Mission: Eat and Study

Bay weather has been insane for the past few months and can't decide whether it's spring or fall. A couple Saturdays ago, I was awoken by the wonderful rays of the sun. My mission that day: to drag my fellow German-studying friend Le-asco into the Mission in order to eat and study. Were we successful at studying? Not quite. There are too many distractions in Dolores Park. But here are our Mission Food Chronicles:

First Up: Los Coyotes
So, here's a slightly embarrassing confession: prior to this trip I had only had Mexican food once in the Mission. FAIL. Le-asco and I have been planning a burrito trip for ages, but for some reason have never gotten to it. Unable to find the joint we originally wanted to go to, we decided to try Los Coyotes, #4 on a recent list of best burritos in the Mission. We decided to split a Wet Burrito, since there's no way either of us could finish an entire one ourselves. Said burrito was pretty delicious. The pork was amazing. Probably because it was roasted on one of those mini-spits. The only issue we encountered was splitting the thing...one side had more meat and the other vegetables. It's okay though, we are used to dealing with such sharing situations. :)

Second Up: Spiderman Popsicle
Like I said before, it was a hot day, so the line at Bi-Rite was out the door and around the corner. Way too lazy to wait in the line, Le-asco and I headed to the Park, where I purchased a lovely Spiderman Popsicle from a cart. Yay, nostalgia! The strawberry-lemonaid-ness was amazing. More Cartoon Character Popsicles will be consumed in the near future. Oh, and I forgot to mention it came with gumball eyes!

Third Up: Mission Chinese
I like to call this the time I ate fire because that is what I did. This place has been on nearly every food blog I read, so I thought I'd see what all the fuss is about. Mission Chinese actually operates out of Lung Shan. Expect to see a janky place with bars. I say that in the best sense too. As K.yo and I said while we were in Europe (about Chinese places), "the jankier, the more legit." The Ma Po Tofu is one of the most buzzed about items, so I thought I'd go for it. BAD IDEA. (Unless you can actually take the heat.) When they put two fire signs on the menu, THEY MEAN TWO FIRE SIGNS. Szechuan Peppercorn and Flaming Chili Oil are mentioned, but they forget to mention that there are also a bajillion little skinny red peppers, green peppers, and ginger. Oh, and there was a bit of tofu and pork mixed in too. It was tasty from what I could taste through the fire. Pleasepleaseplease, take my advice and only order this if you can TAKE THE HEAT. I'm not exactly a wuss, but this seriously became a chore to eat. I had to take bites of Le-asco's Chicken Chow Mein in between the fire. (But yes, I'd probably go back. I just wouldn't order this again.)

Los Coyotes
3036 16th St. (near Mission/the Bart station)

Dolores Park
On Dolores Street b/w 18th and 20th

Mission Chinese (Lung Shan)
2234 Mission St.