rue-madame's Diaryland Diary

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The good, the bad and the hungry

Does anyone else in the world miss Radio Valencia in San Francisco?

There are times when I�m hungry and dreaming of the Perfect Food (like yesterday, around 5:30 pm), and all I can imagine is a plate of Radio Valencia�s vegetarian black bean (or 3-alarm) chili nachos with fresh avocado. Man, those were the most delicious nachos in the world! And the avocado was an extra $1 or so, and I still went for it! Seriously, it�s a crime against humanity that these nachos exist only in my taste buds� imagination. It might have been the chips they used (Casa Sanchez?) or maybe it was the sheer deliciousness of the chili, or possibly the cheese, or even the zesty and tangy crema on top? These were not your pedestrian Gringo nacho abominations. Where have the RV nachos gone? Why haven�t the Radio Valencia dishes turned up anywhere else?

Their chicken salpicon sandwich was also good, as were their soups and salads. For a while, I ate there close to twice a week, and I never tired of their menu, their pies, their music and their awesome No Depression style waitresses. I really miss that place.

I also miss Aunt Mary�s on 16th Street (but not as much as I miss Radio Valencia.) My favorite was their breakfast special before 10 am: two pancakes, an egg and bacon for $1.99. They had a full Mexican menu as well so you could get tortillas instead of toast, chorizo instead of sausage, Tapatio instead of Tabasco. TA liked that part because as my mother likes to say, �He�s part Mexican!� (She exclaimed this at brunch one day when she watched him forsake croissants and toast in order to make a taco with bacon.)

I also miss the unhip Bruno�s of my childhood (where we�d eat Bruno�s Special: ground beef, spinach, and scrambled eggs if memory serves) and the Du Nord of long tables/gargatuan portions of uneven Basque food. Makes me a little sad that those places have changed, but at the same time, they were never very good and bad food needs to be eradicated.

Can you tell it�s lunchtime and I�m hungry?

12:08 p.m. - 2005-06-28

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

previous - next