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San Francisco Bay Area

Tips for Dining, Eating, and Food Shopping in the SF Bay Area (including Berkeley, Oakland, Napa, Sonoma, Marin, and San Jose)

Red Hook Ball Fields Equivalent on the West Coast?

Dear Hounds -

I left New York over 2 years ago, but every time the summer rolls around I can't help missing the food and fun of Red Hook Ball Fields (if you don't know about it, search the Outer Boroughs board).

So, my question is: Is there an equivalent in the Bay Area? I live in the Mission and frequent Mexican places around there, but I can't find the same kind of variety and freshness.

Please help!

9 Replies

  1. Not the same and you have to run the bases but you could think of Oakland as San Fr4ancisco's outer borough just across the Verrazano Bay Bridge.
    http://www.chow.com/places_list/show/344

    1. re: wolfe

      i second that.

      i'm from NY and have been to red hooks ballfield many many times. so i understand the appeal, convenience, and food culture. rest assured, you'll find all that's offered at the red hook vendors in oakland, and a lot more variety and much much better quality. great link, wolfe.

      1. re: 52X

        There's some variety in what taco trucks serve, but it's all Mexican with the occasional Salvadorean pupusa.

        The closest thing to the kind of ethnic variety they have at Red Hook is probably certain farmers markets and street fairs.

      2. re: wolfe

        There's a couple of taco trucks in SOMA, not that far from ATT. Los Compadres is at Spear/Folsom. It's a very good taco truck on par with anything else in the Bay Area. If you google map and look at the street view you'll there's a line of at least 20 people. You can get completely stuffed for $7 bucks.

        -----
        Los Compadres Taco Truck
        292 Spear St, San Francisco, CA

      3. Maybe the Fruitvale area? It's easily accessible by BART. In addition to wolfe's awesome link, do a search for Ruth Lafler's posts for great recs.

        1. re: a_and_w

          Nanos gigantum humeris insidentes.
          The link is mine, the list is rw's.

        2. Thanks for replying! I just now got the chance to read through your replies. I'm going to make a trip to Oakland and try to eat as much as I can handle!

          I did not hold back at the Alemany farmer's market this past weekend and tried the pupusas, tacos, and huarache. I also just found about the Street Food festival that's coming up on Aug. 22 in SF, so things are looking up!

          1. re: cheetdolphin

            That deserves its own topic.

          2. The Thursday evening farmers market in San Rafael had the largest and most diverse set of ethnic food stands I've seen around here. 6-9pm, through September 24th.

            http://www.sanrafaelmarket.org

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