El Zocalo: Cheap & Big Pupusas

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: Local Pizza with Great Ingredients

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.

Yamo: Cheap Burmese Food in the Mission

Yamo
3406 18th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 553-8911
M-Th: 10:30 am - 9:30 pm
F-Sa: 10:30 am - 10:00 pm

Look carefully or you may just miss the faded awning that houses this narrow rectangle of a space. Based on a recommendation by the San Francisco Chronicle’s annual Bargain Bites survey, I headed over to confirm if this was a real bargain or not.

Yes, folks, this is a dirt cheap bargain. For $5.25 an entree, and $3.50 for appetizers, you get made-to-order cooking as you sit at the tiny counter and wait (and wait, and wait) for the 1-2 women to stir up yummy Burmese dishes. Don’t forget to order the tea salad (it’s got some kick to it), and a curry noodle dish or two.

Best Value South Asian / Indian Cuisine in San Francisco?

Tomorrow I get to dine out with some friends that are fairly new to San Francisco. Fairly new equals lived in the city less than 3 years. We’re going to Shalimar on Polk, a place that in my circles, is known for wonderful Indian and Pakistani food and value. That is, my South Asian friends love to come here.
To share other grub-worthy Indian food cheap eats with my friends, I started thinking what other places that I took for granted in San Francisco:

  • Naan-n-Curry (though unfortunately they’ve had to increase their prices while seemingly decreasing their portion sizes)
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