First up, Huong Tra in Richmond. Patrick and I have our favorite Vietnamese restaurant in the city firmly established (Le Soleil, of course), but we have not had the best luck finding something we're crazy about in the East Bay. Finally, the search is over. 12221 San Pablo, in a little strip mall with a pizza place, an Indian place, and a donut shop. We started out with soft rolls filled with noodles and wrapped in rice paper, and they were exactly the right texture to be devoured quickly. The waitress brought a separate bowl of peanut sauce for each of us, which meant neither one of us had to be polite about how much sauce we were taking every time we dipped a roll. I took a few sips of the vegetarian hot and sour soup and pronounced it addictive before leaving Patrick to the rest of it (too many chili peppers for me) as well as his fried crepe (also delicious, but I have this thing about onions). Meanwhile, I turned my attentions to the beef luc lac, the dish I use to measure how much I like a Vietnamese restaurant. Slanted Door's version of it was terrible, and I've never wanted to go back. Huong Tra's was so perfect that when Patrick asked for a taste when there were only two cubes of perfectly-marinated beef left on my plate, I really had to struggle for a moment before I could offer him one.

Next recommendation: Emmy's Spaghetti Shack in Bernal Heights at 18 Virginia. We got there right as it opened Saturday evening (rock star parking!), and it was already packed. We decided to take our dinner at the bar and were delighted to notice that nothing on the hand-printed menu was over $10. We started with yummy garlic bread and a salad of grilled asparagus, shaved parmesan, a quail egg, and anchovies (for Patrick). For my main course I had flatbread with mozzarella, pesto, and pine nuts, and Patrick had the spaghetti and meatballs. We were too stuffed for dessert, though the slabs of chocolate cake were tempting. Emmy's wins with good atmosphere, great background music, very nice staff, and delicious food. It feels homey, not trendy. Don't bother taking a credit card, it's cash-only.

We stayed up late Saturday night to attend the opening night of Midnight Mass at the Bridge Theater, the annual film festival organized by drag queen Peaches Christ. Every Saturday night during the summer Peaches screens only the finest in cult and camp film, including classics like Strait-Jacket, Showgirls, and Evil Dead 2. This night we were treated to a showing of John Waters' Desperate Living, which he describes as "a monstrous fairy-tale comedy dealing with mental anguish, penis envy and political corruption. Its target audience is very neurotic adults with the mentalities of eight-year-olds." I couldn't have put it better myself. The audience sparked up their bongs and yelled lines along with the movie's actors. I myself needed no chemical enhancement in order to be laughing hysterically. Watching this film was a thoroughly refreshing experience; I must have been in the mood for some high camp from a director who just doesn't give a fuck about censoring himself. Even better, Mink Stole was there to help Peaches host the screening and to answer questions and to just be her awesome self. The audience gave her a standing ovation when she came out, and she seemed genuinely touched.

In other important news, I'm going to be moving to the East Bay soon so that I can have my own place. I got my first good look at my new apartment this weekend and I can barely wait to move it's so perfect. Don't worry, San Francisco will still be my playground.

Peaches Christ
Mink Stole