We arrived at around 11:30 am and the place was nearly deserted -- apparently things don't pick up until later in the day. There was some fun and funky Spanish hip hop playing from an old-fashioned radio on a stool out front. Old school radios really set the ambiance of the place.
I saw the object of our Sidewalk Safari on the menu -- a maple bacon latte in the wild.
I was a bit concerned when the barista-by-day, rocker-by-night behind the counter looked at me sheepishly. I feared that our journey down here had been for naught. I thought maybe they were out of maple syrup...or bacon fat...or bacon bits...three essential items for this beverage. Alas, they were simply out of milk. Our new friend offered to run across the street to the local convenience store and pick up a gallon so we could indulge in their specialty drink. Crisis averted :-)
We took a seat and admired the in-house radio studio while we waited.
It was actually quite tasty -- kind of like a diner meal of pancakes and bacon with a cup of joe. I did discover that the bacon pieces tend to settle so beware if you try one of these. My last few sips were a little too infused with smoky bacon goodness. In a stroke of irony, we paired the maple bacon latte with a couple of vegan donuts.
After finishing our treat, we set out on a walk around San Francisco's Mission neighborhood. We covered about 2.2 miles in total.
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We saw some fantastic garage door art covering disparate themes from Cala Lillies to Medusa.
We chanced upon an old-fashioned Italian deli and supermarket called Lucca's.
We bought a package of homemade pumpkin ravioli and some biscotti (divine!). The store felt like a hold over from another era.
They even rang us up on a manual, brassy cash register.
I definitely recommend stopping in if you're in the neighborhood.
We also stopped by a hipster gallery called Fabric8 and picked up a framed poster by acclaimed mural artist Sirron Norris. Fabric8 also had a unique fish tank -- a claw footed bathtub!
The fish themselves were my favorite kind -- the fancy goldfish that look like their brains are on the outside.
We were hungry again by the time we passed this mustard and mayo wielding cowboy clad pickle.
We decided to stop in to Mr. Pickle's Sandwich Shop for a quick bite. Their chicken sandwich with pepper jack cheese on Dutch Crunch bread really hit the spot.
On the way back to the bus, we saw this fence covered with interesting cutouts including a Muni bus, Krusty the Klown and a sun wearing shades.
We also caught a glimpse of John Candy immortalized in street art.
...and a garage door that had been painted by the same mural artist whose poster we bought at Fabric8!
Our bus ride concluded with a sighting of one more interesting cut-out: a melacholy robot on an upstairs stoop.
We'd found some great food for both the stomach and the eyes -- two signs of an excellent Sidewalk Safari.
