Eating In Translation

Rosamunde Sausage Grill

(The Brooklyn location of this venue is closed.) On a boisterous stretch of the Lower Haight, the subtlety of my first Rosamunde sausage was lost on me.

Mission Chinese Food

(Based on visits to a previous New York location.) The stir-fry proved difficult to untangle.

7Up signs

Three bygone color schemes. The first, which takes several variant forms, is fairly common, the second I've found only at the Wun-Tun House. The third — widely attributed to Peter Max but more credibly to John Alcorn — survives in many pop-culture collections but is seldom seen in public, and even the market where this psychedelia was sited may no longer be a going concern. See also this Bronx bombshell.

7Up signs
San Francisco
(From an August 2011 visit)

Stop & Shop Market

Shown mainly for the coincidental visual echo of camera-loving photographer by sandwich-loving camel (click for a closer look). Also, from the other panel of this mural, around the corner: submarine-sandwich congestion on the Tiburon-bound lanes of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Stop & Shop Market
3000 Mission St. (at 26th St.), San Francisco
415-550-0950
(From an August 2011 visit)

Yemeni's Restaurant

Fatteh, fattah, and fatta are transliterations of the Arabic word for "crumbs," with the associated meaning of leftover bread being put to good use.

Hunt's Quality Donuts

This painted sign was uncovered in 2010 during construction of a "progressive American" restaurant called Commonwealth. Though the typefaces and street lamps suggest an early 20th century birthdate, the folks at Hunt's may have been nodding to the past when they commissioned this sign, just as did the folks at Commonwealth when they preserved it.

The donut shop opened in 1952, according to this atmospheric if rambling account of the Mission District at midcentury. The sign may have faced a parking lot then, as it does now; Hunt's itself stood at the corner of Mission and 20th.

Hunt's Quality Donuts
Surviving painted sign at 2224 Mission St. (18th-19th Sts.), San Francisco
(From an August 2011 visit)

La Morena Latino Americana

Milca (12 fl. oz., 99 cents) tastes much like cherry soda, but in the absence of any real fruit flavoring, that subtitle describes the contents as well as any.

La Morena Latino Americana
3391 Mission St. (Eugenia Ave.-Godeus St.), San Francisco
415-648-0114
(From an August 2011 visit)

Zante Pizza and Indian Cuisine

Pizza and Indian food also sold separately.

Humphry Slocombe

Hidden happy hour at the ice cream parlor: "Jesus juice" sorbet (red wine and Coke) and "secret breakfast" ice cream (Jim Beam and toasted corn flakes, two scoops total, $3.75).

Humphry Slocombe
2790 Harrison St. (23rd-24th Sts.), San Francisco
415-550-6971
www.HumphrySlocombe.com
(From an August 2011 visit)

Shalimar

This Indian-Pakistani restaurant serves no alcohol. Shalimar's online profile reflects its teetotaling status, but even under a heavy cover of white paint, its sign — a holdover from some previous tenant, years ago — displays a familiar Tenderloin come-on.

Shalimar
532 Jones St. (Geary-O'Farrell Sts.), San Francisco
415-928-0333
(From an August 2011 visit)