3-SUM EATS - The Bar Association of San Francisco

Justine Pelina
B
Beyond the regular lunch spots or usual client restaurants, where can attorneys go to try something new?
What about a “roach coach”? I’m not referring to the
corner food trucks of yesteryear; I mean the growing fleet
of moving gourmet kitchens. This mobile food phenomenon is hitting the streets of San Francisco and the locals
are embracing it.
Today, street food is more than pretzels and hot dogs.
These food entrepreneurs are serving high-end, unique
dishes from crème brûlée to macaroni-and-cheese spring
rolls. You can satisfy almost any craving—French,
Japanese, Argentine, Filipino, and the list goes on.
Chasing down your meal is making dining out a true
adventure, but where can you find these restaurants on
wheels? Most vendors use social media to alert their
locations to customers so they are easily accessible. Plus,
it adds to the experience of roaming cuisine.
A new way of dining in San Francisco is emerging. Here
is a quick guide.
P izza H acker
When you profoundly smell the scent of pizza in the
neighborhood, you know the PizzaHacker is nearby.
This one-of-a-kind pizzeria has been around for almost
two years and has a loyal following. I ran into Jeff Krupman the PizzaHacker and his crew in front of a local bar
in SOMA. You can’t miss the crowd of people lining up
to try his famous pie.
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On the street food menu, you can choose from one of the
classic Neapolitan pies, such as Marinara, Filetti, Bianca,
and Margherita, and usually you can add charcuterie or
alternate the toppings to your liking. I customized my
Margherita by adding slices of Fra’mani Soppresatta.
While waiting for my pizza, I could not help but watch
how it all comes together. The PizzaHacker team is working an efficient assembly line to accommodate everyone
quickly. The wait time was impressive given the fact that
there was only one oven for all those pizzas. The oven
I am referring to is almost as famous as the pizza itself.
According to Krupman, the Pizza Forge, formerly known
as the FrankenWeber (renamed to avoid legal hassles, as
many of you can relate), is a Weber charcoal grill converted into a mobile wood-burning pizza oven. His creation is based on the principles of the rocket oven. It can
impressively bake a pizza in 1.5 to 2 minutes.
My pizza was done! I took the first bite and it was amazing. A high-quality gourmet pizza with fresh ingredients
right on the street; you won’t believe it until you try it. If
you love pizza, the PizzaHacker is a must.
For information or schedule, please visit www.pizzahacker.
com or follow @pizzahacker on Twitter.
3-S um E ats
Chef and owner of 3-Sum Eats, Ryan Scott has an extensive culinary résumé. The former Top Chef contestant
Pam Ellis and Peggy Edwards
has worked in many acclaimed restaurants under some of
the finest chefs throughout the country, and about a year
ago he added mobile food to his list of accomplishments.
For more information or the schedule, please visit
www.3-sumeats.com or Twitter @3sumeats or the 3-Sum
Eats page on Facebook.
I caught 3-Sum Eats at Off the Grid: Upper Haight (see
page 54). One of the unique things about 3-Sum Eats is
that there is a person outside the truck taking orders. It
is a nice touch and adds to the experience.
T he C rème B rûlée C art
With the longest line at the event, 3-Sum Eats gave me
time to study the menu. I had my eye on the macaroniand-cheese spring rolls, Philly cheesesteak pot stickers,
and a house-made, cream-filled sponge cake dessert.
According to Scott, the menu changes every day. The
menu follows the “three by three by three” concept: three
sandwiches, three sides, and three desserts, hence the
name 3-Sum Eats. When asked how he came up with the
name, Scott credits his manager.
“We were on the phone one day tossing names around,
and he brought up the idea of the name 3-Sum Eats for
the truck. I started laughing because, obviously, that is
not the first thing I thought of with the name (food, that
is), but I liked it and decided to run with it and here we
are today,” says Scott.
After ordering the food, I saw Scott himself inside the
truck handing all the orders to the customers. When he
handed me my food, everything looked delectable. The
spring rolls and pot stickers infused American comfort
food and Asian staples, which works for me. The spicy
cake was the perfect end to a delicious meal.
With a carpenter background, Curtis Kimball helped his
brother build the Magic Curry Cart. Then he decided
to build a cart of his own and serve an assortment of
desserts. After some thought, he settled on just serving
crème brûlée in a variety of flavors, and that’s how The
Crème Brûlée Cart was born.
I came across this cart at Off the Grid: Fort Mason.
Through the crowd, I saw the chef hats from afar and
headed straight for them. I ordered (and devoured)
Honey Vanilla and Si Por Favor, also known as Yes
Please!, which is Nutella and balsamic strawberries. I
could barely finish one. Don’t let the size of these portable cups deceive you; they are rich and filling.
Underneath the hard caramelized sugar, both flavors
were decadent. Kimball says he finds inspiration for his
menu either from non-crème-brûlée desserts or things
he likes that haven’t been combined in an interesting
way. The results are flavors like S’mores, Ritual Coffee,
and Lavender.
As one of the better-known vendors, the Crème Brûlée
Cart has received recognition in San Francisco Bay Guardian’s Best of the Bay, SF Weekly, San Francisco Magazine,
Wired, and several other publications. Iron and Wine,
Yo La Tengo, Food Network’s Brian Boitano, and Travel
Channel’s Andrew Zimmern have also recognized the
Crème Brûlée Cart.
The Crème Brûlée Cart will please any sweet tooth, and
for $4 you’re getting a bargain. Traditionally, I know
dessert is supposed to be eaten after dinner, but for the
Crème Brûlée Cart, I will make an exception any time
of the day.
