AdamFiveFive
New member
Do you live here? Did you live here? Are you a visitor, or work in The City? What's good? What's bad? Any memories from "back in the day"? Anything you just discovered, that you want to share? I didn't want to keep talking about SF in the Tanforan Mall Closing thread.
I grew up in Chinatown. The truth is, my family lived in an apartment which is technically in North Beach. It was a different time. For context, we were really just kids from our own neighborhood, who didn't know much about the world beyond our neighborhood. Children. Cross-culturally ignorant. Wholly unaware of the world, and monumentally naive.
In the days before the internet, word of mouth was literally word of mouth. I heard about a place all the way at the end of 3rd Street. Out by where The SF Cobras have their club house. Back then, the neighborhood was a liquor store, a church, a funeral parlor, and cheap motels.
Mozelle's Kitchen. Allegedly, the go-to spot for soul food. As a Chinese kid from Chinatown, I had no baseline knowledge of what good soul food is suppose to be. I had traveled to several southern states, although nobody there ever said that their food was "soul food" or "southern cooking".
I didn't want to go alone. As I went about my activities of daily living, going to classes, working, I randomly asked people if they've ever had "soul food". I was met with a lot of "side eye" and glaring. Several people told me that I shouldn't go to that neighborhood. It's dangerous. Was I crazy? Eventually, a girl I knew from work said that she was curious also.
We took the bus from Chinatown, for an hour. The 15 Third. The route is the same today, but the sights were different. There was a trailer park across from the Caltrain Station. The ballparks weren't there. From the South of Market, to the Sewage Treatment Plant, it was mostly industrial. The stench was overwhelming. I remembered thinking aloud, "how can people live like this?" I still wonder about that today. Do people just get used to the smell of raw sewage?
Two of us. We must have ordered food for a family. Way more than we could eat. Turkey tail. Oxtail. Fried Chicken. Collard greens. I don't remember it all. There must have also been corn bread, spaghetti, and/or mac-n-cheese. What I do remember - I wasn't impressed. There was nothing wrong with the food. Everything was good. But nothing made me think that I would have to come back.
Odd as it may seem, later in life, I met girl who worked there. Maybe there was still some "ex-employee bitterness". She said Mozelle didn't cook any of the food. She told me that the "secret" was Lawry's seasoning. Yep. MSG went on everything. Not long after that conversation, she put some oxtail in a baking dish, sprinkled on Lawry's, covered it with foil, and put it in the oven for a few hours. There you go. Mozelle's oxtail. Then collard greens, with Lawry's, in a pressure cooker. There you go. Mozelle's greens. Then spaghetti with sauce from a can, and Lawry's. And just like a half a lifetime ago, I wasn't impressed.
Today, Hard Knox Cafe is the go-to for soul food. Soul food by Vietnamese. I don't know if I'm impressed. But it's good. Maybe I am impressed. Good enough, that I've gone back.
I grew up in Chinatown. The truth is, my family lived in an apartment which is technically in North Beach. It was a different time. For context, we were really just kids from our own neighborhood, who didn't know much about the world beyond our neighborhood. Children. Cross-culturally ignorant. Wholly unaware of the world, and monumentally naive.
In the days before the internet, word of mouth was literally word of mouth. I heard about a place all the way at the end of 3rd Street. Out by where The SF Cobras have their club house. Back then, the neighborhood was a liquor store, a church, a funeral parlor, and cheap motels.
Mozelle's Kitchen. Allegedly, the go-to spot for soul food. As a Chinese kid from Chinatown, I had no baseline knowledge of what good soul food is suppose to be. I had traveled to several southern states, although nobody there ever said that their food was "soul food" or "southern cooking".
I didn't want to go alone. As I went about my activities of daily living, going to classes, working, I randomly asked people if they've ever had "soul food". I was met with a lot of "side eye" and glaring. Several people told me that I shouldn't go to that neighborhood. It's dangerous. Was I crazy? Eventually, a girl I knew from work said that she was curious also.
We took the bus from Chinatown, for an hour. The 15 Third. The route is the same today, but the sights were different. There was a trailer park across from the Caltrain Station. The ballparks weren't there. From the South of Market, to the Sewage Treatment Plant, it was mostly industrial. The stench was overwhelming. I remembered thinking aloud, "how can people live like this?" I still wonder about that today. Do people just get used to the smell of raw sewage?
Two of us. We must have ordered food for a family. Way more than we could eat. Turkey tail. Oxtail. Fried Chicken. Collard greens. I don't remember it all. There must have also been corn bread, spaghetti, and/or mac-n-cheese. What I do remember - I wasn't impressed. There was nothing wrong with the food. Everything was good. But nothing made me think that I would have to come back.
Odd as it may seem, later in life, I met girl who worked there. Maybe there was still some "ex-employee bitterness". She said Mozelle didn't cook any of the food. She told me that the "secret" was Lawry's seasoning. Yep. MSG went on everything. Not long after that conversation, she put some oxtail in a baking dish, sprinkled on Lawry's, covered it with foil, and put it in the oven for a few hours. There you go. Mozelle's oxtail. Then collard greens, with Lawry's, in a pressure cooker. There you go. Mozelle's greens. Then spaghetti with sauce from a can, and Lawry's. And just like a half a lifetime ago, I wasn't impressed.
Today, Hard Knox Cafe is the go-to for soul food. Soul food by Vietnamese. I don't know if I'm impressed. But it's good. Maybe I am impressed. Good enough, that I've gone back.
