24th Street at Mission
As promised, I headed to San Francisco's Mission District yesterday. I took BART to the 24th street exit and planned to work my way back to 16th street, searching for some great hangout and good tacos. The visit to the Mission was very fruitful.
When you exit the BART station towards the eastern side, you come up from the underground station to a plaza. Walk through the plaza and on 24th Street you will find two good stops. Even if you don’t venture far from the station you can find five taquerias and one good waterhole. Carlos’ Bar, Taqueria El Taco Loco, Taqueria El Farolito, Taqueria San Jose are within a hundred yards.
Carlos’ Bar is a true neighborhood bar. Regulars bring in food from the local neighborhood restaurants, Tejano music blares from the jukebox and there is a pool table. The long bar can accommodate a big crowd. If you are into oil paintings of bare breasted women, this is a definite stop. Carlos’ boast four, very large paintings, of Romanesque women draped with very little and breast in full view as they hang throughout the bar. A beer cost $4.
I tried tacos at both El Farolito and El Taco Loco. Farolito has a line that goes out the door. It has a full taqueria menu and serves beer. The taco was $2.25 and the the Mexican Beer was $3. The Taco was a solid B. Good tortilla, the steak was seasoned well, but the meat quality was a bit on the cheap side. El Taco Loco fared on the C side, by my grading standards. There are much better places in the neighborhood, so I would skip it.
As you walk down Mission, you can see a neighborhood that once must have been a thriving district. I counted four, former large movie theaters that are now dilapidated and following apart. The street is full of shops, low cost shopping and place to eat on the cheap. There are two nice dining stops on the street, Foreign Cinema and Cha Cha Cha. I have eaten at both in the past, but this was not part of the excursion.
The street has some of the best little Mexican bakeries. If you have a sweet tooth, stop into any of them. I stopped at Acaxutla, they have these large cookies for a quarter. I did not know you could still by anything for a quarter. The cookies are perfect for a cup of coffee.
The final stop on this trip was Taqueria Pancho Villa on 16th Street. This is the cleanest and brightest place in the neighborhood. The food is excellent and the salsa bar is bursting with incredible flavors. Pancho Villas boast their wins from the State fair in the Salsa Division on the wall. I had the grilled Chicken Taco $2.44 w/tax included. A boast that they definitely backup. For more local flavor, head next door to El Tin Tan for a drink. The Mission is a great place to spend an afternoon.
There is so much to take in and to experience. I covered very little ground, after several hours, and still have Valencia from 16th to 24th Street to write about. Well another afternoon.
