San Francisco Metblogs » oak_vera

Thursday happenings…

oak_vera — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 21:44:18 +0000

If you’re yearning to try something different on a Thursday night, check out this hors d’oeuvres only dinner party at CounterPulse (9th and Mission) on April 20th. The food will be paired with modern dance and contact improvisation. $40 per person + BYOB. Thursday, April 20th, 7PM; RSVP here.

PS. W Kamau Bell will be headlining @ the Punchline. May 9th. Tell them the ghetto gourmet sent you and get half off.

PPS. I happened to meet a couple of fellow Yelpers at the dinner I took these photos at. They were really nice, super cool girls that I wouldn’t have met otherwise. I’ve recently become a Yelper, and I’m addicted! If you haven’t tried it yet, and you’re the type of person whose friends turn to for recommendations on any given subject A-Z, check it out: http://www.yelp.com.

W.Kamau Bell entertaining at Varnish Art Gallery

Iron Comic

oak_vera — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 16:43:36 +0000

As I was eating dinner last night, rifling through the Chronicle, I came across the front cover of 96 Hours. There on the cover was Brent Weinbach, a comic based out of Oakland holding a mallet! He’s performed a few times at Jeremy Townsend’s Ghetto Gourmet dinners, but I know he’s a regular at Cobb’s Comedy in North Beach (I saw him open up for Kevin Pollak last fall). He is hilarious and the Washington Post recently wrote that he “awed the audience” at the Aspen Comedy Arts Festival. Along with Weinbach were fellow comics Jacob Sirof, Nico Santos of the Punchline, and Nato Green.

The Makeout Room is hosting Nato Green’s Iron comic, a live gameshow where 5 comedians rush to write a routine in 10 minutes from topics suggested by the audience. An Iron Comic will be selected by the end of the night, similar to the Food Network’s “Iron Chef America”. Weinbach will be featured along with Sirof and Santos.

Also on the Iron Comic line-up is W. Kamau Bell, another Ghetto Gourmet regular who opens for Dave Chappelle frequently at the Punchline (and even in Fresno) and has even been on Comedy Central this past December. I have yet to see Gretchen Rootes in action; she performs at Cobb’s, the Punchline and Pepperbelly’s in Fairfield.

Hosted by Nato Green - $7 • Doors 7pm, Show at 7:30pm

Reasons to move to Oakland

oak_vera — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 20:30:54 +0000

Okay, I’m tired of the anti-Oaklandism. A friend is considering moving from the City to Oakland with her boyfriend. She said she had looked up the crime stats and felt it’d be unsafe living in Oakland, compared to the Haight. My pet peeve! argh! I once went to a networking event at Ramblas in the Mission, and one of the guys had the balls to ask me if I were afraid living in Oakland, and he admitted he’d never gone over the Bay Bridge to check out the East Bay. Don’t blast Oakland if you’ve never been. True, Oakland has a notorious, murderous rep, but all parts of Oakland don’t harbor raving lunatics (I do admit I hate the MacArthur BART station). I used to work for the City of Berkeley Police Dept and read police reports for a living. I know that even chintzy North Berkeley can be dangerous (last year a girl slashed an old woman’s throat at the Berkeley Rose Garden). No place is 100% safe.

Here are reasons why I “hella love Oakland”:

My #1 thing - there are trees and grass in Oakland, and it’s warmer! It’s not the “concrete jungle” that SF is.

The OUTDOORS
Chabot Space Center - see Jupiter and Venus from the Oakland Hills!
Redwood Park
Sibley Volcanic - yes, you read right! volcanic!
Davie Tennis Courts - best public courts around
Lake Merritt - 3 miles of paved trail, watch the rowers or see Disney’s inspiration for Disneyland (Children’s Playland)
Lake Temescal
** Club One has the best health club in the Bay at Oakland’s City Center. Indoor track, lap pool, spas in the locker rooms. A reasonably priced version of SF Bay Club (I know, I used to be a member there!).

The MOVIES
The Parkway - snuggle in comfy couches and eat pizza and drink beer while you catch up on movies you missed in the big houses
Grand Lake Theater - historic art deco theater - well known for its political activism via its marquee
Piedmont Theater - another Landmark favorite

The SHOPPING
College Avenue - Jeremy’s, Heartfelt, The Homesteader
Piedmont Avenue- The Bees Knees

The ENTERTAINMENT
Yoshi’s Jazz - World class jazz in Oakland!
Oakland Metro
The Alley - Rock that piano, Rod Dibble!
The Paramount - fine art deco building, reminds me of the Emerald City of Oz
G.S. Warriors - okay, they’re not doing that great, but hey it’s fun to watch, plus you’ve got the Cal Bears!

