Issue #20 August: SF Summer Means Fog and BBQ Duck 🦆

Plus the toughest pizza reservation right now, how to score Labubus at retail price, and singing along to Dolly Parton at the symphony   

This month we get back to our normal SF programming after an eventful summer of Beyoncé travel. I tried a ton of new restaurants, revisited some good oldies, and discovered what might just be the best happy hour deal downtown. August was also music month at Golden Gate Park with back-to-back concerts and music festivals I had the pleasure of hearing from my home. Though I’m too old to enjoy music standing in a crowd outdoors, I’m the perfect age to attend the symphony and sway in my seat to Dolly Parton’s hits. I’m also the target age for Labubus (disposable income + longing for childhood joy) and figured out how to get them at retail price. Details on everything below. ✨

Eat 😋 

The Progress (Western Addition, SF) 

I hadn’t been to the Progress for many years and almost forgot about the cozy warm wood decor and high ceilings with skylights. Though the menu has evolved, many of their classics like the masa dumplings and seaweed noodles are still delicious. We also had the jimmy nardellos with crispy Hodo tofu and fried green tomatoes. The star of the show was the beautiful half BBQ Liberty Farms duck with peanut rice. We took the leftovers home to make duck fried rice the next day. 🦆🍚

Jules (Lower Haight, SF)

There’s lots of new restaurants to be excited about, but I couldn’t wait to try the hot new pizza pop-up turned permanent location. Named after the chef’s grandma, Jules, the restaurant is an ode to nostalgia complete with a Snoopy eating pizza poster on the wall and a vintage Pizza Hut lamp in the bathroom. The food is truly spectacular. We started with the Tomato Tonnato, a tomato salad on top of mortadella that made me feel like a child eating a lunch meat salad, but a fancy child because these are heirloom tomatoes after all. I have an intense love for cabbage and their charred Arrowhead cabbage might just be the best I’ve ever had. Then came the pizzas. We got the Drunken Sailor (spicy tomato sauce and anchovy) and the Field Dream (corn pudding and sungold tomatoes), which is the perfect celebration of summer produce. Here are tips on how to score a table! 🍕🌽

Crustacean (FiDi, SF)

I remember seeing the neon crab sign outside the old Crustacean restaurant on Polk St when I was growing up. My parents told me it was an expensive seafood restaurant they had visited only once during their many years living in the neighborhood and running a video store a few blocks away. Decades later, the restaurant has reopened in a stunning new location in the FiDi. The neon sign is now replaced with a sleek wooden door and the luxurious interior is filled with elegant floral arrangements and painted panels of birds and flowers hanging from the ceiling. Highlights included the smoked tuna cigars, kohlrabi Caesar, garlic noodles, and of course, the famous garlic roasted Dungeness crab. They will even deshell your crab for an additional fee or provide a cute bib if you prefer to DIY. 🦀

Shop 🛍️

Labubus (Pop Mart)

Nothing has inspired more think-pieces and opinions no one asked for than these fuzzy, troll-like dolls. I’m personally into ugly-cute things so after studying TikTok on how to get one at retail price, I managed to secure three, one from each of the plush series: Macaron, Have a Seat, and Big into Energy. If you’re interested in healing your inner child with a Labubu, read on. All it requires is a phone and a lot of patience. 

• Download the Pop Mart app and create an account. I find the app easier to navigate than the website. 
• Search for “Labubu” and hit the “POP NOW” filter, which will show you the ones available soon for pre-order. 
• Click on the series you want and check the bottom for the launch time. They usually announce launch times a day or two in advance. If you don’t see a launch time, check back again later or click on a different series. 
• Be sure to check the estimated shipping date at the top if that matters to you as it can take several months to receive your order.
• Once the launch begins, you’ll see mostly grayed-out boxes, which mean another customer or a bot has them in their cart. When a box lights up in color, that means it’s up for grabs. As you tap on each grayed-out box, it will show a time remaining from a few seconds to several minutes, indicating how much time is left before you can try for it.
• The goal is to tap on a box as soon as the timer gets to zero. I typically like to scroll through the sets of boxes and focus on those with times under a minute so I’m not spending too much time waiting for the countdown. I also prefer boxes in a set where some are missing versus an entire set of six in case someone or a bot is claiming the whole set. Make sure you don’t tap too frequently or you’ll get locked out of the app, but once there’s about 10 seconds left on a box, start tapping vigorously!
• This is where patience comes in. It may take several tries on many boxes before you get lucky. Just think of it like a mindless phone game to play while watching TV.
• And when you do get lucky, add to cart and check out asap. You can also “shake” for hints to narrow down which one you get. Some people like to try for multiple Labubus, but I don’t want to risk the app crashing during checkout so I just pay the individual shipping cost.
• Once you check out, you can guess which Labubu you got and then “open” the blind box. This is always the funnest part for me.
• Good luck! 🤞

