La Taza opens a bar
Neighborhood brunch spot La Taza last week launched Bar Tza, its nighttime incarnation, in a soft opening on Thursday. Next to the original restaurant, Bar Tza at 2481 Mission St. at 21st is serving specialty cocktails, wine and beer, plus some snacks that aren’t on the restaurant menu — like shrimp mojo de ajo and pineapple guacamole.
La Vaca Birria opens a pizzeria
After closing his franchise of Top Round Roast Beef and reopening as La Vaca Birria last year, owner Ricardo Lopez on Thursday opened Don Pancho Pizzeria, a Mexican-style pizza shop he’s running out of his existing restaurant at 2962 24th St. at Alabama.
The menu starts with a birria pizza, because that’s the main event here, but there’s also housemade chorizo, mole verde and an “Elotero” pizza with corn and cotija cheese.
Noncitizen voting in School Board election
If you aren’t a U.S. citizen, but are a resident of San Francisco and a parent to a child who lives in the city, you may be eligible to vote in the upcoming School Board election. You must register by Jan. 31.
Click here for the form, which must be completed and returned to the Department of Elections by mail, or in person at City Hall. For more information on voting and the upcoming Feb. 15 special election, including in languages other than English, click here.
Feedback for Folsom Street changes
Folsom Street between 20th and 22nd streets is up for a makeover, with median islands, speed cushions, and new red zones proposed. For more information on the changes, click here.
If you have opinions to share about the project, email sustainable.streets@sfmta.com with the subject line “Public Hearing,” or attend the public hearing virtually on Friday, Jan. 21 at 10 a.m. To participate, visit SFMTA.com/ENGhearing or call 888-398-2342.
Kite festival in Golden Gate Park
In celebration of basant, or spring, the American India Foundation will hold a kite festival this weekend at Lindley Meadow at Golden Gate Park. The AIF works to bring social and economic change to India, and proceeds from the event will go to the organization’s Covid-19 relief efforts.
The festival will be held on Friday Jan. 22, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. For details, click here.
‘The City Canvas: A Paint the Void Retrospective‘
This weekend and next, some of the artists who helped uplift us during the pandemic by painting boarded-up storefronts will come together for an art show retrospective at Pier 70. This Saturday is the first show, from noon to 6 p.m.
Food will be hosted by La Cocina SF, and DJs will be spinning tunes. The event is free, but register for a spot here!
Castro mural defaced
A historic mural depicting solidarity during the AIDS epidemic in the Castro at 16th and Market streets was defaced last month, and Precita Eyes Muralists is working to raise funds to restore the piece.
Susan Cervantes, who directed the Hope for the World Cure mural’s creation in 1998, called it “an important part of the history of the area and the people who live there.” The mural was a collaboration between Precita Eyes and Art from the Heart Heals, a group of artists who lived with HIV/AIDS.
To donate, click here and specify HOPE in the donation form.