Photo du Jour 516
Welcome Back! Um, Why Are You at Work Today?
Tiger Woods In "Serious" Condition After Car Crash
-thumb-110x110-461569.jpg)
Photos from Black Friday
SFist Interviews: John Ortved, Author of The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History
Let us eat...
What with venues like Flour + Water and food trucks serving tweaked for-the-masses fare for mid to upper echelons, it's next to impossible to find a decent, reasonable meal in San Francisco these days. And, no, oily taquerias don't cut it. The problem now borders on offensive. Sickening too. Alice Waters' idea of a tasty, healthy, "artisan" meal for everyone has hit the ceiling. Period. (And, let's face it, that is how she, and many others, would like it to stay.) What are we bemoaning about? Well, as Sex Pigeon so eloquently put it, "Please, someone. Open a cheap thing. Open a place that sells four-dollar sandwiches. Or three-dollar anything. Fancy is a lovely thing but we’re utterly glutted with it. Just be tasty, alright?, that’ll do." This will never happen. Food, one of very few basic human needs, is now kicking it in the VIP room. But if any reader has a suggestion that involves neither a bendy burrito nor a Starbuck's egg salad sandwich, Sex Pigeon would love to know. [via Eater]
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Easy. Drop the health care requirement and minimum wage laws for workers. Then reduce taxes for business owners and their landlords.
I'm not sure what the complaint actually is -- that good food is often more expensive than crap food? That you can't find exactly what you want for a price point you've just invented and therefore that's Alice Waters's fault? A Vietnamese sandwich is usually in the $3-4 range, is that OK for you?
Jeez, thats what I have been saying for 5 years! Why can't there be a normal deli-like sandwich place that serves regular sandwiches on regular bread for $4-6?!
I don't need artisan, I don't need organic. Sometimes a ham sandwich on white bread with iceberg lettuce & tomatoes is enough already!
Isn't that like a Lee's Deli or something? And there are tons of cheap Vietnamese sandwich places as others have mentioned. I don't get this post.
Like Kingfoot subs which has been at its location for like a million years? maybe you haven't looked very hard? these are all over. Chico's Pizza on 6th, Toaster Over has 5$ sammiches....
I think though that the main point that is being made is valid.
I am near Mission & 30th. Suggestions on sandwich shops? (non vietemese, please, though if you know of any nearby, that would be swell too)
hi neighbor. i recently moved to this area too. i don't know of any good sandwich places in the area yet, but i recommend the indian pizza at Zante's at mission and cortland.
Yeah, I've been there. Its a great area if you want Latin. decent if you want Indian or Asian. Crappy of you want simple American.
I'm not sure about your hood, but mine has exactly what you're describing. Rossi's Deli on Castro right before the MUNI underground. Fresh, great sandwiches on good bread for 5 bucks or so (depending on the sandwich). And it's run by a family that's been in the neighboorhood for generations. Also, in the FiDi, Romeo at Front Door Cafe (in the silver building at Front & Market) makes great sandwiches for $5.50.
Lee's sucks - please, everyone, don't go there!
Cook. Buy sandwich ingredients and brown-bag it, you'll get great stuff for well under $4 each. Garden.
Is this person an idiot? I just ate a tasty lunch for $3.00 -- a roast chicken Vietnamese sandwich. I suggest this person open their eyes a bit and stop tweeting and crying like a ninny. This city is full of inexpensive alternatives to dining.
This city is full of inexpensive alternatives to dining.
Yeah, I don't get this person's rant at all.
That very much depends where you are in the city. It also depends what you consider "food" but that's a different story.
Sexpigeon's comment needs to be taken in the context of the larger blog, which isn't nearly as literal as all that.
VIETNAMESE SAMMICHES!
OM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM
Vietnamese, Chinese etc. cheap food hardly passes for good food to many of us. If you eat meat in these places, good luck to you.
Wow, that's certainly not racist!
No, not really it isn't.
My wife and I ate two really tasty entrees and an appetizer at Shangri-La Chinese Vegetarian in the Sunset for under $20 last night.
Food costs for vegetarians are generally much smaller anyway, what's the hassle here.
You're missing out.
Off the top of my head:
Safeway delis. (The "Signature Beef & Bleu" sandwich is quite nice.)
Whole Foods deli and hot food bar.
In-N-Out.
Rosamunde Sausage Grill.
Eddie's Cafe, Fulton/Divisadero, and countless other greasy-spoon diners.
Tu Lan.
And that doesn't even include the many non-greasy taco stands around town including the 100-rated taco truck at Best Buy.
cook or eat a Vietnamese sandwich? Well, those are some boring options.
The larger problem remains: it's great to have new ventures in SF but when $6-7 is the entry-level meal at a quick stop like the new Showdogs (pictured in SexPigeon's post) it tends to get annoying. Where is the real cheap eats? I don't need a boar sausage- what happened to plain pork?
$6-7 as the entry-level meal is too PRICEY? What planet are you living on? If you want food cheaper than that, move to Janesville, Wisconsin.
