San Francisco Night Market 2013 (Slideshow)featured

La Cocina’s fifth annual Street Food Festival kicked off with the Night Market, full of great food, music, games and smiling people. Think of it like the best block party you’ve ever been to.

This year the Night Market was divvied up into six different regions (Europe, Mediterranean & Africa, East Asia, China & Southeast Asia, and Latin America, and the American South), making for a delicious tour around the world.

Did you ever have cultural heritage day at school when everyone brought in a dish from a different country, and all the kids ate crepes and lo mein for lunch instead of ham sandwiches and Handi-Snacks? Yeah, the Night Market was like that, but so much better.

Chef Brandon Jew

One of the highlights of the evening? Getting a glimpse of these massive smokers rolled in from North Carolina. Pit masters from Jim N Nick’s BBQ camped out overnight in the parking lot at Alemany to babysit the fire and make sure the three pigs inside were slow-smoked with love for about 14 hours. Now that’s dedication.

14-hour slow-smoked pork. Dreamy. (Jim N Nick’s BBQ)

Smoked Brisket from Ryan Farr (4505 Meats)

San Francisco Night Market 2013

San Francisco Night Market 2013

Hope this whets your appetite for the SF Street Food Festival! Get hungry, it’s coming up next!

San Francisco Street Food Festival
August 16 – 17, 2013
San Francisco, CA

This post was published on KQED’s Bay Area Bites on August 17, 2013.