She's Been Feeding San Francisco's Curiosity Since 2004 | Lisa Rogovin, Edible Excursions

If you want to really know a city, skip the landmarks and find the people feeding it. That's the philosophy behind Edible Excursions, the Bay Area's original walking food tour company — and the life's work of founder Lisa Rogovin. In this episode, I sit down with Lisa to talk about how a conversation with a Four Seasons hotel GM launched a 20-year business, what a seven-month solo food and wine journey across five continents taught her about people and place, and why she cried the first time she led a tour after 17 months of Covid shutdown. We also get into the guides who've stayed with her since the beginning, the proposals that have happened mid-tour, the small businesses she's championed through rising costs and a pandemic, and why she'd happily eat Japanese food for 30 straight days. Lisa knows this city's food scene better than almost anyone. This conversation is proof. In this episode: How a hotel GM redirected Lisa's Ferry Building dream into a business What her seven-month, five-continent food journey taught her about storytelling Why she's intentionally kept Edible Excursions local to the Bay Area The guides, the regulars, and the proposals that happen on food tours The Nebraska woman at the farmers market who cried over berries — and why that moment says everything Coming back after 17 months of shutdown and leading her first tour again Lisa's SF Rapid Fire Picks: Underrated neighborhood for food: The Tenderloin. Her current picks there: Bodega (Vietnamese, newly relocated), Outta Sight Pizza, Brenda’s for Cajun soul food and the best po’ boys and hush puppies in the city, and Onsen, Coffee: Best Boy Electric Coffee in Japantown, inside the New People Building — get the Okinawa brown sugar latte or the black sesame latte, and don’t skip the pastries. And Bernie’s Coffee in the Mission, a woman-owned shop that sources all its beans from women-owned farms across Latin America, roasts in Oakland, and has the kind of warm, community-oriented energy that makes you want to stay. Wine bar: 20 Spot in the Mission, on 20th off Valencia. Tiny, dimly lit, plays vinyl, tiny galley kitchen that punches well above its weight. Cuisine for a month: Japanese, without question Top 3 restaurants: Super Mira Market — restaurant-quality Japanese food made by a former restaurant owner, four days a week, inside a grocery store; Kokkari, where she got married, which tells you everything about how she feels about it — the spreads, the lamb chops, the seasonally inspired menu; and Jilli, a Korean tapas spot in the Mission on 15th, tucked into the ground floor of an apartment building. Book a tour: edibleexcursions.net Gift certificates available — and highly recommended. Links & resources mentioned: Edible Excursions The Gomes Guide: North Berkeley Food Tour post The Gomes Guide Substack Follow The Gomes Guide on Instagram: @thegomesguide Support the show