When hipster meets hood

Sunday night we went to the Kid Cudi show at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. In terms of the venue, it was your typical auditorium. It feels kind of like you're in an airport hanger meets high school gym. We had floor tickets and the stage was not raised at all, so I could barely see. Chip da Rip opened for Kudi. I'd never heard of him but it wasn't bad. Cudi live is a great experience. He gets the crowd going and is high energy the whole time, jumping around and doing three songs straight. Kid Cudi did all of my favorite songs from all three of his albums. The man is a brilliant lyrcist and he doesn't shy away from showing emotion through his music. I still think my favorite is Pursuit of Happiness, but Soundtrack 2 My Life is really good too. He shows a lot of video footage in the background of him smoking weed and encourages the audience to do the same. But apparently he's 3 months "sober" from weed now, so it's kind of a mixed message. The best thing about the Kid Cudi show was the people watching. He's more indie hip hop (using bands like MGMT on some of his songs), so he gets the hipsters decked out in their shades ala Cudi-style, as well as the regular hip hop crowd. Watching the two different groups inter mingle is kind of hilarious.

Matt + Kim rock it in Oakland

Saturday night we trekked over to catch the Matt + Kim show at the Fox Theater. This was my first time at the Fox Theater and definitely won't be my last. The theater had a gorgeous interior, which bars all over the place so you never have to wait in line and it was possible to have a good view from almost any vantage point. As for the show itself, seeing Matt and Kim is always a good time. This couple (as in actual couple, they're dating but don't flaunt it) hails from Brooklyn. Kim rocks the drums with gusto and Matt harmonizes with fun pop synth melodies on the piano. I've seen them a couple shows now and they've gone from playing in front of a couple hundred in a dive club in Minneapolis, to Coachella in 2010, to this show which had to be at least a thousand people. They're very good at engaging the audience. I really like how they talk to the audience. They throw out balloons to blow up and throw around confetti. Kim actually stood on the hands of the crowd and did her booty shake dance. My boyfriend said Kim came off as fake, but I like her. Badass girl drummers definitely top the cool list in my book. I think they are more fun to see in a smaller venue, but I can't fault them for their success. It's amazing the sounds they can make from just a drum and electric piano!

Another good find via Groupon

Friday night we went to the Castro neighborhood for the first time. We had a Groupon for the Eureka Restaurant & Lounge, which is on 18th Street. They make classic culinary favorites with a Southern spin. For a drink I got the Black and Blue mojito, which was delicious! It's a mojito made with blueberry vodka and fresh blackberries muddled in. For an appetizer we had the calamari from Monterey Bay, which was crispy, well seasoned and came with a spicy red pepper aioli. For an entree I had the lamb stifado, which is chunks of lamb shoulder braised in red wine and tomatoes, served with pearl onions, Yukon gold potatoes and feta cheese. The lamb was locally farmed and very tender. My boyfriend got the nightly special, a huge slab of prime rib with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. He was a big fan of the portion size and really liked the horseradish sauce it came with. Overall, it was a very tasty meal made from local produce and reasonably priced with the Groupon (although they didn't tell us the special was pricier than anything else on the menu). The Castro area seems like a fun place with lots of good restaurants to try. We were there at 8pm and already all the bars were packed. It would be a fun area to hang out in for SF Pride next weekend and it's too bad the parade doesn't go through there.

In case you forgot, tomorrow is Caturday!

Delicious dessert on Fillmore

The other night we were walking around the Lower Pac Heights and a sweets craving hit, so we went to Citizen Cake on Fillmore. I haven't been there for their savory food (they serve brunch, lunch and dinner), but I can say that their dessert selection is amazing. It won "Best Dessert" from 7x7 Magazine. The chef behind Citizen Cake is Elizabeth Falker, who I recognize from TV. Her other San Francisco restaurant is Orson on 4th St, which is Michelin recommended. When we went to Citizen Cake for dessert, I had the chocolate chip cupcake, which was a brown sugar cake with chocolate chip frosting and a cute mini chocolate chip cookie on top for garnish. My boyfriend had the s'more brownie, which he said was one of the best brownies he's ever had. I've heard the salted chocolate torte is also supposed to be amazing. They also had a signature cupcake, which sounded a little to chocolatey for me, which is cocoa genoise cake filled with marshmallow fluff and a ganache glaze. Falker also has a cookbook out aptly named "Demolition Desserts." Baking has never been something I'm good at (or particularly enjoy). I'll stick with visiting the restaurant for now. This is definitely a good place for anyone with a sweet tooth! It can be a little pricey, but I can say the desserts are worth it.

Not such a good week for movies

I'm so sad, it has been a week fun of not very good movies. First off, my boyfriend talked me into seeing "Wild Things" from the 90s for the first time. Gee, don't know how I missed such a classic gem (insert sarcasm here). 

So, the first movie worth reviewing we DVRed off Showtime, which was "Tweleve," starring Chace Crawford. He's too pretty for me in "Gossip Girl" but in this movie he's a lot scruffier so he's pretty attractive. Rory Culkin, who usually makes pretty good indie movies is also in this, along with up-and-comer Emma Roberts, who I really like. Oh, and the big drug dealer role is played by 50 Cent.... which is interesting. Basically this movie follows Crawford's character, White Mike. White Mike use to be a wealthy kid from the Upper East Side but his mom died and now he deals drugs to his former classmates. Overall it was okay. There were no breakout roles or moments, but the narration from Keifer Sutherland saves the movie by offering interesting details about the inner workings of every character. I don't think you're missing anything if you don't see this but if you're really bored and its on cable, it's not a horrible way to spend two hours.

 

The second movie I saw this week was HORRIBLE. Like How Did This Get Made awful. It was "Knowing," which stars Nicolas Cage, which is a bad sign right off the bat. Has that man made a decent movie in years? I liked his role in "Kick Ass," but otherwise he hasn't made a good movie since the underrated "The Weather Man" in 2005. This movie was a sci-fi alien apocalyptic flick with underlying religious meaning. The acting was so over-done. The movie used the typical plot cop-out, aliens, which is my pet peeve. It's like, let's make a movie that gets so complicated that the only way we can explain ourselves out of it is to have aliens show up at the end and blame all the weird things on them. And it had Rose Byrne in it, who I've totally become a fan of. This was a disappointing move by her. Anyway, don't ever see this movie. Ever. You will wish for those two hours of your life back.

The snake trend

Riding the snake bracelets trend, Marc Jacobs made a pink snake clutch that would look great on the arm with a gold snake bracelet (like the one featured here from Adina Reyter).