Since when did 20:00 become “late” for a meal??
The last time I experienced this was when I was 10 years old OR…whenever I’m home in San Francisco.
I mean, there’s clues abounds. The dearth of good late night (or horrible) late night places to eat. When even dives like the Grubstake have queues on the deck, down the stairs and onto the Pine street sidewalk, replete with bums and gusty westerly winds. Its 4-star rating on Yelp BTW is for being open late more than anything else.
I guess it’s this. Either its “ignorance is bliss” or I’m not dead old enough to be here in ess eff. For the former, since I’ve been to a lot of Asia, LA and New York, I’ve gotten used to living life and being sociable. If I never left San Francisco, I may have thought that running home before the sun went down and not staying out past 20:00 was normal too. For the latter, it seems like people can be full of life when they’re elsewhere. Once they’re in SF however, they mutate into TV watching homebodies with no souls. Bah!
This blows! Time to get back to Asia! Anyone hiring out there?
Fleet Week 2008
This year, I was invited to an event at SFO sponsored by United Airlines where the special guests were the Blue Angels. They were based nearby and those of use who attended were able to see the planes up (pretty) close.
This is a lot closer than when you usually see them!
The flagship of Fat Albert Airlines…
Just another day doing the job…
Usually this is as close as most people get!
The best thing about recent Fleet Weeks is that the gorgeous weather that we are supposed to have year round actually happens. It was really nice out! Besides the Blue Angels, the UA Open House also had a bunch of classic cars, vendors, snacks and some UA hardware open to view.
2008 NFL Advert and Morrissey
The 2008 NFL Season has started and the NFL has a new theme for this season.
Watch until the end and you’ll hear it. The chorus to Morrissey’s “Everyday is like Sunday”. Can you believe it was released 20 years ago?
Definitely an 80’s video! Oh the memories you drudge up when you clean your house…
What I missed in Koenji…
Two weeks ago!! Play this real loud through your speakers…
Sigh. Of course, you miss things when “work” gets in the way!
St. Paul
Wheee! Balloon drop! For 20 minutes…
Riding for Work
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What happens when I have to cross the Bay Bridge during the evening commute AND have multiple appointments? Early evening appointment in Oakland then later appointment in Fairfield? Solution: Ride the motorcycle!
Why? Well, for one thing, you can use Carpool Lanes. That makes a big difference when you’re trying to get onto the bridge. Of course, if you use a carpool ramp, like the Sterling Street Onramp, it’s ALL carpool and it’s all good, except for the short merge. Another reason is that it was a nice day and that’s always a good excuse for a ride.
Meetings ran late, as they usually do. I wound up having dinner at the Fairfield In & Out at 2200, followed by a hair raising ride back to SF on I-80. I like riding distance on two-lane roads but riding at warp 8 on an Interstate, where any bozo can pretend to play Gran Turismo in a real car by mashing the gas pedal and not thinking, is something I’d rather choose not to do…
But I did make it home at the end, so I can chalk this up to experience. Check.
Won Ton King
Actually, that sounds like a Stephen Chow movie. Like God of Cooking. But unlike his movies, Won Ton King is a serious thing…
Serious Wontonmein. Seriously good…
San Francisco, which is still lacking good quality ramen, also lacks good proper Hong Kong style wontonmein. Well, it did until King Won Ton opened in the Sunset. When you first walk into the restaurant, you see a photo of a bamboo pole and noodle dough. They say that they make their noodles by using the pole, much like the celebrated shops in Hong Kong and Macau. The noodles come out springy and delicious. Besides the noodles, the rest of the restaurant also reminds one of Hong Kong. The entire place is fluorescent lit, the menu is on colored copy paper and the service is brusque and curt.
In other words, just like Hong Kong!! YAY!
The one area that’s hit or miss is the wontons. On my first visit, the wontons were almost good enough for me to reduce my HKG trips to annual instead of biannual. The prawns tasted fresh. My second trip, the wontons weren’t quite as tasty (frozen?) but the beef stew was very good. It practically fell apart when it was lifted from the bowl with chopsticks.
Mmmm…beef stew. With mein. And wontons!
So, what’s the verdict? Is it the best in San Francisco? I think so. What to order? Anything that has the mein in it. But i’d go for any of the wontonmein variants. Order some Gai Lon and get some dong ling cha. Try to imagine being in Central just getting off of work. The illusion almost works until you receive your bill, which may as well be in Central because for what you’re eating, it’s expensive. It’s a cheap meal here in SFO but it costs a lot more than it does in Central…
Guess I’ll be still be traveling biannually to HKG, but Won Ton King will make the months I’m stuck here bearable. Like right now.
Won Ton King
1936 Irving Street (between 20th & 21st Aves)
San Francisco CA 94122
+14156829813
Back to Beijing (soon)
When I made my trip to the home village back in February, I was mugged by the authorities for US$135 for a multiple entry visa. At the time, it was either get a single entry or a multiple entry visa. They no longer sold the double entry visa.
A couple of months ago they stopped selling the multiple entry visa. “Smart thing” to do right before the Olympics. Hopefully for everyone who has to work over there, that restriction will be lifted when the games end.
I’m looking forward to a trip back to BJ for several reasons. I’ve a friend I’ve not seen in a while. Would be fun for a visit. In November (!). I’ve been hankering for really good Peking Duck. And the BJ Capital Airport FINALLY has an express train into town.
Nice. If it keeps regular hours, i won’t have to deal with taxi drivers and traffic anymore!
Just scootering along…
I was a member of the scooterist ranks for about 11 years before I made the leap to full fledged motorcycles stromtrooper a few years back. Of course, If I knew that you could do this in the twisties ON A SCOOTER, I might have remained a member of the scooter nation.
The guy who made this video rode a bone stock Scarabeo 250 through Mulholland Drive in LA. A legendary road with all sorts of twisties.
Impressive! Would like to be able to do all that on my V-Strom…!
SQ1/2 to be a A380 route?
According to this Business Week article, Singapore Airlines is planning to replace the old 747-400 Megatop with the A380 Whalejet in early 2009 on the SFO-HKG-SIN run (SQ1) and the return (SQ2).
Of cors, that depends on Airbasi actually delivering the planes! With all the delays and compensation that Airbasi has had to pay SQ for the A380 delays, they could replace a great deal of their fleet with A330s which have been used for compensation in the past.
When it eventually arrives, that means that all SQ flights that leave SFO will be the new cabin configurations! Now that’s exciting…