Tweezers, putters, fine food and boozy fun in San Francisco

A lot goes on in San Francisco’s Mission District, which is a historically Latino neighborhood south of Market Street. Eating and drinking, especially. All kinds of eating and drinking.

Which brings us to the stars of this video: a restaurant called Californios and a bar/restaurant/mini-golf course called Urban Putt. They stand just across 22nd Street from each other, and if they were cars, they’d be about as similar as a Tesla and Herbie the Love Bug.

Still, they’re both newish, odd and a lot of fun, with Mexican touches here and there -- so maybe they’re logical Mission District neighbors after all.

Californios, as you’ll see, is a small, highly ambitious restaurant that takes Mexican traditions in unexpected directions. It opened early this year.

Urban Putt opened in 2014. It has food too. But it’s better known for its course of 14 kooky miniature golf holes. (One has a Dia de Los Muertos theme; another celebrates Jules Verne.)

It serves as a play space for families in the afternoon, a bar and goof-off zone for adults only after 8 p.m.

“A Minute Away” is a video series in which nothing much happens -- except you see the world, and hear it, and get a respite from workaday life. We’ve covered Machu Picchu, Red Square, the Yucatan, the Alamo, an Alaskan float plane and the reading room of the New York Public Library, among other places. Since early 2013, we’ve been adding a new minute every week (and some of those “minutes” are closer to 120 seconds. So if you’d prefer 100 minutes away, we’ve got more than enough here for you…