This Week In Noe Valley: Blue Angels, Blood Moon, And…Hooters?

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• In response to complaints about the Blue Angels [@linecook]
• SF waterfront land could be soaked by sea-level rise - could Noe Valley someday have waterfront property? [The Examiner]
• (Yes - Noe Valley could be seaside) [Burritojustice]
• Spotted in the Whole Foods parking lot #gogiants [naseisland]
• If you missed the blood moon eclipse this week because of fog, here’s what the rest of the world saw [NPR]
• The sunset and moon sightings were also spectacular [ericaaa_24 and berdim99 and ajvicems]
• Rumor or wishful thinking: Tartine coming to Noe Valley? [@NoeMom]
• Spotted: A permit for Hooters to replace Bliss Bar [@ErosRemini]
• Um, no [Uptown Almanac]
• SF Studios starts this week around the city [SFGate]
• Noeteca plans to open Mission Brasserie [Inside ScoopSF]
• Authors of Thug Kitchen cancel their NorCal (and Omnivore) engagement [SFist]

[Photo: More tolerable weather. Yay! anilla02]

This Week In Noe Valley: No More Historic F Trains On Church St, Real Estate Agents Gone Wild, #uluvmusicday

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• Noe Valley's next teardown flip thwarted [Socketsite]
• SFMTA is moving the historic F line Muni cars off J Church tracks [SFMTA]
• Noe Valley realtor Lamisse Droubi sells her local home for $7.5 million (a record $3386 per square foot) [Curbed]
• Avg. $ per sq. foot of houses in Noe Valley, SF = $1188 Avg. $ per sq. foot of brand new 16GB iPad Air = $1160 [@bcrypt]
• Thanks to Yo, Noe Valley house prices will go up another notch [@nszombie]
• Cyclist who hit jaywalker on 24th St aquitted [KTVU]
• Richard May won the Noe Valley Garden Tour raffle [Stephanie Johnson SF]
• … and the Garden Tour raised money for the 22nd St Jungle Stairs [Jungle Stairs]
• Real estate agents in SF have lost their minds – and other wisdom from a seller [Left Coast Cowboys]
• The NV Library was part of a Carnegie gift to the city (and it was built for just $37,499) [Loud Latin Laughing]
• Kif Bender, the local 13-year old singer-songwriter and guitarist will be at the SF Free Folk Festival [SF Gate]
• Lola is the textile queen of Noe Valley [Racked]
• Scott Wiener's latest newsletter [Scott Wiener]
• Few challenging Scott Wiener for the District 8 Supes seat [Bay Area Reporter]
• Noeteca is Bernal Heights' best brunch spot? [Thrillist]
• Philz: Put away your phone before ordering your coffee [willolovesyou]
• Spotted: Noe Valley’s Banksy [cms100]
• We need one of these at the top of Sanchez [Bold Italic]
• Nailed it! [@TheRealWWBTC]

[Photo: #uluvmusicday dedward007]

This Week in Noe Valley: Outer Noe Oasis, Mitchell's Is 60, And The Trouble With Being A Landlord

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• Noeteca revisited: A public parlor in the outer lands of Noe Valley [Spoonwiz]
• Mitchell's Ice Cream turns 60 [SevenSquaredSF]
• Why it's so hard to find a decent apartment to rent in Noe (or anywhere else in SF for that matter) [NY Times]
• 88 year old lesbian pioneer in Noe waits (im)patiently for Prop 8 to fall [eBAR]

[Photo: Mansha Khithani]

SFBG: Congrats 2011 Noe Valley Best Of Bay Winners

It's that time of year again -- the 37th Annual SF Bay Guardian Best of the Bay hit the newsstands today. Here are two Noe Valley businesses that made the Editors Picks:

BEST REFILL, NOT LANDFILL
What does it take to win a gazillion green business awards? It certainly starts with a great concept, a seriously vetted supply chain, and a commitment to spreading the eco-word. It also helps to have a pleasing storefront in Noe Valley, cute and eager staff, luscious products, and bulk-store prices without the forklifts and doublewide shopping carts. Green 11, launched by married couple Marco Pietschmann and Bettina Limaco and inspired by a Rachel Carson observation ("For the first time in history, every human being is being subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the moment of conception to death."), offers soaps, cleaning supplies, pet food, shampoo, conditioners, and lotions, all ready for your refillable, affordable use. Bring your own containers or put for up a starter container at the store. 3980 24th St., SF. (415) 425-5195. www.shopgreen11.com

