San Francisco Blog

Sexy Soup Cart

Sexy Soup Lady: The newest flavor in the Mission street-food scene

No sooner did we report on the blossoming food cart scene in the Mission when yet another vendor joined the party. (We sure hope she's not the last.) The Sexy Soup Cart made its debut at the Friday night street supper last week with an offering of organic asparagus soup (ingredients sourced from the Heart of the City farmers' market) accompanied by slices of organic baguette from Mission Pie.

"I sold out in 40 minutes," said Sexy Soup Lady, whose real name is Kristin (she preferred not to give her last name due to licensing issues). Kristin announced via Twitter that she plans to steer her cart back to the alley in two weeks, when the Friday supper scene resumes after the wedding of Crème Brûlée Man.

drrhombus via Flickr

Try not to nibble on Team Cheetos

For anyone not paying attention to all the signs around town, Bay to Breakers busts out on Sunday morning. It's a fabulous way to get in some exercise, people-watching, and sun, on what promises to be a beautiful day. If that exercise part proves too daunting, fret not: There are plenty of options for drinking and snacking along the way should you decide to break from the B2B pack.

If a craving for Filipino food strikes early, Jollibee and its sister shop Red Ribbon Bakery (200 Fourth St. at Howard) will be waiting for you. Irish pub the Chieftain (198 Fifth St. at Howard) opens at 6:30 a.m. for pre- or mid-race Bloody Marys, while the cafe at Harvest Urban Market (191 Eighth St. at Howard) will open at 7:30 a.m. for breakfast and the usual grab 'n' go stuff. It wouldn't be our first choice, but you could walk another block and surrender all pretense of health at Burger King or Starbucks.

Amélie loves cookies

Dolores Park Movie Nights are always fun, but tonight's free screening of Amélie is going to be a little bit sweeter than most. It's there that CookieWagSF will make its debut on the proliferating Mission street food scene. While plans for a "mobile, bike-powered ice cream maker [is] in the works," according to CWSF's Twitter feed, for now they'll be selling homemade cookies out of a basket. The film starts at 8:15 p.m., but get there as early as possible if you want a good view and a crack at the cookies before they're gone; CWSF plans to be there at 7.

This Thursday night's edition of Mission Street Food will be Fan Appreciation Night and will feature some popular favorites from this dining experiment's ever-changing menu. This gives us a great opportunity to show some photos of what are now considered MSF classics.

There's much to praise about Charles Phan's newest restaurant venture Heaven's Dog (1148 Mission). But if you want to go straight to the heart of it and don't have the time or means to carry out a full sit-down reservation, here's an idea: Belly up to the bar, lounge or adjacent noodle bar and order some pork belly buns or a veggie variety with crispy tofu and shiitake ($8).


These addictive morsels are a clear tribute to those served at the New York restaurant Momofuku, the great success which, if media reports are to be believed, was almost singlehandedly built on the back of buns.

I heard about El Cachanilla's $1.50 tacos al vapor from Incanto chef and offal maven Chris Cosentino by way of a Chowhound post from a tourist visiting from New York. This funky little place's menu has all the odd bits you see in taquerias in Mexico but not so often here: head, tongue, brain, tripe, even eye.

It was raining, so we went into the restaurant (2948 21st St, corner of Treat) rather than ordering at the walk-up window, but when we tried to order tacos, the owner sent us back outside. While we were waiting for our tacos, he came by and told us we could eat our food inside. He then offered an incomprehensible explanation of why he organized things that way. I think the idea was that people got too confused about the numerous toppings available for the tacos, so he set up a bar at the takeout window, with a choice of several salsas, chopped onions, cilantro, lime wedges, and so on. The tacos come out with just meat (plus beans, if you want them), and you do the rest yourself.

Basil Canteen (1489 Folsom), is an offshoot of nearby Basil Thai (1175 Folsom) that opened last summer. Where the original Basil specializes in more formal dishes, the Canteen's focus is on small plates and snacks from the streets of Thailand. It's a great spot to stop for a light meal before hitting the multitude of nightclubs around the corner on 11th Street.

I've lolled in the window of Eggettes many times in the last few years that it's been open, but had never tried it before because I was always on an unwaverable mission to get ice cream at its next-door neighbor/my childhood favorite Polly Ann. Riffing off of a Hong Kong street sweet, Eggettes offers bubbly waffles in original ($2.75), chocolate ($3) and honeydew flavors ($3.25). While it is arguably the focus product here, Eggettes also offers a few hot snacks (fish balls, shiu mai) and a staggering 73 beverage options of milk tea, coffee, shakes, freezes and juices (at an average price of $2.75).

I settled on a toffee tapioca milk tea ($2.75) and a honeydew eggette, the latter mainly out of curiosity as to why it is the most expensive waffle. It's definitely delicious, but I had a hard time placing the honeydew flavor until the waffle had cooled considerably, though the aroma is reminiscent of those little scented Japanese erasers. Next time, I'll save the 50 cents and go for the original, though.

(Photo via flickr's meredith10010)

By Meredith Brody

It hasn’t escaped Alice Waters that San Francisco is deficient in street food. (And the East Bay in general – there may be taco tricks strung out along International Boulevard in Oakland, but if there are any non-Farmers Market-related carts or trucks to be found in Berkeley, we haven’t found them.) “I’m a lover of street food,” she says, “so I bemoan that.”

For special events at Chez Panisse, she sets up stands in front and on the vine-shaded patio offering everything from New Orleans beignets to garlicky snails, depending on the occasion. For one memorable fete, she had her then-young daughter Fanny and a pal dish out mulberry ice cream cones – “I charged $2, because if they were free they would have been overwhelmed, and one man came up and said they were the single best thing he’d ever tasted in his life – and for $2! That’s the point, offering something – where they are – and surprising them with how good it is. And part of the pleasure is watching them put it together. It can be the simplest thing – even roasting chestnuts. We need to have that street life thing – a way to express the ethnicity of San Francisco.”

By Meredith Brody

The young trio that own and operate the four Happy Belly food carts, Dennis Lee, 32, his wife Jamie Rungsitiyakorn, 32, and Brent Kanbayashi, 33, got into the cart business because of their shared food obsessions. Jamie, a native San Franciscan, along with friend Brent, a designer by trade, met Boston-born Dennis, who arrived in San Francisco in 2001, working together in such restaurants as Ozumo, the Slow Club, and Bay Bread’s La Boulange. “We were always talking about food,” Dennis says, “What the city needs, what we like to eat. “

“We came across an ad for a cart for sale, and while checking out the city’s website to learn about licensing and permits, we saw that the Golden Gate Park contract was up, an RFP (request for proposal). We weren’t thinking that we could get it, but we did.”