For information or schedule,
Twitter @cremebruleecart or the
Cart page on Facebook.
please
Crème
follow
Brûlée
S eñor S isig
What is sisig? Originally from Pampanga, Philippines,
sisig is a popular Filipino pulutan (appetizer) turned
entrée. There are many varieties of sisig, traditionally
pork, but today there are countless variations, though
all are marinated in vinegar, seasoned with salt and
pepper, and topped with onions and jalapeño peppers. Señor Sisig has taken this native favorite to another level by infusing it with Mexican American cuisine, such as tacos, burritos, and nachos. The response
is overwhelming.
I spotted Señor Sisig at Off the Grid: Civic Center.
From the menu, I selected the Señor Sisig burrito with
pork and all three kinds of tacos: pork, chicken, and
tofu. The menu is inspired not only by Filipino food but
also by the notion of serving Filipino food to the masses.
“Most people only know of a few Filipino dishes, like
lumpia and adobo,” stated Evan Kidera, who established
Señor Sisig with longtime friend, Gil Payumo. “We always get asked, ‘what’s sisig?’ and we want everyone to
know what it is.”
Everything I tried was extraordinary, and I could see why
Señor Sisig was voted “Best Food Truck” by SF Baylist’s
Best of the Bay and SF Weekly’s “Best Of ” readers’ poll.
With all the buzz and features on LaSang Pinoy, TFC’s
Balitang America, and We Eating, it is well on its way to
making Filipino food all the rage.
After celebrating its one-year anniversary, Señor Sisig is
thankful for its loyal customers and to be working on
something it truly believes in. Reflecting on how it has
grown in a year, Kidera and Payumo are looking forward
to many more years to come.
For information or schedule, please visit Twitter
@senorsisig, www.senorsisig.com, Señor Sisig’s page on
Facebook, or subscribe to their weekly email updates.
O f f t h e G r id:
Do you want to experience an authentic San Francisco
street food gathering?
Off the Grid, or OTG as many refer to it, organizes a
variety of food vendors weekly in a single site at various
locations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Working with around fifty food trucks and tents per week, the
only issue at OTG events is that with so many options
you will have a hard time choosing what to eat.
For those who have yet to try street food, OTG events
are a great place to start. Instead of individually chasing
every mobile vendor you want to try, you will have all
these vendors in one place. Matthew Cohen, founder,
owner, and operator of OTG, describes it as “the best
mobile food court you will ever go to.”
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J apacurry
Japanese curry is one of the most popular dishes in Japan. Courtesy of Japacurry, it might soon be one of the
most popular dishes in San Francisco. Being the first
Japanese food truck in the Bay Area, Japacurry strives to
provide authentic Japanese curry dishes to its customers.
The truck is regularly parked at First and Howard on
Wednesdays for lunch. I went there to check it out.
As I arrived at the bright orange truck at the beginning
of the typical lunch hour, the line was starting to form.
I was having a hard time deciding what to order because
everything sounded good. According to Jay Hamada,
owner of Japacurry, there is a set menu with a few specials and additions once in a while. I made my mind up
on pork katsu curry over rice and the veggie croquette
curry (made of potato, pumpkin, and onion) over rice.
The breading on Japacurry’s pork katsu and veggie croquette was perfectly crispy—and don’t forget you have
the curry sauce on the side! The curry surpassed my expectations. Hamada makes the curry from scratch, and it
takes several days of cooking with secret spices and superior ingredients. There is lots of love in that curry sauce,
and you can taste it. The serving size is plenty, and there
is enough curry to take home.
Japacurry’s food, presentation, and service were excellent. Named as one of SFoodie’s “92 Favorite Things to
Eat and Drink in San Francisco,” Japacurry is definitely
worth adding to your to-eat list.
For more information or the schedule, please visit
www.japacurry.com or Twitter @japacurry.
San Francisco has some of the most diverse dining options in the world, and now we know it extends outside restaurants. Considering that most of these mobile
vendors are receiving as much recognition as prestigious
restaurants, find time between conference calls and client
meetings to chase down one of these local favorites.
In some cases, you might find one parked near the
office, or you can attend one of the many scheduled Off the Grid (see below) events that organize a
variety of these food vendors in a single location. No
excuses; join the fun and go taste what San Francisco has
to offer.
Justine Pelina is BASF’s publications coordinator and
is associated with Grub Crawl, San Francisco’s rapidly
growing walking social food tours. Being a native, she loves
the city of San Francisco and good food—they go hand
in hand.
A Fo o die’s D re a m C o m e Tr u e
OTG is a good place to hang out on your lunch break,
for dinner, or just for fun. It serves an estimated twentyfive thousand people at its events weekly, and it’s a great
experience. In my opinion, the events are addicting—
once you go to one location you want to go to all the
locations. You want to see what mobile vendors are there
and you want to see how Off the Grid: Upper Haight
compares to Off the Grid: McCoppin Hub. You instantly
become a fan.
“We always knew there would be good food, but the
biggest surprise is the sense of community,” Cohen says
about OTG events. “You get to enjoy your neighborhood
in a way you haven’t before.”
Good food, outdoor venue, mingling with your neighbors, and feasting among other foodies—it’s a different
way to experience street food.
Every day you can find a scheduled OTG event on the
organization’s website. Cohen suggests attending with a
group of friends. Also, OTG events work best when you
are not in a rush, he added. But you can always order your
food to go.
This past July, OTG celebrated its one-year anniversary.
Looking ahead, OTG is working on producing large oneday occasions and is committed to finding locations in
Oakland and San Jose. OTG has transformed street food
dining, and its events have become a San Francisco must.
Visit www.offthegridsf.com, Twitter @sfcarts, or Off
the Grid’s page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/
offthegridsf ) for specific information about which vendors will be at the events.
THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO ATTORNEY 55