After all the excitement back in June about notable Mission grocer and creamery ice cream store Bi-Rite opening a second location on Divisadero, it looks like the neighborhood is at least one step closer to the fancy picnic supply store becoming a reality – just a slightly different reality than we had imagined back then.

Originally, owner Sam Mogannam was planning to move in to the old Emblem Grocery at 736 Divisadero which has been closed long enough for people to not care about restoring its vintage 7-UP signage. Now, if we’re to believe the words on the above liquor license application, Bi-Rite will be taking over the inappropriately named Divisadero Farmer’s Market & Deli at 550 Divis. To clarify: Divisadero Farmer’s Market & Deli is neither a Farmer’s Market nor a Deli. It’s a convenience store with a terrible candy selection, questionable taste in chips and a complete lack of IT’s-ITs. If a farmer ever set foot in there, it was probably to buy a nip of Jim Beam for his coffee before he had to go sell pomegranates at the Sunday Farmer’s Market on Grove. What the space at 550 Divis does offer is a great deal of currently unused square footage and a hideous yellow storefront. (Bonus: slightly-less vintage 7-UP signage.)

To recap: quaint throwback grocer no longer moving in next to the typewriter-and-Edison-bulbs retailer. Instead retro-styled grocer will be moving in next to the communal-table-and-expensive-hamburger store:

Personally, we’ve only stopped in to Bi-Rite on 18th for a bottle of wine so we wouldn’t show up to a Mission housewarming party empty handed, but everyone there was very friendly and it seems like they could be a nice alternative to picking up picnic supplies at the perennially-overpriced Falletti Foods on Broderick. And Mr. Mogannam, if you’re listening: we’re totally OK if you want to call it “Divisadero Bi-Rite Market and Deli”, as long as you promise to install an actual deli counter. We need more cold cut options around here.

For those of you in the city who have been waiting ever-so-patiently for updates from the neighborhood taqueria, you will now be able to pick up a jar at Rainbow Grocery as soon as they let you in to the notoriously backed-up parking lot. (PRO-TIP: Just walk to either the Fulton Street or 24th Street Papalote locations where they’ve been selling it by the jar for years.) Further investigation of the twitter feed reveals it will also eventually be available at Whole Foods locations. Here’s the packaging, if you’re jar-curious:

If you’re unable to buy the salsa in person, you unfortunately won’t be able to order any online in time to spice up your Thanksgiving dinner – as the prophetic, tweeting salsa jar says online orders will begin starting December 1st, when you’ll be able to order through their redesigned website.

In the meantime, you can watch this video of a girl finishing a Triple Threat Burrito

Some useful information actually came out of last night’s NOPNA meeting, namely a couple of updates on some of the vacant restaurant spaces around the neighborhood:

First, was the announcement from Ivan Hopkinson – formerly of the Beach Chalet – has broken out on his own to create Fulton Street Brewpub, which he described as a “sustainable brewpub” before comparing his concept to Magnolia in the Haight. No details yet on an opening date, but Ivan is working with the owners of the 1785 Fulton to secure a lease on the space which has been empty for about as long as this Panhandler can remember (it’s the space between Papalote and Starbucks, not the old Poleng spot). Let’s hope this works out, since we hear the space is allegedly cursed by the ghosts of old Fulton Street regulars.

Second, in more pressing news: Tablehopper pointed out that Ragazza, the napoletana pizza place taking over the former Metro Kathmandu, will be opening next Wednesday, September 22nd – but word at the neighborhood meeting was that there will be an opening party on Saturday, so keep your eyes peeled as you walk down Divis this weekend. Personally, I might be hitting them up for a job since this whole blogging thing barely covers my taco budget.

Add this one to the long list of things that makes San Francisco SUPER COOL and AWESOMELY PRETENTIOUS at the same time. Paolo over on Inside Scoop points us to an article on the front cover of today’s Datebook about our favorite place to eat locally-sourced rabbit legs and wait for Sean Penn to grace us with his presence.

