Chaac-Mool

This is the only authentic Mexican cuisine I have found in the city! The cochinita pibil tacos are outstanding! And this comes form a cochinita pibil fan! Will keep going back!

I can only speak for the $ 3 chicken tacos, as that is all I have ever had. I find them seriously delish… and again, they are $ 3. The mango and avocado add such freshness and perfectly offset the savory flavorfulness of the shredded chicken and tortillas.
Super friendly, super easy. How I love The San Francisco definition of «fast food!»

I had some decent quesadillas, but I wasn’t impressed by the quality of their food.

In reading my previous review, the carnitas gorditas plate was very good — tender and full-​flavored. This time I opted for the chicken gorditas and it was pretty bland. The texture was pretty good, but honestly, this had no flavor. Even when I added salsa to the dish, it really didn’t do much to spice it up in a way to make it that flavorful… it just tasted like boiled chicken with salsa.
If you do visit this spot stay with the carnitas gorditas, because those were very good, but don’t go with the chicken since it lacks the flavor you’d expect from Yucatecan cuisine.

Me and my friend went to Fort Mason for a Zaarly Event. But we got there early and was a little hungry. We saw this stand outside the building we were suppose to go into so we said Hey Let’s try it!
There was a bit of a long line and not enough tables to go around. But I ordered the gordita and my friend ordered the sopa (sp?)
Service:
The wait was really long for a food truck stand. We probably waited about 30 minutes before we got our food. And the server/​cashier wasn’t all that friendly either.
Food:
We couldn’t tell the difference between the sopa and the gordita! The guy just brought out the plates and didn’t explain which was which! And we both had order pork since they had ran out of chicken, so it made it even hard to distinguish which was which! But since they were so similar we just picked one and ate it.
The meat was marinated nicely, but gordita/​sopa was a little tough and bland. They topped it with some tomatoes and avocados which was nice, but didn’t hide the taste of the starch.
Overall:
Unfortunately, I wouldn’t recommend this place.
P.S CASH ONLY

Located in Dolores Park. You get to have some pulled pork! I’m not a fan of pork in my tacos, but my gosh this was one of the most amazing tacos I’ve had in my life. A taco is 3 bucks each and you get some yummy juices dripping.

Caught it at Dolores Park on a sunny Sunday! I ordered a taco with chicken. I don’t know what to expect but it sounded good because it said it comes with red onion, jicama, mango and fresh salsa on the menu.
There is a bit of a wait picking up the food, but it was worth it. The taco was colorful and it looks super healthy. The chicken was like tenderly boiled and shredded, but just need a bit more seasoning. I ate it with my fork because the taco was semi-​wet. I really like their homemade salsa, it’s like purée tomatoes.
I think the price is very decent and worth it.

While trying different cuisines at Oakland’s Eat Real festival, I strolled past Chaac-Mool’s booth and the mention of tamales caught my eye and got my mouth watering. I love tamales – there’s nothing better than unwrapping the corn husk and revealing the tender masa underneath.
It was refreshing to find the tamal packed with veggies – it somehow felt lighter than the meat-​heavy fare I’d already sampled that afternoon. The flavors were fresh and I appreciated the touch of salty cotija cheese on top. But the masa was crumbly and dry – a major letdown. It would have been a great dish is the masa hadn’t been so crumbly.
I’ll definitely keep an eye out for Chaac-​Mool at other events – like Off The Grid – to sample more of their Yucatan fare.

We had a cochinita pibil torta & taco. I personally found the meat a bit bland, but nicely cooked and tender. My more experienced pibil partner enjoyed that the meat wasn’t too sour, which he finds in some preparations of this dish. Anyway, the torta overall didn’t really pop — the salsa was a little plain and the avocado didn’t get incorporated too much. I definitely enjoyed it as quite filling, but I’d like more zing (spicier salsa, a spread, etc).

I love sopes. They are just good no matter what.
Their chicken sope was good but at $ 7 a pop, a little pricey. And the tortilla was a little cold and stale-​ish. But I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that that was because of the crazy cold weather. But the meat was tender and I like that it was pulled chicken rather than chunks, and the avocado really added to the dish, both texture and flavor wise.

This truck was at the Food Festival and niecey says, «We have to try it».
We eacht got a taco, $ 3 which was good, very saucy and even better w/​their hot sauce (on the table). I still prefer the El Tonayense food truck tacos (Zagat Rated!) which are more flavorful and cheaper (but was marked up at today’s fair).
Niecey tried their watermelon agua fresca, $ 2. It wasn’t too sweet, not bad”.

