27.3.17

Lucky Peach is dying. Long live Lucky Peach!


Let’s be honest. From the beginning, Lucky Peach was a glorified ‘zine.

A GLORIFIED ‘ZINE!

Imagine if someone dedicated their lives to publishing an elaborate ‘zine1 about your favorite topic2 and somehow kept doing it for years. And then they had to stop.3 People: let’s pause for a second from our preoccupation with the crumbling of American democracy and give this thing a proper send-off.4

(1) It was much more than a ‘zine of course. It was often a dissertation, a biopic, a graphic novella, a great cookbook, and inside baseball all wrapped in one package that was delivered to your doorstep for the cost of a pizza. It was Andy Kaufman-esque meta-food writing, exuberantly unfolding in long-form irrationality and dirty napkins. 

(2) And it wasn’t just writing about food, but rather, Food. Of course I’m biased as someone who works in food, who’s written about food and who eats food (not to mention knowing several people who worked on Lucky Peach). But let’s put that aside for a second. I can’t think of a genre that needed to be expanded ripped a new one transcended more than food writing. I mean let’s really be honest, food writing is really hard. It’s usually “yum” in 500 words. Lucky Peach put a crowbar in the seams and cracked it open. The Big Lebowski is not really a bowling movie and cooking is not just about food. If you’re a cook/chef and people who you think are cool think that’s cool, at least a small part of that is because of Lucky Peach. Even if they never read it.  

(3) Since I know people who worked at Lucky Peach, I want to give them a shout out for being so dedicated. It never had to be so detailed and robust and creative, but the extent of that, the sheer length even, is testament to how much they care(d) and how much they gave. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes, but I hope everyone can all stay friends. 

(4) Okay so having gotten through some of my own commentary, I want to propose a proper sendoff. Let’s share our memories, GIFs, photos, essays, karaoke tributes or (your own ‘zine?) in honor of the #LPeffect. What did Lucky Peach mean to you. Let’s have the eulogies before the funeral so we can go out on a high note.




4.10.16

MSF Returns on 10/24/16: Can It Be That It Was All So Simple Then?



Eight years ago we tried something a little different. This was before Instagram and before Barack Obama was elected President. Actually, it was during an election season, and maybe that’s what’s gotten us a little nostalgic.

In October 2008, we sublet a Guatemalan snack truck to serve something called a "PB & J"(Crispy [P]ork [B]elly & marinated [J]icama on a buttery scallion pancake-ish flatbread). There was a moment where I was standing on the corner with a cooler of mise en place, anxiously waiting for Senor Gomez to bring his little food truck and that was really the end of the innocence. I saw another dude standing not too far away also waiting for something. He was my first customer and a line was forming.

Karen ran  from BART to join the fray that was the first night of Mission Street Food. She alternated between chatting with customers and running back to our apartment to bake cookies to sell to the line. We went home, started this blog, and  crashed. We did it again the next week and again the next. We moved into a run-down Chinese restaurant and did it again, while inviting guest cooks to join us. We liked to think that we were starting an indie chef movement. We ran 2 pop-ups each week and by the end, pulled off 140 unique menus. Karen called it the equivalent of planning a wedding twice a week.

After a couple of years, we started Mission Chinese Food and Commonwealth with our friends. We made some money for local charities. Karen co-wrote two books, I worked on various projects, and we had a baby.

Then we had the anxieties that come with parenthood. We worried about the food we were feeding our daughter and the kind of world we'd be leaving behind for her. We started learning about food politics, sustainability and regenerative farming. We started The Perennial. We became totally obsessed with how food can reverse climate change. It's our new hobby.

A lot has happened in the last eight years, but we still enjoy a good pop up. So on Monday, October 24th 2016 we're going all the way back to those fun-loving, halcyon days with Mission Street Food at The Perennial (a stone’s throw from Mission St. on 9th Street, so a kind of MSF). We'll have dishes you can't get anywhere else from Chris Ying, Caitlin Koether, Jordan Grosser, Ted Fleury and yours truly including some MSF classics (like PB&J) and a bunch of newbies too. Music by David Cabello and karaoke in the bar. A few more of our old compatriots have promised to help, too. Come along and feel some feelings with us. The more things change, the more they stay the same, right?

RESERVATIONS HERE

18.5.13

The Making of a Charitable Food Movement



Mission Street Food began as a kind of accident, which gathered momentum as it evolved from a food truck into a pop-up and then Mission Chinese Food and now even an outpost in New York.

A few years later, we’re hoping that another half-baked idea can pick up steam and become something real and lasting, but this time the goal is not just a charitable restaurant but a full-fledged charitable food movement. We will need help to make it happen, just like last time, but we hope you will feel as excited by the potential as we do.

