Having recently returned from Rome, where I enjoyed a personal walking tour with a knowledgeable guide, I was ecstatic to take a similar – even tastier! – guided tour of San Francisco’s Mission district last week.
Background: I received a Taste the Mission tour gift certificate from a talented pastry chef, whom I have been mentoring and about whom you will learn more shortly, when her delicious baked goods are ready to be rolled out in America’s gourmet food stores.
The gift certificate entitled me and three others to join the amazing, knowledgeable and oh-so-pregnant Lisa Rogovin, on one of her 3-hour, Saturday-only, walking tours of San Francisco ‘s colorful, Hispanic-centric center, with no fewer than six gourmet food pit-stops.
This is Lisa:
She is as knowledgeable about food and the Mission as she is sweet and charming. Lisa could lead me on a three-hour tour of a fish-packing plant, or an abattoir, and I would be happy, because I would be in her company.
The fact that the Mission is so colorful, so filled with start-up and traditional food firms, is the Big Bonus on her Mission walkabout. (Pay attention: you are going to want to sign up for this tour! Details at the end of this story.)
In an email, Lisa instructed my family to meet the walking group “in front of Mission Minis.”
From the sound of it, I thought we must be meeting in front of the Mission’s Mini car dealership. It turns out that this is the home of the Mission’s exceptionally good, mini-cupcake maker. So much for napaman’s qualifications to stay atop regional food trends!
A young employee, Diego, works the retail counter at Mission Minis on Saturdays
The specialty flavors here are indigenous to the area; I really liked the mini-cupcake flavored with horchata, the modestly sweet rice drink loved by Latinos in the ‘hood. Bakers tweak the sweetness with nutmeg and cinnamon.
Other original cupcake flavors include Aztec Chocolate, and Pumpkin Spice.
Mission Minis is at 3168 22nd Street. Tel: 415-817-1540. Find them online at www.missionminis.com.
Then we walked on to Mission Pie, an exceptional corner store in the ‘hood, serving brilliant baked goods.
Lisa asked Karen Heisler, bakery co-founder, to speak to our group to explain the Mission Statement of Mission Pie. Looks like you can’t be in the Mission making Mission Pie without a Mission Statement.
Karen Heisler, co-owner and co-baker of Mission Pie
Karen said that the bakery only uses organic, heirloom wheat and hormone-free butter to make their tasty sweet goods (with emphasis on “tasty”).
Karen talked about the importance of relationships in the workplace and said that Mission Pie makes a lot of room for interns in the business “because whom you work with… and the business practices that you follow… are as important as what you produce… and how good you make things taste.”
One of the best things I tasted on the Mission Taste Tour – the fresh walnut pie at Mission Pie. $19 for a whole pie. A trip to the Mission is not complete without tasting this pie!
Mission Pie is located at 2901 Mission St. Tel 415-282-4PIE. Read more about the bakery’s environmental, social and economic initiatives at www.missionpie.com.
If we were down a quart of carbohydrates at the start of this tour, our tank was about half-full by this point on the tour.
Next stop: a restaurant and another bakery, housed in the same space.
Sign out front; the location is shared by two food businesses – Local Mission Eatery, serving tremendous sandwiches and hot fare, and Knead, a hands-on, artisanal patisserie.
Only open about six months, Local Mission Eatery is the brainchild of Yaron Milgrom, a New York transplant who did his university dissertation in New York on Jewish mysticism, then decided that what he really wanted was to move west and open a restaurant!
Regulars love the soups at Local Mission Eatery
The pastries at Knead are the handiwork of Shauna des Voignes, whose name you may recall from her stint at Ubuntu, in Napa Valley.
Mission Local Eatery and Knead Patisserie share space at 3111 24th Street. Tel 415-655-3422. Check hours and days of operation at www.localmissioneatery.com.
Now we’re walking onward, heading for a seriously good, seriously local, taqueria.
Most pork tacos are called “carnitas,” as the pork for this style taco is fried. By contrast, the pork at Taquerias El Farolito is marinated – which makes a big difference in taste. This marinated pork treat is called “Taco Al Pastor” (the Pastor). From my vantage point, there’s another distinction from carnitas, too: this is one of the best, greaseless tacos I’ve ever had. Worth a detour to The Mission.
