Baghdad By The Bay

The end of July found me in San Francisco for a number of reasons; Grinderman (Nick Cave's side project) was playing two shows (Great American Music Hall and Slim's), there was a possibility of Barry Bonds hitting #755 (tie) or #756 (record breaker), sightseeing, and the enjoyment of culinary delights with my friend Eddie.

We stayed at a friend's apartment in Portrero Hill which is a nice, up-and-coming neighborhood where the hipsters go after getting sick of the Mission District. It's also a 20 minute walk to AT&T Park. I had purchased tickets to 3 games in hopes that Bonds would be nearing the record. While we didn't see the record-breaker, we caught #754 along with some enjoyable baseball at a beautiful stadium. McCovey Cove had a classic vibe full of boats, kayaks, and a floating putting green! AT&T Park has beautiful architecture, a number of baseball tributes throughout, a great view of the Bay, and excellent food. And the outfield is one giant party. Here's a pic of Bonds, appropriately alone:

As I said, one of the reasons for our trip was to enjoy what San Francisco had to offer on the culinary front. I've been a fan of SF's culinary scene since college (the late 90's), making a conscious attempt to sample something different with every visit. During my last trip I enjoyed the excellent Vietnamese cuisine at Sunflower on 16th in the Mission. The visit before found me at House of Nanking (Chinatown), and enjoying the tasting menu at one of America's great restaurants; Gary Danko. On this trip we ate one of my all time favorites - Jay's Cheesesteak (Mission). We also sampled chowder and an excellent assortment of oysters at Swan Oyster Depot (Russian Hill), lunch at Squat and Gobble in Lower Haight, breakfast at Dottie's True Blue Cafe (Downtown), Good Luck Dim Sum (Richmond), incredible Vietnamese at Tu Lan (6th and Market), Taqueria Cancun (2 locations), and El Farolito.

"There's some satisfaction in the San Francisco rain. No matter what comes down, the Mission always looks the same." - J. Garcia.

A Mission institution, El Farolito:

Visits to Alcatraz and Fort Point were highlights. San Francisco, as seen from Alcatraz:

Grinderman played the entire "S/T" album both nights with different all-Bad Seeds-song encores each night. The first night (Great American Music Hall) featured an obviously inebriated, ex-Bad Seed, Blixa Bargeld doing co-vocals on "Weeping Song" as well as "The Ship Song" and "Red Right Hand", while the second night (Slim's) featured Jello Biafra and Henry Rollins doing backing vocals on "Deanna", although neither seemed to know the song very well (Rollins center-stage, Biafra stage-left):