A sea of humanity at the San Francisco Street Food Festival.
All Photos: Wendy Goodfriend

This writer can report that the weather was beautiful and balmy, the crowds came out in force and the cooks -- heck, let's give 'em credit where credit is due and call 'em chefs -- worked their asses off to turn out mobile food for the masses in the Mission last Saturday at the third annual San Francisco Street Food Festival.

More than 70 trucks, carts and purveyors served up street eats with a smile at the event organized by the nonprofit neighborhood fixture La Cocina. Booze stations for those over 21 (separated from the main attractions by ugly chain-link fencing) also saw steady traffic at the fundraising event that spanned a strip of Folsom Street between 22nd and 26th Streets, which was closed to cars for the eight-hour-long festivities.

The 21+ crowd kicking back spirits separate from the rest of the festival goers.

But you could have predicted all that, right? What's impressive about La Cocina, the little incubator kitchen that could, is that in six short years the program, sponsored by Wells Fargo and others, has worked with more than 60 budding food businesses, most started by low-income immigrant women of color. Around 30 have gone through the group's incubator program, 10 have graduated and sell their products in markets, stores and online, and coming this fall one will open its very own brick-and-mortar joint. Not too shabby, hey?

The Chaac Mool crew making tortillas for the day.

And that folks is what this street food celebration is really all about, as far as La Cocina executive director Caleb Zigas is concerned. "For many of the people we work with, serving street food is the only avenue afforded them to make a living," said Zigas, who led a pre-event press tour of vendors on Saturday. "It's a gateway to running a brick-and-mortar business."

Francis Lam listens up during Caleb Zigas' media tour at the festival.

Food writer Francis Lam agreed. Lam is in town from New York to talk mobile food matters at the National Street Food Conference, which ends today at Fort Mason Center. He attended Saturday's festivities to get his fill of SF curbside chow like everyone else. (The man is seriously in love with local fruit too. He showed up at the media walk-through clutching a baggie holding two perfect plums. Breakfast.)

For consumers, street eats can signal an exotic outing, an edible adventure, or a search for authentic food, noted Lam, an editor at Gilt Taste, who has covered the mobile food phenomenon in previous gigs with Salon and Gourmet. But for the vendors, selling street food may not be something they've dreamed of doing all their life, it may be the only work they can do to survive, he said.

Part of the appeal of street food, Lam added, is that it's really home cooking --not fancy-pants restaurant cuisine or food served up as entertainment -- taken out of the intimacy of the home setting into the public sphere, where consumers can interact directly with the people who make it (not to mention folks in line to order.)

Azalina's Curry Bomb Buns proved popular at the street food festival.

Case in point: Fifth generation street eats seller Azalina Eusope. From Penang, Malaysia, Eusope knew mobile food was a tough way to make money and longed to be a lawyer but couldn't afford to go to law school. The legal profession's loss is the culinary world's gain: Eusope won a scholarship to attend cooking school at Raffles Hotel in Singapore, before finding her way to San Francisco, where her spicy street eats and sweet end notes earn rave reviews.

Cookbook author and Saveur contributor Andrea Nguyen summed up street eats in 5 Cs at Sunday's conference panel on writing about street food. Think cuisine, culture, craftsmanship, community and conversation -- to which I would add cash (for vendors) and cheap (for consumers). An aside: People will turn out in the thousands to nosh on curbside chow for under 8 dollars. But when asked to plunk down 50 bucks to hear experts weigh in on the subject on a Sunday afternoon there were far fewer takers.

An under-the-social-media-radar street food vendor.

There was talk at the conference too (suspect more today on this matter) about the growing tension between old-time roving food vendors, often immigrants with no access to social media networks, being displaced by the D.I.Y., Twitter-savvy, younger generation of food hawkers, who enter into the nomadic food world with business plans, financial backing and role models.

The Twitterific crowd include purveyors like the Three Twins Ice Cream guys.

As for the festival itself: For those grumbling about the presence of brick-and-mortar businesses like Out the Door, Flour + Water, Commonwealth, Osha, and Beretta, Zigas was quick to note that all came from modest, start-up backgrounds and were included in the mix because they represent success stories newcomers can aspire to, whether it's Charlie Phan's family-run restaurant empire, which includes Out the Door, or the sisters who started the growing Osha chain.

Osha Thai Restaurant crew ready to serve the masses on Saturday.

