San Francisco: Balompie Cafe

MM (aka Homeskillet) was visiting from Chicago, so of course we had to spend a day in SF with her.  Our mini Chitown reunion (with the addition of TT and my sister) started at Tartine.  After that we killed some time at a coffee shop, before finally meandering to Balompie Cafe to meet up with MM's college friends for dinner:  

Balompie Cafe was super packed:

We had a huge party (9 people!), but luckily things worked out.

TT, VT, my sister, and I sat across from each other, so we decided to split everything.

We started with a glass of horchata:

Not even close to the best horchata I've ever had.  Meh.

In the interest of trying something new, we ordered fried sweet corn tamales with sour cream:

Sweet and simple.

We also ordered the pasteles de pollo:

Which were corn pies filled with chicken:

Both the corn tamales and the corn pies were just okay, but the star of the meal were without a doubt the pupusas.  

Half of what makes the pupusas great are the salsa and the pickled veggies that go on top:

We got 3 kinds of pupusas:

The Salvadoran veggies with cheese, the shrimp with cheese, and the ground pork with jalapenos and cheese.

Here's what the perfect bite looks like:

Pupusas, my friends, are magical.  Skip everything else.  Order at least 2 per person.  Trust me.

I want to shout it from the rooftops: I LOVE PUPUSAS!

PS. I miss you, Homeskillet.


Balompie Cafe
3349 18th St
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 648-9199
http://www.balompiecafe.com/