Thousands Throng the Mission for 2010 SF Street Food Festival

Chris MacArthur/SF Weekly

Saturday's SF Street Food Festival featured some 40 vendors and the foodies who love them.

​If you were anywhere near the mission Saturday, chances are you were sucked in, vortexlike, to the SF Street Food Festival. Some 40 vendors took part in this year's second annual fest, a benefit for La Cocina, the Mission-based nonprofit that helps launch women-owned food businesses. This year's festivities sprawled through considerably more city real estate than last year's single-block affair, and featured vendors from La Cocina's incubator and pre-incubation programs, both formal and informal street-food sellers, and existing bars and restaurants. By noon, a four-block swath of the Mission pivoting from Folsom and 25th Street was thronged with people willing to endure growing queues at stands for Hapa Ramen, Namu, Pizzeria Delfina, and, of course, Roli Roti.

Chris MacArthur/SF Weekly

This was the second year for the festival that celebrates food-business entrepreneurship in S.F.

​This year's fest included more street food vendors, whether trucked (Liba Falafel, Curry Up Now, Kung Fu Tacos) or not (Crème Brulee Cart, Adobo Hobo, Gobba Gobba Hey, Lumpia Cart). The SF Street Food Festival conference kicked off yesterday, and continues today. Check out our festival slide show by photographer Chris MacArthur. Check out Tamara Palmer's report on the festival's liquid offerings, and don't miss our video interviews with festival chefs, food writer John T. Edge, and La Cocina director Caleb Zigas.