The FOOD
Farmer’s market at Lake Merritt and Jack London Square
Citron and A Cote - college
GG - Oakland’s speakeasy
Tropix - Cajun food with a super patio

If you’re considering moving to Oakland, look up these districts on craigslist.org. There are plenty of wonderful arts and crafts bungalows as well as Victorians and lofts:
Montclair - Mountain Blvd, Snake Road
Broadway Terrace
Piedmont - specific streets include 41st, 40th, John, Monte Vista, Bayo Vista, Santa Rosa, Jean, Chetwood
Lakeshore - Grand Avenues - specific streets include Warfield, Mandana, Vermont, Brooklyn
Lake Merritt - specific streets include Bellevue, Perkins, Adams, Orange, Pearl
Rockridge - try searching College Avenue, Manila, Hudson
North Oakland/Claremont - Alcatraz, Claremont
Jack London Square - Oak, 3rd and 4th Streets
Laurel District
Glenview - Trestle Glen

Nothing to do on a Thursday?

oak_vera — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 16:33:20 +0000

I’m in grad school part time, and last fall, I bemoaned taking classes on Thursdays because it seems anything that’s fun to do happens not on a Friday, or Saturday, but Thursday. If you’re in the mood for lots of “spirits” tonight, check out these events, and maybe I’ll run into you!

The Scene at Saks - Even though I’m basically broke, I can’t pass up the opportunity to “celebrate getting dressed up for spring” and keep my “shopping spirit in check” while shaking my booty to the live DJ and downing “flirty” cocktails (though who can I flirt with since guys aren’t allowed, and I have the best boyfriend in the world anyway). Happening today from 5-8pm on the 5th Floor of Sakes 5th Avenue.

Absinthe Brasserie’s Thursday Night Bar School - I happened to spend St. Patty’s day at the deYoung’s member preview of the International Arts and Crafts Exhibit. So I’m doing a wee bit of post-St. Patty’s merrymaking at Absinthe’s Bar School, featuring Irish Whiskey (Jameson’s, John Powers, Bushmills 16 yr. Malt). Don’t miss it tonight, from 6-9pm at Absinthe in Hayes Valley. Say hi if you drop by!

W Hotel hosts “Where Art Lovers Lounge” in honor of San Francisco based artist and graphic designer, Rex Ray. Takes place at the W San Francisco tonight from 7-9pm.

Feeling arts and crafty?

oak_vera — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 21:44:32 +0000

Tonight, the deYoung Museum is hosting a member preview of the new International Arts and Crafts exhibit.

Each section of International Arts and Crafts, which is organized geographically, explores the distinctive characteristics of the Arts and Crafts Movement and the different ways in which its ideas were interpreted as it developed in countries or regions from England to Japan.

The deYoung is open until 8:45pm on Fridays, and is open Tuesday through Sunday, 9:30-5:15pm. General admission is $15, but if you’re a member you get in free and to the front of the line!

Tonight’s events include: 6:30 p.m. - Lecture - Homes for the Middle Classes: the International Arts and Crafts Movement; 6-8:30 p.m. Live music (”hotcha”) by the Tin Pan Alley Troubadours and Frisky Frolics, artist demonstrations and Arts and Crafts-related hands-on art making for all ages (Book binding by Gillian Boal
Stained glass demonstration by Flora Dionysia Mangana-Trudeau, Violin making by Peter Van Arsdale).