First a bit of background: a few months ago, we started talking with The Kitchen Sisters, who produce radio for KQED, about a big event they are curating at SFMOMA. The theme is “The Making Of…” and they’re bringing more than a hundred local artists and artisans to do what they love to do—from making hats to building furniture out of mushrooms—right in the middle of the museum. We wondered what we could do, and as we daydreamed, we came upon the idea of “The Making of a Charitable Food Movement,” which would be a participatory exhibit in which museumgoers would help us build a new food culture on the spot.

So here’s what we have planned: On Friday May 31st, as part of the “Making Of…” exhibit at The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, hosted by acclaimed radio producers, The Kitchen Sisters, we’re putting together an event called “The Making of a Charitable Restaurant Movement.” The idea is to demonstrate a robust public interest in making food more meaningful by giving back.

More than forty of the city’s most respected restaurants will sell $50 gift certificates, of which $5 will fund meals for people in need; gift certificates will be available for purchase May 31 from 10am to 6pm at the museum and online.

At the museum, chefs from Bar Tartine, La Cocina, Mission Chinese Food, Stag Dining Group, Tacolicious and Wise Sons Deli will serve snacks for $5 apiece, of which $1 will be donated to The Food Bank. The event will also feature cooking demonstrations by Chad Robertson (Tartine Bakery), Thomas McNaughton (Flour + Water), Jason Fox (Commonwealth), Ryan Pollnow (Central Kitchen) and Jesse Koide (Mission Chinese Food).

For every dollar raised by this event, The Food Bank will be able to provide three meals for hungry people in the Bay Area—and the need has been rising in the last few years.

We’re launching a new entity, called ShareTable.org, which is a philanthropic platform created for this event, but if enough money is raised to feed 50,000 people, we will expand the endeavor into an ongoing accelerator helping restaurants to benefit their communities.

For us, this feels like a bit of a return to the old days of Mission Street Food, when we invited guest chefs to join us in the kitchen and asked customers to bear with our occasional mis-steps for the sake of giving back to our communities. We are even returning here, to our old blog, where we used to announce our latest scheme, from “Mexiterranean” night to “2011: A Seafood Odyssey.” Now we are asking for you to get involved again, whether that means eating charitable snacks at the museum on May 31, or buying gift certificates at the event or online, or just helping us spread the word to get ShareTable.org off the ground. This is, by definition, a community effort, and we hope you will join in.

* * *

Full list of participants: Ame, Atelier Crenn, Bar Agricole, Bar Tartine, Benu, BiRite Market, Boulevard, Café Des Amis, Camino, Central Kitchen, Coi, Commis, Commonwealth, Cotogna, Delfina, Fifth Floor, Flour + Water, Foreign Cinema, Frances, Jardiniere, Locanda, Marlowe, Michael Mina, Mission Bowling Club, Mission Chinese Food, Nopa, Park Tavern, Perbacco, Pizzeria Delfina, Prospect, Quince, Rich Table, RN74, Saison, Salumeria, Sons & Daughters, Spruce, State Bird Provisions, St. Vincent, Tacolicious, Tartine Bakery, Wise Sons Deli, Zuni Café.



31.5.12

The Ideal Restaurant?



I left the San Francisco Food Bank yesterday full of hope—we may be able to build a truly charitable restaurant, which would serve amazing food and turn all its profits toward feeding the hungry—but we need your vote to get started.

Here's my pitch:

For the last two years, Mission Chinese Food has been raising money for the Food Bank: more than $125,000 so far. But we could do even more. I’ve been sketching plans to serve food inside the Food Bank itself, in their warehouse, as a kind of a hybrid between restaurant and fundraiser. The warehouse is pretty exhilarating to behold with immense skylights and massive aisles of produce and 2,000-pound bags of rice being mobilized for distribution across the city. There’s a space in the middle that clears out around 6pm each day and could probably fit a kitchen on wheels and about 20 seats, and though it’s just a swath of concrete in a warehouse, I think it could be home to an extraordinary restaurant.

Apart from the dramatic setting and the idealistic nature of the establishment, I think it would also be able to transcend conventional restaurant economics and offer unparalleled value by way of non-profit partnership. Diners could make a donation beforehand to secure a reservation, then reap the benefits of subsidized food and labor, and the absence of tax and gratuity. Meanwhile, the Food Bank would use its savings on food, labor and overhead—all of which could generate over $1000 per night to feed those in need. It’s a win-win.

