Los Shucos Latin Hot Dogs
Sofia Keck sells Guatemalan street hot dogs out of a shoe box on 22nd Street. The bakery next door bakes the bread daily, and the counter toasts it on the grill before the frank goes in. Paolo Lucchesi reviewed it for the Chronicle's Bargain Bites in May 2014, when he ran the paper's food desk.
Why go
A shuco is not a ballpark frank. Lucchesi calls El De La Foto, the one in the picture, the size of a Mission burrito. A thick bacon-wrapped beef frank goes under fresh salsa, squashed avocado, mayo and repollo, on that grilled bread. It was $7.95 in 2014. The namesake Shuco Original was $5.95. It gave you the frank or a mild Spanish-style chorizo, sliced and piled into the bun. Seven options at the counter, and Keck added a veggie dog, which Lucchesi notes is not something usually seen on the streets of Guatemala.1
Then the corner burned. The 22nd and Mission fire in January 2015 took the building next door, and Jonathan Kauffman went back a year later for the Chronicle. Keck spent thirteen months drying out the water the fire hoses left and arguing with insurers. She catered offices to keep going. The catering worked well enough that she rebuilt the stand's hours round it when she reopened in February 2016.2 Nothing published since then names this counter, and I haven't found anyone who has been back.
Order this / avoid
- Order: El De La Foto, and eat it over the wrapper.
- Avoid: planning a meal round it without checking the door. The hours were rebuilt round the catering.2
What locals & experts say
- Paolo Lucchesi, San Francisco Chronicle, May 2014:
Some of the best hot dogs in the city are coming out of the tiny kitchen at Los Shucos.
1 - Jonathan Kauffman, San Francisco Chronicle, January 2016, on the corner after the fire: the stand
is the only business returning to its original location.
2
Good to know
- Getting in: a counter, so no bookings.
- Where: 3224 1/2 22nd Street, between Mission and Valencia.
Verdict
should-visit — Take two of you and eat a De La Foto each over the wrapper. Call first, because the schedule was rebuilt round somebody else's lunch order.