Oakland's Eat Real Festival, which was founded last year, is a sister event to the San Francisco Street Food Festival and sounds like a much better run event than the SF-based debacle trial run was. Get Real also benefits La Cocina, and there's no entry fee.

The festival runs all day Saturday and Sunday, as well as Friday and Saturday evenings, and its location at the lovely Jack London Square is accessible by ferry, train, bus, and BART (six blocks from Lake Merritt), in addition to car, bike, and foot, of course.

Eat Real also boasts cheaper prices than SF's festival -- all street eats are $1-5, and it features various events each day, including a beer shed (buy tickets), curbside cinema, live music and a street stage featuring local writers, artists, musicians, and activists, cooking demos, Ice Cream Friday, butchery contests, and many other fun events.

See you there!