The downside of the day: Can this reporter state for the record that she doesn't believe in standing in long queues in hot sun waiting to sample global grub on the go, no matter how transformative and tasty these morsels may be? She may well be in the minority on that matter, given the snaking lines for sweet potato waffles at Pinx. Impressive lines formed for arepas, a kind of corn pancake, from The Arepa Lady, a former Colombian judge named Maria Piedad Cano who is something of a street eats legend in New York. Ditto at many, many other food booths.

The Arepa Lady - Maria Piedad Cano of New York City - one of six visiting vendors on the day.

Still, this writer would much rather roll up to a truck's regular spot or stumble upon a cart somewhere new and find something satisfying to eat without having to queue like some half-starved Soviet in a bread line. Just saying.

A long line, too, to secure pre-ordered passports: What's with that? In the Internet age folks should be able to show up with tix in hand, not wait on the day, surely. But I'd been warned and warned readers too about the need to queue for food and folks who attended the previous two festivals (deemed a bit messy even by Zigas) agreed that things ran more smoothly last Saturday. Still, the area got so congested by mid-afternoon (crowd estimates around the 50,000 mark for the day's event) that organizers are toying with a Mission Bay location for future events, SFoodie reports today.

The crowds kept coming all day long. Did we mention the throng?

On occasions like these I'm grateful that media get a chance to sample early and first; methinks the same courtesy might be offered to neighborhood residents within a block or two of the event. Friends who live in spitting distance have never actually eaten at the festival; they've gotten too impatient and hungry to hang around.

The same was true around lunchtime on Saturday when a ravenous gang decided to ditch the moveable feast fare in favor of a regular restaurant on Valencia Street where good grub could be had without a wait. On the way some of us, saturated with salt early in the day and feeling thirsty, snagged agua frescas from savvy store owners and the unTwitterific street food vendors who set up modest tables or stands to catch the overflow crowd.

Talk about entrepreneurial spirit.

Somehow I think Zigas and the rest of the La Cocina crew would approve.

Related Stories:
• 2011 San Francisco Street Food Festival Slideshow
• At San Francisco Street Food Conference, Attendees Talk Food Trucks (KQED's News Fix)

SF Street Food Festival masses feasting at Cesar Chavez Elementary School.

The 3rd annual San Francisco Street Food Festival, hosted by La Cocina took place on Saturday August 20 in the Mission District.

La Cocina is a non-profit incubator kitchen that provides affordable commercial kitchen space and industry-specific technical assistance to low-income and immigrant entrepreneurs who are launching, growing and formalizing food businesses.

The proceeds from the festival help support La Cocina's efforts as well as generate revenue for the vendors.

Due to the continuing street food trend, an increase in local food truck vendors, and the lessons learned from previous years, this third season proved to be bigger and better than ever. And although it was quite crowded the increased space, additional vendors and added accommodations seemed to be able to handle the masses. Of course, people still had to wait in line but there seemed to be more strategic planning that went into creating dedicated eating areas once food was acquired. There was also an array of entertainment to consume as well: bands, dancers, DJs. And non-edible items to purchase: shawls, I Cart Street Food garb and Mexican wrestler masks. Kid-friendly spaces were taken into account along with chain-link fenced areas to contain the 21+ drinkers. SF Bicycle Coalition was on top of bike parking and La Cocina enlisted a massive crew of volunteers to help make the festival a success.

Here are some moments captured over the course of the day:

Related Stories and Photos:
• San Francisco Street Food Festival and Conference Day One
• At San Francisco Street Food Conference, Attendees Talk Food Trucks (KQED's News Fix)
• SF Street Food Fest 2011 (Slideshow by David A. Herron)

SF Street Food Festival Passport. Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

Carnivores, omnivores, and pescatarians will find plenty of food truck fare this Saturday at the third annual San Francisco Street Food Festival, which boasts some 70 trucks, carts, and purveyors peddling hand-held grub.

But does the event cater to a vegetarian crowd? Are there enough veggie options to make waiting in line worthwhile? Can a veg head find some variety among the vendors turning out finger food?

In short: Yes, yes, and yes, though plant-based eaters may have to work a little harder than the meat-eating set to find food at the event sponsored by the nonprofit incubator kitchen La Cocina.

No worries, Bay Area Bites is here to help. Regardless of how you define your diet, a few tips to make the wildly popular food festival a successful edible experience: Come early. Tote water. Bring friends (to both have company in line -- the time will pass more quickly -- and to divide and conquer so you can divvy up food to share once you've all been served.) Carry small bills (cash only) or purchase a "passport" in advance (details below).

