:

Shortly after doing the ever feel-good Humboldt Redwoods Marathon in mid-October, I went online to commit to my fourth and final marathon of the 2011 season — the California International in Sacramento, a notoriously fast, slightly downhill race on Dec 4th, 2011. But much to my chagrin, it had filled quota over that weekend. I could still get one of 300 remaining “charity entries” for something like $250, but a charity shakedown is still a shakedown. I decided to do something of my own for free on that hill I wear out.

I measured it out, and a lap around Bernal Hill is basically .97 mile; times 27 hits 26.2 almost perfectly… I’ve got a marathon!

So there you have it. Sunday morning I’ll be up there at 8:00 to start a journey of 27 laps that will probably take me to 12:30 or 1:00 to complete, depending on distractions and/or visitors and/or “pacers” (which I hope to have a lot of). Come on up, be one of them. The weather looks to be beautiful, maybe too warm (damn!). Pop some corn, bring your lawnchairs, watch me come by every 9 to 10 minutes. Better yet, do a lap or two with me…I’ll gladly slow down or try to speed up to your pace. Get in on the first year before it becomes too big.

Fantastic! A self-organized marathon, with just one very determined participant. It was too late for Bernalwood to sign up as the media sponsor, so we instead showed up to lend our support.

I stopped by at around noon, at which point Dick had just completed the 21st lap of his 27 lap circular odyssey. To track his progress along the way, he kept an official tally in official chalk on an official curb near the south entrance of the park:

Bernal Heights Marathon, 2011

To be honest, he was making it look easy. The changes in elevation around the Bernal Heights Boulevard loop were challenging, he admitted. But what about the monotony? The same route, 27 times in a row? Dick laughed and shrugged that off, recalling a friend who once completed a marathon by running more than 500 times around the perimeter of an indoor gymnasium. “Compared to that, this is scenic,” he said.

After I left, Dick went on to complete the full marathon.

I did do all 27 laps. Do you know the low and high points (elevation) are on Bernal Heights Boulevard, so I can shout out total elevation gain/loss to marathoner nerds back in the mid-west?  The Bernal Heights Marathon is NOT an easy thing, with that hill times 27.

Frankly, I can only imagine.

But here’s the best part: Dick is thinking about organizing another Bernal Hill Marathon, and he thinks he know the perfect co-conspirator:

Maybe we have better chance of making it an annual event with bikini girl’s collaboration.

GENIUS!!

In the meantime, Bernalwood sends our hearty congratulations to Dick Draxler for his record-setting victory in the first-ever Bernal Hill Marathon. Well done, sir!

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Scenes from Opening Night at Tikva Records

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The Tikva Records pop-up shop opened on Mission Street last night, celebrating the event with a lovely opening party. Its a cool little venue, with a record store and listening area up front, a small room for viewing videos, and a cozy room in back for kibitzing.

They also defied the old cliche about Jewish weddings, providing both tasty food and ample drink for the guests:

There’s a full calendar of events lined up for the month, but be sure to get tickets in advance if any are of interest, because most will sell out. Or just drop by during the day for a listen. What you’ll find inside may come as quite a surprise:

BONUS UPDATE: It’s more than just a pretty cover. “Connie Francis Sings Jewish Favorites” is available on Spotify, in case you were wondering what it, you know, actually sounds like.

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics