Damian Fagan Beer Monger and Design Evangelist

What are you up to these days? Growing a nascent brewery and hopefully bringing something unique and compelling to the table, literally. I love my job. Headed to North Carolina shortly for a craft beer and BBQ tour. Research!

What event will we find you at next week? Join me for a beer at the Meet the Brewer event at Whole Foods Potrero on May 25 from 6-8pm. Oh, and I have front row seats for the Dead Can Dance show at The Greek Theater in August. Lot's of macabre chanting, warlocks and so forth. Good stuff.

Where would you have your last meal on earth? Tough question. Quince is way up there (rabbit agnolotti). But just in case they don't serve last meals, pretty much anything from Outerlands, Bar Tartine or Flour + Water. I'd take last rites at any of them.

Where do you get your local gossip? Mostly at seances. I have a very chatty ouija board. Usually old news, though.

Why do you love your neighborhood? Glen Park, where I live: It's quiet. It's where hipsters go to die. Dogpatch, where I work: the dichotomy. The Hells Angel's clubhouse is on the same block where you can buy a $400 shirt. 

Where's your secret spot? The back room in my house looks out over our garden and is filled with my taxidermy and a five foot long, 80 million year old dinosaur skull (no, really). It's my own private museum.

What's your favorite under-the-radar SF restaurant? It's been around for seventeen years, but Fattoush on Church Street serves some of the best Middle Eastern food I've ever had. And Arinell Pizza on Valencia is a woefully under recognized guilty pleasure in my opinion.

What local merchant have you been meaning to check out? I've got a couple - both of which I've already checked out: Perch in Glen Park—I never thought I would be really into a gift shop, but it's pretty great. And Big Daddy's Antiques in Potrero Hill. It's like a Blade Runner set. I kind of want to live there. 

What would you change about SF? I miss having real seasons. I'm from Detroit and I'd give anything for a midwestern autumn. We could also use a place that serves real Coney Island hot dogs—steamed buns, meat sauce (aka chili) and snappy Dearborn franks. Ridiculous.