Thoughts or Opinions on Forage SF Underground Market event this Friday 9/7?

[TNT Adventures]

Wife and I are heading in to SF from Orange County this weekend f or anniversary and have AQ for Saturday night.

Instead of going to a restaurant Friday night we were thinking about going to the Forage SF Underground Market event this Friday. Is this a potentially horrible idea? Should we just stick to a proper sit down restaurant? Any thoughts on this event from people who have been to previous ones?

Saw this event mentioned on Eater SF. Here is the link to the even below:

http://foragesf.com/market/

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[TNT Adventures]

Hi Hyperbowler - Thanks for taking the time to give your thoughts on the Underground Market. Sounds like a pretty good time. Glad you brought up the point about the lines though. I totally forgot about the possibility of long lines and food running out. Don't think my pregnant wife would be too thrilled about waiting in long lines and food shortages. May have to re-think going to this event.

[hyperbowler]

Oh, yeah, this is definitely a crowded event with lots of standing. But, as I said, once you get past the front doors, as long as you go early enough, the waiting is minimal for most vendors and there's plenty of food.

I'd be curious to see read how it's changed since it reopened, mostly in terms of common themes. The amount of bacon flavored items at the first few markets was ridiculous, and would have made great fodder for a Portlandia sketch.

[shanghaikid]

haven't been to fridays events yet, just last year's saturdays.
would expect it to be less crowded than saturdays.
they almost never start on time. bring something to read or....

veteran vendors of interest:
-frozen kusterd
only one out there, different flavors, unique, highly recommended
-jablow's meat
pastrami's very good
-simply mochi
japanese pastry, melts in your mouth.
-grilled cheeseguy (heading new taste marketplace show now)
not a fan of cheese.....
-nosh this
known for "bacon cracK" not into bacon, candies good.
-rawdaddy
inventive, interesting raw eats, worth a try
-some pickle guy there
not into pickles

rookies: haven't tried any yet.
note: most vendors cash only

[hyperbowler]

Before it got shut down and reopened, I went to a number of their events, both in SF and in Oakland. The wait to get in was typically about an hour, but the lines inside weren't too bad. There seems to be a huge turnover--- I don't see it online, but their mailing list mentions a bunch of vendors, few of whom I've been to. They have a nice track record though--- some have moved onto brick and mortar (Homeroom), others to the Ferry Building (soon to be Biscuit Bender).

Recent attendees could correct me, but I found the lack of long lines within the event to make this better than Ft. Mason's Off The Grid, where you can wait close to an hour for a single truck, only to find out that they're out of something or that their food is awful.

At one point they split the event into a day and night session so that the pre-made goods (jams, pickles, etc.) would have a better chance of selling. Have they reverted that completely?

This is one of the most fun food events I've been to, but I'll admit to never having had anything that was so good to demand repeat patronage.

[shanghaikid]

"pre-made goods"- mostly sold in the day time

goods must be produced in a commercial kitchen. this requiremet could easily pre-empt many past vendors from participating. maybe not enough vendors were available to participate in a day session. just guessing.