Chile Pie x2

Pie. Ice Cream. Hand Pies. Sweet, savory, Chile Pies (and Ice Cream) has it all! You can visit them at their NOPA locations, or hop over to their Green Chile Kitchenette. Both are easy to get to by public transportation and also have street parking available (perhaps not ample, but if you have to lot lizard around a bit you can just meditate on your reward of pie a la mode).

Tea Time visited their NOPA location first. It's a medium sized resto with an ice cream counter (Three Twins, Yo), plus a great pie station as well. Tea Time was hungry, so we got lunch before dessert. It's a nice bonus that Chile Pie serves savory pies as well as traditional fruit pies, cream pies and nut pies. (Oh, don't forget the Frito Pie!) We settled upon a hand pie with side salad. This meal was filling even though we shared a plate. We really enjoyed the salad, it was a a great counterpoint to the hot pie.

Chicken hand pie and Beet salad on kale  with a yummy biscuit.

Hand pie cross section.

Pies, glorious pies! Whole to-go or by the slice.

Tea Time had spied on all the pies prior to ordering, and we settled on a winning combo. We'd eat this duo again and again.

Berry Pie with 3 Twins Chocolate Ice Cream-FTW!

The Green Chille Kitchenette was calling our name to check it out too. So after a little bit of wandering the Castro J.K. and I were ready to eat! The kitchen-ette is a place to get a quick bite, with fewer tables and less space. However, they still had plenty of pie. We let our stomachs do the ordering and ended up with leftovers! Our cup of savory sausage soup came with a biscuit and side salad, plus a shot of sour cream to tame the minor heat in the soup. We also got a full order of the beet and kale salad (which was just as tasty here as at the first resto). Finally we ordered the Pulled Pork Sandwich with slaw. (J.K. took home half a sammie and lots of salad-it was a large serving!)

Cup of soup with side salad and yum-o biscuit

So nice we had it twice!

Pulled pork sammie with slaw-fritos on the side

This peanut butter pie with a chocolate cookie crust was very tempting...so we gave in. Of course we got it a la mode, can't resist those Twins! If you love peanut butter, this is the pie for you. J.K. and decided we prefer the berry with the chocolate ice cream, but that's just our taste buds talking.

Peanut Butter pie with Three Twins Chocolate ice cream

Even though the holiday rush is over, you may still find an occasion for pie. If you don't have the time/inclination to bake, head on over to the Chile Pies nearest to you (or just give them a call!) and grab what strikes your fancy. Don't forget to get some scoops to go on the side. Ice Cream is this years hottest accessory for baked goods.

SFSFF Part 4

J.K. and Angela found lots to do after the rest of our gang left the Street Food Festival. There were several 'game' booths calling our name.... J.K. went into the line for Mahatma Rice, while Angela stepped next door to check out King's Hawaiian, which were grouped together. They each had a wheel to spin in order to win prizes. As you can see, they didn't skimp on the giveaways. All our swag is grouped together at the end of this post. J.K. was quite excited about her hot dog buns from King's Hawaiian. Plus we both got a free "roll to go" as well.

The back of one spinning wheel where everyone wins!

Endless Summer Sweets made funnel cakes and our favorite, kettle corn, on the spot. We only got one small bag this year (last year we got one of each size) because J.K. wanted to save her extra passport tickets for Chocolate! (She ended up getting her fix to go from Neo Cocoa, while Angela took a burrito from El Tonayense for lunch the next day. J.K. also scored a 'taco' to go from our fave Onigilly. Yum!) Endless Summer Sweets can  be found at the Berkley Flea on the weekends, but if you're having a get together and need treats catered, they'll come to you! Just give them a ring.

   

Kettlecorn, yum!

Funnel Cakes and

 

 Smart USA  was on the spot, tempting everyone with their free test drives. Of course Angela (and everyone else) wanted to drive the electric convertible(!) SmartCar. While she was driving it, J.K. chatted with the escort for the gas-powered version, who was about as busy as the Maytag repairman. A passerby was quite impressed with our parking spot...

Takes up very little space!

Smartcar ready for its closeup

Three Twins Ice Cream is on our list. Actually it's always on our list! Whenever we stumble across a resto or store serving this ice cream, we have to take a lick. We had really wanted a scoop when strolling by earlier in the day, but the line was always too discouraging. However, since Tea Time was feeling 'full' we knew that we should take advantage of the 'short' queue (6 people) and get our hands on the cold stuff. Angela got a prepackaged container of Sea Salted Caramel, but then we waited for the scoopers to dig out J.K.'s Chocolate. They must have just brought that container from the deep freeze, because the girls offered to top it off with a second flavor to give their aching arms a break. Angela picked Butterscotch. Sure, it was J.K.'s extra scoop, but all she wanted was chocolate, so hand it over!

Caramel and Butterscotch Left, Chocolate,Right

Biycle Banh Mi. We had already eaten the Bunny Banh Mi (from Central Kitchen), so we chose the Banh Cam dessert at this booth. Fried goodness bathed in ginger caramel sauce, accompanied by more Three Twins ice cream, vanilla bean speck this time, which highlighted the other flavors and didn't compete with them. As our last official dish eaten at the festival, this was a winner.

Swag! Highlights are hot dog rolls from King's Hawaiian, juice from Purity Organic, masks from You're Next, rice from Mahatma, and yet another bag, a really cool one from Macy's. This is another one J.K. will actually be using. It zips up to form its own pouch, and the straps are long enough to carry it as a shoulder bag while wearing a coat. The graphic is Macy's flagship store on 34th Street in New York City.

  

This food festival is a fundraiser of sorts for La Cocina. (If you'd like to give money less indirectly, it's welcome, or plan to attend the Night Market which is a concentrated fundraiser as opposed to a trickle down fundraiser.) We have enjoyed attending it for the past several years, and plan to participate again in the future! If you're interested in finding out more about the local businesses that La Cocina has helped get their start (and continues to support through their communal kitchen), please check them out! Also, just so you know we earned some of our calories...the Fitbit Zip J.K. won in the Walgreens sweepstakes let us know that J.K.* and Angela** walked about six miles together and burned at least 1900 calories! We probably ate more than than we used, but it was for a good cause! Right? We can't wait to do it again next year! Bring on 2014

*At the end of our time at the Festival, J.K. walked Angela all the way back to her bike at one end, and then walked all the way back to the other end to snag her chocolates from Neo Cocoa, before walking back to Mission Street to get the bus home.

**Angela also biked to La Cocina from her house about 8 miles round trip, plus walked the length of the festival several times during her volunteer stint in the Early morning. So There. :)