I’ve finally settled in to try to figure out why my WordPress isn’t dancing with GoDaddy no more. When I have it figured out, I’ll update this. Probably.
January 12, 2015
August 5, 2013
Another source for North Coast’s Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout in San Francisco
Before a chance met friend pointed me to the Kezar back in June 2011, the only place I knew to find North Coast’s Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout on tap was at the mothership, the North Coast brewpub up in Fort Bragg. That’s fine for the few times a year we go up for a few days, but not for those of us who think Old Rasputin is tops and would rather have it on draft than in a pricey dinky bottle.
For those who are searching for Old Rasputin on tap in San Francisco, we found it yesterday at Inferno Pizza, 1800 Fillmore St, corner of Sutter. (Tasty pizza there as well. …)
Old Rasputin is also available at the Kezar Bar (900 Cole @ Carl). (Not at the other Kezar Bar on Stanyan, I’ve been told.)
The Page at 298 Divisadero Street (at Page) also has it on nitro-tap, alleges the Web. We’ll check that out soon.
Know of any other places in San Francisco where Old Rasputin is on tap? Comments welcome!
[This has been a public service for those hankering for Old Rasputin on tap in San Francisco]
March 5, 2013
This week’s Photo Friday challenge: Mornings
This week’s challenge: Mornings
09 Jan 2012. 8:33A Pier 14, San Francisco
January 26, 2013
October 23, 2012
October 19, 2012
In which I go to a concert at the Bill Graham Memorial Civic Auditorium
I missed a special event down the peninsula that my pal Karin was involved with last night because we were at the Bill Graham Memorial Civic Auditorium for a joint (heh heh. The SMOKE in the building!) concert with Mark Knopfler (who was excellent) and Bob Dylan (who was sounding very much like Dr. John).
Back during the first Live Aid (1985), our daughter Anne came in from watching part of the concert and said, “But who was the funny-looking guy who can’t sing?” We were able to guess correctly without much trying.
Dylan’s voice is raspier. His range is abbreviated. He’s changed his music to reflect those factors. I could, every once in a while, recognize a lyric and realize he was, f’rex, singing “Highway 61″ or “Like A Rolling Stone.” But when you’re straining to hear lyrics and it takes you a good twenty seconds to recognize he’s singing “Blowin’ In The Wind” =despite= the fact you’re hanging around at the back of the venue for the predictable encore and you are willing to lay bets that the predictable encore will be “Blowin’ In The Wind” being as it’s an election year … well, that says something.
He sounded so much like Dr. John it’s as though he’s been taking pointers. But he’s in fine shape. Looked good. Was obviously having a good time. Fine fettle. Good musicians backing him.
And there’s nothing wrong with sounding like Dr. John.
But I’d seen Dr. John at The Independent a few days after my birthday in August and hadn’t been expecting him or a Dylan who sounded like him last night.
We bumped into the illustrious William T. Quick et compagnon whilst waiting for Muni to deliver us home. They, too, had been at the concert albeit in upper crust seats rather than standing with the plebes on the general admission floor. Animated dissection of the concert followed and continued on Muni for two stops, where we disembarked and caught a surface-street bus to the bottom of the hill.
Up the hill and down again and home, with memories.
September 5, 2012
Tasty Txoko on Broadway
It was the last Saturday in July and I’d had lunch with my pals in MWA-NorCal at Villa d’Este on Ocean. The M-OceanView/45/39 connection brought me home in time to meet up with his nibs before we headed down to La Mar for before-dinner pisco sours (in honor of Peruvian Independence Day) and a beef empanada snack. We stopped off at Palio on our way home to say farewell and “Have fun!” to retiring chef/owner Dan Scherotter, who is moving on to interesting times.
We turned up Kearny toward North Beach as we walked home on a Saturday night. Dinner decision time: Original Joe’s? The House? Park Tavern? But wait! Broadway! Kearny! Txoko! at Kearny and Broadway. Perfect. And what a delicious meal I had: crispy pork headcheese, glazed beef cheek with crispy sweetbreads, Shishito peppers with sea salt. Tasty. Perfect. The mains were staged on a medley of tasty peppers and vegetables blended with sauces, more. Bringing the Basque back to North Beach.
The food at Txoko’s is amazing. The wine list has an interesting selection of Spanish wines. The service was low key and on the money. What a perfect evening.
I was talking up Txoko’s to a friend of ours recently and he said, “But it’s on [gasp] Broadway.”
Well, yes. It is. In the former Enrico’s space. Hello? Did people not go to Enrico’s because it was on [gasp] Broadway? Two-star Michelin Coi is across the street and down a block and a half.
*sigh* Oh, what a sorry rep the Broadway strip has, but it was always thus.
Txoko’s has the food and ambiance (see the Jeremy Fish mural on the back wall) to be a magnet for local foodies. I wish I could convince more people (neighbors especially, who just have to walk down the hill) to get down there and see what I mean.
July 23, 2012
April 30, 2012
This week’s Photo Friday challenge: Portraiture
This week’s challenge: Portraiture.
Some mother’s son, guarding the border between China and Pakistan, along the Karakoram Highway. 7-Oct-2006.
7-Oct-2006. On the Chinese side of the border with Pakistan.
A Self-Made Man Looks At How He Made It
John Scalzi posted today about the people/community/society/world that helped make him the self-made success that he is.
“There is a flip side to this as well. I have helped others too. I am financially successful now; I pay a lot of taxes. I don’t mind because I know how taxes helped me to get to the fortunate position I am in today. I hope the taxes I pay will help some military wife give birth, a mother who needs help feed her child, help another child learn and fall in love with the written word, and help still another get through college. Likewise, I am in a socially advantageous position now, where I can help promote the work of others here and in other places. I do it because I can, because I think I should and because I remember those who helped me. It honors them and it sets the example for those I help to help those who follow them.
I know what I have been given and what I have taken. I know to whom I owe. I know that what work I have done and what I have achieved doesn’t exist in a vacuum or outside of a larger context, or without the work and investment of other people, both within the immediate scope of my life and outside of it. I like the idea that I pay it forward, both with the people I can help personally and with those who will never know that some small portion of their own hopefully good fortune is made possible by me.”