The Morris: Your Neighborhood Destination Place
The Morris has only been in existence for just over a year-and-a-half, but owing to its location in the old Slow Club space — which...
Maria C. Ascarrunz
Stories by Maria
Prubechu – Guam in the House!
By Maria C. Ascarrunz Posted
Prubechu opened four years ago to only a modicum of fanfare. While the cuisine itself caused a stir — there are no other restaurants serving...
Rite Spot Café — The Bar that dreams are made of
By Maria C. Ascarrunz Posted
Who knew the Rite Spot had been around for 60 years? Everyone but me, that’s who. I’m horribly ashamed that I’d never been inside this...
Vegan Gracias Madre survives well — thank you, Mother!
By Maria C. Ascarrunz Posted
“Gracias Madre” means, essentially, “Thank you, Mother Earth.” The food here is strictly plant-based, vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO, organic and Mexican. Gracias Madre is highly touted...
Lotus SF — Classic North Indian Fare
By Maria C. Ascarrunz Posted
Lotus SF has barely been open six weeks, but its look so intrigued me, I had to check it out. It sits like a pink...
Picaro and Esperpento, two long-lived tapas restaurants, one family
By Maria C. Ascarrunz Posted
Picaro and Esperpento have been in the Mission a very long time — 35 and 25 years, respectively. I used to go a lot in...
Las Palmeras — Come for the Sopa, Stay for the Pupusas
By Maria C. Ascarrunz Posted
I’ve been walking by Las Palmeras for years — 13, to be exact. But they’ve been around for 30 — since 1988! It is an...
Hawker Fare — Isaan Thai Street Food on Valencia
By Maria C. Ascarrunz Posted
Hawker Fare is Chef James Syhabout’s San Francisco outpost of his now-shuttered Oakland restaurant. I’d been to the Oakland place, as well as to his...
Foxsister, Korean in the Mission!
By Maria C. Ascarrunz Posted
We’ve had a smattering of Korean joints here and there in the Mission, but really not much to speak of. The BF and I are...
Gallardo’s: Classic Mexican
By Maria C. Ascarrunz Posted
Gallardo’s was new to me, but certainly not to the Mission. They’d been around for 17 years at their old address on Folsom, and four...
Alma Cocina – more Peruvian in the Mission!
By Maria C. Ascarrunz Posted
We are such a lucky neighborhood. We have so many options for places to eat, at every price point and with such a variety of...
“Mealmade” Reborn as “Kitava Kitchen”
By Maria C. Ascarrunz Posted
The new Kitava Kitchen gets its name from a small Pacific island whose native inhabitants apparently lead a healthy lifestyle due to a fresh, nutritious diet....
Spice Jar: Asian Fusion in the Mission
By Maria C. Ascarrunz Posted
Housed in a little shoebox on the corner of Bryant and 23rd, I had no idea Spice Jar had been here for over two years....
El Metate — Happy Anniversary!
By Maria C. Ascarrunz Posted
El Metate will celebrate its 15th year this November, and the young man who took our order at the counter of this sunny taqueria-plus seemed quite...
Rincon Nayarit — seafood from Mexico’s western coastline in SF’s Mission!
By Maria C. Ascarrunz Posted
A “marisquería” is a restaurant specializing in seafood — fish, shellfish, crustaceans — and Rincon Nayarit does that but also from a specific region —...
