It's official. Food trucks are dead. The hot dog cart, it seems, has the newest and hottest item for you to shove in your mouth. Why do we know this? Because Marcia at Tablehopper said so. Duh. According to Tablehopper's recent Twitter message, "Froyo was 2008, Street carts are 2009 Part 1, Hot dogs are 2009 Part II." And, what with this controversial wurst-related item that blew up SFist last week, it really does seem to be the case.
Year of the Hot Dog
Gastronomique Interviews Marcia Gagliardi
The TableHopper is an fun email that we look forward to every Tuesday. Since you have to be a tiny nimble thing to gracefully hop on tables, we find this food-and-restaurant-scene newsletter incredibly sexy. Were we to jump on a table, we would look as ridiculous as Tom Cruise on Oprah's couch, and the table would crash under our weight. Lithe we are not. We leave this sport to the playful Marcia Gagliardi, a San Francisco-based food writer, who kindly agreed to answer our questions.
We Read The Weeklies
Last week's two-peat winner, the Guardian: Angry, angry about the Village Voice's buyout of the New Times. Gavin Newsom -- in the pocket of the business community elites? Say it ain't so! Arlene Ackerman, bristling at public review? Say it ain't so! Annalee Newitz went to a Nick Denton party. Cover article: We're talkin' LO, LO, LO, L-O-V-E, LO, LO, LO. (Will Ashlee Simpson ever go away? That song's kinda catchy, though.) That teensy little restaurant on the corner of 18th and Mission, which is now Burmese food. Hey guys, when you roll over "cheap eats" on the homepage, it still says "Dan" Leone.) And hey, the sex columnist moved to the back! (the back of the weekly, that is.)
The Metro: Radio radio. Something about a Neolithic goddess. Cover article: The science of pick-up artists. Jerk chicken. The Police tribute band Stung in Redwood City. Hyphy, the West Coast answer to crunk. The Asian Excellence Awards in Secret Asian Man. Hey, we totally had a good time watching those! C'mon, they were sponsored by XO!
Get Stuffed: Mifune
Covering the San Francisco Film Festival can make you hungry. Just ask Meredith Brody! On second thought...
Gastronomique: An Interview With Dan Leone.
We have been jumping up and down since one of our favorite food writers, heck, our favorite one, Dan Leone, Cheap Eats Guy at the Guardian agreed to do an interview with Gastronomique. Disclosure: we are total fan. We have read him punctually every Wednesday since, like, 1998 and time and again, even though we knew he was going to order the chicken and eschew the mayo, he has surprised us with his goofy-yet-poetic outlook on things.
Get Stuffed: Marcello's
Covering the SFIFF this week, we've spent a lot of time in the Fillmore and in the Castro -- two places that are notoriously hard to get stuffed in for less than ten bucks. We should qualify that. We don't know if it's the Noe Valley effect that's inflating prices at shops around the Castro theater, Pat Robertson's theories about DINKs, or curious foreign tourists with their super-strong currencies that make it nearly impossible to run a cheap eats joint in the Castro. And the Fillmore, well, we blame it on HUD (we blame everything wrong in the Fillmore on HUD) on the fact that the only place to get a cheap bite are chain shops like Subway and Panda Express.
SFist Gets Stuffed: Real Meals Under Ten Bucks
We live in the Mission, which is pretty much ground zero for cheap eats. If the terrorists/communists/homosexuals/bloggers/what-have-you wanted to imperil the ability for the cash-poor and culture-rich to feed and reproduce, we figure they'd place their suitcase nuke at approximately 20th and Folsom. Because if you go half a mile from there in any direction and you will be able to stuff yourself for much less than ten dollars.
Interview: Ross Hogg
SFist interviews Ross Hog
SFist Culinary Digest
Herb Caen, SFist's idol and mentor, called us (in a play on President Taft's quote) "The City that Knows Chow." And how. In San Francisco most of the food press arrives on SFist's doorstep on Wednesday. The Chron, The Weekly, The Bay Guardian - first, second and third helpings of food in print. Why do we obsess? I'm not sure. But the eats around here are the best.

