Take a Self-guided Street Food Tour of the Mission

There's no need to venture south of the border for Mexican street food staples. Just stroll along San Francisco's Mission Street corridor between 20th and 24th Streets for a grazing tour of tantalizing treats. Just be sure to bring cash, because most street vendors can't scan your credit card or smart phone.

Fuel for walking tours and bar crawls. Typically sold for around $5 each from makeshift mobile grills, one of these bacon-wrapped hot dogs makes a satisfying shared snack for two, or a hangover preventive for one. Follow the scent of sizzling bacon and onions to find street vendors peddling plump, juicy sausages clad in crispy bacon, nestled into soft buns, and tailored to your taste. Our recommended toppings: a squirt of yellow mustard, a smothering of hot-off-the-griddle onions and peppers, and a blistered jalapeno pepper to add a little kick in your step.

Our Pick: This hotdog and pupusa vendor located on the east side of Mission between 22nd and 23rd.

Sneak a snack from a clandestine cooler. Tamales are Mesoamerica's gift to the culinary world: succulent meat or veggie fillings swaddled in soft masa (corn-based dough) and wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves. You'll often find homemade tamales in the plaza surrounding the BART station at 24th and Mission. Look for a couple or individual wheeling a plastic blue or red cooler, perhaps displaying a handwritten sign that says "Tamales." Expect to pay a few dollars apiece for a warm, portable pocket of sustenance.

Best Bet - take a tour through the 24th Street BART station for all sorts of yummy tamales goodness

Fuss-free fruit treat, anyone? It's hard to walk more than a block or two without stumbling across a fresh fruit vendor offering pre-cut watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, pineapple, mango, cucumber, and coconut. Some set up a card table next to a store entrance, or sell from the open side door of a parked van. Others park their umbrella-covered push carts at the 24th and Mission BART plaza, or next to a fence on a wide section of sidewalk. A clear, plastic cup filled with bite-size cubes of fresh fruit will set you back about $6, with or without a topping of Chamoy sauce.

Our Pick: The white van that usually hangs out around Mission Street between 22nd and 23rd.

Feeling lucky? Sneak a peek behind your fresh fruit vendor's push cart in search of a plastic cooler. Hidden inside, there may be golden treasure: fresh, hot corn on the cob known as "elote." For a few bucks, you can walk away with a single ear on a wooden stick, slathered (or not) with mayo. We're partial to "esquites," in which the vendor slices the corn kernels off two cobs before mixing them with mayo, crumbly cheese, hot sauce, and fresh lime juice, then handing them over in a plastic cup with a spoon, for about $6.

Our Pick: This vendor, often located at the southeast corner of 23rd and Mission