At this point, it’s still just a dream because there would be many hurdles—approval from the board of directors, legal permits, finding the right chef, and all the other challenges that every new restaurant faces. Nevertheless, We're applying for a small business grant from Mission: Small Business to try to make this dream a reality. We need your vote to make it to the next round of consideration.

If you are a supporter of Mission Street Food, Mission Burger, Mission Chinese Food, Commonwealth Restaurant and/or Mission Bowling Club, please log on to Mission: Small business and vote for us. Regrettably, the site requires you to log in and then to search "Mission Chinese Food." Note: this is a Mission Street Food project, and is not related to Mission Chinese Food, but the application process was clunky, not very clear and, as it turns out, uneditable. So please help us get this grant by searching for "Mission Chinese Food," and encourage your friends to do the same.

Thanks in advance,

Anthony Myint

10.2.12

What do you get if you cross Ping Pong with Bowling?





Or rather, what if the world's two greatest sports went on a date to an open-bar party?

Find out this weekend, when Mission Bowling Club will be previewing a few items from its forthcoming menu and American Tripps will be organizing Berlin-style ping pong at the Noise Pop Pop-Up Shop on Friday (2/10) and Saturday (2/11). At the Bold Italic (34 Page Street); festivities begin at 6pm. $5 cover.


Menu:

Friday 2/10

Mission Burger
granulated patty, caramelized onion, monterey jack, caper aioli

CA Spring Roll
fresh peas, radishes, cocoa butter, rice, nori,

Sopaipilla
roasted Cauliflower, pickled apple, edamame, eggplant

Buttermilk Pannacotta
chamomile brittle, spring herbs, mint oil


2/11

Jerk Pork Shoulder
smoked, with black beans, sour cream, plantain flatbread

Vegan Sandwich
chickpea, kale & shitake fritter, topped with fennel and spicy avocado

CA Spring Roll
fresh peas, radishes, cocoa butter, rice, nori

Babamisu
mascarpone stuffed baba with espresso bubbles

1.4.11

Food Politics


We wrote a book about food. It’s more about the taste of food than the politics of food, but the process made us think hard about our values, and we decided to donate a portion of our book sales to food activism. We still believe in the importance of consumer choices, like buying locally, but food policy in this country is so messed up that we need a more direct and systemic approach--especially now, when Congress is preparing to work on the 2012 Farm Bill, which will affect the way we eat as a nation for years to come. We need to put our money where our mouths are, literally.

Together with our publisher, McSweeney’s, we’ve worked out an arrangement to benefit Slow Food USA in their campaign to make the next Farm Bill feed our nation, and not just the bank accounts of agribusiness. For every pre-sale purchase of our book through the McSweeney’s online store, a $10 donation will go to Slow Food USA. Copies purchased later or from other booksellers will result in a smaller donation.

And by the way, our book is called Mission Street Food: Recipes and Ideas from an Improbable Restaurant and it will come out this summer. Here’s a description from McSweeney’s:

Mission Street Food is a restaurant. But it’s also a charitable organization, a taco truck, a burger stand, and a clubhouse for inventive cooks tucked inside an unassuming Chinese take-out place. In all its various incarnations, it upends traditional restaurant conventions, in search of moral and culinary satisfaction.



Like Mission Street Food itself, this book is more than one thing: it’s a cookbook featuring step-by-step photography and sly commentary, but it’s also the memoir of a madcap project that redefined the authors’ marriage and a city’s food scene. Along with stories and recipes, you’ll find an idealistic business plan, a cheeky manifesto, and thoughtful essays on issues ranging from food pantries to fried chicken. Plus, a comic.



Ultimately, Mission Street Food: Recipes and Ideas from an Improbable Restaurant presents an iconoclastic vision of cooking and eating in twenty-first century America.

***THIS IS A PREORDER. If you order now, your book will ship in late July, and a full $10 of your purchase will be donated to Slow Food USA.)***

5.1.11

New Hours at Mission Chinese Food

In an effort to maintain quality and consistency, the staff at Mission Chinese Food and Lung Shan have made a joint decision to adjust our operating hours. The new hours will go into effect starting Monday (January 10th).

Open 11:30am to 10:30pm
Closed Wednesday

We will also no longer take reservations, though we encourage you to call if your party is larger than 4 people so we can best accommodate you. There is no wait during off-peak hours and during peak hours the wait time is typically no more than 20 minutes.

We just don't have an English speaking reservationist or hostess and are sick of making people wait outside while other people are late for their reservation, then get mad at us when there's no table for them--which happens enough to necessitate a policy change.

Thanks for your support.


photo courtesy of Nathan Hazzard