I'm hauling through South Park. Lotta people.

Oh yeah. Their Walkabout's happening. Jump off the #2 at Fern and Beech. Have to see what my latest favorite patio's doing.

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/oct/05/54332/

This is Buona Forchetta (3001 Beech Street, 619-381-4844), the Italian pizza place that has finally filled a defunct li'l ol' coffee shop that had the nicest, roomiest patio in town.

Buona Forchetta have upped the ante, made this sidewalk cafe thing really sing. So it's crowded as usual. People all ages filling every space in the dappled light under the trees - see it's getting me waxing poetic already - and they're not just sitting like rows of crows. They're yakkin', eating, drinking with gusto. Some places do that to you. Wish I knew the secret.

Of course I go first to the antipasti, because that's where the single-figure items live. Of course I end up paying more than if I'd just had a pizza. Pizzas go from nine to fifteen. Instead I go for pea soup, which is $5, and a"polpettine," your basic "house-made beef and pork meatball" with tomato sauce. It's $7 but I'm thinking bulk here.

What I like is you get that big frosty bottle of water with the flip ceramic stopper to pour...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/oct/05/54333/

and really no need to order beer or wine. Still, can't resist forking out another $5 for an