BEST LEATHER-SCENTED TIME WARP
Stepping into cobbler Suzanne George's shop is like entering a hide-covered time warp. George crafts her clodhoppers in much the same way that shoes were made several hundred years ago. She works the leather by hand, stitching the pieces with thread and hammering it all together with actual nails. Not only are the shoes custom-made to fit every tootsie they encase, they are also unique pieces of art, nearly too lovely to take tramping on the dirty pavement. George shares her high-quality, low-technology workshop with Peter, a shoemaker originally from Italy who used to make sandals for Mother Teresa. Together they make some damn fine throwback sling-backs. 1787 Church, SF. (415) 775-1775. www.suzannegeorgeshoes.com

And of course the readers got to vote:

BEST BREAKFAST: Chloe's Café, 1399 Church, SF. (415) 648-4116
BEST WINE BAR: Noeteca, 1551 Dolores, SF. (415) 824-5524, www.noeteca.com
BEST BUTCHER SHOP: Drewes Bros. 1706 Church, SF. (415) 821-0515, www.drewesbros.com
BEST CLOTHING STORE (WOMEN): Ambiance, Various locations, SF. www.ambiancesf.com
BEST SHOE STORE: Shoe Biz, Various locations, SF. www.shoebizsf.com
BEST TOY STORE: The Ark, Various locations. www.thearktoys.com

All other winners are on SFBG's site. Congrats to all!

NVV: We Read It So You Don't Have To

The Noe Valley Voice is published ten times a year and has been a neighborhood fixture since 1977. Here are notable highlights from the latest issue. Links are to stories we've covered here on NVSF or outside sources as the Voice isn't real-time.

December 2009 / January 2010

Front Page: Noe Valley resident Bill McBride is inspired by Three Cups of Tea and raising money for schools in Pakistan; Circle Bank to open on 24th St; Residents upset with all the new pole-top antennas that supply 3G service (picture from last February); Potential for parking meter reform; Vampires are hot, and a local novelist Clare Willis wants a piece of the action; Mission Education Center at 30th & Noe is now a "transitional school for recent immigrants."

Letters: More on dangerous drivers; A grandfather chimes in on the never-ending dog v. child wars at Noe Courts; Some clarification about the location of the NVV business office.

Feature: SFCTA has released the final draft of the Shuttle Bus SAR.

Cost of Living in Noe: "Homebuyers continued to find Noe Valley a desirable place to live" and the local market is "relatively healthy." And yeah...it's a buyer's market because they're paying only 2% over asking. Rent? Down from last year.

Short Takes: Friends of Noe Valley is looking for submissions to the Noe Valley Garden Tour on June 12, 2010; NV resident Paul Linde is promoting his book Danger to Self: On the Front Line with an ER Psychiatrist.

Store Trek: Noeteca Cafe and Wine Bar; Star Magic: The Second Generation (so far committed to stay only through the end of the year but entertaining options because "the response from the community has been overwhelming."

Traveling Voice: Versailles, Greece, London, Madrid.

Rumors: "For a neighborhood that prides itself on community involvement, Noe Valley seems to have little interest in the nuts and bolts of civic duty." Why's that? Low voter turnout in the Nov 3 election, expectations that few people will show to support/pan Bevan's proposal to add more restaurants to Noe Valley, and (most-importantly based on word count) the poorly publicized and hard-to-find Noe Valley Association survey about businesses on 24th St. In better news, La Boulangerie c'est arrivé! Cash-strapped Drewes Bros will send 600 pounds of turkey to St. Anthony's Dining Room as a matching gift based on the 1300 turkeys purchased for NV resident's Thanksgiving. Oh--and nothing has happened to the Real Foods/Nutraceutical space ("Turkey of the Year").

Bonus Rumor: The Voice found the blogosphere! They report that the Chronicle is looking to expand local news on SFGate.com with blogs and that Noe Valley is blessed to have its very own section. It's currently populated with rewritten posts from the (possibly-dormant) Noe Valley Buzz. Apparently they're looking for more bloggers.

[The Noe Valley Voice]

Cartwheels At Noeteca

An anonymous commenter:

They are open! They are finally open! And the food was great! Be sure to try the chocolate toffee pudding! Your taste buds will do cartwheels!

Progress: Noeteca

Noeteca sports a new awning. Think they'll make the tentative opening date of September 9th?

[NVSF: Tidbits: Openings]

Tidbits: Openings

Scott McDonald of Noeteca says "...our current projected opening date is September 9th. I'm hesitant to name an exact date because I fear it will invite additional delays ... So far the final stages seem to be running smoothly and the ABC is finally getting ready to transfer our license."