Lisa Rogovin at “the Little Lighthouse Taqueria”
Then Lisa marshaled the troops and we were re off to another bakery.
Jaime Maldonado, whose family owns La Victoria Bakery, is in the foreground, cutting up different house-made pastries. That’s Lisa in the background.
La Victoria Bakery is the oldest Latino-owned business in the Mission. Jaime Maldonado’s dad started the bakery in 1951.
Of all the things, which our group was offered to taste Saturday morning, I thought the Walnut Pie at Mission Pies and La Victoria’s macaroon, were the tastiest items. In a word: outstanding.
If I were ascribing points, as one does to judge wines, the La Victoria Bakery macaroon is a 100-point food item!
The colorful kitchen at La Victoria
One of the signature items at La Victoria – empanadas
La Victoria Bakery is at 2937 24th Street. Tel 415-642-7120.
Then we’re onto something cold, original and delicious: Humphry Solocombe Ice Cream.
Apparently, everyone on the planet who knows anything about cult ice cream knows about this brand. The Mission location, site of production, is ground zero for Humphry Slocombe.
Flavors are as originally named as they are flavorful: I tried and loved
“Elvis, The Fat Years,” which has a banana-peanut butter base, and which is textured with Bacon Peanut Brittle.
I also loved “Secret Breakfast.” Flavored with bourbon, textured with ground crunchy cornflakes, this variety offers ice cream fanatics a natural way to start the day!
Other flavors tasted on our visit:
White Miso Pear
Blue Bottle Vietnamese Coffee
Chocolate Suicide
Humphry Slocombe is served in some Bay-area restaurants and there is talk of a second location opening soon somewhere in the city.
The ice creams are made with Straus Family organic milk. Ingredients, which can be sourced organically, are. They rotate through a long list of ice cream flavors here, serving a dozen at any one time. The store is open noon to 9 pm daily. Cash only.
Humphry Slocombe is located at 2790 Harrison Street. Tel 415)-550-6971. Visit their website for a list of all the freaky flavors; http://www.humphryslocombe.com/%7C_Flavors_%7C.html
No, we didn’t taste Jimmy The Corn Man’s Corn Whatever…. But I liked the sign and the eponymous reference to me (Jimmy!)
A joy of being on a photographic safari in the Mission with Lisa is the opportunity to see colorful signs and paintings, which pop out to speak to you. Like this and the next sign.
At least 10 minutes have gone by and we have not ingested any new tasty foods or colorful carbs; our combined group blood sugar count is starting to plummet. The group appears to be going into a crash landing of insulin resistance – quick, Lisa! Get us some immediate carbo-shock therapy … take us to nearby Dynamo Donuts!
Opened in 2008, Dynamo Donut and Coffee rotates daily through 30 different flavored donuts, which are fried in organic palm oil.
The only donut which never comes off the rotational menu is: Maple Apple Bacon, which has a cult following. The largest selling variety, it was featured in a recent episode of “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” on the Food Network
Dynamo Donut and Coffee is located at 2760 24th St. Tel 415-920-1978. Check out the full list of varieties at www.dynamodonut.com.
Patricia Rose, muralist and Mission mural historian
In addition to introducing the tour group to sensational food, Lisa introduced us to some fantastic eye-candy – the street art of the Mission.
Patricia Rose walked the group down Balmy Lane, detailing the art and history of some 40 different murals.
Rather than speed through them here, I will offer a visual inventory of what we saw in this space next week – it’s something visually delicious to anticipate.
The Information you’ve been waiting for:
If you’d like to take Lisa Rogovin’s Taste The Mission tour or give a friend a gift certificate, contact Lisa by email or phone.
The cost of Lisa’s Saturday-only Mission Food Tour is $75 per person, and the tour runs rain or shine, 11 am to 2 pm. Call Lisa at 415-806-5970 to book space. Or email her -- [email protected]. Or visit her website, www.inthekitchenwithlisa.com, to learn about other area food tours, which Lisa offers.
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