This week our Eating San Francisco class ventured into the heart of the Mission. We saw beautiful murals, tasted amazing burritos and sampled heavenly pie. And along the way, we took some awesome photos to share.
I'm here to share my story of the neighborhood we explored and the food we ate. To begin, here is a video I made about the world famous, Mission Style Burrito.
Now that you have a little background information, the rest of this post is about the journey our class took and the story we have to share.
If you want to follow along, here's a map I made of our trip on Community Walk . I've included a short description of each place we went to and a link to each of my Flickr Sets. To see the full screen version, just click on ESF in the Mission .
The Neighborhood:
In the 19th century and early 20th century large populations of Irish, Polish and German immigrant workers moved into the Mission District. The population boomed even more after the 1906 earthquake when displaced residents from all over the city moved in. In the 1940s through the 1960s, more and more immigrants from Mexico settled the neighborhood. By the 1980s and 1990s, the Mission also saw great influx of refugees fleeing civil conflicts from Central and South America.
Today, the Mission is known for being a culturally vibrant neighborhood with a strong Chicano and Latino influence. It has become a hub of popular restaurants, nightclubs and art galleries.
Meeting Place: Balmy Alley
Our fearless and noble Mission Crüe asked us all to meet at the historic Balmy Alley.
Since the 1970s Balmy Alley has been the most famous collection of murals in San Francisco. Local artists use house fronts and garages as canvases for their work. Balmy Alley currently boasts over 30 murals painted by many notable artists including Patricia Rodriguez and Ralph Maradiaga .
Artists have used their work to voice out their opinions on cultural identity, gentrification, human rights and other social justice issues.
In the past decades travelers from all over the world have flown in to view the amazing street art.
Dinner: Taqueria Vallarta
After taking pictures in Balmy Alley, we headed over to our first stop: Taqueria Vallarta .
It was a fun and colorful eatery that seemed to be very popular with the locals. As we stepped inside, the first thing I noticed was the ceiling art. The entire ceiling is painted with different scenes from California’s history, from the indigenous people to the Spanish colonization. In their dining room area they even had murals of Giants baseball and 49ers football.
They had a great menu with very affordable prices. Most items were easily under $10. I ordered the super burrito camarón (shrimp burrito) for under $6 and had a guava Jarritos to drink. The aluminum foil-wrapped burrito was, of course, Mission style: humongous and filled with shrimp, rice, beans, salsa, guacamole and sour cream.
The place was pretty empty and our class had the dining room to ourselves. We spread out and sat at four different picnic tables. The family seating, the murals and the vintage arcade machines/jukeboxes gave the dining room a nice casual atmosphere.
Dessert: Mission Pie
After dinner, we took a leisurely 10-minute stroll for dessert at Mission Pie , a charming neighborhood bakery and café. It is a well-lit country dining room oasis in the middle of an urban neighborhood. The sunny yellow walls, the colorful portraits and the polished wood furniture gave the place a warm welcoming feel. It reminded me of the Pie Hole from Pushing Daisies.
The best part of Mission Pie is the comfortable homey feeling. There were other people there sitting at little cafe tables and drinking glasses of milk. When was the last time you went out and saw an adult drinking a glass of milk? It was awesome!
Mission Pie is an establishment with the goal to provide local teenagers with a job and a sense of community involvement. It is partnered with Pie Ranch , a non-profit educational farm in the Bay Area.
One of the employees treated our class with a brief history of the bakery as we sat at one long, wooden table. Later we ordered some pie for ourselves. For $3.80 I got a slice of the best banana cream pie I have ever tasted.
Summary
Overall, I had a great time exploring a San Francisco neighborhood that I don’t usually get the chance to visit. The street art was amazing, the food was delicious and the company was incomparable. It was certainly an evening to remember.
**All of the photos/video I used are mine, except for the antique Mission Dolores photo, which is in the public domain. The historical and research information I used came from the links I provided. Thank you.**
I'm here to share my story of the neighborhood we explored and the food we ate. To begin, here is a video I made about the world famous, Mission Style Burrito.
Now that you have a little background information, the rest of this post is about the journey our class took and the story we have to share.
If you want to follow along, here's a map I made of our trip on Community Walk . I've included a short description of each place we went to and a link to each of my Flickr Sets. To see the full screen version, just click on ESF in the Mission .
The Mission
The Neighborhood:
Ohlone Indians first settled the Mission district in San Francisco over 2,000 years ago. During the later part of the 18th century, Spanish missionaries arrived and used Ohlone slave labor to construct Mission San Francisco de Asis, also known today as Mission Dolores . The Mission, completed in 1791, is currently the longest surviving building in San Francisco.
Today, the Mission is known for being a culturally vibrant neighborhood with a strong Chicano and Latino influence. It has become a hub of popular restaurants, nightclubs and art galleries.
One of the most well known landmarks in the Mission is Balmy Alley.
Meeting Place: Balmy Alley
Our fearless and noble Mission Crüe asked us all to meet at the historic Balmy Alley.
Since the 1970s Balmy Alley has been the most famous collection of murals in San Francisco. Local artists use house fronts and garages as canvases for their work. Balmy Alley currently boasts over 30 murals painted by many notable artists including Patricia Rodriguez and Ralph Maradiaga .
Artists have used their work to voice out their opinions on cultural identity, gentrification, human rights and other social justice issues.
In the past decades travelers from all over the world have flown in to view the amazing street art.
Dinner: Taqueria Vallarta
After taking pictures in Balmy Alley, we headed over to our first stop: Taqueria Vallarta .
It was a fun and colorful eatery that seemed to be very popular with the locals. As we stepped inside, the first thing I noticed was the ceiling art. The entire ceiling is painted with different scenes from California’s history, from the indigenous people to the Spanish colonization. In their dining room area they even had murals of Giants baseball and 49ers football.
They had a great menu with very affordable prices. Most items were easily under $10. I ordered the super burrito camarón (shrimp burrito) for under $6 and had a guava Jarritos to drink. The aluminum foil-wrapped burrito was, of course, Mission style: humongous and filled with shrimp, rice, beans, salsa, guacamole and sour cream.
The place was pretty empty and our class had the dining room to ourselves. We spread out and sat at four different picnic tables. The family seating, the murals and the vintage arcade machines/jukeboxes gave the dining room a nice casual atmosphere.
Dessert: Mission Pie
After dinner, we took a leisurely 10-minute stroll for dessert at Mission Pie , a charming neighborhood bakery and café. It is a well-lit country dining room oasis in the middle of an urban neighborhood. The sunny yellow walls, the colorful portraits and the polished wood furniture gave the place a warm welcoming feel. It reminded me of the Pie Hole from Pushing Daisies.
The best part of Mission Pie is the comfortable homey feeling. There were other people there sitting at little cafe tables and drinking glasses of milk. When was the last time you went out and saw an adult drinking a glass of milk? It was awesome!
Mission Pie is an establishment with the goal to provide local teenagers with a job and a sense of community involvement. It is partnered with Pie Ranch , a non-profit educational farm in the Bay Area.
One of the employees treated our class with a brief history of the bakery as we sat at one long, wooden table. Later we ordered some pie for ourselves. For $3.80 I got a slice of the best banana cream pie I have ever tasted.
Summary
Overall, I had a great time exploring a San Francisco neighborhood that I don’t usually get the chance to visit. The street art was amazing, the food was delicious and the company was incomparable. It was certainly an evening to remember.
**All of the photos/video I used are mine, except for the antique Mission Dolores photo, which is in the public domain. The historical and research information I used came from the links I provided. Thank you.**