Best deal of the entire event.
$ 3 for a pollo tamale piled with toppings and meat on the side.
I really appreciate the texture and flavor of it too. Definitely different from others I’ve had and not greasy at all. Another win is the fact that a single tamale is pretty decent in size.
All of their other food looked yummy, but I didn’t have a chance to try it.

Oh my goodness! Forget all the other places at Off the Grid! Chaac-​Mool delivers for the price it charges!
I’m always hesitant to buy things at Off the Grid because it seems like most of the portions are small and expensive: T BUT for $ 9, my friend and I got a HUGE PLATE of nachos piled high with toppings!!! Whahaaaaa!
Because my friend is a vegetarian, we got the vegetarian nachos. BEST DECISION OF THE NIGHT. On top of crisp corn tortilla chips was a ginormous pile of beans, mango, nopales (prickly pear), lettuce, tomato, jicama, cheese, red/​green salsa, and slices of avocado!!!
We literally got about 12 people asking us what we were carrying and where we got it. Chaac-​Mool should’ve paid us for advertising for them hahaa just kidding! Really though, the nacho plate is HUGE!
Highly recommend this tent at Fort Mason! I don’t know if they’re ever at other locations… I must find out! I need to try their burritos & tamals! :)

Just came from Ft. Mason where Chaac Mool sets up on Fridays & felt I needed to give these guys a well-​deserved 5 stars for their fresh, healthful and tasty Yucatecan offerings.
Nachos fed two hungry guys who hadn’t eaten much during the day. For $ 7.50, quite the steal. (Passersby marveled at the sight of the heaping plate.)
Chaac Mool is my reliable go-​to at Off the Grid when I don’t feel like having something ‘with a twist’ (e.g.: some kind of taco with mango salsa or something that doesn’t traditionally belong there).

Mayan style street food served from an outdoor stand at Fort Mason. The menu includes tortas ($ 6), tacos ($ 3), gorditas ($ 4), sopes ($ 4), tamals ($ 2), tostadas ($ 2.50), nachos ($ 7.50), ensaladas and drinks.
* Cochinita Pibil (pork) torta, $ 6: they know how to make the CP sound good — Niman Ranch pork leg rubbed with achiote spices, marinated in sour orange juice, wrapped in banana leaves and cooked very slowly at a low temperature. The torta also features pickled red onions, lettuce, tomato and homemade green salsa on a soft round bun (almost like an extra large hamburger bun).
I thought the sandwich was disappointing for multiple reasons:
(1) the pulled pork was very saucy and the sauce made the bottom of the roll soggy. The sandwich was too saucy to pick up and eat;
(2) the pork was a lot less flavorful than I expected;
(3) they barely put any salsa on there and they skimped on the meat too;
(4) the onions didn’t taste pickled;
(5) weak, half-​hearted, largely ineffective attempt to warm the bread.
On the positive side, it did taste fresh & homemade, the cochinita pibil is hard to find and the food is reasonable priced.
Cash only.

This Yucatecan streetfood vendor is an example of the successful La Cocina incubator program. The first time I got to try their food was at both the SF Streetfood Festival, and the Eat Real Festival in Oakland, in August 2009. Last Sunday when I visited Fort Mason they were swamped with customers.
Prices are a little more expensive than a taco truck, but the food quality is great. The big menu is very simple, u get your choice of Cochinita Pibil (slow-​cooked marinated pork), chicken, or vegetarian (beans, nopales & seasonal veggies) in any of the following 6 items: tacos ($ 3),
tortas (a sandwich, $ 6), tostada (a fried tortilla, $ 2), gordita (a thick tortilla, $ 4), sope (small bowl-​shaped corn masa, $ 4), or nachos ($ 7.50). Tamales ($ 2) only available with chicken or veggies.
On sunny days I would recommend the refreshing watermelon agua fresca ($ 2).
My favorite is the grilled and marinated pork with spices and pineapple.
Note: unlike most taquerias, u get no complimentary chips with your food order. Cash only. 3.5 stars!
Hours: Fri-​Sun 11−7pm (sometimes they close early).