Andrew Calabrese is transitioning out of the Community Liaison role for the Noe Valley Whole Foods. "Shortly a Marketing Team Leader will be hired who will be answering questions and working with the community as I have been." But what we really want to know: "We are still looking at an opening date in late September. We are very certain that it won’t be any later." And that office in the old Noe Valley Video? Just that - a temporary office.

Finally, there's been some activity at 1298 Church St. Unfortunately, it all seems to be centered on the housing above, and not the restaurant space still bare to the studs and without a beer/wine license.

[NVSF: Noeteca: Still Coming Soon]
[NVSF: Whole Foods Responds]
[NVSF: Update: "High End Vietnamese Fusion"]

NVV: We Read It So You Don't Have To

The Noe Valley Voice is published ten times a year and has been a neighborhood fixture since 1977. Here are highlights from the latest issue. Links are to stories we've covered at NVSF.

July/August 2009

• Front page: Phoenix Books rises again, La Boulange comes to Noe, Just Awesome Games gets a microloan with some help from Good Morning America, world-class Jazz at Bliss Bar, and the senior lunch program saved through July 31.
• Letters: Just two – one nostalgic for Magnolia Thunderpussy Cafe [Ed- we’re not making this up], and another about the economic downturn (it’s not as bad as the 70s - you can tell by the lack of garage sales).
• Op-Ed: Chairman of Citizens United for Safer Streets (CUSS) encourages everyone to keep their dogs (especially big ones) on leashes and “at a safe distance from other beings, except in designated dog parks.”
• Obits: Remembering Carl Smith 1931-2008, founder of the Noe Valley Ministry.
• Cost of Living in Noe: Average price of a single family home in Noe is now $1.2 million, down from $1.4 million in 2008; rent prices are flat.
• Photo: Glamour shot of Mama’s – the corner store at 22nd and Dolores; Pat Mackey of Whitney St. converted his 1992 Mazda Miata to an electric vehicle.
• Short Takes: Upper Noe Recreation Center cleanup on July 11; Cooks Boulevard adds a book club and Community Agriculture program – details at cooksboulevard.com; Google/Apple/Genetech shuttle bus study results due in September - selected comments from this and this thread on NVSF are included.
• Rumors: Bistro 24 open for business; Noeteca delayed to July 15 or early August; Andiamo Deli is still for sale (asking price: $45,000); GNC closed; MadKat shuttered - owner Isa Muhawieh lost his lease and the owner would not renew – he’s looking for a new location in Noe to reopen [Ed- new store in the old Isa’s location opened this week as Shampoo & Bubbles]; Noe Knit dishes on the reason for closing (the Internet); Good News on 24th Street reports a 50% decline in issues of the Chronicle sold (also thanks to the Internet); Ingleside Station Captain Lazar reports an uptick in subscribers to the police action reports [Ed – Note the scary increase in armed robberies and grifters -– be careful out there]; Noe Courts needs a fence; free Wednesday night movies sponsored by Fima Photography and Videowave – see the stores (on Castro @ Jersey) for a schedule.
• Traveling Voice: Hangin' at the Brandenburg Gate.

No mention of the missing snake.

[The Noe Valley Voice]

Noeteca: Still Coming Soon

A little bit of renovation and a pending alcohol permit are the only hurdles left for Noeteca wine bar/cafe to open in the old Last Laugh coffee shop. The holdup? Grumpy neighbors.

Co-owners Scott McDonald and Alex Kamprasert (also of Chloe’s Café) report via Menupages that while most neighbors have been supportive, a few have complained to the city that the café was open and operating without permits, that they had live music, that they had a full kitchen instead of a café… your basic nightmare. "Every time a complaint comes in, we have to get it addressed by all the different agencies, and sometimes people are on vacation and it's just hard to schedule," McDonald said. "It took us contacting the office of Bevan Dufty to help us clear away some of that."

Originally slated for April 1, the new planned opening is July 1.

Noeteca
1551 Dolores St (@ Valley St)

[MP: Noeteca Nears the Valley]
[NVSF: Update: Noeteca]
[NVSF: Announced: Noeteca]

Food Bites: Two Noe Valley Restaurants Make The Top 100

The Chronicle released its Top 100 Restaurants of 2009 today. Whatever you think of Michael Bauer and his choices (Betelnut...?), we were happy to see two Noe Valley restaurants made the list: Incanto and Firefly. Further afield but still walkable picks in the Mission were Beretta, Foreign Cinema, Dosa, Range, and Delfina. Notably missing was the excellent La Ciccia on 30th and Church. Contigo, which opened in February, was too new to be considered for this year.

