Will Walk For Food

Sometimes I get hungry to such a degree that I can’t make a decision about what to eat because nothing feels right. Yesterday, following a weekly get-together with my improv group and a meeting immediately thereafter to discuss a summer housesit, I was in just such a state of mind. Time to put my feet to work getting me to Food.

I am staying in friends’ rooms in the Mission while they are out of town and, having just got there, I didn’t really have much in the way of groceries, so I decided for a change I’d pick up take-out on the way back there. Asian sounded good and I knew of a couple of places on Mission Street that I’d be interested in trying but somehow, when I got to them, nothing felt right. I just couldn’t decide. So I figured I’d continue down to 24th and see what there was along the way before heading towards Bryant. What there was, of course, was Mexican food, as I well knew: no shortage of Mexican food in the Mission. Lots of options, nice cheap options at that. But, the thing was, I’d just had Mexican two days in a row and it just didn’t feel right for now. So I thought, oh wait, I remember a Thai place on 24th, that’ll work. So off I went down 24th. And went and went. And never saw the Thai place. And thought, wait – didn’t I do this once before, and never found it? Clearly that particular Thai place doesn’t exist any longer. Note to self, for God’s sake!

Further down the street I found a Chinese place. But it was so very cheap that I had my doubts. I thought: do I risk it? I felt like I hadn’t eaten a vegetable in three days because I've been on the go so much and it suddenly seemed direly important that I eat something healthy. And I just... hmm. Well... and so.

On I walked. I passed the house and went all the way to Potrero for all the good it did me. Backtracking, I looked at the Chinese/American place on the corner at Bryant. It just looked kind of cavernous and empty. I did remember my friend saying one time that it was OK, but after staring at the menu for a very long time, I couldn’t make my mind piece together something that felt right. So I thought, oh! I’ll just go down to 20th to the Atlas Café and get a good salad, and maybe, just maybe, they’ll still have soup if I'm lucky. Legs tiring, but hope in the air. And it was even possible that there’d be something along the way – closer – that I’d forgotten about. There was El Metate, which I love but.... mmm, no, I just didn’t want Mexican food. So, all the way to Atlas – where I was told they had stopped serving and were closing up.

** Sigh **

But, I refused to be brought down. If I were to go just a few more blocks there's a Vietnamese place that’s not bad. But Harrison Street had been host to some crazy Carnivale and was still shut down, trucks hauling garbage away, people lingering with their insanely uptempo music jangling... and I just didn’t have the heart to walk that gauntlet knowing there was a good chance the restaurant would be closed. So! Back I went, setting my intention on the way: some food is better than no food. Chinese from the corner it was then, and I went upstairs and consumed a goodly portion of it in goodly time.

This was not perhaps the most joyful nor the most peaceful of my recent walks. What do I take from this? Hell, I don’t know. I am no stranger to myself and my food quirks, so if I choose to overlook the warning signs it’s my own damn fool business.

The Walk: 5.9 miles
The Food: Better than no food.