Valencia

Picture It: Vege-Tofu Curry At Cha-Ya

SF Weekly's Seven-Day Dish

Holiday Block Parties: Divis. and the Mission

(Junior Panthers)Holiday block parties are a smart idea. I hit the one in Hayes Valley last weekend, where various galleries and boutiques offered delicious drinks (cider with brandy!) and snacks, as well as discounts for folks doing their holiday shopping. This week there are two block parties com ... More >>

Good Coffee in Big Arty Space

If you're going to spend top dollar for your fancy java, there might as well be some perks thrown in (pun intended). Four Barrel Coffee, open for four months on Valencia in the Mission, boasts a huge room with a lofty ceiling featuring beautiful exposed beams. The vast space is adorned with sculptur ... More >>

Happy Greek Independence Day!

Opa! Opaaaaaaaa!!

Also Playing

Our critics weigh in on local theater.

Also Playing

Our critics weigh in on local theater

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Our critics weigh in on local theater

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Our critics weigh in on local theater

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Our critics weigh in on local theater

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Our critics weigh in on local theater

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Our critics weigh in on local theater

Fresh Eats

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Fresh Eats

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Best Free Bluegrass

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Best Book Group

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Best Public Art Space

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Best American

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Best Vegetarian (Inexpensive)

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Best Pet Viewing

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Best Store for Japan-o-Philes

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Best Sex Toys

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Best Gender-Illusionist Supplies

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Best Secondhand Clothes

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

City of Burgers: Urban Burger on Valencia

The Urban Cowboy: Excessively accesorizedUrban Burger 581 Valencia (at 17th St.), 551-2483. You can practically smell the ambition here, a burger joint open barely two weeks. The concept has all the signs of incipient burger empire, and why not? The owners' extended family can claim Toast in Noe Val ... More >>

I Heart Street Art: Valencia Trip

 A couple weeks ago I was walking around Valencia, Spain, looking for street art, when I came across an ancient Roman bridge with graffiti all over it.  First it struck me as offensive, like who would dare deface something so old and hallowed?  But then I started thinking about the ep ... More >>

Sangria is as Cooling and Variable as the City's Summer Weather

JonnyGdeCA/FlickrScore a prime example at Ramblas on Valencia.Sangria is as delectable and as open to experiment and interpretation as paella, its great culinary cohort of the Spanish table. This fruity, sparkling concoction is the perfect light-spirited libation for the summer months and is malleab ... More >>

City of Burgers: Thrill of the Grill's Kobe

Mary Ladd Double the meat, double the delcious.Though some may gripe that this place has all the makings of a restaurant that exists solely to cater to drunks, Thrill of the Grill has more to offer than that. Sure, it's a super casual restaurant that may at first glance seem like a logical me ... More >>

Score one for SOMA: Suriya Thai Migrates from the Mission

Photo by Pengrin, via YelpSuriya Thai steak.Score one for SOMA, and zero for the Mission. Before being evicted earlier this year after nearly two decades of service, Suriya Thai was a Mission standby for authentic Thai food in a calm setting. Knowing Pi Bar (a pizza joint) is on the way in the old V ... More >>

Vandals May Think We're A Rag; but the Guardian Is a Crapper

 It's not easy being a newspaper dispenser in the Mission. We were walking down Valencia this week and saw that many of the SF Weekly boxes had been adorned/defaced with graffiti, but this poor, beat-up guy in particular had been turned into: 1. Homeless clot ... More >>

Snapshot: Smelly Cat

Maybe it's something in the food?​This poster was hanging up inside a pet supply store on Valencia and 18th Street. The 14-year-old boy in me thought this was hilarious. Also, did I just trot out a Friends reference? Oh, yes. Yes I did.

Breaking: Suicidal Person Threatening to Jump on 500 Block of Valencia

View Larger Map A man on the scene has informed us that a suicidal person is threatening to leap off a building on Valencia between 16th and 17th Streets, and the area has been closed off since around 5:45. Police spokeswoman Sergeant Lyn Tomioka confirmed that the 500 block of Valencia -- the "old ... More >>

Broke Muni Announces Route Changes: R.I.P. 26 Valencia!

R.I.P. 26 Valencia. On this Day of the Dead, you will be missed.Soon the beloved 26 will be a relic, just like this '69 GMC fossil​ We waited for you on Valencia for half hours at a time, expectantly stepping out on the street to see if your lights beckoned from afar. As you approac ... More >>

Cute Foodie Film Alert: Ready, Set, Bag!

Cheers to Tablehopper for tipping us off to the existence of a foodie film with a trailer that sucked us right in with its blend of combative tension, sheer novelty, and sociological curiosity. Ready, Set, Bag! -- a quest for the championship title at the National Grocer's Association's Best Bagger ... More >>

Snapshot: Long Live Yuppie Scum!

​This slogan was scrawled on the window of not-yet-open restaurant, Grub, on Valencia between 17th and 18th Streets. It's nice to see people getting excited about new businesses. 

