Festival in the City - San Francisco Street Food Festival

San Francisco was having a real summer weather this weekend. If you like this kind of weather, it is perfect for the outdoor events happening around the city.

Mijo and I went to the San Francisco Street Food Festival to grab something for lunch. The trek to the Dogpatch neighborhood of the city was all worth it.

It was a lazy Sunday morning for Mijo and I. We are usual like this when the weather is warm in the city. Over breakfast, Mijo and I were discussing the weather and we both thought it would be great to go outside. Maybe go to a Sunday Street in the Outer Mission? Or grab a light lunch and take it to Dolores Park? Or check out the San Francisco Street Food Festival (SFSFF) in its new venue in the city's Dogpatch neighborhood?

We decided to brave the trek to the SFSFF. I say brave the trek because going to Pier 70 from where we live is not as simple as going to the festival's former venue in the Mission. It would be crazy to drive for starters. To go to Pier 70 via public transport, we'll have to take BART and then transfer to MUNI which we did.

 

I said to Mijo that I don't think I've ever been to Pier 70. He said the same thing to me.
I see the layout is kind of like a Off the Grid food truck event.

   

Mijo and I pretty much remember what we had from the previous Street Food Festivals. So we surveyed first what is available in the festival.

[read my 2014 SF Street Food Festival blog here]

We walked around a bit and saw lots of food booths and trucks both familiar and new. There were also lots of food booth inside the warehouse.

   

   

This was the music stage.

We decided to share this Ethiopian dish called Berbere Meatballs with couscous and collard greens by Radio Africa and Kitchen. It was spicy hot but good spicy hot. 

We also shared this paella from Gerard's Paella. It was very tasty. I saw them making paella in these huge paella pans. I've never seen a paella pan that big before.

Mijo and I made out way inside the warehouse to get something sweet this time. Of course, there were booth selling savory and sweet items. There were also seating areas and bar style tables so one can eat ramen, pho and other brothy dishes more comfortably.

We found this super tasty Tres Leches at La Victoria.

 

I forgot where we got this Water Melon cooler but it was so refreshing and flavorful.


And added attraction was this structure resembling the Golden Gate Bridge.

   

There were also sections for featured local merchandises and a live cooking stage.
This setup kind of reminds me of the SF Chef events.

 

Finally, Mijo found his pupusas at D'Maize.

 

We washed the pupusas down with this refreshing Tamarindo agua fresca.

   

We were making our way out of the event area when we saw a food truck called El Sur selling this warm churro with cream filling.

 

Though I miss the former venue because the Mission streets and the neighborhood trees make it easy to romanticize the street food festival, I see the point why the organizers chose Pier 70. It was big so it can host large gatherings. For me, the event was well organized, trash cans everywhere, the free drinking water was easy to find, lots of tables inside the warehouse, etc.

~rl