Domenico's in Beloit has a lovely lunch buffet for $6 if you don't mind last night's pasta.
That's the point of SexPigeon's post- Where is the REALLY cheap food?
Am I the only person that understood that? All of these responses seem to say "well, you can eat really well for $10." Everyone knows that- the point here is talking about the baseline being too high. The guy wants a $3 hot dog, not a $7 sausage.
So a banh mi is boring but a $3 hot dog is OK? (You can get one at Underdog's and Johnny's Hamburgers on Irving by the way)
I'm just busting your balls--there is seriously a lack of cheap hot dog places in this town. But man, what does this guy expect. It's an expensive town to own a business in, it follows that the food would be pricier than elsewhere and you'd be stuck with stuff like tacos for under $6 in turn.
Yes exactly. If you want food for three dollars move to hell out of the Bay Area. Answer solved. Thread closed. Goodnight! I will see you at the all you can eat buffet in Rockford, Illinois. The one in the shadows of the Motel 6 and directly behind the Perkins.
Too high-falutin.
I'll be at the Palermo's in Rockton.
I get that. but (and it could be geographical bias - seeing as I'm from DC) but i don't think i've ever eaten anything outside of my house for four or less dollars that isn't greasy, or non-healthy fast food.
there are a ton of places to get by for cheap food in this town - which i did when i was jobless freelancing. They aren't going to be as good as the places people talk about....(though there is a really good deli off the J line past 30th that is the bomb, and cheap I wish I knew the name of it)
What's Up Dog, there are at least 5 of them in San Francisco, all kinds of good hot dogs. A dog, chips and a soda will set you back $5-$7.
Also, Just about every neighborhood has multiple corner stores that also serve sandwiches and other deli food. Places like Red Sea Pizza Market out on San Jose near Balboa Park, Courtney Produce on 14th and Castro, Good Luck Deli on Kearny in the FiDi, or Guerrero Market in the Mission.
And not to suck Yelp's dick too much, but if you put in "Deli" or whatever you are looking for on yelp, and set it to one dollar sign, you'll get a good list you can at least start from.
If you can't eat within your desired budget in this city, you simply aren't trying. The variety of food available here (at all price points) is far better than most cities.
OK then. I went to Mission Street Food with three people last Thursday and ate the most amazing, delicious, 'high-brow' locally sourced ingredients available to man / San Franciscans and it cost FIFTY THREE DOLLARS. That is for three people. Some dishes were less than seven dollars.
Option 2: Outside Lands located in the Sunset has an amazing menu, all of the menu items are around $6-7 dollars and the place is clean and food, delicious.
I am not talking about some cess pool Chinese restaurant that serves three dollar schlop in a bucket in the Tenderloin.
I don't know if you got the memo people, but NOTHING in San Francisco is affordable.
Unless you're homeless.
Waaaah. Where's my $300/month apartment? I don't want a $3,000 high-rise loft or a $5,000 Victorian. I want an apartment for the same price I used to pay in Bakersfield.
I personally was pretty happy with my $11 sweetbreads and bacon from the Spencer On-the-Go truck last week, which easily would have been a $20 meal elsewhere. And sure, I'd love a decent $4 sandwich, but these things, in cities like ours, are generally found where the rent is cheap. Like the Tenderloin or Outer Mission. You're paying convenience when you pay your $3000 rent to live near Valencia and 18th and buy your sandwiches at BiRite. You want cheap, move to 6th and Market and eat at Tu Lan or Cancun every day. I guarantee you can get by on $10/day.
Please note: that photo in SexPigeon's post is at Show Dogs which is located at 6th and Market.
Maybe they just priced everything $1 - $2 higher just to keep the riffraff out. Probably a smart insurance policy.
hmm. maybe my standards are lower, but i don't have a problem finding cheap food. depends on the neighborhood, i guess. in civic center/tenderloin there are lots of good options. tons of reasonably priced indian and vietnamese restaurants. vietnamese sandwiches are $3 and very filling! i recently moved from the TL, but there are still affordable options by where i live. don't knock taquerias!
Brenda's on Polk Street is affordable and tasty.
No item @ Brenda's is over $10. The food is sublime.
The city wants to charge street food vendors $1,000 a month for a permit to sell in SF parks.
That's probably as much as every small-time, independent, street food cart in Dolores Park makes COMBINED!!!
Hey, they have to pay for the beer cops somehow.
peasant pies
Yeah, I love a spicy clam peasant pie, my only complaint is that they close too early and never have enough in the evening. Also, you need two of them to satisfy a grown-up as a meal, and that puts you over the magic $5 mark.
i think your comments are going to explode - wedge-issue wednesday FTW!
I know! And who would have thought cheap food would be a wedge issue?
Don't ever use the word "artisan" in my face again.
I concur with many of my fellow commenters: Food in the $5-$10 range isn't that hard to find in SF.
If want you want food that's cheaper and not completely unappealing and deleterious, you're going to have a hard time finding it just about anywhere in the USA. Produce tends to be more expensive across the rest of country because the majority of it gets shipped from here. If you don't believe me, go to a Publix in Florida--not fun.