If you went to the Farmer’s Market this Saturday you may have noticed that nut vendors Malik Ranch had no pistachios for sale. According to the family that runs the stand, they grow their own pistachios and have them processed at a center in Northern California that was unaffected by reported salmonella outbreaks. As a precaution they’ve returned all the pistachios to the processor to be destroyed. A new batch should be available at the market by late April or early May. What to do with pistachios you've already bought? That's up to you.

Noeteca: now opening mid-May. Details as we get them.

[SFGate: Map of Top 100 restaurants in SF]
[NVSF: Noeteca]

NVV: We Read It So You Don't Have To

The Noe Valley Voice is published ten times a year and has been a neighborhood fixture since 1977. Here are highlights from the latest issue. Links are to stories we've covered.

April 2009

• Front page: Cesar Chavez redesign; local artists turn art into cancer therapy; profile of Pollen Princesses; Book Week starts April 20th with local authors' readings.
• Cost of Living in Noe: slow market, slightly cheaper; rents down a little from last year (same as every month recently). The average single family home price in Noe Valley is still $1.5M.
• Letters: more on the evil priest; unleashed evil dogs; the evil Whole Foods better serve the community.
• Obits: E'nam Fatima Abu-nie, wife of Shufat Market's owner.
  
• Store Trek: Contigo (including a menu from March 22); Brown & Co Noe Valley (local realtor Pete Brannigan).
• Rumors: No one answered all NV history quiz questions correctly; Streetlight Records' landlords wanted $12k a month; restaurant for sale; Glare re-opened; Noeteca opening "by end of April;" rolling brownout fears once again "threatening" firehouse budgets; Elizabeth Street Brewery wasn't expecting the Inquisition.
• Traveling Voice: Rio de Janeiro and the Philippines. Whee.
• Back Page: April Fool's Day headlines (delivered on April 2nd).
  

[The Noe Valley Voice]

Update: Noeteca

The owners of Noeteca sent us such a thorough description of what The Last Laugh is to become we're posting the whole thing. Emphasis is ours.

We plan for Noeteca to continue in the footsteps of The Last Laugh Coffee House and to continue to be a neighborhood focused café. The wine selection will be expanded, and the new menu will feature economical and flavorful comfort food in the style of small European cafes. The breakfast and lunch menu will feature items like Ham and Potato Hash with Poached Eggs, Challah French Toast, Duck Confit Salad, and house made soups and stews including French Onion Gratinèe. Dinners will be simple and wine friendly. The wine list will offer roughly twenty accessible wines from various regions – all will be offered by the glass and half-glass. We also plan to offer a variety of non-alcoholic drinks which will appeal to the younger crowd and those who aren’t in the mood for wine, but still want something unique and satisfying.

Noeteca is being created by Alex Kamprasert and me, Scott McDonald. Residents of Noe Valley may recognize Alex from his years at Chloe’s Café just a few blocks away at Church and 26th. I am providing creative and administrative support. Nathan Nam, of Demigogg Design is producing our logo and visuals. Again, in the tradition of The Last Laugh, the new café/wine bar is a labor of love and will be individually owned and operated. We expect that Noeteca will continue to provide the residents of Noe Valley and San Francisco with a cozy corner to relax with a latte and a bagel, pannini for lunch on the run, and soon, a place to unwind with friends for dinner and a glass of wine. …or two.

We're planning to do some clean-up and simple renovations throughout March and we hope to open (poetically) on April 1st, but one never knows. I'm trying not to jinx things by setting a firm opening day. We're also in the process of launching a small web site. We've spent many years working and relaxing in Noe Valley, so when the Last Laugh became available, we jumped at the opportunity.

Noeteca
1551 Dolores St @ Valley

[NVSF: Announced: Noeteca]
[Photo: Yelp]

Announced: Noeteca

Eater has the scoop: "Down on Dolores, a deal has apparently gone down that will see Last Laugh Coffee turn into something called Noeteca. No word on what the newcomer will entail, but a wine bar/enoteca seems like a solid guess."

We've been watching this listing for a while:

... Recently listed for sale a quaint café nestled in a beautiful historic area of San Francisco. The café has been in business for about 8 years with an established clientele of neighborhood residents. ... If you are in the mood for a bit of spirits, you can even order a cold beer or glass of wine. That’s right! The café Is equipped with a beer and wine license and outside seating.

Is this the same cafe? Is Noe Valley finally getting a wine bar? Sure sounds like it. If you're involved with Noeteca and/or know more about it, please let us know more details -- in the comments or email, please.

Coming Soon:

Noeteca
1551 Dolores St (@ Valley St)

[Eater SF: EaterWire: Noeteca En Route, MSF Holiday Cheer]
[BizBen: Neighborhood Cafe For Sale]
[Photo: Yelp]