On my second visit to the Mariscos El Pescador truck, I noticed a second truck, right past the entrance to the RTA and Toys R Us parking lot off L Street in Chula Vista. One side of the truck was painted a bright red, and claimed Tortas Ahogadas. Curious, I did a quick search on "Tortas Ahogadas" and I think Wikipedia's entry was short and sweet. Tortas Ahogada is a specialty of Guadalajara, and the best way to describe it would be as a "dipped" sandwich…..or perhaps more appropriately a "drowned" sandwich that had been submerged in a brew which features chilies as a main ingredient! Talk about right down my alley…….
So instead of the Mariscos truck, I decided to give the Torta a try on my next visit.
I parked my car and walked up to the truck. The first interaction was interesting, a brown hair "gringo" walked up to me, and started asking me questions, all of which led to the same question, "did you read about the truck in the Union-Tribune"? After telling the guy that I decided to check out the truck after seeing it while eating from the Mariscos Truck forty yards away, I was given a disapproving nod and told, "you must have read the article in the U-T". Unfortunately, I guess I'm just not that "plugged-in" to the food scene…. Anyway, here's what I found in the 'Street Blog', and the guy also pointed to a "hard copy" pasted onto the side of the truck. He was so adamant in his belief that I could not have found this without the help of the U-T……. it was strange, perhaps he was the person who wrote the article???
There are two versions of Torta Ahogada served at this truck, and of course I chose the "original" version. And I chose it spicy as well. I was quickly warned off by the very friendly woman at the window, telling me "most people can't eat the spicy version, are you sure"? I said, I'd like to try the spicy version…. the woman replied, "it'll grow hair on your chest". I pulled out the front of my t-shirt and looked down at my hairless Asian chest, and said, "well perhaps this will help me out, because I could use a bit of hair on my chest……"
And so it came to pass that I received a spicy Torta Ahogada…….
Which looked a resplendent bright red as I arrived at the hood of my car…… First the good, the bread was wonderful, almost amazing I'd say, the crusty Bolillo stood up perfectly when drenched with sauce. It was the best part of the sandwich, as the pork and everything else was totally over-shadowed by a singularly "one-note" chili arbol based hot sauce.
For me it was just a singular lip and front of mouth heat, that lacked nuance and over whelmed everything else. I like to think that I'm not a shrinking shrinking violet when it comes to spicy food. I just felt as if something was missing…….
A few weeks later, when Captain Jack and I did our Taco Crawl, I encouraged him to check out the Torta Ahogada truck, which by then had moved to a closer position right in front of Toys R Us. CJ, told me without prompting, "man the texture bread is good, but all I can taste is the spice, like drinking hot sauce… something is missing".
I'd still encourage you to check out the truck, and maybe just order the non-spicy version drizzled with what looks like a mayo-mustard kinda sauce, because that bread is really good.
El Gallito Tortas Ahogadas
1008 Industrial Blvd
Chula Vista, CA 91911