Jewelry Fix

oak_vera — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:46:10 +0000

Hovey Lee, my dear friend and fave jewelry designer, recently moved to L.A. and so I felt a sense of loss while shopping at last night’s Appel and Frank “Spring into Style” event at the Regency Center. However, my spirits soon brightened when I stopped by Stefanie Greenberg’s table, Butterfly Creations, featuring multi-strand necklaces of semi-precious stones and etched pendants that were attached to the side, making for a striking presentation. After making a purchase, I made a beeline for the table that drew the most attention - Dragonfly Cakes, owned by Brooks Coulson. I grabbed the chocolate petit four first, but it was the apricot one that surprised me the most! I couldn’t resist that day’s special offer for 2 boxes for $30 instead of $60! My last stop was Green Halo Designs, based in Oakland ( What stood out to me were Ashley Roger’s hammered metal circles and “squiggles” adorned with briolette-cut semi-precious stones, such as chalcedony, amethyst, and quartz. My friends egged me on to get the “Simple Line Necklace” worn by Melina Kanakaredes on the “Risk Series” episode (1/26/06), but I purchased instead the unique polished square onyx on a fine silver chain that’s accented with “tassels” of briolette cut garnet, onyz and quartz. I’m glad my girl friends were dying of hunger, it saved me from buying more! The next Appel and Frank event is June 8, Chic Summer Soiree.

Coming to a home near you…

oak_vera — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 23:16:39 +0000

Having your kitchen taken over by chefs and hosting 30 strangers for dinner on your living room floor on some weeknight is not your typical homeowner’s dream. However, this past Tuesday, Tim and Jon graciously opened up their home and hosted a very short notice Ghetto Gourmet dinner in their split-level townhouse in the Mission. Normally, GG dinners are held on Mondays but just 5 days prior, Jeremy, GG’s convivial host and founder, had been contacted by a production company in association with the Food Network. The production company is working on a special feature for the Food Network, touring major U.S. cities (Miami, L.A., Las Vegas, Honolulu, SF, and Austin) in search of “good eats” off the beaten track in the span of 13 days. And they chose GG, which isn’t even an official restaurant…yet! The menu, prepared by self-taught Chef Cynthia Washburn, included an ahi crispy wonton tower with shiso, red curry aioli and tobiko caviar; grapefruit avocado salad with butter lettuce and coriander vinaigrette; and cinnamon roast duck with green lentils and mango chutney. Chef Kenny Lowe provided rose, cardamom, and ginger-wasabi handmade truffles as well as sweet dumplings in sweet green tea, topped with chocolate spoons. The show, “Summer Destinations”, featuring Oakland’s best known secret, Ghetto Gourmet, will air on the Food Network on June 17.

So, if you’re looking to experience GG, turn on your TV come June 17, or else hit up Jer and offer up your place! You never know who’ll show up — a film crew, a blues guitarist, a stand-up comedian, belly dancer, you name it.

Watch out, you’re on TV!

Lynn and Kristin had just gone to the dinner the week before, celebrating GG’s 2nd Year Anniversary. However, the oven broke, and so crew had to run roast hens to and from the neighbor’s house. Nonetheless, most of the guests patiently stayed until 11:30pm and these two gals returned the next week to give GG a second chance!

The house hosts, Tim and Jonathan, with dinner host, Jeremy Townsend.

First course, seared ahi over wonton crisp.

Diners are warned to “Give thanks, and hold on to your fork!”

Culture re-cap

oak_vera — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 21:27:27 +0000

After spending a week in Detroit and Chicago, I jumped right back into the culture scene in San Francisco, a mix of music, poetry and theater…

Thursday, March 2 - San Francisco Symphony presented an evening of Strauss and Brahms. From previous accounts, I had anticipated baritone Matthias Goerne to top the program, but it was Shoenberg’s orchestration of Brahms’ Quartet for Piano and Strings that knocked my socks off. Conductor Ingo Metzmacher further entertained the audience with his energetic, punctuated conducting and the occasional flashes of hot pink satin from underneath his black coat-tails. Twenty-four year old violin soloist Sarah Chang will be headlining next week, playing Sibelius.

Friday, March 3 - My best friend, Jaye, took me to the Oakland Metro, where Youth Speaks was hosting it’s first round of semi-finals. I was rather impressed by the young poets who chose to speak on subject matter off the beaten track (i.e., no mention of “I have a dream”, Langston Hughes, and queen). For example, one young lady spoke very eloquently on her battle with anorexia, while another, Adrienne Rosenberg, used a theme of gray to convey how her life had changed abruptly after learning she couldn’t play sports anymore. Another young poet, Alex Gonzalez, avoided yelling into the mike, as some novices do, and instead used his smooth baritone to describe the great pain he experienced after learning his friend had been raped. The finals take place at the San Francisco Opera House on March 18, 7pm; tickets are $15 general admission or $5 for the 20 and under crowd.