Dosa v. Udupi Palace: The Epic Battle for South Indian Dominance on Valencia

Yan M./FlickrDosa's chennai chicken: Smuggle-worthy.​On the painful days following Thanksgiving, we like to recover by enjoying foods bearing little resemblance to those we spooned up on Thursday. Sometimes, with health or digestive relief in mind, we gravitate to raw salads or restorative sou ... More >>

Foodie Confession: The Smells from Aslam's Rasoi on Valencia Finally Got to Us

DrewMacKenzie.com/FlickrWhat was keeping us away all this time?​We have walked down Valencia a lot over the years and inhaled a variety of good smells curling from the stoves of the strip's eateries, like hissing vats of chile verde and burritos meeting grills for quick sizzles. Between 22nd a ... More >>

Opening Today: Heart, Mission Wine Bar with Kitchenette Small Plates

Judy ParkerScene from Heart's pre-launch party last Saturday.​Murmurs have been circulating for months, as the broad street-side window at 1270 Valencia (a garage and ― reputedly ― a house of ill repute in prior incarnations) has revealed an ongoing tumult of construction, decoration, and ... More >>

Swap for Herbs (and Other Plants) This Sunday in the Mission

Survival Annex​This Sunday, at the lovably bedraggled park across from The Curiosity Shoppe on Valencia, Survival Annex (the "shop" within that shoppe) is hosting its second plant exchange. This is a swap, so don't expect giveaways or show up with fistfuls of cash to rain down. The idea is to ... More >>

A Hard (Working) Man Is Good To Find...

Spotted at Valencia and 18th Street​ What this sign lacks in style, it makes up for in directness. It's the equivalent of a restaurant called "Good Food." We appreciate the solid approach, and also the impeccable penmanship.

Zaytoon's Lamb Shawerma

John BirdsallSlices of rotisserie lamb, broiled tomatoes, onions, and tahini wrapped in lavash ($7.95).​Tuesday, July 20, 2010 Owner of the three-week-old Valencia wrap shop is the scion of the sprawling clan that claims Mission munchy merchants Phat Philly and Urban Burger. Zaytoon works fro ... More >>

Coppola Winery to Serve Francis's Faves, Ken Ken Ramen to Feed S.F.'s Current Obsession

​ ​The past 72 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco restaurant scene.Carolyn A. of Eater shares some good news. Francis Ford Coppola's new winery in Geyserville is opening July 30, and along with it, the winery restaurant, named Rustic, Francis's Favorites (300 ... More >>

Fresh Eats: Shawerma at Zaytoon and panino at Arlequin

​ ​The past 72 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco restaurant scene.Carolyn A. of Eater shares some good news. Francis Ford Coppola's new winery in Geyserville is opening July 30, and along with it, the winery restaurant, named Rustic, Francis's Favorites (300 ... More >>

Recycling Robbery Turns Violent

Ha! The mother lode.​One man's trash is another man's treasure -- and, over the weekend, one man's recycling became another man's swag.A 36-year-old Hispanic man at the corner of Valencia and Mission found himself at the wrong end of a kitchen knife Saturday night. But the blade-wielding assailant ... More >>

Change We Can Believe In: Laundromat Thief Takes $250 in Quarters

Have you seen this coin and 999 others like it? ​There have to be easier ways of making a living than this. Last week, police were called to a laundromat on the 1600 Block of Valencia. The proprietor said a burglar had broken in, pried open the washers' coin boxes, and jangled off with some $250 i ... More >>

Off the Grid Returns After Holiday Break

John BirdsallIt's baaaack.​Almost a week after the ball dropped on New Year's Eve, things are just about back to normal. The tree's no more than a few dry needles lurking in the carpet, photo cards have been recycled, and Off the Grid is poised to return to the streets of San Francisco. OTG's ... More >>

Blow the Man Down

John BirdsallIt's baaaack.​Almost a week after the ball dropped on New Year's Eve, things are just about back to normal. The tree's no more than a few dry needles lurking in the carpet, photo cards have been recycled, and Off the Grid is poised to return to the streets of San Francisco. OTG's ... More >>

Fewer Slices of Pie, Cupola Opens Under the Dome, and the TL Sees Pink

The past 24 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco food scene. Marie Callender's evokes images of pies rotating in a display case, country cottage decor, and portions that don't skimp on calories. And now, without warning, many of those pie display cases have gone da ... More >>

Safeway May Pour Wine, A Haunted Bar, and the Second Nopalito

The past 24 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco food scene. Wine tasting at Safeway? Maybe. Haighteration reports there is an "Instructional Tasting" liquor license application pending for the Duboce Triangle Safeway (2020 Market at Dolores). While no one at this ... More >>

San Francisco's Top Five Indian or Pakistani Restaurants

Courtesy dosasf.comThe paper dosa from Dosa on Valencia.​Before the Tenderloin became the Tandoorloin a decade ago, Indian food in San Francisco was a restrained, almost elegant affair. Linens and goblets, muted sauces, rather doctrinaire menus of tandoori chicken and mixed vegetable sabzi. A wave ... More >>