SF SF Fest
Here’s the tongue twister of the day: SFSSFSFFFS, or “Saturday Food Snippets at San Fran Street Food Fest on Folsom Street“. I can’t swim, but I dived into this sea of people in the name of friendship: to meet fellow food bloggers Oanh and Dang of Rau Om for the first time. There was much struggle. Lots of aggressive walking, cutting through undeterminably long lines, being repeatedly separated from comrades, and flavoring my dress with beef juice. But there were joyous moments too. One was when I found Bob and Rob at the Commonwealth booth, sipping a watermelon gazpacho. Another was when some lady gave me her extra watermelon gazpacho. Lunch time started.
Or so we thought. Thirty minutes in the sea of people and no food except for the gazpacho, I told Yookyung that the bloody long queues were our destiny and it would be fatal trying to look for a stall with no line. Seconds after, Yookyung found Delicioso Creperie, which had no line. Defeated, I hopped into the short line of its adjacent neighbor, Il Cane Rosso, and succumbed to the $8 Tuscan-style grilled spareribs & garlic bruschetta.
The spareribs dripped on me. My dress is now salty and fatty. But I liked the cartilage still. The bruschetta was too soaked in the salty fatty meat grease, filling but unimpressive. Victoria voted Yookyung’s choice, the crepe con cajeta ($5), the better of the two for good reason: sweetened caramelized milk with peanuts and cherry whipped cream. So far, one thumps up, one thumbs down (four thirds thumbs up if we count the gazpacho because only one of us liked it).
Anda Piroshki hostesses preparing beef piroshki and kompot (strawberry and cherry juice)
Anda Piroshki was out of potato piroshki ($3), so we forked into a beautiful yellow and orange blini & red caviar ($8) instead.
The crepe is fine, the cold mashed egg is fine, let’s just say that the caviar tastes like boiled fish eye. Normally I like fish eyes, and someone I know would agree with me, but when this popping-boba-like orange capsule burst its fishy, salty and fatty substance out into the (chicken) egg, my taste buds involuntarily cringed. Victoria, however, said that she might just get it again after she had adjusted to the taste. But we already got to the front of the Onigilly line.
I don’t know why they write Onigilly when its more common romanization (in mangas) is onigiri, but the Japanese “r” and “l” are the same anyway. The “samurai snack” advertisement surely caught on. The big pack (3 onigiri and edamame for $8) was perfect for us: each gets a flavor: ume (salty plum), spicy shrimp, and eggplant. Again, Vic adored the rice ball. I paid dearly for my salt(y plum) intake: my mouth was in a drought. To be exact, I paid $4 for a cup of juice.
If that doesn’t prove my despair, how’s this: I probably might have cut in line, because Vic noticed that the line for Ica Juices grew exponentially long seconds after we stood in. It was good juice no doubt. Pineapple and strawberry mixed. Hydration and vitamins replenished. So rejuvenated we felt that we contemplated kicking five-year-olds off the tire swing and the hammock for a nap. Surely we can pass as eight-year-olds. 🙂
But guess what we did after conquering our thirst: we tasted salt. Sal de Vida had a salt booth, and we asked for sample. Garlic salt? Yum. Thirsty? Natürlich.
Not all buys were as endearing as the juice, unfortunately. There were two regrettable purchases, which I can reason my way out of the guilt but not quite. The first was a $3 jello cup with an orange lion in green gelatin, strawberry and cherry flavored, from Sweets Collection. My excuses: I was taking pictures of them, other people were too, but other people didn’t buy any of them, a little girl was standing the booth, the jello was good looking, the work put into making these animal shapes kinda justifies the obnoxious cost. And Vic liked it.
The second regrettable purchase was grilled beef heart (antichuchos de corazon, $8) from Sabores del Sur. Vic refused to share because the heart texture doesn’t sing to her, so here I was left to my own device with two chunky skewers and a fried potato wedge. The dipping sauces were nothing to write home about. The heart texture sang too soft a tune to win over the muddled chile seasoning. My excuse: Bob told me about it, and organ meat is music to my ears.
There could possibly have been another regrettable purchase, but we’ll never find out because Don Bugito sold out their toffee mealworms, and “toffee mealworm ice cream” ($3) became vanilla ice cream ($3). Who would pay three for a vanilla scoop when you can pay two for a chocolate scoop? A “bittersweet chocolate” scoop at that. Exceedingly rewarding. From the Three Twins.
I admire Yookyung. She did not even once stray from her vegetarian path in the middle of this meatbound grotesque. In an unrelated passing comment, she said that the people in the (densely packed) fenced-off lot queuing for beer are like chickens. Just a thought.
For more details on the Fest, read Bob Fukushima’s coverage on his blog. His is quite the essay on street food culture of The Mission. 🙂
Battles won: 4. Battles tied: 5. Battles lost: 2.
Casualty: a dress.
A word to Mr. Rizzi the Global Eater: how come you didn’t see me? I was walking right there in the middle of all these other Asian girls the whole time! 😀
Thanks for finding me Mai, I would never have found you in that sea of people. Nice covereage Mai, it was quite the zoo, and I was one of those chickens 🙂 I did enjoy the food, the beef heart I got was a little more ‘textural’ than I had hoped, but, the flavor was there for me. I didn’t get the dipping sauce.