And, need we remind locals: Wear comfy footwear and don layers to deal with whatever weather the day may bring. As for the crowd phobic and the impatient: You've been warned.

Okay, now that we have the logistical details covered, read on to discover a dozen street food vendors dishing up meat-free eats on Saturday. Several brick-and-mortar joints including Out the Door, Flour + Water, Commonwealth, Osha, and Beretta will have veg-centric options in the mix too. Here's to a finger licking fest.

SAVORY PICKS:

1. Azalina's Malaysian: Azalina Eusope, a La Cocina participant, will have peanut sauce tacos for vegetarians, with signature spices from her homeland. Heads up: Devotees of the former fine dining pastry chef's popular banana chai fritters will have to get those on another day. @Azalinamalaysia

Curry Up Now Truck at Off the Grid. Photo by Wendy Goodfriend

2. Curry Up Now: Indian street eats from Rana Saluja-Kapoor, Amir Hosseini and crew. Think paneer tikka masala burritos (Indian cheese and chickpeas) and samosas, the popular Indian pastries, filled with spiced potatoes and peas. @CurryUpNow

3. Kasa Indian Eatery: Two veg-centric choices from this truck run by former lawyer Anamika Khanna and self-described geek Tim Volkema. Gobi aloo rolls, house-made roti filled with braised cauliflower and potatoes, spiced with cumin and turmeric, and spread with cilantro and tomato chutneys. Spice fiends should be sure to ask for the truck's signature crazy hot sauce. Also samosas, see above. @KasaIndian

Gail Lillian in front of Liba Falafel truck. Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

4. Liba Falafel: Gail Lillian and team's falafel are hearty and hit the spot. Load up on condiments like spiced carrot ribbons, orange-and-olive relish, and tomato, cucumber salad with mint. Don't forget the sweet potato fries with cilantro, garlic and lime. @LIBAfalafel Or maybe save that pita to serve with Love & Hummus Co.: Try the slow-roasted organic lemon and thyme hummus made by Donna Sky, who is in La Cocina's incubator line up. @LoveAndHummus

5. Maite Catering: Big hit at the media preview event: The Colombian aborrajado made by Constana Ortiz, also a participant in the La Cocina program. These fried plaintain are filled with guava paste and provolone cheese and hit the spot.

Constana Ortiz - Maite Catering at SF Street Food Fest Media Preview. Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

6. Onigilly: Vegans may well make a bee line for Onigilly's rice balls known as hijiki onigilly, made with brown rice and hijiki (Japanese black seaweed) with shredded carrots cooked with house-made sweet soy sauce wrapped with seaweed by chefs Kan Hasegawa and Koji Kanematsu, also in the mix at La Cocina. @Onigilly

SWEET NOTES:

1. Creme Brulee Cart: Take your pick between Vanilla Bean or "The Yes Please" (Nutella creme brulee with balsamic strawberries inside). Or share them both. Or not. @cremebruleecart

The Creme Brulee Cart at Off the Grid. Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

2. Delicioso Creperie: Gabriella Guerrero who hails from Mexico City turns out dulche de leche crepes for the sweet tooths among us. A La Cocina member.

3. Endless Summer Sweets: Funnel cake fans don't have to travel to the East Bay (where ESS regularly serves up her sweet treats at the Berkeley Flea Market) let alone the the East Coast to sample one of the summer fair standbys, handcrafted by Antoinette Sanchez, a La Cocina alum. Salty kettle corn too. @ESSweets

4. Kika's Treats: Chocolate-covered caramelized cookies, tropical shortbreads and honey cakes from Brazilian baker Cristina Besher, a graduate of La Cocina's program, whose goodies can be found at Whole Foods, Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market and other retail stores. @kikastreats

5. La Luna Cupcakes: Elvia Buendia runs La Luna Cupcakes, and is a member of La Cocina's incubator program. Last year, Buendia made 1,000 mini cupcakes and sold out within a couple of hours, she told the San Francisco Chronicle. This year, she plans to triple her stock of mini and full-size cupcakes, and introduce chocolate and red velvet "cake pops." @LunaCupcakes

6. Sabores Del Sur La Cocina participant and Chilean chef Guisell Osorio's alfajores—delicate round butter cookies filled with creamy dulce de leche caramel and dusted with powdered sugar have loyal fans at the Alemany Farmers' Market and Whole Foods stores. Find out what the fuss is about for yourself.

