San Francisco

San Francisco Food Tours: Mission District

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When I was in San Francisco, I did a Mission District Food Tour from Avital Tours. Since I was in town for a short time, I wanted to try as many tried and true places as possible, so I thought a food tour was the best option.

This tour includes 4-course progressive prix-fixe dining experience visits 4 restaurants:

  • two appetizers
  • one entree
  • one dessert

The tour begins at The Women’s Building between Valencia and Guerrero at 5pm. I ended up being 10 minutes late since I didn’t know how to take the BART, so we ended up taking an Uber. We missed a bit of the introduction, but they were telling everyone about the neighbourhoods culinary history and the beautiful art around a few of the buildings.

Mission Cheese

We made our first stop at Mission Cheese, a New York Times acclaimed chic cheese cafe featuring only American artisan cheeses. We got a few samples of cheese and their choice of beer. For those who don’t drink alcohol, they provided them with non-alcoholic drink.

Hog & Rocks

Hog & Rocks is San Francisco’s first and only ham and oyster bar considered one of the Bay Area’s Top 100 Restaurants by the SF Chronicle. They serve comfort fare and classic cocktails.

We tried some of their delicious tastes of their restaurant and a cocktail. This was one of my favourite places of the night.

Taqueria La Cumbre

Taqueria La Cumbre the the birthplace of the Mission-style grilled chicken Burrito at authentic taqueria inventor of the Mission-style burrito.

The owner told us in great detail about this history of La Cumbre and the Mission-style burrito. We all loved the electrifying personality of the owner as he had so much enthusiasm for his product.

The burrito first became popular during the 1960s in the Mission District distinguished from other burritos by its large size and inclusion of extra rice and other ingredients. Of course, there are a lot larger burritos out there in the world, but it started here first.

West of Pecos

West of Pecos was the last stop of the night and we were treated to churros with a chocolate and Cajeta sauce. I love churros especially with the two sauces, it was super enjoyable.

The 3 hours passed by quickly and most of us decided to stay a bit longer and have an extra drink. We noticed there were some local and tourists on this tour.

Besides the food, we go to stroll through the historic Latin neighborhood learning about its culinary history and incredibly colourful murals, while hearing the stories of chefs, restaurant owners and industry experts.

I wouldn’t have gotten any of that if I just walked on my own. Avital Tours also has a North Beach food tour and a Union Square cocktail tour.

Website:
http://avitaltours.com/san-francisco/tour/mission-district-food-tour/

Diana started Foodology in 2010 because she just eats out everyday! She started a food blog to share her love of food with the world! She lives in Vancouver, BC and adores the diversity of food around her. She will go crazy for churros and lattes.

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