Saturday, March 4 - Got comp tickets to the A.C.T’s MFA program’s production of “On the Bum, or the Next Train Through” at the intimate Zeum theater. The story was a bit thin at times, and some of the actresses were a bit off but all in all, I enjoyed the Americana, music, and acting of the male leads. The show runs until March 18, tickets are $10-15.

Dessert First

oak_vera — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 00:50:35 +0000

My friends, Melissa Hudson, and Jeremy Townsend, teamed up to present “Dessert First” at CounterPULSE in SOMA (between 9th and 10th on Mission), an “innovative fusion of food and contemporary dance”. The performance kicked off with Melissa dancing to Eartha Kitt, dressed in a 50s reminiscent apron and skirt), preparing a batch of brownies. As the dance piece progressed, the audience connected with its emotion as Melissa’s character became more and more zealous over the thought of devouring the brownies and finally deriving so much ecstasy from consuming the chocolate. The second piece centered around coffee, set to a sexy Brazilian song, and featured 4 female dancers. Instead of evoking laughter as the first had done, the audience sighed in awe at the beauty and elegance of the piece.

Another notable piece was called “Potato Dreams”, performed by Bibliodance. The music was Danny Elfman’s theme for “Peewee’s Big Adventure” and this was definitely a fun piece, depicting a girl in a straitjacket, presumbly in a padded solitary confinement cell. A projector threw the image of what seemed to be a cooked turkey with legs, and the music stopped to a halt with the scratch of a record. Then came out a potato with legs who danced and pranced to the Peewee Big Adventure theme! It was hilarious! The girl in the straitjacket mimicked the potato and eventually 4 potatoes appeared onstage. At one point, we were teased with the prospect of 20 potatoes taking stage with a can can, but instead the girl escapes with three potato dancers, leaving one of the potatoes to take her place in the cell!

At each intermission, or “pause”, Jeremy Townsend of Ghetto Gourmet, dished out appetizers that went with the dance pieces, such as potato empanadas, and chocolate brownies. At the second pause, Melissa called on classical guitarist, Fred Boette, to do a little bit of improv. She challenged Fred and her dance troupe to perform improv according to the food they were given to taste, and she challenged the audience to guess the food based on the performance. The samples ranged from pungent garlic, to honey. The hardest to guess was pluot, and pineapple (you’d think a hula would give it away!).

The performance closed with the HudsonDance troupe dancing a “first course” of pizza and Dino singing “That’s Amore”.

Half Moon Bay first-timer

oak_vera — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 00:27:46 +0000

I’ve lived in the Bay Area for just about 4 years now, and I’ve never ventured out to Half Moon Bay. Last Sunday, I took my brand new Nikon SLR along with me, as I joined my friend Toan, and his former USF classmates, Francis, See, Joelle and Sabrina, for a walk along Pillar Point at Half Moon Bay. Our guidebook didn’t do a great job getting us to Pillar Point, but a friendly fisherman, who was just about to kayak into the bay to catch crab, pointed us in the right direction. We arrived and parked in a cramped parking lot as families unloaded fishing gear and baby strollers. As we walked towards the beach, dogs of all shapes and sizes trotted past with their owners. The sky was a bit overcast, but as we turned the bend, the Pacific Ocean and sky opened up to us. I’m old school, and I snapped photos (yes, real film) with the feverish fervor of the paparazzi on the red carpet. I soon ran out of two rolls of film, so I suppose that’s when digital is handy… If it weren’t for the windchill, I felt as if it were May not February! At the end of Pillar Point, we discovered tidepools, and Francis picked up a FAT pink starfish. I don’t recommend molesting starfish like he did! You’d think we were going on a more strenuous hike since the guys had packed apples, tangerines, and even a can of sardines! We ended the “hike” with lunch at the Hawaiian Ono Grill - we ordered what the big lady in the Hawaiian floral print muu muu did — the #24 (teriyaki chicken and kalbi beef with macaroni salad and two scoops of rice). We headed back up Hwy 92. Did you ever notice that there are a lot of places to get pony rides in Half Moon Bay? Why is that? We stopped at the intersection of Hwy 92 and 35 to go hiking at Crystal Springs trail, which the guidebook rated a 7. What a mistake! From the road, you could see how beautiful Crystal Springs is, but there’s a green chainlink fence keeping you at least 100 feet from the water. We felt like prisoners escaping Folsom! So skip Crystal Springs.