They’ve been featured in the New York Times and even got a visit from Anthony Bourdain, but Katie Kwan and Valerie Luu say they started their popular Vietnamese food pop-up, Rice Paper Scissors, simply because they “wanted to cook and serve people food on the street because that’s the way we enjoy eating.” If you’re ever walking down the street and see a cluster of little red stools, take our word for it, you HAVE to stop:

SCOUT: How did you two meet?
VALERIE: We meet when we were both hustlin’ Vietnamese street food at the Underground Market -- I was the Vietnamese crepe peddler, Katie was roasting whole pigs for her famous Banh Mi Burgers.
KATIE: Quite the love story.

SCOUT: When/how did the idea for Rice Paper Scissors form?
KATIE: Five days before Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, when Valerie had the idea to get together and sell Vietnamese food in celebration of the coming new year.  What better way to do so than to line the street with little red stools and sell the Vietnamese food we have eaten through our travels and past experiences? Five days later, we found the perfect cherry blossom filled terrace, bought stacks of little red stools and cooked up crab glass noodles, stuffed fried chicken wings, and sea snail pho for 100 hungry eaters.

SCOUT: Take us back to your first big, official pop up. How did you feel going in to it?
VALERIE: We felt an incredible high trying to put together a concept, menu, gig poster and find a space in just a few days. Everything had to come together so fast, we had no time to second-guess ourselves. We’re also lucky to have talented friends who are down to help with our crazy stunts: our friend Jessica Taich whipped up our first gig poster in an hour, my boyfriend Iso was there taking orders while Katie’s BF Andrew was helping her cook, and the original PizzaHacker (aka Jeff Krupman) was there to untangle our Christmas lights -- super crucial.

SCOUT: You guys cook every Thursday at Mojo Café. Does it make it any easier to work in a kitchen you’re familiar with?
KATIE: We really enjoy cooking at Mojo and making it our Cheers spot. Every Banh Mi Thursday, we get to spend time with our friends and customers in a cozy cafe. Plus, we can work on perfecting our dishes without the added need to set up and break down a kitchen.
VALERIE: Yeah, the less schlepping, the better.

SCOUT: What are some of the challenges of having your kitchen on the street?
KATIE: Setting up and breaking down, working with the San Francisco micro climates, and packing coolers with dry ice, are some of the less glamorous parts of the job. However, hitchhiking (as a last ditch effort) to our gig, working with different space allotments, and approaching small businesses to see if they are interested in hosting an RPS are some of the happy challenges that keep us on our toes. Valerie and I learned about cooking by selling street food so I would say the sidewalk is as familiar a kitchen as any.

SCOUT: Think you’ll ever have a brick & mortar?
VALERIE: Hopefully!  We’re more likely to open a brick and mortar than a food truck.  The thought of parallel parking a beast of a truck makes me anxious. For now, we’re happy to call Mojo Cafe our home.

SCOUT: What did we miss?
RPS: We are thankful to all of the people who have lent their time, skills, and spaces to Rice Paper Scissors. Without them, this wouldn’t be quite the endeavor that it is.

Follow @ricepaperscissors and sign up for their Tipsheet to find out where they're popping up next.

Illustration by Tom Smith