cheap eats
Kasa 2 Comes To The Marina
Though the doom-and-gloom restaurant talk is completely warranted, since plenty of great restaurants have closed in the last six months, it's nice to see, occasionally, places that are doing well against the odds—or because of them. Kasa Indian Eatery is one of those places. The first location, on 18th street near the Castro, quickly drew a devoted local following (we included them in our Best Cheap Eats story in August of 2008) and it's easy to see why: wholesome, affordable Indian food is pretty hard to resist.
SF's Best Cheap Eats
Chow Down. Or, if $5 is just too much, here's our guide to the best $1, $2, $3 and $4 snacks in town.
Tacos in the Fog: Let the Good Times Roll
A picture from the original (and still going strong) Nick's Crispy
Tacos, which is currently owned by Howard Schindler.
Oyaji: Where Hideki-san Knows Your Name
The other night I was taken to Oyaji, a sushi spot on Clement Street, so far out in the avenues you might as well get on a plane to Tokyo. I’ve heard a lot about it from my friends that frequent it. They talk about the sushi, sure, but what they really talk about is Hideki-san, the theatrical, ham-of-a-chef and owner who knows his fish and drinks like one too.
Fried On For Size
I’ve always got some food idea up my sleeve: a restaurant I’m never going to open, a bakery I’m never going to launch, the greatest pizza delivery on earth that will never be. The cookbook I’m never going to write is called Fried on the Inside. My working subtitle is something to the effect of: Heaven is a Place Where Soft and Crunchy Meet. (Although soft must proceed crunchy by just a second, you understand. It's all about order.)
What to Eat at Bay to Breakers
We're San Franciscans through and through, so we hate to say anything against Bay to Breakers, but the snacks at Footstock are not the tastiest morsels to treat yourself to after running or walking seven miles. (You thought we were gonna rant on the saggy naked people, didn't you? Nope, we've got priorities.) So whether you're in the race or just watching it, here are some things you might want to eat and drink along the route, beginning down in SoMa at the starting line:
Best-O-Burger Opens
The newest lunchtime rage downtown is Best-O-Burger, a kind of little urban version of In-N-Out on none other than Belden Lane: Angus beef, cast-iron skillets, fresh-baked buns, housemade fries (and onion rings), plus a few extras like daily-made gelato and gelato shakes. The tidy red and yellow space opened on the corner of Pine and Belden on Monday, and by Thursday the line was snaking out the door for four hours straight, from 10:30 a.m. till 2:30 p.m.
Eating Your Way To Tahoe
Word on the street is that every San Franciscan and her brother are heading up to Tahoe to ski for the coming long weekend. Given that the drive can take five to six hours, depending on traffic, you’re going to need repast along the way. Every regular ski commuter has a few favorite stops. Here are three of mine:
Semi-Homemade Chicken
I haven’t yet been able to sit through an entire episode of Sandra Lee’s Semi-Homemade show on the Food Network. There’s something about it that gets under my skin. I’m sure she’s a great person with homemaking skills I’ll never have, but where’s her edge? Why does every show involve frilly cupcake frosting? Does she not have one gram of badass Bourdain in her at all? Well, I digress.
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