CAFE LA BOHEME 6 A.M. Good Morning Mission! A chilled 50° Fahrenheit, with clouds coming in over Twin Peaks. No rain, so they say. Headline stolen from Victor Escobedo of Paplote.
Invasion from the North (or South)
Corn-loving Venezuelans from Napa are about to descend on 15th and Mission. Pica Pica Maize Kitchen takes over the space last held by Mi Lindo Yucatan #1. The Kitchen serves a variety of Venezuelan dishes rarely seen in this corner of “Latin America”. A different taste, a different style, and who knows, maybe Hugo Chavez will show up one day. (Not if Hillary has anything to say about it. She was wagging her finger at him again recently in Rio. Ever since Chavez gave Obama Eduardo Galleano’s excellent history Open Veins of Latin America, the Obama Admin has been down on him. Can’t imagine why. After all, they’re both socialists, right?)
Mission Muralist in Morelia
One place Hillary will definitely not be visiting on her southern tour is Chiapas, Mexico, home of the Zapatistas. Too bad. She’ll miss Todd Brown of the Red Poppy Art House who’s been invited to organize artists to paint three murals in a week on the main walls of the newly-built Caracol center in Morelia. Apparently Todd has an international reputation for being a fast worker. Meanwhile, we note the Poppy, which has been at the unpretentious center of the arts renaissance in the Mission, now receives support from The Hewlett Foundation, previously known for safe and stodgy establishmentarian grantmaking. The grandkids — the great-grandkids (?) — must be infiltrating the Board.
Rich on Cheap (Good) Food
Here’s the situation: You’ve got 80 friends coming over for dinner, and you’ve got $50 bucks. What do you do? KFC? A pot of pasta? Sarah Rich has a better idea. It will take a little work, not to mention waking up (gasp) before dawn, but as she points out “you get into the unseen world between the farm and the table.”
She’s Got the Whole World In Her Hands
As if health care reform, climate change and mass unemployment weren’t enough, the Vice President of something called The Economic Policy Institute, claims “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds the fate of Social Security in her hands.” OMG! Who would put the future of Social Security in the hands of a Pacific Heights matron who’s already at wits’ end (to be fair she’s been there for a while)? But the writer has a good point, a number of them; and among the most pressing: what will be the cost of passing a health care bill in the House?
Save MUNI, Eat Ice Cream, Take a Nap
Don’t forget the MUNI Summit tomorrow morning at the Women’s Building. We’ve heard quite a bit a grumbling from people of the younger persuasion that the Summit was designed to exclude them, being that it starts at 9 (in the morning!) and ends at 1 in the afternoon, when anyone seriously under 30 is just waking up on Saturday. Surprise the organizers (and yourself)! Special added bonus: Bi-Rite Creamery, just a couple blocks away, is back! (Doors open at 11 on Saturday) Afterward you’ll still find plenty of time for a solid nap before the night’s more interesting parties begin.