Nearly one year ago, Mission Mission reader William found this sneaky tomato plant inexplicably growing behind a gas station on 15th and Market:

Six months ago, we discovered this pile of bacon inexplicably dumped in a Noe Valley gutter:

Forget the food pyramid.  We have a BLT Triangle of Mystery going on here.  (Well, a BLT Rhombus if anyone finds bread dumped in the street.  Pictures please.)

But get it together, food dumpers.  Please drop your BLT components closer together in both time and space.

(Insert street food joke here.)

Or “Noe Valley Doesn’t Quite Get Street Food.”

• Anthony Myint, Mission Street Food
• Brian Kimball, Magic Curry Kart
• Steven Gdula, Gobba Gobba Hey
• Charles Phan, Executive Chef, Slanted Door
• Tamara Palmer, Contributor, Pavement Cuisine, SF Weekly – Moderator

(Is it wise to have that many street food people inside at once? Will they have their wrists bound and engage in a Beat It-style knife fight? If so, my money’s on Anthony. Oh man, Gdula’s so screwed. He will rue the day he focused on cream-filled treats rather than working in a full kitchen.)

Following the discussion, there will be a concentration of street food so massive, so profound, that SONGS WILL BE SUNG AND TALES WILL BE TOLD.

• Bacon Potato Chips
• Bike Basket Pies
• Creme Brulee Cart
• Gobba Gobba Hey*
• Magic Curry Kart
• Mission Street Food
• Soul Cocina
• Sweet Constructions
• Smitten Ice Cream

*This presumes all SFPs survive the knife fight.

Location: SF Club Office (program), 111 Minna (post-panel street food tasting)
Time: 6 p.m. check in, 6:30 p.m. panel, 7:30 street eats party at 111 Minna
Cost: $12 members, $20 non-members, $7 students (with valid ID)

Shocking as this may seem, he is on Twitter as @BaconPotatoChip. For those of you who missed him in Dolores Park last weekend, he will be at the Street Food for Singles foodcartpalooza tomorrow night.

And he got a nice writeup by the SFoodie folks at SF Weekly.

He slices and fries up ordinary russets in vegetable oil, but with an innovation sure to send a ripple through the hearts of the LDL-unconcerned: He tosses bacon into the oil. When the chips are drained and seasoned, the fried and crumbled bacon joins them, with an extra piece on top. Just for eye candy, as it were.

That extra piece of bacon on top is what makes Bill our Crispy Food Marketing Scientist of the Month.  Bravo, Bill, Bravo.

Forgotten?  Uh, sure, if it means the lines don’t get out of control.

Oh, don’t forget that Mission Street Food is going back to their roots (for one night), Sat June 6th, in conjunction with the YBCA Big Idea Night.  3rd & Mission.  You need to RSVP with the Yerba Buena Center to get in.

For old time’s sake:

Yet StreetFoodSF thinks LA is beating us on the street food front. (I agree, if only by quantity, though I think NY is the real threat here.) Brittney asks what street food would you like to see in SF.  (I add no value but to create a poll.)

(Editorial bias: Noodles, most definitely!) Feel free to add suggestions.

UPDATE – PollDaddy is lame and doesn’t show anyone but me the suggestions, arrrgh.  So far:

It seems the cops are actually trying to help. But it’s been three years since the city has issues permits? WTF is wrong with this city?

Updated map of SF-NFSF (No Fun Street Food):

Methinks we need to take a radically different approach on street food in this city.  In Toronto, they have CONTESTS for street food.

(BTW, StreetFoodSF’s twitter is a great one on, well, you know.)

Big changes for Mission Street Food. Their headline says it all:
“From Mission–Street Food to Mission Street–Food”

Summary:

• They’re taking next week off
• They will have guest chefs (cool!)
• They will be moving indoors, sharing space with existing restaurants (hmmm…)

I’m not in love with the indoor idea, but I understand. Our little MSF is growing up — the lines couldn’t get much longer

I do like the idea of guest chefs though. I secretly wanted dozens of cooks to line 21st in a sea of silver and fluorescent street-food goodness like some William Gibson functional Singapore dystopia. But I don’t think James the Hater would like that.

Mission Mission raises the question:

“This sounds great, but will the sandwiches be as fun to eat sitting at a table, indoors? Will it still be street food?”

A philosophical debate indeed, like what the sound of one hand clapping? It’s not quite the same, even with the benefits of beer and wine. It all depends on the atmosphere. Best of all would be something that has a big garage door in front so people can come to and fro, and mill about freely.

Maybe they can partner up with Janitzi on Valencia and 23rd — needless to say they could use the traffic, and it’s a nice, big open space. Take out the tables and chairs, and just have a bunch of high tables…

Wherever they go, I want a new sandwich called “James the Hater” with something bitter, like arugula, and with something so insanely hot you start shouting like a crazed son of a bitch and no one can get a word in edgewise.

I honestly don’t know which one I’d choose, but it would definitely have benton bacon.