We can’t read the article at the moment because the Chron has embargoed the Internet as if we were some kind of communist island nation and no one has left a print copy on the bus for us to find just yet, but Paolo lets us know that the Nopa staff “completes the circle” by trucking out to the farms and wineries where they source their goods and then later bringing those vendors in for a monthly lunch.

If you ask us (you didn’t!) it’s a nice way to keep the locavore concept grounded in reality instead of just copping the label for PR purposes, but mostly I’m just surprised I made it through this post without one circle jerk joke.

Photo via: Inside Scoop

“I wondered who ate at this new mexican place on Divisadero, now we know, total bachelor pad.”

The sheer quantity of salsa is so great that the Escobedo Brothers had to start a whole separate twitter feed just for @PapaloteSalsa. And from said twitter feed, we learn that they’re not just cooking up batches for their own personal use or even for their two locations in the city – they’re bottling it up so the rest of the world can order it online and at select retail locations (I’m guessing that’s what they mean by “shelves”) starting in November 2010.

I’m just hoping it’ll be for sale in the terminal in SFO so I can pick up a couple jars on my way home for the Holidays. Stocking stuffers!

Hey look, it’s back! In case you hadn’t noticed all the signs in literally every shop window on Divis, our tri-monthly Art Walk returns to Divisadero this Thursday night, so round up all of your friends from other neighborhoods and get ready to pack the sidewalks. The weather’s supposed to be great (not that we can every really predict that), and there are some newcomers on the roster.

Case in point: our new Blue Bottle dealer Cafe Divis just announced via twitter that Adobo Hobo will be bringing his Filipino cart along with TakoyakiCart’s rolling buffet of fried Japanese dough balls (heads up: sometimes there’s octopus inside) to the corner of Oak and Divis.

Many of the other deals are, as of this writing, still TBA but here are the usual highlights:

Tsunami Panhandle
1/2 off Sake Bottles and hand rolls 5:30 – 7pm

The Page
$3 pints of Sierra Nevada Tumbler
Live music from the California Honeydrops 6pm-8pm

Little Chihuahua
$3 tacos and pints

Ziryab
$5 Martinis and Mojitos
Free Baklava with 2 entrees

Blue Jay Cafe
$2 Sangria, music from Quinn de Veaux

Still waiting to hear back from Kung Fu Tacos about their usual setup at Candybar, and if nothing else I’m sure the crazy kids at Bean Bag Cafe will come up with another delightful way to block the sidewalk.

Those of us who were more concerned with how good our drinks tasted than what people were calling the barkeep on Yelp, probably didn’t need someone to tell us the term was a joke, but there you go. Now can we get stop trying to imagine the Nopa staff as scientists and get back to our $9 gin drinks?

Via: EaterSF (who, in the interest of full disclosure, I should point out paid me to blog for them for awhile. Just saying, now move along.)

Well, it looks like On the Corner’s replacement is finally growing into it’s own at Oak and Divis. Although they still haven’t posted their name anywhere other than a handwritten sign proclaiming “Cafe Divis Hours”, they’ve cleaned up quite a bit since we last popped in during their soft open.

Most notably to those of us who need a pick-me-up, they’ve ditched Italy’s Favourite Coffee Lavazza in favor of San Francisco’s Favorite Coffee* Blue Bottle. They’ve been pulling shots of Hayes Valley espresso from the La Marzocco machine on the bar and they’ve got a James Freeman-approved one-cup-at-a-time drip setup without all the hassle of standing outside in Hayes Valley or the half hour wait in the Ferry Building.

They’ve also filled out the menu with a pastry case full of desserts, ready-to-grill panini, and prepackaged goods from Gobba Gobba Hey, one of those food cart thingies you might have heard of. With an inviting new, bright orange couch in the back and a plethora of outlets (including at the bar) they’re primed for the laptop toting crowd. All they need to do now is ditch the cheesy ZRNet WiFi that is the #1 reason we all stopped going to work from Cafe Abir. Now when is board game night?

*anecdotal evidence only, of course

Next time, don’t be so sluggish with the ol’ mouse, ok? You could be using that 12 bucks you saved for like 3 draft beers at Little Star.