— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
After a long-ish wait, the SoMa StrEat [zzzing!] Food Park opened their chain-link fence gate to the slobbering public. And it's a delight! 10 food trucks serving restaurant-quality food at restaurant prices, complimentary wifi, and, soon, a beer truck pouring cold mugs of brew; all sandwiched between an 6-lane highway, a thriving Costco, and all-natural artisan spelt bread:
Note: all-natural artisan spelt bread not pictured.
Now, I'm not sure it's right of me to thoroughly shit on this. For one, this isn't for 20-something Mission kids as much as it's for 40-something office workers whose lunch hour is the only glimmer of excitement in their waning life. Plus, there really isn't much to eat in the area besides dollar hot dogs at Costco—who am I to take this away from them?
And, really, it's not all that bad. The SoMa Stench is largely choked out by whiffs of fresh-baked cookies and truffle oil French fries. The dominating hum of a dozen food truck generators reduces the thundering roar of passing 18-wheelers to chirps from a gasoline bird, cruising through the summer breeze it's simultaneously choking the life out of. And the food? Well, that's pretty damn good too (protip: Little Green Cyclo's tatter tots with tamarind plum sauce is where it's at).
But there's something about the setting that makes this place feel a little… off. The towering walls of bulk pizza bites and stop and go traffic are unsettling, sure, but it's more than that…
See, outside SoMa StrEat Food is a truck “movement” of another kind: people displaced by foreclosures and rising rents, forced to live under the freeway in dilapidated mobile shanties.
Maybe these two communities neighboring each other isn't so shocking; after all, these food trucks are supposedly a product of the rising cost of opening a brick and mortar restaurant in Our Fair City. Piles of city regulations and deep-pocketed restaurateurs made the dream impossible, so into the back of a truck the kitchen went, man. And even if all that is true, there's something profoundly rattling about watching a guy pour a bucket of urine into a storm drain while you're heading to spend $10 on a bowl of rice.
And remember: be careful about leaving valuables in your car, as someone stole the sign reminding you there are thieves in the area.
Comments (9)
Well that and some of the best goddamn tacos in the city.
Fact:
SF tacos : real tacos :: Chipotle : SF burritos
I back this.
I miss the Cuban Sanwich truck that used to park there years ago.
The hot dogs at Costco are $1.50
http://www.costcoconnection.com/connection/200903/?u1=texterity#pg25
They come with refillable 20 oz soda cups.
Your graphic does a good job of capturing odd placement of this place.
This lot used to have the broken relics of Veteran’s Cab’s abused cabs leaking all sorts of fluids for decades.
The camper people were there before any recession. They make their money through stolen bikes.
“for 40-something office workers whose lunch hour is the only glimmer of excitement in their waning life. ” Hey! That only happens when you have kids. :)
You said:
There’s been people living in RVs under 101 on Duboce (and near the Caltrain stop @ 22nd St.) at least since Clinton was president. Rent was cheaper then, and mortgages weren’t easy to get until the banks went cuckoo since then.
Thanks for shitting on Costco Flats. Yes, the area kinda sucks, but I’m glad somebody wants to feed me something other than the (mostly) crap that’s already here. You get over Costco’s offerings pretty quick.
I’m told those RVs in the area and by the SPCA are often sex offenders. It’s the only place far enough from any schools for them to legally live in SF. So they aren’t just poor, but rapists too!
So, the food is good, but the location makes you feel uncomfortable because it forces you to realize the economic disparity in one of the most expensive cities in the country? The truth is that this project could only have happened in a lot remote enough that it isn’t even being used for parking.
I ride home past this every day so I am stoked because a) there is something to eat on my way home, and b) I’ve already seen these RV’s which are not nearly as sad as the very paranoid real homeless who (try to) sleep around that area.
it’s close-ish to my work in that i go by it often when i walk home (er, i mean to the bar), but not close enough for a lunch break… for that i love that the gift center (branan at 8th st) has 2-3 trucks on rotation. and a schedule! http://www.sfgcjm.com/category/events/