Do you have a favorite vegetarian street eat not listed above that's likely to be in the mix this weekend? Share your chowhound choices below.

FESTIVAL DETAILS:

San Francisco Street Food Festival
Saturday August 20, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Folsom Street between 22nd and 26th streets
Admission free; food costs $3-$8 cash only or buy $25-$150 "passports" in advance.
Twitter: @streetfoodsf
Facebook: San Francisco Street Food Festival

Enjoying Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream. Photo: Sabrina Modelle

The Bay Area is finally seeing 75+ degree weather, and both locals and tourists are out in full force, soaking up some much-needed vitamin D. Dolores Park is packed from corner to corner, the bubble tea shops have lines out the door, and street food vendors are crowding the alleyways and sidewalks.

When the weather warrants sunscreen, what better activities are there to take part in than those that involve eating? Right now is the time to enjoy an epic ice cream sundae while sitting enjoying the sun on a restaurant's outdoor patio, or grab a gourmet pizza and chow down in the park. But how do you know where to eat?

Sure you can just grab a burrito from your favorite taqueria, or walk around the Mission District while following your nose, but we thought we'd offer you a few tips on must-taste opportunities during these gorgeous summer days. We've tapped two local food bloggers to share their inside tips on the best edible offerings around town: meet Irvin Lin of Eat the Love and Sabrina Modelle of The Tomato Tart, your honorary culinary guides for the summer, as they provide insider advice on the best summer fare around the bay.

SF Chefs -- Chef Anthony Strong of Locanda. Photo: Sabrina Modelle

What are your favorite summer food events? What makes them so special?

Irvin: Hands down, my favorite summer food event is the San Francisco Street Food Festival. Street food is often where the innovation is happening in the food world. Though the lines are long, the food is always wonderful to eat and there is always a sense of discovery when you go there. This will be the third annual event (I believe it's scheduled August 20th), sponsored by the fantastic incubation kitchen La Cocina, and there will be established restaurants there as well as unknown vendors. This year sounds even better as they've not only expanded into some parking lots and it coincides with the National Street Food conference.

Sabrina: Since it began two years ago, the Eat Real Fest in Oakland has fallen on my anniversary weekend and my husband and I have had a street food anniversary date. We love strolling around Jack London square drinking local beer, sampling real street food, taking in food demos, and hanging out by the water's edge. This year, it's moved back to September, but since that feels like our summer anyway, I'll include it. I'm also really looking forward to SF Chefs this year. It will be my first time attending, but the preview events started last weekend with an amazing pasta-making demo with Chef Anthony Strong of Locanda and Chef Charles Phan of The Slanted Door. You can catch me hanging out at upcoming preview events each Saturday in July. This Saturday will feature Rachel Saunders of Blue Chair Fruit Jam.

When the weather heats up, what are your favorite places to eat in San Francisco?

Irvin: I absolutely love going to Bi-Rite Market and grabbing a sandwich and heading to the park. Though people complain that Bi-Rite Market is packed with people (navigating the crowds in the tiny store on a sunny weekend is a pain) the secret to getting a decent sandwich there and not going crazy is to call ahead. Just check out their website, look at the deli section and call ahead and place your order for your sandwich. Then ten minutes later, pop on over and just pick it up at the register, no fuss. Walk on over to Dolores Park where the people watching is fantastic and the late summer sun will shine on your face.

Sabrina: When it's hot, I love eating on my little patio, of course. I'm in The Mission, so picking up some essentials from Bi-Rite and throwing together a quick salad is my preferred course of action. If we're going out, I love to eat sushi when it's warm. There's nothing that can compare to the freshness and simplicity of ingredients in well-prepared Japanese cuisine. I'm currently in love with Ichi Sushi. I think Tim Archuletta is amazing -- both because he's very talented and I've enjoyed sitting across the bar and chatting with him. Sushi Bistro on 24th is another favorite for really fresh nigiri, the sushi chef is just amazing and I suggest trying whatever he recommends.

Caprese salad on the patio. Photo: Sabrina Modelle

Where is your favorite ice cream place in SF? What's your favorite flavor there?