As much as I wish that I lived across the city, where street food carts co-​mingle with hipsters on every corner… I don’t…and sometimes the Mission is just too much of a trek for a taco. Thus, I’m grateful to have one place for truly authentic Mexican, served outdoors and blocks from home!
Chaac Mool, a La Cocina backed Yucatanean food stand, operates every weekend right at the Fort Mason entrance. Entirely homemade, incredibly fresh ingredients, and bold flavors too.
So far I’ve tried their tortas, tacos, and hibiscus juice and it’s all been awesomely good. And even better on a gorgeously sunny day, because then you can stick around and make use of the picnic tables just in front of the stand.

After the Chocolate Salon at Fort Mason, we needed some good solid food to fill our tummies. I remembered seeing this little stand during past visits to Fort Mason, so I suggested to my friends and bf that we stop by to see if it was open because it seemed good and there were always lots of people milling around it from what I remembered. Lo and behold, it was open and it was perfect!
Good, tasty, reasonably priced Yucatecan food — yummm! My bf and I shared a chicken taco and a chicken tamale along with a watermelon fresca — a perfect, fresh snack/​lunch to fill our bellies. I know tamales take a long time to make, but the tamale tasted so fresh like it was made just for us. The chicken taco was tasty, and the watermelon fresca was sweet and refreshing — perfect for a sunny afternoon in San Francisco.
I will definitely be back when I’m near Fort Mason!
Chicken tamale+chicken taco+watermelon fresca+coke = $ 7

So, I ordered food from Chaac Mool through Cantina for the company holiday cocktail party. I have to say that I was intrigued by the Yucatan Traditional Style Cooking, but it came down to ordering food that could be eaten without utensils (minimal mess) and the overall cost.
The food was plentiful, you never want to run out of food and we didn’t. The Tortas were excellent, fresh homemade bread, slow cooked meats with juices. JUICES!!! The Empanadas were sweet and savory, they offered a ham/​cheese one and a vegetarian sweet potato one that was very tasty.
I typically love to try new foods, so that I can adopt some of the techniques and flavors into my own recipes. Chaac Mool was so amazing that I think I’ll have to go back to do some more food research to get it right.

I am so thankful there is a more flavorful and ethnic Fort Mason option aside from blasé café stall sandwiches and greener-​than-​thou rabbit food. The food here is a simple enough concept. Put meat (pork or chicken) on your choice of starch (taco, gordita, sope, torta, tostada) then add a smear of refried beans, iceberg lettuce (not a fan by principle), fresh tomatoes, red onions and a stingy sprinkling of cotija cheese. The freshness and manual preparation of this stand really struck me. Everything corn-​based seems freshly griddled as opposed to using those 100-​pack store bought tortillas. Also, this place is affiliated with La Cocina which provides domestic microfinance loans to immigrant food entrepreneurs… something to nourish the soul while nourishing your belly.
Cochinita: This slow roasted citrus and chile marinated pork. Wikipedia says that «Cochinita» means suckling pig, but this dish can either come from one of those or the softer portions (shoulder, loin) in an adult pig. No clue what the source is, but it is definitely the highlight of the stand! The marinade and natural juices are so flavorful, you won’t even want to cover it up with salsa or hot sauce.
Chicken: So sadly boring in comparison to the cochinita pibil. Seems to be all white meat, perhaps boiled. Very dry and no flavor. I’m going to pretend I didn’t even order this else it might taint my perceptions that were so high due to the pork.
Taco: A tad thicker than I’d prefer for a taco, but it was freshly made so the taste and texture make up for the thickness. Kind of hard to eat cleanly by hand with all the cramped fillings.
Sope: My favorite starch base. The outer layers of the sope are firm, chewy and crispy like a slightly over-​griddled taco. The insides are warm and gooey. A must eat with a fork. A perfect balance for corn-​to-​toppings.
Tostada: A very thin crispy deep fried tortilla prepared with the same toppings as everything else. The crunch adds texture, but the thinness makes it feel less substantial than the other options.
Vegetarian Tamale: No real center filling, but rather veggies (corn, spinach, maybe some other stuff) mixed throughout the white masa. It is covered with red salsa: a sign that it is pretty bland without. Why they don’t offer a cochinita tamale is beyond me since that would probably be leagues above this one!
Watermelon Aqua Fresca: Sugar, water and juice: simple, yet so delicious. Not sure why it needs a special name like «aqua fresca» when the Anglo «–ade» suffix seems to work well for same sugar/​water/​juice combo like lemonade and limeade. I enjoyed this watermelonade very much.