See 🖼️

Dolly Parton Threads: My Songs in Symphony (SF Symphony, Civic Center)

I’m having a country summer and while Beyoncé’s tour has ended, Dolly Parton is sharing her music with orchestras around the world. Though Dolly doesn’t appear at the concerts, she guides the audience through her catalog with fun videos, sharing stories about her life and the inspiration behind her songs. There’s also a band and a group of vocalists that sing her songs and encourage the audience to do the same, though we mostly kept quiet and nodded along to the music instead. It’s exciting to see Dolly continue to find interesting ways to connect with her fans even after all these years. 🎤

Naga (Golden Gate Park)

A sea serpent named Naga, originally created for Burning Man last year, now shimmers in all her glory in Golden Gate Park. We went to visit her during the day so we didn’t get to see her illuminated in rainbow lights at night. This also happened to be the day The Grateful Dead was in town so we strolled along the JFK Promenade, checking out the scene and other art installations. 🐉

Read 📖

Everyone Is Lying to You (Jo Piazza)

I love a good murder thriller and devoured this one in 24 hours. The story is about Rebecca, a famous tradwife-influencer whose husband ends up brutally murdered on their ranch as she disappears with their six children. Weeks before her disappearance, she reaches out to her estranged friend from college, Lizzie, now a writer for a women’s magazine, about an exclusive story for something big Rebecca is going to announce at an upcoming mom-fluencer conference. As Lizzie investigates her friend’s disappearance, she uncovers the dark side of Rebecca’s seemingly perfect life and marriage. Not even their three-legged goat named Tripod is what he appears. The book also exposes the realities of social media and content creation (spoiler: day-in-the-life videos are in fact not an actual day in anyone's life). 

Babel (R.F. Kuang)

After spending several days and nights consumed with Babel, I’ve finally emerged from Kuang’s magical world a changed person. It’s like I’ve taken the red pill and now I can’t look at the modern world in quite the same way. The story takes place in the 1830s about a young boy in Canton who loses his entire family to cholera. He is mysteriously healed by an Oxford professor, Richard Lovell, who offers to become his guardian and bring him to England. The boy names himself Robin Swift and spends the next several years in Professor Lovell’s home studying Greek, Latin, and Chinese to eventually enroll in Oxford’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation, or Babel. There, Robin befriends his cohort, Ramy, Victorie, and Lettie, each with their own language specialization. They learn that Babel scholars train in silver-working, using their translation skills to unlock the magic of silver bars that power everything in Britain from the doors of the Babel tower to the local train systems to the lush gardens of the wealthy. Questions around the ethics of the industry, its connection to colonialism and exploitation, and the role language plays in one’s identity and nationality begin to impact Robin and his relationships. I wasn’t prepared for how much Kuang’s brilliant writing would wreck me–I’m still dreaming about this book weeks later. 

FAQ ❓

Q: Where’s the best place for happy hour downtown?

A: Now that more companies are back in the office, so are the happy hour deals! I recently celebrated the departure of my work bestie with a glass of rosé and a bucket of fried chicken for less than $10 each. In a neighborhood where you can’t even get a salad under $20, Epic Steak has brought back happy hour in the most epic way. Hidden upstairs in their Quiver Bar overlooking the Bay Bridge, the happy hour menu is solid, offering fried chicken, Wagyu burgers, crabcakes, and truffle-parm fries. Drinks feature local wines and classic cocktails that taste more expensive than the price tag. Plus everything is delicious and not the second-rate version of the dish you would typically get at happy hour. Who knows if a tech recession is looming, but at least there’s fried chicken. 🍗🥂