Irvin: I adore Humphry Slocombe, and I think Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous is fantastic, I'm a Bi-Rite Creamery sort of guy. Again, part of it is the Dolores Park appeal, where you can buy some ice cream and walk over to the park, but part of it is the secret shortcuts that make me feel like I'm in the know. Everyone complains the lines are ridiculous (and they are) but rarely is the line long over a the soft serve window. Even better, if you know what flavors you like, go directly to the cold case in the main part of the ice cream shop and just buy a pint, bypassing the line completely. My partner AJ loves their signature Salted Caramel, but I'm a fan of the Honey Lavender. Rich, floral with a touch of sweetness, I get it every time.

Sabrina: I am a big fan of Humphry Slocombe. I'm exactly two blocks away from their store, and when we first moved in, I actually had a little problem. I had to set rules either one scoop of ice cream or one Dynamo Donut once per week. The ice cream pretty much always won out. Now, I've slowed down on my consumption quite a bit, and I visit about once a month or so. I love their salted licorice, their brown butter, and of course, the first thing I ever tried the ancho chili chocolate.

Ichi Sushi. Photo: Sabrina Modelle

These last two weekends in the Bay Area have been a celebration of the best and the biggest of food on the go. La Cocina and Eat Real both showed that there are indeed thousands of people willing to stand in long lines in the full heat of summer to try any tasty treat served from a bicycle or cart, tent or renovated taco truck.

But it was a bit like eating Thanksgiving dinner, my cousin's 12-course wedding banquet and my mom's new year's brunch all in the same week. The specialness of each blurred together, and the meaning of each was lost in the flurry of food.

If we would like to see the creativity of those festivals extended to the other 362 days of the year, we now need to divert some of our gustatory energy to ensuring systemic support of microenterprise. Yes, I know, public policy and economic reform is not nearly as sexy as a coconut-basil popsicle. And, yes, talking about immigration and community development is such a downer. Tweeting is way more fun than writing letters to our city supervisors.

In the U.S., our concept of business has always been closely bound to owning or renting property. With the words legitimate and legal defining benchmarks for entrepreneurs, street food rarely receives the kind of public awareness and support that other countries have long embedded into their daily rhythms. In some countries, nearly half of the food consumed comes from street vendors, and in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the street food sector employs from 6 to 25 percent of the urban work force, often involving entire families across generations. (See Street Foods: World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics, ed. A.D. Simonpaulos, 2000.) Consumers International, an independent organization working in 116 countries, has been researching and working closely with governments to support street food for over 30 years.

India and Singapore may serve as useful examples for us. Their burgeoning street food scenes are both relatively young. Singapore was established in 1959, and within ten years, the government realized the need to regulate street food vendors without diluting the island's distinctive culinary culture. Any eater who has made the pilgrimage to Singapore knows well that hawker centres a.k.a. food centres, with their endless stretches of food stalls, are the very effective and delicious compromise. While a few taxi drivers and old-timers may still grumble about how chicken rice just doesn't taste the same in air-conditioning, no one would think of giving up their neighborhood food centre. Located in the first floors of apartment complexes as well as concentrated in specially zoned, multi-level, sprawling malls, food hawkers are truly a day-to-day part of life in Singapore.

In India, where maintaining the purity of food was inherent in cooking and eating and where strict adherence to caste distinctions limited eating food prepared by strangers, street food has only become popular in the past few decades. Since then, it has grown into such a huge, sprawling aspect of the urban landscape that its Supreme Court recently moved to ban the preparation of food in public areas in New Delhi. Vendors will have to prepare their food at home and then sell them pre-packaged. (Caffeine, however, was specifically not criminalized: coffee and tea vendors enjoy a special dispensation.)

As expected, there was an outcry from vendors all across India. More interestingly, Indians who depend on street food for inexpensive meals complained that they wouldn't be able to watch the food being cooked, thus would not be able to witness its freshness and cleanliness. In countries where immediate quality is much more important than gimmick or branding, enforcing safety with off-site facilities may well give way to the transparency of a sidewalk stove.

Thailand's "Clean Food Good Taste" campaign, launched in 1989, is a program that values the needs of small street vendors as well as restaurants. Especially critical to its success, the plan includes a public education program and cooperation across several government agencies at municipal, regional and federal levels.

Here in California, Sacramento has tried to rein in taco trucks, while San Francisco this summer attempted to both welcome and regulate food carts in its city parks. Similar to New Delhi, the city adopted an ordinance requiring street food to be prepared in certified, off-site kitchens. With higher fees and the need for larger, more expensive carts, street food will more likely become an extension of well-established restaurants and more deeply capitalized entrepreneurs. While protecting our public health is certainly important, new laws need to be considered and discussed within the larger context of our city's culture and economic development.

