Welcome to dining in San Francisco, where "affordable" now means anything under $15 and you're grateful for it.

Let's be real about why your favorite burger spot probably closed. Between the city's labyrinthine permitting process, sky-high commercial rents, and a regulatory environment that treats small restaurant owners like they're running offshore drilling operations, it's a miracle anyone still flips patties here at all. The places that survive deserve your dollars — and there are still some genuinely good options if you know where to look.

The name that keeps coming up? Louie's Original — $8 for a small burger, $11 for a big one, combos topping out around $14-17. That's practically charitable by SF standards. One local swears by Super Duper, noting that "their pickles rule," which honestly might be the most passionate defense of a condiment we've ever heard. And then there's the Richmond District institution Bill's Place, where one SF resident points out "they cut the fries daily" — a small detail that separates the contenders from the pretenders.

But here's the broader point: if you're willing to think beyond burgers, the real affordable eating in this city lives in Chinatown bakeries, Tenderloin banh mi shops, Mission pupusa spots, and places like Yamo where you can eat like a king for under $10. The city's immigrant-owned restaurants have been doing more with less for decades — largely despite City Hall, not because of it.

San Francisco doesn't have an affordability problem because restaurants are greedy. It has an affordability problem because we've built a regulatory structure that punishes the little guys and rewards nobody. Every closed burger joint is a small business that couldn't make the math work.

So go find your next spot. Tip well. And maybe ask your supervisor why it costs $50,000 and nine months to open a sandwich shop.