My favorite thing to do is to plan weekend trips with friends to neighboring cities outside SF with better immigrant food.
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I think there are a few reasons why the food in SF just isn’t as good anymore (to me):
Lack of housing and good transit between cities means you can’t hire many service staff who can’t afford to live in the city (so we don’t have late night food)
Gentrification from tech means the only way to make money in the food biz is to cater to the palates of a very specific type of person in SF
Given that there’s no room for most new immigrants in the city that they can afford, they cluster outside in other nearby cities and towns and
Well there’s no point making amazing Tanzanian or Nigerian food in SF instead of in West Oakland coz
There aren’t people who will organically like most other cuisines other than the major known ones.
Also, SF permitting is an utterly nightmarish experience I would not wish on my worst enemy (it was part of my job to try to fix it, but there is a ton of corruption that would make many of the corrupt politicians I’ve met in developing countries blush)
Maybe there are a handful of people in the city who are like, not true! I would love this stuff!
I just don’t think the data shows that. I’ve dabbled a little in the food industry here (helping friends out) and
I genuinely think SF is way more of a conservative dining city than it thinks. Outside of the ‘greatest hits’ and immigrant- originated food innovations
It’s frankly not a city where you can do really interesting stuff anymore. You just won’t make money.
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Oakland has much better Chinese and Mexican and Japanese and Korean foods than SF to me (variety and price and quality); Fremont has ‘new’ Chinese (including halal Chinese and more northern foods, also the best Afghan and Indian foods (without going to South Bay).
Without easy access to these neighboring cities I would be much more annoyed about the food in SF (which is fine, better than many places, but doesn’t satisfy my palate which has been trained on lots of street food in most of Asia). I also don’t particularly enjoy SF fine dining compared to other major global eat out cities.
As soon as the gutting started in Mission I kinda knew things were going to slide away.
The same thing is happening in my hometown now. It got featured in Vogue and that was the kiss of death. Landlords jacked the rent and all the creatives went bankrupt trying to keep up with elevated operating costs and lack of staff or just left town. Glad I experienced it when it was in it's prime but that was only about 5 years before it ate itself entirely and is a sad little husk now. -
Maybe there are a handful of people in the city who are like, not true! I would love this stuff!
I just don’t think the data shows that. I’ve dabbled a little in the food industry here (helping friends out) and
I genuinely think SF is way more of a conservative dining city than it thinks. Outside of the ‘greatest hits’ and immigrant- originated food innovations
It’s frankly not a city where you can do really interesting stuff anymore. You just won’t make money.
Imagine that for jollibee to open downtown, they’ve paid rent in that location for what, five years? And they’re still not open. (Permits saga as usual)
Good thing they have money, but which small business and immigrant restaurant can do that?
That’s not even an exceptional story with SF permitting
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Maybe there are a handful of people in the city who are like, not true! I would love this stuff!
I just don’t think the data shows that. I’ve dabbled a little in the food industry here (helping friends out) and
I genuinely think SF is way more of a conservative dining city than it thinks. Outside of the ‘greatest hits’ and immigrant- originated food innovations
It’s frankly not a city where you can do really interesting stuff anymore. You just won’t make money.
@skinnylatte 1000% co-signed. I have been eating so much more varied, affordable, and just plain better food for 3 years after moving down to LA!
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I think there are a few reasons why the food in SF just isn’t as good anymore (to me):
Lack of housing and good transit between cities means you can’t hire many service staff who can’t afford to live in the city (so we don’t have late night food)
Gentrification from tech means the only way to make money in the food biz is to cater to the palates of a very specific type of person in SF
Given that there’s no room for most new immigrants in the city that they can afford, they cluster outside in other nearby cities and towns and
Well there’s no point making amazing Tanzanian or Nigerian food in SF instead of in West Oakland coz
There aren’t people who will organically like most other cuisines other than the major known ones.
Also, SF permitting is an utterly nightmarish experience I would not wish on my worst enemy (it was part of my job to try to fix it, but there is a ton of corruption that would make many of the corrupt politicians I’ve met in developing countries blush)
@skinnylatte with all the money wealth in SF they are still food poor
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Imagine that for jollibee to open downtown, they’ve paid rent in that location for what, five years? And they’re still not open. (Permits saga as usual)
Good thing they have money, but which small business and immigrant restaurant can do that?
That’s not even an exceptional story with SF permitting
Oh that Jollibee on Market which used to be a Payless shoes or whatever?
I saw that and wasn't sure if a Jollibee had opened and closed (I never would have noticed since I don't tend to eat at fast food places, being vegan and all) or what was going on with that.
Five YEARS?! Yikes. How does corporate justify bleeding that much money? Seems sus.
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@skinnylatte with all the money wealth in SF they are still food poor
@sumisu3 to be clear it’s better than lots of places in the U.S.! It just isn’t the food Mecca that its original reputation claims it is
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@skinnylatte 1000% co-signed. I have been eating so much more varied, affordable, and just plain better food for 3 years after moving down to LA!
@skimbrel I LOVE LA
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@skimbrel I LOVE LA
@skinnylatte are you coming down for PyCon? LGB proper has incredible Cambodian food (and tacos, of course) and I do think I could volunteer my car to take a bunch of folks further afield for everything else on offer here
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San Mateo has the most interesting Japanese foods and South Bay for Vietnamese and South Indian.
I do spend more of my time in east Oakland and Fremont because it’s easier for me to get to those places (and I have friends who pick me up at BART to drive me to places)!
Also, tacos are my primary food group and east Oakland has the most density of the ones I love
Oh yeah, when I was briefly in Santa Clara a couple years ago now for some work, I made it a point to hit up a couple Vietnamese and Indian restaurants there.
I figured I had picked the right Indian place when I was the only pale-skinned guy there and was getting odd looks from the staff and customers.
I took my takeout back to the hotel room and all was very good. -
@skinnylatte are you coming down for PyCon? LGB proper has incredible Cambodian food (and tacos, of course) and I do think I could volunteer my car to take a bunch of folks further afield for everything else on offer here
@skimbrel not decided, but maybe!!
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@WigglyWigtails @teajaygrey jollibee has a shit ton of money, this is nothing to them
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