The scenery at Gas & Shop, at 17th and South Van Ness in San Francisco, evades explanation. Especially at 3 a.m. 

Mystery car fluids stain the Mission District gas station’s parking lot, and bits of anonymous trash — McDonald’s cups, crushed Aquafina bottles, shattered plastic forks — dot the gray surface. Three individuals loiter in front of the entrance, hunched over at the waist. A black SUV, parked by the farthest pump, blares “The Box” by Roddy Ricch from its bass-boosted speakers, and one customer, wearing black-and-white Nike Dunks, hits a C-Walk on his way through the mini mart’s double doors.

Aside from the gas, people mainly come here for one thing: chicken. Nestled inside Gas & Shop’s mini mart is a Krispy Krunchy Chicken, a fried chicken chain with several San Francisco locations. Few call this particular Krispy Krunchy by its proper name, as it appears on Google Maps. For most, it’s just “gas station chicken.” Say the words to a discerning Mission District resident, and they’ll know what you mean.

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The case of chicken at Krispy Krunchy Chicken, located in a gas station on the corner of Van Ness Avenue and 17th Street, on July 12, 2026.

This gas station, which is open all night long, offers San Francisco’s best 24-hour meal. I should know, because on a recent Saturday night, I tried as many of them as I could.

Alexa, play ‘Day ’n’ Nite’

Some cities never sleep. San Francisco, meanwhile, swallows an Ambien at sunset and slumbers until its 6 a.m. Barry’s workout class. By 9 p.m., most of the city’s restaurants are closed, and by 2 a.m., so are all the bars, as required by California state law.

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As the city’s shop lights blink out, a small handful of 24-hour businesses remain lit up through the night. There’s the Castro’s 24-hour Walgreens. There’s Corgi Cafe, a coffee shop for techies in Union Square. There’s a smattering of convenience stores. A few spots stay open until 4 a.m. on weekends, like Cocobang and Grubstake. And then there are the 24-hour restaurants.

Pinecrest Diner, on the corner of Geary and Mason, around midnight on July 12, 2026.

They’re disappearing. In recent years, the Denny’s on Mission Street closed, as did the Lynchian Silver Crest Donut Shop. By my count, around 10 24-hour spots remain, a mix of chains, local diners and one revered gas station chicken spot. 

After a certain hour of the night, San Francisco’s late-night meal traffic is funneled into these pinch points. This turns each of them into a sort of crossroads, a place where a handful of strangers and drifters appear, refuel and disappear again into the night.

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In an attempt to rank the city’s 24-hour spots, I made a list of five, and bounced between them all on a Saturday night, between midnight and 4:30 a.m. I was accompanied by a photographer and a rotating cast of friends, who popped in and out of the crawl as the night wore on.

In around four hours, we hit Pinecrest Diner, in Union Square; All Star Cafe, on Market Street; Orphan Andy’s, in the Castro; Krispy Krunchy Chicken, in the Mission; and Jack in the Box, in the Richmond.

These spots seemed like the most obvious choices, but there are several honorable mentions. According to Google Maps, there’s another 24-hour Jack in the Box on Bayshore Boulevard, as well as a 24-hour McDonald’s on Ocean Avenue and a 24-hour Carl’s Jr. in Union Square. There’s also a place called Halal Burgers & More, on an unhappy stretch of Sixth Street. 

You could also count Polk Street’s Bob’s Donuts and Noe Valley’s Happy Donuts. For simplicity’s sake, I excluded donut shops from my list and stuck strictly to meals.

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I had an ulterior motive in my........

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