Most people's mental map of Mission Street stops around Cesar Chavez. It carries on for another two and a half miles, through the Outer Mission and into the Excelsior, and that far stretch — roughly from Silver Avenue down towards Geneva — is one of the most under-visited eating streets in San Francisco. The taquerias here are the same tradition as the ones in the Mission district, at lower prices, with no queue and nobody photographing anything.
This stretch is long and the good counters are spread along it rather than clustered, so knowing which block to start on saves you a mile of walking. Tell Karpo where you are coming from.
What the neighbourhood is
The Excelsior is one of the most ethnically mixed neighbourhoods in San Francisco — Latino, Filipino, Chinese and long-established Italian and Irish families — and the commercial street reflects that directly. Within a few blocks you will find taquerias, a Filipino bakery, Chinese restaurants, a pupuseria and a corner store selling all of the above. It is a working neighbourhood, not a destination, and the prices are set accordingly.
The streets around it are named after European capitals — Naples, Madrid, Vienna, Athens, Moscow — which is one of the more charming pieces of San Francisco street-naming and an easy way to know when you have arrived.
The morning order
Breakfast tacos here mean egg with chorizo, egg with beans, or egg with nopales, on small corn tortillas, usually two or three to an order with onion, coriander and a squeeze of lime. The breakfast burrito is the larger cousin and comes with potato and cheese. Both cost noticeably less than the equivalent twenty blocks north.
The other thing worth ordering, if the counter has it, is champurrado or atole — thick warm masa-based drinks that are the correct accompaniment on a cold morning and that almost nobody outside the community orders.
The free part
John McLaren Park is immediately east and is the second-largest park in San Francisco after Golden Gate Park, and the least visited by a wide margin. It has trails, a reservoir, a group picnic area, an amphitheatre — the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, which hosts free summer performances — and a genuine sense of being outside the city. On a clear day the ridge gives you a view across to the bay and down the peninsula.
The neighbourhood also holds the Excelsior's stairways and the hill streets above Mission, which climb steeply enough to give you a view over the whole southern half of the city for the cost of a ten-minute walk.
Getting there
The 14 Mission and 14R run the length of Mission Street from downtown and stop throughout the neighbourhood; Balboa Park BART is at the southern end, about ten minutes' walk from the Excelsior's centre, and connects directly to downtown and the airport. Street parking is genuinely easy here compared with the rest of the city, which is worth knowing if you are driving in for the food.
Practical notes
The eating stretch runs along Mission Street roughly from Silver Avenue towards Geneva Avenue. Morning orders are egg tacos with chorizo, beans or nopales, and breakfast burritos with potato and cheese; champurrado and atole are common where available. John McLaren Park is immediately east and is the city's second-largest park, with trails, a reservoir and the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, which hosts free summer performances. Neighbourhood streets are named after European capitals. The 14 Mission and 14R serve the length of the street; Balboa Park BART is about ten minutes' walk south. Street parking is generally easy.
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Ask Karpo first
The Excelsior's counters are spread along two miles of Mission Street and open at different hours. Ask Karpo which block to start on, what is serving breakfast right now, and whether McLaren Park has anything on afterwards.
