GrubGirl.

Balompie Cafe
3349 18th Street
(between Capp St & Van Ness Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 648-9199

We talked about the ultimate pupusa stop, El Zocalo, in an earlier post. Now you soccer fans get a restaurant where you can watch the soccer games while eating some tasty morsels.

Wikipedia defines Balompie as the literal Spanish word for football as opposed to the anglicized version, futbol.

At Balompie Cafe, you get to order the traditional Salvadorean combo plate with pupusa, yuca, and pastel for $8.50. You also get the vinegary coleslaw, and chips and mild salsa on the side. We went there for Sunday night dinner and were surrounded by families.

Los Jarritos
901 South Van Ness
San Francisco, CA 94110
Open Daily, 9am-10pm
(415) 648-8383

We ducked in here for a late Sunday lunch while I waited for my stubborn 12-year old car to get detailed. Even at about 3pm, this family-run place was still packed.

Though the breakfasts (served any time of day) looked enticing, Francisco had told me to get the combo lunch plate. Kiko’s Combination allows 2 house specialties, plus rice, beans, a green salad, and their yummy freshly-made corn tortillas. The business lunch plate is slightly cheaper ($6.95) than the dinner plate ($10.95). However, we had special instructions to order off the menu.

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).

Pauline’s Pizza
260 Valencia
San Francisco, CA
415-552-2050
Tu-Sat 5-10pm
Dine-in or Take-out

Next to the old Levi Strauss building lies a clean, well-lit restaurant (not pizza parlor) that happens to serve kick-ass thin-crust pizza. The secret is in the fresh vegetables that are sourced from their own gardens in Berkeley and Angels’ Camp.

Though not dirt cheap, these pizzas provide great value in a nice ambience. I tried the Pesto (Medium, $13.50), and the Italian Combination (Medium, $17.25). The pesto is drizzled onto the pie after it’s baked. I usually sprinkle a ton of chili peppers and parmesan cheese on my pizzas by default, but this one was perfect without any additional tweaking.