Out There :: Festive Is As Festive Does

Everyone make it through the holiday season okay? Out There had a merry Festivus, or Hanukmas, or Christukkah, or whatever it's called. Despite early deadlines and breakneck production schedules, we managed to pack some festivity in.

Nothing's more festive than a holiday meal. We were lucky enough to be treated to an iconic San Francisco lunch at Bistro Boudin, the restaurant with a Bay view up on the second floor of Boudin Bakery's Flagship (160 Jefferson St. in Fisherman's Wharf). Executive Chef Misael Reyes has unveiled two new menus inspired by SF Sourdough in the restaurant's Main Bar and Oyster Bar. From 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m. daily, Salvadoran tamales are $10, and house-cured pork belly sandwiches are $9. From 4-7 p.m. Mon.-Fri., catch the $1 oysters, $9 calamari, $6 select cocktails, $5 wine and $3-$4 beers, including sour beers such as Bacchus Flemish Red and Duchesse De Bourgogne. Such deals!

OT & Pepi began our repast with an outstanding trio of ceviche dishes, some delicious ahi tartare and a dapper pair of oysters. Then the Pep proceeded to devour his bay scallops and pork loin while OT plunged into our cioppino, the spicy lot of it washed down by some very good Roche Winery unoaked chardonnay. Dessert was sourdough upside-down bread pudding and creme brulee. A double espresso got us home, but we'll be back for more during the winter doldrums. We believe in making merry all year round.

Road Movie

Congratulations to Bay Area filmmaker Jenni Olson, whose new film "The Royal Road" will have its world premiere in the Sundance Film Festival's New Frontier section in Park City, Utah this month. (The Sundance festival runs from Jan. 22-Feb. 1.) Here's the production company's input about the film: "A feature-length cinematic essay in defense of remembering, Jenni Olson's The Royal Road offers up a primer on the Spanish colonization of California and the Mexican American War alongside intimate reflections on nostalgia, the pursuit of unavailable women, butch identity and Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo - all set against a contemplative backdrop of 16mm urban California landscapes, and featuring a voiceover cameo by Tony Kushner." We look forward to the film's appearance in festivals here, and possible commercial release.

Elvis Lives

Recording artist Elvis Costello has been a musical chameleon for some time now, but we truly did not see this coming. From a San Francisco Symphony release looking ahead to the new year: "Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) leads the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) in performances of Stravinsky 's L'Histoire du soldat (The Soldier's Tale) with Elvis Costello as narrator, Jan. 16-18 at Davies Symphony Hall. In the first half of the program, MTT and the Orchestra perform a work written for the SFS and premiered by them in 1982, John Adams' Grand Pianola Music, with pianists Orli Shaham and Marc-Andre Hamelin and vocalists Synergy Vocals. As part of the long-standing artistic and recording relationship with Adams, one of America's most well-known living orchestral composers, the performances will be recorded for future release on SFS Media." We'll definitely be there.

Meantime, now that the days are short and the nights are long, we've been burrowing into our record collection (kidding: it's all digital). Consider this, from the Pixies' Indie Cindy: "I had a bad reaction to your public hobby writings./I get no satisfaction from your very recent sightings./Like when I hear the sound of feet slapping on the runway/Like a small bird pretty while it's crapping on the new day." Pure poetry. Or this, from Owen Pallett 's In Conflict: "The sticks smash on the flatbed/Boys tour the town,/Victorious in war./The sticks smash on the flatbed/Boys on the ball." Flat-out genius.

Happy baby new year 2015 to all our buds and constant readers. Now can't we all just get along?