For his first trick this week, Willie Brown is pointing to the grandstands and calling the Republican VP nomination for Hermain Cain. Why? Because a black pizza man is the GOP's only hope for delivering the South, obviously. Pizza, puns and politics — roll that up on a Subway Hearty Italian roll and put a fedora on it and you've pretty much summed up the content of this column for the past nine months.
In other Willie Brown political consulting news, Ed Lee isn't the only one getting tips from the former mayor. Last week, during a candidates night at Neiman Marcus (of all places), former Brown aide, D8 Supervisor and current candidate for mayor Bevan Dufty asked Willie for help when the microphone malfunctioned. Willie advised Bevan not to use the malfunctioning microphone. "That way, you will force all of these jokers in the audience to stop talking so they can hear you."
Also this week, Willie remembers Al Davis. Mostly he remembers how Davis paid him a (presumably large) sum of money to defend the Raiders in a lawsuit with the Steelers. Willie lost the case.
Speaking of money and football players, Willie partied on Ron Conway's roof with Joe Montana during Fleet Week. MC Hammer was there. Brian Wilson was there. will.i.am (sic) was there. So it was a Super Bowl halftime show on Ron Conway's roof, basically.
In food news, Willie has apparently fed his girlfriend farm more alligator than she can stomach (not a euphemism), so he was forbidden from taking her to dinner at the Boxing Room again. Willie politely let the folks at the Boxing Room know that he wouldn't be making his dinner reservation (wouldn't want to get black balled from those Boudin Balls after all) and joined Sonya at Jardiniere for their $45 Monday night special tasting menu. With the low price came a new group of people Willie had never seen before. By which he means, "the place was packed with people I have not seen at Quince, Gary Danko or Kokkari. It was ordinary people dining".
Later in the week, Willie used his considerable political clout to strongarm Cotogna in to making a four cheese pizza, which isn't on the menu. Then he drank so much wine at lunch he couldn't recall who paid for the off-menu pies. "But," he says, "I billed somebody."
