»In which we look to an agèd Japanese fisherman to make us French pastries

The arrival of Beard Papa's in San Francisco intrigues me more for their location than their cuisine. Beard Papa's is a Japanese chain of fast-food éclair and cream-puff retailers, and recently opened a franchise in San Francisco, in an alley which may not exist. Papa Beard's occupies a kiosk in a recently-created pedestrian area between Mission and Market, alongside the Museum of Crafts and Folk Art. San Francisco Chronicle columnists Matier and Ross pointed out an intriguing and difficult aspect of the Museum's location earlier this year:

the Postal Service doesn't recognize the museum's existence, neither does Federal Express or UPS or any other delivery service -- all lifelines of any business operation.

Nor does the Internal Revenue Service or MapQuest, or -- for that matter -- San Francisco's computerized 911 system.

"So you'd better not have a heart attack here,'' said museum executive director Kate Eilertsen, who just may need some cardio work herself if things don't get resolved quickly.

It's hard to say just who is responsible for keeping the museum off the map. But there's no shortage of finger-pointing going on between the Postal Service, the city and the developer that created the $7.5 million "Yerba Buena Lane" where the museum now sits after moving from its old location at Fort Mason.

The space -- punched out of the backside of the Marriott Hotel -- is just one of a dozen shops and restaurants that landlord Millennium Partners, developer of the neighboring Four Seasons hotel, plans to lease along the pedestrian mall carved out between Market and Mission streets.

And while Millennium posted a street sign with the designation of Yerba Buena Lane, it never got all the legal sign-offs for what amounts to a public thoroughfare on private property.

The folks at the Department of Public Works, who are responsible for street signage, don't know anything about Yerba Buena Lane.

As for the Postal Service? "We get all our information from the city -- whatever they tell us, we go with it,'' spokeswoman Sharon Mayall said.

Officials at the Redevelopment Agency, which was overseeing the Yerba Buena Lane project, say they've been busy themselves lately moving to a new address -- and frankly, they didn't have an immediate answer for the museum's problem.

In the meantime, the problems continue. Just last week, the museum's phones were shut off -- because the phone bill never arrived.