Located inside the Castro Village Bowl bowling alley, the Lucky Lane 33 Cafe specializes in Lao and Thai dishes like Lao sausage, nam khao (crispy rice ball salad) and papaya salad. (Raynato Castro)

The Midnight Diners is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist Thien Pham . Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene. This week, guest artist — and competitive league bowler — Raynato Castro joined the fray.

A few minutes before 9 o’clock on a recent Saturday night, the line of prospective customers that looped around the Castro Village Bowl parking lot was as long and as energized as any nightclub queue. Inside, a pair of burly arm

See Full Page