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Archived Smirk

There's nothing like a good meal to make me smirk. Tonight, we went to Chow… which we have been walking by for almost a year, but never had time to wait in line for a table. We were lucky today, only having a 15 minute wait for a table. The meal consisted of an excellent Caesar salad, pasta with chicken and sausage, and a perfect pistachio cannoli. As we left the restaurant, the nice, balmy weather reminded me of the Gaslamp district of San Diego: the people milling around, the warm breeze, the aromas from all of the neighborhood restaurants… It's days like this that make me fall in love with San Francisco all over again.

Posted in Smirks.

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By Avery – September 6, 1998

Archived Observation

In San Francisco (and I'm sure in other cities as well), those infernal postcard racks are springing up in more and more public places, especially bars and restaurants. They are racks that are bolted to the wall that display about 12 or so different types of "postcards," free for the taking, which are actually just advertisements masquerading as postcards. I'm always astounded at how it attracts the young, very dressy, very conservative yuppie girls like moths to a flame. They run over to the display in pairs and coo at the cards, and sometimes they excitedly call their boyfriends over to see. What I want to know is, what do they do with those handfuls of free ads…I mean, postcards? Do they actually take the time to write someone a note, stamp it and mail it off to places not fortunate enough to have the postcard racks? Do they hang them on their bathroom mirrors? Decorate their cubicles at work? I guess it's OK, if your idea of interior decorating involves pictures of Mr. Jenkins or the Odwalla tangerines.  

Posted in Observations.

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By Janet – September 6, 1998

Beer Geeking

It’s not even worth thinking that if we go to the Toronado on a Saturday night that we’ll be back home before 2 am. Last night, Janet and I met up with Jocelyn, her brother Paul and Jocelyn’s college friend Shadee for what we initially thought would be a few beers and an early night. Well, it was an early night… or actually early in the morning… because I was eating turkey schwarma in front of the TV at 3am.

It’s always fun going to the Toronado with some adventurous souls who have never been there before and have no idea what to order. As usual, I was pegged as the beer geek and told to order for everyone…. well, everyone except for Janet, who decided to stick with Guinness and Framboise all night. Jocelyn ended up with a Boont Amber, Weinstephaner, and a Framboise. Paul started with a Paulaner Hefeweisen

and then moved on to some Belk’s ESB and a Framboise… some of the best beers in the world. Shadee ended up with a Red Hook Rye and a Framboise. Me? I ended up drinking Death and Taxes, Maximus, Hop Ottin IPA, Thurn und Taxis Roggen, and a Boont.

It was a fun night… Jocelyn regaled us with her stories about her exploits at Somewhere Else, another bar in San Francisco… Paul told room mate stories that topped even our best stories, and Tad, even though he wasn’t wearing a muscle shirt, flexed for us… but only once. Sigh… so many beers, so little time.

Posted in The Barfly Chronicles.

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By Avery – September 6, 1998

Poncho Wearing Crazy

An evening in the Lower Haight would not be complete without a crazy person coming into the Toronado. On the 4th of July it was that 20-something guy who wandered aimlessly around the bar, then claimed he was having a heart attack, started crying and saying that no one loved him, and finally started throwing drunken punches at the bartenders. Last night it was a older hippy-looking guy, complete with matching headband and poncho, who was evidently having some words with Ian the bartender. I’m guessing that he wasn’t too happy with the outcome of the conversation, because as he was leaving he started chanting “Hate-ful, hate-ful, hate-ful” and then in a fit of anger threw a…french fry. He was aiming for Ian, I’m sure, but it just happened to hit Avery square in the chest. Random Quote of the Night: Ian, as he lit a cigarette at 1:45 AM: “The law was written for me, as an employee, not for you guys, and I don’t really care. He cares, (pointing at Johnny, the other bartender) and I care about him, but I don’t care.” [referring to the no-smoking law in CA., which no one really pays attention to anymore.]

Posted in The Barfly Chronicles.

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By Janet – September 6, 1998

Rerouting

For some strange reason, I haven’t been having any MUNI trouble getting to work by 7:30 in the morning…a bus usually comes within 5 minutes and it’s never really packed. Getting home, however, has been an entirely different story. Since the underground is at a virtual standstill due to the glitch-ridden computerized automatic train system, I’ve been avoiding it like the plague. Evidently, so has everyone else. By the time any buses get to my stop, which is only, like, the third stop into the route, the buses are beyond full and the drivers won’t let anyone else on. On Thursday, since it was my turn to go to the grocery store, I waited for an F-line above-ground train which drops me off right there. 3 F’s went by completely full. All of the buses that take me within a block of my house were also full. After watching the full buses go by for half an hour, I started getting a panic attack. I was trapped downtown! There was no way to get home and it was way too far to walk! This could go on for hours! More and more people started standing at the bus stops, and every time a packed bus came along, a collective shout of four-letter words would ring out. Scowls were everywhere. To make a long story short, I ended up taking the 21 line, a bus that goes nowhere near my house or the grocery store. I ended up walking 8 or so blocks to Safeway and then walking the 5 blocks home. Of course I had on my most uncomfortable, most unruly work skirt on, the one that likes to twist around and “ride up” while you’re walking with a heavy bag on your shoulder. So not only was I pissed, starving and sick of walking in work shoes, I also had to keep pulling my skirt down every 2 minutes.
Total commute time, including the 9-items or less line at Safeway: 2 hours. (Usual time, including groceries: 45 mins.)

Posted in Muni Chronicles.

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By Janet – September 5, 1998

White Lightning

Last night, I made an unscheduled trip to the Toronado.

After a long night of sushi with Toshi (whose 31st birthday Janet and I were celebrating) he decided that he wanted a beer or two before calling it a night. Janet was feeling a little tired, so it ended up being a guy’s night out! We made it to the Toronado and it was wall-to-wall yuppies. I mean, there were khakis and cardigans as far as the eyes could see! Tad (the bouncer) was in rare form… wearing a muscle shirt and flexing his 2 inch biceps whenever we walked by us.

so, Toshi looked at the board to see what was new… and we saw the new White Lightning from Speakeasy Brewery, their first attempt at a Belgian witbeer. It sucked… horribly. All of the great characteristics of a Witbeer were missing from the White Lightning… no yeast taste, too strong of a malt taste, too sweet, not enough coriander. Toshi finished his… for the first time ever at a bar, I couldn’t finish the drink. It took almost a whole pint of Boont Amber to get the taste of that White Lightning out of my mouth.

At 11:15, all of the bridge-and-tunnel yuppies left for Marin or Berkeley, or wherever the hell the yuppies live, leaving the Toronado sort of deserted. We used this opportunity to procure a bottle of Framboise Boon 1995… the traditional end-of-the-night-beer when I drink with Toshi. All in all, it was a fun three hours at the Toronado.

Posted in The Barfly Chronicles.

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By Avery – September 5, 1998