Tonight I took my out-of-town cousin to see the food carts in Bernal Heights. For the rest of you out-of-towners, here's a quick run-down: It's no secret, the street food trend is the biggest thing to hit SF since track bikes. Here's how they work- food carts generally roam the streets or set up shop in some popular park or mission street corner. They are predominantly run by young relatively hip creative types and assorted ex silicon valley tech workers (sf food carts used to be almost exclusively run by economically disenfranchised ethnic minorities and sold mexican food and bacon dogs). Since the crackdown by the city, it's often a secret where they will be and all of them utilize social media tools-Twitter- to reveal their location (often with only an hour or two notice). The idea is with little consistency in their location, they won't get caught without a permit. And it helps build the hype among hip customers who like to feel in-the-know. Tonight we caught up with the lumpia cart whose freshly deep fried shanghai style mini-lumpia was pretty spot-on. Doing lumpia to-order is a great idea, although a deep-fryer is somewhat less portable than say a cooler full of creme brulee. Anyway, lumpia- hot, crispy, fresh, porky goodness with a sticky sweet chili sauce and pretty damn authentic too ($3/order of 6). My favorite was the gumbo guy. If there could be any wish, it would be for a little more heat- temperature and spice. Although I am understanding about the portable constraints and for 5 bucks an on a crisp november evening, the andouille, chicken combo hit the spot! Also on the scene was the evil jerk cart (pictured below with two happy kabob eaters), toasty melts, and some awesome chai lady I didn't get the name of. More resources: sf street food and Chowhound's Non-staurants list
