GrubGirl.

Florida Street Cafe
710 Florida St
(between 19th St & 20th St)
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 648-5227

I had heard about FSC and how it was a restaurant run by the Latino Cuisine Culinary Academy, which is a program offered at the Mission Language and Vocational School around the corner. They’re only open for lunch on weekdays, so plan accordingly.

The doc and I visited this place and we weren’t disappointed. It was a little different than I expected, as this place made the list of the Chronicle’s Bargain Bites. This was no dive operation — it’s a larger simple space, with clean wooden chairs and tables. We arrived a little bit before noon on a Thursday and there were more than enough tables to spare.

El Zocalo
3230 Mission St
(between 29th St & Valencia St)
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 282-2572

This place is on the border of the Mission and Bernal Heights, and it’s open pretty darn late. If you’ve got a hankering for some El Salvadorean pupusas, this is the place that locals know about.

What are pupusas? Wikipedia says:

The Salvadoran pupusa (from Pipil pupusawa) is a thick, hand-made corn tortilla (made using masa de maíz, a maize flour dough used in Latin American cuisine) that is stuffed with one or more of the following: cheese (queso) (usually a soft Salvadoran cheese called Quesillo), fried pork rind (chicharrón), chicken (pollo), refried beans (frijoles refritos), or queso con loroco (loroco is a vine flower bud from Central America).