As promised, a story I promised some time ago…
I stumbled upon Rosie's within months of arriving in San Francisco in 1986. I was in the Castro on a Saturday morning, looking for a place to grab lunch and as I walked down 18th Street I came across Rosie's and it looked intriguing. I remember I ordered the California burrito, and from that first bite I knew I was in love.
San Francisco burritos (no matter where you get them) are a very distinct and unique breed. Some say they're the best burritos to be had anywhere. Not having lived that many places over the course of my life, I can say unequivocally however that they are the best burritos I've ever had. I've found a few that come close, but fail to meet the San Francisco standard.
Over the course of the sixteen years I lived in The City, I must've conservatively eaten at Rosie's 1886 times, based on 1-2 times a week for those entire sixteen years. I used to joke I would want a Rosie's burrito to be my last meal.
Rosie's in long closed (now longer than the entire time it was originally open), so I'll never have another opportunity to enjoy a meal there, but it doesn't matter. All I have to do is close my eyes and I can taste those delicious burritos. (To be honest, everything on the menu was excellent, but I gravitated toward the burritos more often than not.)
The owners of Rosie's also had a burrito shop on Haight Street (the name escapes me at the moment)—which, for some reason I never knew of until I started going to Amoeba Records. I often ate there when I was in the neighborhood, but it wasn't quite the same.