1It was really nice to see you there, Bob! 🙂 I felt that a smaller cut of beef heart would have been just right, and I would prefer a sweeter flavor. I’m glad that you told me about it though, I wouldn’t know to look for it otherwise. Did you try the mealworm ice cream?
2No, no bugs for me. Of course, I did not try the jello art either.
3Thanks, Mai, for braving the crowd to visit us. It was so nice to meet you in person. Look forward to more get-together in the future where we actually have time to talk about food. 🙂
4I look forward to meeting you again too! And your food is one of a kind, of course I just had to visit you! 🙂
5I conceive other website owners should take this internet site as an model, very clean and wonderful user pleasant style.
6I went over this internet site and I believe you have a lot of superb info, saved to favorites (:.
7Nice read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing some research on that. And he actually bought me lunch as I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thank you for lunch!
8Perfect piece of work you have done, this site is really cool with fantastic information.
9You are my inhalation, I possess few web logs and sometimes run out from to post : (.
10But wanna remark that you have a very nice internet site, I like the design and style it really stands out.
11What’s Happening i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve discovered It positively helpful and it has aided me out loads. I am hoping to give a contribution & help other users like its helped me. Great job.
12Useful info. Lucky me I found your web site by accident, and I’m shocked why this coincidence did not came about in advance! I bookmarked it.
13Thanks , I have just been looking for info about this subject for a long time and yours is the greatest I have found out till now. However, what concerning the bottom line? Are you positive in regards to the supply?
14Hi, i think that i saw you visited my site so i came to “return the favor”.I’m trying to find things to enhance my web site!I suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!!
15Hi there! Someone in my Facebook group shared this website with us so I came to look it over. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Superb blog and superb style and design.
16I have recently started a web site, the information you provide on this site has helped me tremendously. Thank you for all of your time & work.
17Thanks a bunch for sharing this with all of us you really know what you’re talking about! Bookmarked. Kindly also seek advice from my website =). We may have a hyperlink trade agreement between us!
18Howdy are using WordPress for your site platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and create my own. Do you need any coding expertise to make your own blog? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
19I regard something truly special in this web site.
20I got good info from your blog
21Very interesting information!Perfect just what I was looking for!
22What’s Happening i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve found It positively helpful and it has helped me out loads. I hope to contribute & help other users like its aided me. Good job.
23Its like you read my mind! You appear to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a bit, but instead of that, this is magnificent blog. A great read. I’ll definitely be back.
24I like this web blog very much, Its a rattling nice situation to read and incur info .
25Merely wanna tell that this is invaluable, Thanks for taking your time to write this.
26You have remarked very interesting details! ps decent site.
27Hi there! Someone in my Myspace group shared this website with us so I came to take a look. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m bookmarking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Fantastic blog and great style and design.
28This is really interesting, You are a very skilled blogger. I have joined your rss feed and look forward to seeking more of your excellent post. Also, I have shared your web site in my social networks!
29I think other website owners should take this web site as an model, very clean and superb user friendly design.
30Hi there, I found your site via Google while looking for a related topic, your website came up, it looks great. I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
31Your place is valueble for me. Thanks!…
32Some truly excellent posts on this web site, thank you for contribution. “A liar should have a good memory.” by Quintilian.
33Good day very nice website!! Man .. Excellent .. Wonderful .. I’ll bookmark your web site and take the feeds additionally…I am glad to search out so many useful info right here within the post, we need develop extra techniques in this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .
34Great blog! Do you have any tips for aspiring writers? I’m hoping to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you recommend starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m totally overwhelmed .. Any tips? Thank you!
35I am continually invstigating online for posts that can benefit me. Thanks!
36Some really nice stuff on this site, I love it.
37Wow that was odd. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyway, just wanted to say fantastic blog!
38Once I initially commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now every time a comment is added I get 4 emails with the identical comment. Is there any manner you can remove me from that service? Thanks!
39A person essentially help to make seriously posts I would state. This is the very first time I frequented your website page and thus far? I surprised with the research you made to make this particular publish amazing. Great job!
40Excellent post however I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit further. Cheers!
41I think this site has some very fantastic info for everyone :D.
42Hey would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re using? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most. Can you suggest a good internet hosting provider at a fair price? Cheers, I appreciate it!
43What’s Taking place i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve discovered It positively helpful and it has helped me out loads. I hope to give a contribution & help other users like its aided me. Great job.
44Hi there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok. I’m undoubtedly enjoying your blog and look forward to new posts.
45Really Appreciate this article, is there any way I can get an email sent to me when you publish a new article?
46Its such as you read my thoughts! You appear to know so much approximately this, such as you wrote the e-book in it or something. I feel that you just could do with some p.c. to force the message house a bit, but instead of that, this is excellent blog. An excellent read. I will definitely be back.
47I dugg some of you post as I cogitated they were extremely helpful invaluable
48I besides conceive hence, perfectly composed post! .
49Have you ever considered about including a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is important and all. However think of if you added some great graphics or videos to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with pics and videos, this website could definitely be one of the most beneficial in its field. Great blog!
50