NotesFromUnderground

It’s a beautiful morning... as I read the front page’s corner: “Motto Mania.” A good reminder to all of us just how funny it is to be alive. Apparently, some state employees are making over $100,000 in overtime, making me wish I had taken that job at the prison a few years back… And then, as if coming out after out storm of fires and ash, the PRIDE rainbow speeds across the front page on a motorcycle. Book-ended by verticals about how presidential candidates are marketed and about how the zoo still reels from the tiger attack, I’d say the motto of the front page could easily be, “San Francisco: A sense for the sensational.” It would be easy to miss the words touting how the “Slow Food Nation tries to woo diners away from Big Macs.” In September a menu of seminars and samples around the concept of preparing and eating food slowly will come to San Francisco. Slow Food, an Italian born reaction to American fast-food culture, sounds wonderful. I wonder what will happen when the conference organizers feel crunched for time as Labor Day approaches? Can you skip lunch or grab a “quick bite” if you’re an organizer of Slow Food Nation? I’ll chew on that…

Waiting patiently and motto-less, Notes from Underground, at the corner of Van Ness and Green, makes an understated nod to Dostoevsky, who certainly took his time with everything, filling its walls and surfaces with words, flyers, and books. I enjoyed the house blend, a tasty but unremarkable dark roast. Hopefully the Slow Food organizers will take the time to unearth this corner spot, where they serve a copious array of breakfasts, sandwiches, wraps, and more. They offer free WiFi and desktop internet access for 12 cents/ minute. There was a happy, familiar vibe through the café. You want it to be your corner café. OK, I want it to be my corner café. When I go there I want to sing, “Sometimes I wanna go… where everybody knows my name…” OK, enough. If you want somewhere to get your basic coffee and lunch, this is your spot. It’s a sunny day somewhere over the rainbow weekend, and I’m smiling.

Enjoy your break slow. After all, if the front page writes today’s motto, we’ll be eating slowly enough to make enough overtime cash to afford a good costume for next year’s PRIDE. Which would actually be great!

Breakfast in the Bay: Making sense of waking up since Tuesday, 2008.