Maya, the San Francisco treat

It's 7:00 PM PST but 10:00PM my time as I just flew to San Francisco and I'm still operating on east coast time. I'm starving! I'm headed to Third and Mission in SOMA. I saw a write up for a restaurant named Maya. I took a great course on meso-american culture in college which left me fascinated with Olmec, Aztec and Mayan culture. I love their art and cuisine and when I look at Mexicans I find myself picking out the Mayans with their flat foreheads that smoothly arc into their prominent noses. But to be honest the write up about the celebrity chef and his flavor infused food is what really made the attraction.

Famished and shaky I order a Margarita Oro - Tequila , lime juice with a float of grand marnier. It's perfect. I try not to chug the drink while I place my order.

Horn accented mexican pop music fills the room as I look around from my bar side perch. The restaurant is decorated with milled woodwork, carved wooden mirrors and doors, mexican tile and adobe colored walls. All the furniture is carved wood too or floral iron and the place is accented with contemporary hip lighting. It's almost cool but there's something a little too antiseptic about it. Not that I cared. The salted rim on my glass and the sweet and sour tastes in my mouth satisfied all my current needs.

My order arrives. Napoleon de jitomate - Red and yellow vine ripe tomatoes in a garden leaf and black bean salad with cilantro vinaigrette and a ball of deep fried goat cheese on top! ...and the goat cheese is still warm. Wow, it's really good. I'm sooo happy. Soon my Tacos de puntas de filete arrives. They're chili verde corn tortillas with beer marinated beef, tomato salsa and a black bean mole with slice of avocado on top. I vacillate between the two. My eyes were probably rolling back in my head as I ate and grunted my approval with every bite. Finishing the food and margarita I wish I could have had a cigarette, said "it was good for me" and rolled over and went to sleep.

Mucho bueno Maya. Not bad for a quick bite to eat on a Monday night.

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