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Night in Sunset

Walking on Irving Street in the Sunset neighborhood reminds me of the Orient.  The many eateries present an array of cuisines from Japanese to Palestinian to Eritrean.  From one door to the other, the smell of curry turns into teriyaki turns into sweet cakes. In front of a “bubble tea” shop people are waiting in line on the sidewalk.

My friend Vern and I take a long walk after a dinner of ramen and sashimi.  We poke our heads into each restaurant that we pass and study the menu.  He will be sailing from Hawaii to Easter Island on a fishing boat and won’t be seeing land for a long time (won’t be eating much except fish for a long time).

“What would you do if you knew you won’t be back for a long time?”

“I’d be eating like there’s no tomorrow.”

And that’s what he plans to do!

 

Photo by Deanne Fitzmaurice.

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Radio Habana Social Club

This funky place doesn’t open until 7p and it is one of the joints in the Mission where you can have late night snack or dinner.  I like to bring friends to the “club” because it is so unlike other eateries.  The entire interior, including the ceiling, is filled with bygone toys, strange photographs, mutilated torsos, thorny busts, Van Gough’s self portrait with a bloody bandage and his ear in a plastic bag,  Frank Zapper taking a crap on the toilet and so on.  They always play good, upbeat music.  The place is jammed with people spilling over onto the sidewalk.  One time I watched Dore play chess with an old man at the counter.  That’s right.  Social interaction.

We went there after a concert last night.  At 9:30 the place was quite empty.  Two kids playing some dice games and only one table of customers.  Is it because of the economic downturn?  (The concert also was not full).   They have raised the prices on the menu and the food was less than satisfactory.  We left loving the place more than what it did to our stomachs.

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