Red Balloon

Red Balloon Restaurant's culinary team continues a more than 30-year tradition of furnishing The Mission’s empty bellies with traditional Nicaraguan dishes. Many of Red Balloon’s entrees reserve plate estate for ripe and green plantains, which charm diners with their sweet flavor, smooth texture, and the comedic timing of their peels. Bites of beef and pork seared on the grill teem with smoky, charbroiled flavors, as forks plunge into adjacent mounds of rice and beans. After meals, tamarindo, chia con limón, and other fresh juices cleanse palates and embolden bodies for vine swinging all the way home. The Red Balloon’s simple, scarlet awning mirrors its no-frills, food-centric focus.