If you want national chain fast-food prices, then go to McDonalds, but don't complain when your tasty, local restaurant can't meet their price point.
This place sells cheap sandwiches/burgers and is a nonprofit vocational training organization http://www.cafephoenix.org/menu.html (it's located near kitchenetteSF)
Tommy's Joynt. Pick your meat, pick your potato, pick your salad, pick your beer. $12 for all of the above.
Yamo. Like Burma Superstar, but for $5.
Any pho place, for crying out loud.
Serrano's, Arinell's.
Walk around, my man. Every single block in the neighborhoods that are or were working class have cheap eats. Every single block in the neighborhoods with large ethnic minority communities have cheap eats. And really, unless you're walking the streets of Asia, where in the world are you gonna get delicious food for pocket change? No where, that's where. And don't give me some made-up story about the great food you used to have back in your old neighborhood in your hometown way back when. Trust me, that pizza, that hot dog, that sammie? It tastes like crap. I know cuz I've eaten it.
This is San Francisco. We all struggle to live here. Long ago, I told myself that $10 is the cost of a cheap meal in this city--my idea of cheap rent makes me want to cry. You'd be well advised if you could make peace with that. If you can't get two fives together, take one and off to McDonald's with you. If that ain't gonna cut it, go back from whence you came. Guy Fiori will be saving you a seat.
Excellent call on Tommy's Joynt. I had a sit-down meal there once for exactly $3.
For Tommy's may i recommend the Turkey Sloppy Joe.
it is 4.25 and quite a large amount of food. I have a hard time finishing it. No Veggies, but you can stock up on pretty tasty pickles for free.
If you want decent prices for food you have to go to the parts of the city where the rents don't force businesses closed at those prices. There's a reason why the Mission has great taquerias (aside from tradition and history) and Noe Valley has that execrable "La Salsateria" or whatever it's called. Why the Tenderloin has a million great banh mi shops and Russian Hill has $10 hamburgers.
Go where the money isn't, nobody should feel owed whatever food they want at whatever prices. What would make this entitlement complaint even better would be if they're talking about FiDi. Get real, what you want is out there but you aren't going to get "pork piperade knockwurst" or whatever for pocket-change. This is news to anybody?
Food, right now, is pretty much as cheap as it has ever been in human history, when calculated as a percentage of one's income. At least in industrialized countries. That's the case for crappy as well as good food, or food cooked at home versus bought outside the home.
How many options for "cheap," quality, healthy meals were there 20 years ago, even if inflation-adjusted for that era's dollars? I think we can all think back fondly about old-school delis and diners, but how good was that food, really? Not just in terms of technique but quality of ingredients and their nutritional value. And how possible was it to get fresh and/or organic meats and produce, year-round, 20 years ago?
The dissing of Mr. Pickle has reached a shameless high.
Let me make a suggestion for you whiners.
MR. PICKLE MR. PICKLE MR. PICKLE
Where can you get a Vietnamese sandwich with a can of coffee in the mission? I am so burritoed out.
Bitching on SFist has reached a new low.
If you are too broke or lazy to make your own food, McDonalds on Van Ness has this "Dollar Menu" for the masses who do not know how to cook or enjoy spending time in the bathroom immediately after eating. You can get a Chicken Sandwich, French Fries and Soda for around 3 bucks.
Or you can walk a few blocks to Absinthe and get some Escargot, a selection of house made cured meats, some bread and a Grey Goose Martini for around 50 bucks.
You could also do like I did when I first moved here and go to Safeway every day on your way home from work and wait for the meats to go on sale - Managers Special - as I recall. Grab a large potato, a head of lettuce and make it yourself for around 5-6 bucks.
Not everyone gets to have Maine lobster and Dom Perignon for dinner just because they want it.
Note: I had a dozen Kumamotos and the $38 2lb Maine lobster at the Fish Market last night and yes, it was awesome and worth every penny.
I think the wedge-word here is "artisan". To some people "artisan" means "why can't everyone afford a ranch in Sonoma where they can raise their own hand-massaged free range pork."
I think in this context "artisan" just means "not crap". Think Italy and France: longstanding traditions of not eating crap, and food there is not really any more expensive than it is here.
Otis Lounge on Maiden Lane off Union Square BBQs $3 cheeseburgers every Thur/Fri! Great deal not to mentions there's 2 for 1 cocktails every Mon-Fri till 8.
Thank you Brock.
The idea that you have to pay a fortune for something that isn't toxic cancer on a bun is silly.
But San Francisco is now a city of the well off and the very poor. If you work for a living at a job that's productive, the Stupidvisors and the Mayor and downtown say "Fuck you!"
It's a simple fact that it's near impossible to run a profitable $3-4 anything in SF. The cost of real estate is exorbitant, cost of living is high, and permits are expensive and a nightmare to obtain. If Subway can barely sell a $4 sandwich, how can you expect a small proprietor to do the same with a fraction of a chain's buying power? I mean, c'mon, even the Mission bacon dogs are $3 and I'm not even sure if they have permits.