This story is fourth in a series on Burmese food in San Francisco. What is Burmese cuisine? The question is problematic. I’ve been asking it for over a year, and I know as little about the topic now as I did when I first moved to San Francisco. Something as straight forward as “beef curry” [...]
Somewhere in the world is a person microwaving Kraft singles on a Mission tortilla and covering it with Pace salsa. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve done it. It’s delicious, even if it is a high-density, high-sodium brick of cheese flour covered in a sauce that is way too many parts sugar. I’m not judging, [...]
I love diners with a love that transcends the quality of food, to the point where personality and convenience can be enough to make or break a meal before the food ever hits the table. I’m a big fan of Norm’s in L.A. at two in the morning. I’m a big fan of Denny’s when [...]
Floridians can get surly when it comes to Key Lime Pie. I don’t blame them when bakeries across California serve too-sweet lime pies colored green and label them “Key” on menus. I’ve never tried the real thing, but breakfasts at Lois the Pie Queen have got me thinking: Maybe the best key lime pie in [...]
Fact: Delis and butchers serve good cold cut sandwiches. Fact: Produce markets serve good vegetarian sandwiches. Probably. They should. Fact: Smoothie shops that are next door to produce markets serve good sandwiches. Confirmed. Senor Mango’s may not look like much, but success in the smoothie game is a simple recipe, simply stated: Keep it simple [...]
This story is third in a series on Burmese food in San Francisco. When tourists come to San Francisco, they eat Chinese food in Chinatown. There’s nothing wrong with that. Chinatown is a cool place, and there’s good food there. However, it isn’t too bold to claim that the best Chinese food in the Bay [...]
This story is second in a series on Burmese food in San Francisco. When the number 38 bus reaches Geary and Third late on a Saturday night, I don’t have to look up to know I’m almost home. Every girl in a skirt and every guy in plaid disembarks on cue in a litany of [...]
This story is first in a series on Burmese food in San Francisco. The middleclass white person is a fickle eater. We can be picky about our special diets, about unfamiliar ingredients, about foods that our palates might insist are too greasy or too salty, and we can even balk at a menu’s linguistics. Just [...]
“Street food” is a misleading term, at least in this country. A hot dog stand in suburban Chicago probably has more square footage and seating than three San Francisco Thai restaurants. Mariscos German and Mariscos El Pescador in San Diego are theoretically taco trucks, but they always camp out in parking lots with permanent seating, [...]
Burritos are pregnant with meaning. They are pregnant with lots of things, and some are even called pregnant by name, but others tell tales between the sheets of tortilla. El Porvenir’s carnitas burrito contains a San Diego origin story; the wet burrito at Berkeley’s La Burrita knows how stupid I act drunk; the Manuel Special [...]
