Jim Barcelona's Philosophy and Food Blog

I am pretty sure that I'm going to be moving away from San Francisco for the indefinite future starting on July 1st of this year.

I think my adult life has been pretty much a sad affair, and no matter how much I've tried to make it better it has seemed to get worse. However, since going into therapy in 2006, I've seen a slow but steady improvement in my life. There are a couple of mistakes that I wish I could take back, but I simply can't.

Anyway, this goodbye is a confessional of sorts, and it's going to be broken into a bunch of pieces.

Part I: 2002 - 2004 Funemployment
Part II: 2005 - 2007 The Therapeutic Turn
Part III: 2008 - 2010 Exorcising The Last Demons

What's sad is that symbolism never shows up well in SEO.

I wish this story was the kind where boy meets girl and they live happily ever after. This really is just a story of boy goes to therapy and gets his act together, finally. It's also about how some mistakes you end up always paying for, even if you move to a different town. It's also about how the things you love the most aren't at all compatible with living in this world.

You can find most of my food reviews on Yelp now. My Yelp profile is here: barce.yelp.com .

Ironically, the most popular entry on my philosophy and food blog has been my article on Sciurophobia, the fear of squirrels. I don't see this as a bad thing. It simply proves the point that unique content will always find a niche or be more popular than not so unique content.

I might post here again but it will focus more on philosophy (unique content) than food (not so unique).

PS I've upgraded this blog for Serendipity 1.0 to 1.5.2. It's really great blogging software that's caused me less grief from WordPress. It's not as feature rich as WordPress but suits the needs of a simple personal blog.

Here's the list.

Here's what I can check off:

3. Carnitas taco at La Taqueria -- it's such daily fare for me, that I'm surprised it's on this list.
7. Shaking beef at the Slanted Door -- I ordered this dish twice in one sitting.
10. Baja-style fish tacos at Nick’s Crispy Tacos -- it's good, but on a top 100 list?
11. Pork sugo with pappardelle at Delfina -- nothing like fresh pasta
14. Beef brisket at Memphis Minnie’s -- yummers
21. Pizza margherita at Pizzeria Delfina -- it's nice when you can sit outside on a warm evening.
23. Beer sausage with sauerkraut and grilled onions at Rosamunde Sausage Grill -- and then I took this to the Toronado next door.
29. Spaetzle at Suppenküche -- I would have put the Saturday knoedel on the list instead.
33. Prime rib at House of Prime Rib
38. French fries at Hayes Street Grill
40. Cheeseburger at Taylor’s Automatic Refresher
62. Shrimp-and-chive dumplings at Ton Kiang -- I ordered 3 of these.
64. Paper masala dosa at Dosa
77. Eggs benedict on the back patio at Zazie
88. Buckwheat crepe and a French cider at Ti Couz
92. Bacon-wrapped hot dog from a cart in the Mission (preferably when you’re drunk) -- On Folsom in front of some club playing 80s music. Porter was there.
96. Baby-coconut ice cream from Mitchell’s


There are some things on this list that I would have put:

• A donut and coffee at the Silvercrest
  
• A piadina and glass of wine at the Reverie Coffee Shop. Nobody else makes piadinas in San Francisco.


• A place that does good Cioppino like Fog City Diner

I've just been making my own lately, and it's pretty simple.

1 package of Columbus Pastrami
2 slices of swiss cheese (smaller eyes won't overwhelm the pastrami)
2 slices of 4 cheese bread from Trader Joe's


Toast the 2 slices of bread. Microwave pastrami for two minutes. Add cheese and microwave for 30 seconds.

Voila, you've got a really good pastrami sandwich that's better than most places.

If you're on Brannan and Embarcadero, I suggest stopping by South Beach Cafe for great Italian Pizza and iced coffee drinks.

I was there this afternoon with the Quinn.com crew and it was great yummy! I had the lasagna and iced coffee.

When I started this blog, I wanted to write about philosophy and poetry. To impress some gal with my smarts, I made up a new word called, "Sciurophobia," which means fear of squirrels. Now the only people who visit my blog are those who searched on "fear of squirrels."

I'm not sure what to do with this blog now. Any ideas?

Do you have a favorite food place in Potrero?

I like going to:

• Hazel's
  
• Whole Foods
  
• The Taco Truck on Mariposa - just for the tortas. I don't recommend anything else.
  
• Dos Penos
  
• Connecticut Yankee
  

Any other places that you can recommend?

I've been going to Whole Foods in Potrero Hill these days. I overheard at the food court, "The one in New York has better food." I think the food court has good value for good quality.

I've been eating in a lot lately. So far, the sort of cooking I do tends to be from Bon Appetit Magazine...

The latest was snow peas, which are in season, and crabcakes! Delicious!

There are some blogs that go into burritos that you can have in difference states. The Another Day, Another Burrito Blog just focuses on one spot that's on Rhode Island and Mariposa, Liz y Gaby's Taco Truck. I've had the tinga burritos here and they're great.

I finally found a place that I love to go to for coffee on my way to work.

It's the new Whole Foods in Potrero Hill on 17th and Arkansas.

All of you have probably been on pins and needles wondering, where's all the philosophy?

On the 27th at Crepes on Cole at 7pm, I'll be hosting the monthly philosophy meetup. You can check out all the action and info at Meetup.com.

The discussions I've been facilitating focus on not reading philosophy but actually doing philosophy. Particpants are asked to volunteer 1 page of original philosophy.

Sound easy?

It's actually quite challenging, but rewarding, too.

Last night a an awesome friend invited me to Bloggers Night at the San Francisco Symphony. Kevin Smokler organized the event. James Gaffigan conducted three pieces that centered around the theme of romance.

• Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet
  
• Richard Strauss' Don Juan
  
• Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3
  

Tchaikovsky's piece starts off slow and builds up to an ecstatic and joyful melody with the flutes alternating between two notes while the violins play the main melody. It ends with a sad and mournful funeral march.

The Strauss piece has the same movement from light to dark.

During the intermission, George Kelly asked conductor, James Gaffigan, "Do you have a blog?" The conductor replied that he didn't because he really expresses himself through his music.

Rachmaninoff's 3rd moves from angst and melancholy to utter joy and transcendent bliss. 23 year old pianist, Gabriela Martinez, played with endurance and excellence a really difficult piece and her rendition floored me. While at dessert at Sauce, I mentioned that in order to get your trance fix before electronica, you probably had to listen to Rachmaninoff.

The dessert at this place is absolutely fabulous. They have a sampler plate on the menu with the phrase "trust us..." After tasting the PB&J, which is pan seared sponge cake layered with homemade strawberry preserve and frangelico peanut butter and a vanilla ice cream center, I am ready to give the creators of such a divine dessert my social security number.



Sauce
131 Gough Street (between oak st. and lily)
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 252-1369
Dinner is from 5pm to midnight. Bar closes at 2am.

Dear Lazy Web,

Has anybody tried Mission Pie on 25th and Mission yet?


Cheers,
Barce

The idea is simple. You order a ton of meat. You cook it. You eat it, and then you pay for it, and you are happy. For a more fancy review you might want to check out yelp.




Brothers Restaurant aka Brothers BBQ
4128 Geary Boulevard (cross 6th)
San Francisco, CA 94118 (415) 387-7991
Hours:
Mon-Sun 11:00 a.m.-2:00 a.m.

credits: barce (on camera and voice), Mike Brenzel, Hal Kane, Evan Graham, Gabriella Giuliani