If we as eaters want creative, locally based and locally relevant street vendors integrated into our culinary landscape, then we as citizens need to push our legislators to build a system that supports--not weeds out--very small businesses. It's one thing to push a cart around Dolores Park on the weekends as a hobby during your salad days. It's much another to bring in a living wage and move your family up the ladder while providing food for others day in, day out.

The whole issue of diversity was an obvious part of both street food festivals. We all like to think that San Francisco is one of the culinary capitals of the world. I'm counting down the years until San Jose or Santa Clara, Fremont or Fresno take over the reputation of truly international cuisine that they already deserve. Until then, I'd still like to see our city become more willing to support the full spectrum of culinary businesses. This means not only seeing unusual foods spelled out on the menu board. It means seeing a variety of people pushing the carts and pocketing the money.

I Cart Street Food

Street food fanatics descended upon the Mission on Saturday for the San Francisco Street Food Festival 2009, a day-long block party presented by La Cocina.

SF Street Food Festival: If you grill it, they will come.

With free admission and food/drink costing no more than $8, well over 5,000 eaters of all ages came out to celebrate SF’s vibrant street food community.

The Hungry Masses

The sheer numbers that turned out was a tad overwhelming, but it was also heart-warming to see what good eaters we have here in SF. Lines snaked up and down the block, but surprisingly, the crowd seemed to be generally good-humored and calm (unlike the foaming-at-the-mouth angries at the Great American Food Fest a few months back).

Patience was handsomely rewarded, and street food, glorious street food, was consumed.

Elotes (Grilled Corn) from Los Cilantros

Anticuchos Chilenos (Marinated New York Strip and Beef Heart with Peppers & Onions) and Mushroom/Spinach Empanada from Sabores Del Sur

House-made Hot Dogs with Guinness Mustard and Chili Ketchup from Absinthe

Lavendar Crème Brulee from the Crème Brulee Cart

I braved the Aziza line and although their Squid Salad with maras pepper, preserved lemon, cabbage, mint and cilantro ($3) was sold out by the time I got to order, I was nicely satiated by the huge Moroccan "Taco" ($8) Chef Mourad Lahlou was serving up. The beverage pairing of iced Sweet Mint Tea hit the spot and cooled off the heat from the taco's harissa.

Moroccan "Taco": Flatbread with Summer Squash, Harissa, and Yogurt Sauce from Aziza

For dessert, I followed the scent of sugar and fried dough to Endless Summer Sweets’ Funnel Cake with sweet strawberries and cream. If there was any question on whether the line was worth it, my doubts vanished as I saw satisfied customers milling about with showers of powdered sugar on their arms and traces of whipped cream on their faces.

Funnel Cake with Strawberries and Cream from Endless Summer Sweets

Gnom

Gnom gnom

Curb-side Dining

The beauty of the street food fest was the greater vision of the event. For those who are unfamiliar with La Cocina, it is a phenomenal non-profit organization that acts as a food business incubator for low-income and immigrant entrepreneurs looking to start their own food business. The SF Street Food Festival brought people together, across the spectrum of class and culture, to celebrate in the everyday food that we all eat and love.

SF Street Food Festival 2009

Leading up to the festival was an amazingly fun and well-orchestrated Scavenger Hunt that had 224 teams roaming the city in search of delicious street eats, and generally assaulting San Francisco’s finest street vendors with their wit and creativity.

Really, it was no joke. Teams like Fatty Boomblatty and Trans-Fatso’s rapped to the Crème Brulee Cart Man…

Miso Horny did a funky chicken dance (in public) for the Roli Roti folks…

And I wasn't above setting up an all out photo shoot at Bloodhound in the name of movie poster perfection with team Lick My Spoon.

Oh, San Francisco. You are so special.

Team "Soup Sluts"

Here is a photo slideshow from the San Francisco Street Food Festival 2009 that took place Saturday Aug 22, 2009 in the Mission District. The event was a benefit for the non-profit La Cocina.

photos by Wendy Goodfriend

Recap of the Event: SF Street Food Fanatics Unite
Lick My Spoon recaps the Street Food Scavenger Hunt
Listen to KQED's Forum program on Street Food and find out about pavement cuisine resources and events.