bacon hot dogs

I’m ashamed to admit that I hadn’t bothered to try this place — at 23rd and Mission, three blocks from where live — until I read online that a Twitterer had spotted Anthony Bourdain eating a torta and filming during his visit to SF in March. In my defense, it looks from the outside like any of the other convenience stores you find in that neighborhood. Anyhow, inside you’ll find a diner counter that will seat three people, a grill behind the counter, and a full menu of tortas, tostadas, and quesadillas. Thus far, I’ve tried a carne asada torta, a pork torta, and a chicken tostada.  The tortas are a meal-and-a-half, as all the tortas I’ve tried around here tend to be. “Everything” on the torta means lettuce, tomato, avocado, refried beans, crema, mayo, and queso fresco. I liked the annatto-intensive pork torta the best. The shredded chicken tosta was good, albeit on a Guerrero shell right out of the bag). Queso fresco really hits the spot on a tostada. The tortas run $6.50 and the tostadas are $3.50. The tostada is enough for lunch, and a whole torta will make a zombie of you for the bulk of the afternoon. I haven’t tried a quesadilla yet. Huitlacoche was one of the options on the quesadilla menu, but the friendly lady who does the cooking didn’t have it the one time I asked for it.

After hearing about the pork rinds in a bag that are making the circuit in upscale markets/eateries in SF, I finally found a bag at Avedanos (the butcher in Bernal Heights). They are *so* good – and $2.75 a bag. Try them – 4505 Chicharrones. Sweet, spicy and pork fat flavored – remarkably light and not greasy. And definitely addictive. Scarily so. . .

more addictive than you realize

Paid a second visit to Beijing Restaurant a new-ish (like 6 or 8 month-old) restaurant at Alemany and Ocean that specializes in Beijing-style cuisine. They’ve got hand-pulled noodles and flour ball dishes, among many other things. Had shredded potatoes with “hot oil”, a cold noodle dish (it was a hot day), and cumin lamb. The shredded potatoes were really interesting. They were served in an attractive mound garnished with cilantro. They seemed hardly cooked if at all, and had roughly the texture of spaghetti squash. They were slightly orange from the chile oil. The cold noodle dish was garlicky, and had cucumbers, and the noodles were nice and home-y. The cumin lamb was good too. A great meal, and at about $20 for more than enough food for two people, a great deal as well. There are lots of other interesting things to check out on this menu ( I had a very nice chive pancake on my first visit, as well as a stew-y noodle dish that I thoroughly enjoyed), and I’d nominate it (along with Lers Ros and Larkin Express) for a group meal.

Sneaky’s (what a great name) will deliver gourmet BBQ to your door. Might be a good thing for the soon-to-be parents in the group. Also, tablehopper put up a list of cheap eats in case we need inspiration.

… has very good bahn mi. It’s a little off SF’s beaten bahn mi path, which is one reason I thought it was worth mentioning. At $3.95, these might be a tad more expensive than some of the ones you can get in the loin, but they are stuffed really well. I’ve tried a grilled pork and a grilled chicken with pate (you can add pate to any sandwich for $0.50). Both were really good. The pickled veggies were sliced just a bit thicker than I am used to, and I liked it like that. The baguettes are good. If you like them on the crunchy side, as I do, you might want to specify. The couple (or so they seem to be) who run the place are really nice and I’m sure they will oblige. My new favorite cheap eats by the Powell Street Bart station. In case logistics make a difference to anyone, the place is the size of a walk-in closet and has no seating.

B’s BBQ on Divisidero is a friendly, and tasty, place to dine. And as an added bonus, my clothes still smell of the smokehouse from dinner last night.

3-way combo with medium sauce: beef brisket, beef links, pork ribs, with sides of collard greens ($1 extra for the greens, mmm), BBQ beans. $21 and enough food for two.

Wandering around SF on foot sure gives you a chance to discover the latest and greatest stealth eats in town. Today I was walking down Valencia St. and the smell of cookies drew me to a place which looked like it was in the process of opening, but in fact, it was open. Anthony’s Cookies – located between 25th and 26th streets. They’re baking cookies that they make every day (the dough is made there and the cookies are baked in the oven the size of a large coke machine). But the cookies are great – especially if you get whatever it is that’s just come out of the oven – $5 for a half dozen – I tasted the chocolate chip and the banana walnut – both yum! I still have five cookies left (they gave me a freebie) and I’m sure they’ll all be good. Also really good was the original cheesesteak sandwich from Phat Philly – with the beer cheese sauce. Yeah, I was hungry today – go figure. It got a little soggy as I was eating it (the guy said, that’s the way they go – but I don’t remember that happening in Philly) so all the meat fell out the bottom of the bun, but it was still delicious. Yum! They have a bunch of different types of gourmet, veggie, etc. cheesesteaks, too. But get the beer cheese sauce – it’s really good!

On Saturday I picked up lunch from the Guatemalan truck parked outside
the 16th and Mission Bart, Antojitos San Miguel. I was really impressed and
think it might be one of the three or four best buys in the city. First, I
had the $4 enchilada guatemalteca, which is for starters unexpectedly good-looking. It’s probably one of the most beautifully presented dishes
I’ve had in a styrofoam container or from a truck. It’s.more like what I
think of as a tostada — a flat, fried corn tortilla topped with all kinds of stuff, including a lot of chopped beets, a neatly sliced hard boiled egg, onions, an orange colored tomato sauce, greens, and what seemed like a potato salad with shredded chicken in it. Lots of restaurants serve food half as tasty and a third as beautiful for twice or thrice the price. Anyhow, next I had a $2 tortilla adovada, a taco with really tasty pork that was crunchy and orange around the sides. I think the orange crunchiness might have been a light breading. The two tortillas were really good — not sure they were handmade, but they definitely didn’t taste like they came from a supermarket and were at least a couple of notches above
the tortillas you get at the taquerias around here (although not as good as
the ones at a sit-down place such as Chavas). This thing came with a side of
pureed black beans dusted with parmesan cheese. Really a great buy at $2.
Finally, I had a piece of…. fried chicken! Three bucks for bigger pieces, two for smaller. Kind of so so, but that’s ok. This place — well, this truck — is definitely worth checking out. I think they are reliably present from 10 or 11 am until 9 or 10 pm. Don’t know if they are open on Sundays.