Something amazing is happening in San Francisco!

Every Thursday and Saturday nights, you have to get in line and try the food of Mission Street Food.

Chef Anthony Myint (Bar Tartine) started a new wave in the food world, first serving gourmet food  from a truck on Thursday night  and moved  in October 2008 to this new location in the Mission, the Lung Shan Restaurant.

Chef Myint and his team of volunteer waiters and cooks coming from all restaurants in the city, are here to bring magic to your table in the name of charities. Each time picking two new charities that will benefit from the night’s service and helped by a always changing guest chef, Mission Street Food knows how to deliver inexpensive, excellent food, in a very relaxed/bohemian ambiance.

Oh yes, I know all the Yelpers out there complaining how long you have to wait, how this and that, it’s not up to your standards. Relax people!!!

Mission Street Food is not here to bow to all your demands but here to introduce a new concept of in the restaurant world: “the indie cooking movement” as MSF calls it, with great ingredients and dishes, and more important with a very good cause in mind. This is not a restaurant, it’s a Cause!

The prices are low $4-7 for an appetizer and $6-10 for an entrée. I have been there three times already and even thought ordered everything on the menu, sometimes several times, I never passed $60 for 3 people!

To me MSF is not a restaurant but a food adventure!!An I applaud that!

Because of their popularity, they can’t take reservations and first come first served. It did take me 2 hours to be seated the first time, but come on! there are so many bars around there, trust me I didn’t see the time go by. The second time around I understood that the first seating is done at 5:30 pm, so I came around 6 pm, put my name down, was told about 1 1/2 hour, went to Benders for a few beers with my food partners, came back and was seated 2 minutes later. I did it again last week and it work perfectly!! The hostess knows her job and she is great at it, trust her timing and you will be seated!

As you name gets called you will be seated at a table, with other people if you are by yourself or at your own table with your guests. I wouldn’t recommend groups over 4 to go there, they can’t host big groups. I was seated with a few people the first time and got to meet my table-neighbors and had a great time, sharing this moment and our love for food.

The service might be a little bit rough for some of you. I like it! It makes me feel comfortable, it’s not pretentious, very relaxed, my kind of place. And just think that those guys are probably serving a few hundreds people and there is only 4 of them! Yes, some dishes will come in paper plates, sometimes you will have to drink your wine out of a tea cup, but hey that never bothered me, I never thought of bringing a Petrus there anyway! (Bring your own wine $5 corkage fee) I actually applaud all the wait staff for putting up with such a hard service and doing their best each time. I have always been very satisfied!

Now let’s talk about the food: GREAT! From the king trumpet (always on the menu) to the Marin sun farm beef sirloin, everything I ever tasted there was really good. Each week the guest chef will put his twist on the menu, bringing his own ingredients and dishes. This Thursday was Jiwon Park (Sous-Chef at Range), bringing Korean dishes. I loved the glass noodle salad!

Again, this is not for everyone, if you want waiters to bow at your feet and three set of silverware on each side of your plate, don’t go there. Now if you want to have a great time with some friends, or just experience the food, this is for you!

Remember these dinners are done to raise money for different charities, so don’t be scared to leave an extra tip!!

Summary: You will love it or hate it. I loved it right away and became a total addict. To me I can’t think of how to spend a better Thursday night than going for a few cocktails with my friends and then going to a very inexpensive dinner, presenting always great dishes and food and having a good time in a very relaxed atmosphere!