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 | Blending Brooklyn with the Bay What does Brooklyn style look like to you? People sometimes forget that Brooklyn is a big place, with styles shifting from neighborhood to neighborhood. When I think of Brooklyn, a few images different come to mind: a Williamsburg hipster, a Hasidic Jew in Borough Park, and even a Russian woman in a babushka in Brighton Beach’s “Little Odessa”.More |  | New, Antiquarian and Collectible Books In a city obsessed with all things culinary, it seems strange that we didn’t have a book store devoted to the topic of food before, but we do now. Just opened this past weekend is Omnivore Books on Food, located on Cesar Chavez Avenue at Church Street in Noe Valley.More |  | Surprising Gifts Unfold Around Every Corner So many times I rode by the store Dandelion on the corner of Potrero Ave. and Alameda Street right on the edge of the Potrero Hill neighborhood but never stopped. I often made a mental note to myself to visit someday but never felt the urgency to because I thought Dandelion was just another gift shop.More |  | Road-ready Riding Gear If you spend just a few minutes standing on Market St. in downtown San Francisco, it’s likely you will spot a messenger bag with a black griffin on a red background. If you aren’t already familiar with the ubiquitous logo, I’d like to introduce you to Chrome Bags.More |  | Fabrics to Make Your Creations Explode With Color and Design Over the past year you may have noticed a few new shops have popped up in the ActivSpace building on the corner of 18th and Treat Streets in the Mission. One of these stores is WhizBang Fabrics, where you can find new designer fabrics as well as some vintage ones, accessories, clothing patterns and Cookie and the Dude products.More |  | Sunny Fish Taco Spot Expands to Meet Demand Until its recent expansion, El Metate's tiny dining room on Bryant near 22nd could barely accommodate its regular clientele of hipsters and local families, who'd spill out to the few sidewalk tables to wait for huge plates of fish tacos with fresh, delicious fixings. Is the magic still popping on this sunny Mission corner now that business has boomed? We snooped into the deep Mission to scope the situation.More |  | Tailor-made Bicycles by Customer Choice In my suburban hometown, we had a bicycle shop not unlike the one in the episode of the Brady Bunch where Peter gets a job repairing bikes. Instead of Mr. Martinelli, though, we had a slight-of build French gentleman named Pierre who wore a blue smock and sold and repaired every kind of bike they could fit in the tiny store, from the tricycle to fancy road racers.More |  | Cold Craft Beer at New Mission Hot Spot Opened in December 2007, The Monk’s Kettle replaces a string of mediocre restaurant ventures at the (some would say cursed) corner of 16th and Albion. Despite a few missteps by staff and kitchen, its mid- to high-end "craft beer and wine tavern" concept is flourishing; with only eight tables and limited seating at the bar, the restaurant fills up quickly, with quite a wait at the door.More |  | Making Science Fun For Kids New shops and restaurants have been popping up on the 22nd Street corridor in the Mission district between Dolores and Mission over the last year. But until now, there hasn’t been much for kids. That was, until the new toy store Kid Tech moved into the neighborhood a few months ago on 22nd between Dolores and Valencia Streets.More |  | A Collector’s Trifecta A good neighborhood shop should add complimentary color to a community. Customers should know that they can rely on the shop owners to carry the stock they need, plus bring them something new to surprise them. Bringing a new bold hue to Noe Valley, even on the foggiest of San Francisco days, is Neon Monster on Castro at 22nd, a collector’s haven for comic, record and toy enthusiasts.More |
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