Street Food

What is street food? Street food is good food that's not fancy. It's a great meal you can order quickly, yet without feeling like you're supposed to leave fast. It's food the locals usually know about--food that you don't feel strange eating by yourself, but are always glad to reveal to a special friend. Street food costs less than $10 per person. You order it at the counter, or at least pay for it there.

The first time I found the KK Cafe I was on my way to the dreaded Department of Motor Vehicles. I had walked by on the way and decided it was interesting enough to check out on the way back.

I didn't expect my visit to the DMV to be pleasant, meaning it was going to be that much harder for the food to be good afterward. And in fact the visit to the DMV was worse than I'd anticipated. After lining up outside and waiting for an hour, a state worker informed me I was in the wrong line. The signs of course had been placed for drivers to see from their cars and were not visible to pedestrians like me who walk in.

In line a woman who overheard that I had walked to the DMV asked me if I didn't drive because of a medical condition. I should have just told her I was drunk, but instead went on to explain that I just don't usually drive. "Then why are you at the DMV?" she asked. It was a good question I had to ponder. "I just don't want my license to expire," I said.

Eventually I left the DMV with what I came for, a shiny new California license, and began my walk back to the KK Cafe.

Now, it took four or five visits to learn that my newfound coffee shop was actually the KK Cafe. The flags, the sign in the window, and the menu board all say just Coffee House. But way at the top, in wee purple letters, it says KK Cafe. When you see those words, you'll know you're at the right place.

I didn't know quite what I wanted when I went in, besides coffee of course. The big plastic hamburger in the window did place a subliminal message in my brain. I walked up to the counter and began looking at the menu board when I heard "you have hamburger," coming from an Asian woman speaking broken English behind the counter. I looked at her, she said "Hamburger is best." I said. "I'll have the hamburger!… and coffee."

I sat down and gazed at the Japanese comic posters hanging on the walls and the plastic action heroes glued to the walls and ceiling. I picked up a newspaper and gazed out to notice someone had changed "Haight" Street to "Love" Street on the corner sign.

When I looked down at the table, one of the biggest hamburgers I have ever attempted to eat had been proudly placed before me, complete with fries and more packs of ketchup and mustard than I could ever use.

Later, I came back with a friend for another hamburger. The couple who runs the place remembered me and the lady said "one hamburger, no cheese." I noticed what appeared to be bottles of milk in the cooler. They explained they were actually "peanut milk," a high-protein drink they told me is popular among AIDS patients because its high calories undoubtedly provide extra energy. "It's very hard to make," the man who makes the hamburgers explained to me. "We don't make money from it," the lady added.

In fact, the couple explained to me, a while back what was now the KK Cafe served Chinese take-out. The popularity of the peanut milk, however, meant that there was no more time to make that kind of food. The solution is undoubtedly one of San Francisco's and even the world's best hamburgers. I can't decide whether I like the peanut milk, but after reading the sign on the cooler and learning it will do everything from clearing up my skin to keeping winter colds away, who can resist?

For those opposed to red meat, there's also a chicken burger and a garden burger. If you like meat on your meat, add bacon. Cheese and mushrooms provide variety for frequent visitors. There's also coke and coffee available.

The KK Cafe is at Divisadero and Haight in San Francisco