For some reason, the interior of this place always has me humming:
"Those magnificent men in their flying machines,
they go up diddly up up,
they go down diddly down down….."
Now why the heck would this bright pepto-bismol pink, "luche libre"(Mexican professional wrestling) themed and decorated (I use that term loosely) restaurant have me humming that tune? Well, if you grew up in Hawaii in the late 60's and 70's you'd recognize names like as Ripper Collins(who once, when I recognized him in a parking lot, asked me "do you want to wrestle?") and Curtis "the Bull" Iaukea. Two of my favorites were Pampero Firpo (aka the Missing Link) and "Handsome Johnny Barend" whose theme song was "Those magnificent men in their flying machine". Barend always had me in stitches with his unhinged, rambling, crazy schtick. Man, those were the days….. My apologies for the somewhat obtuse digression, but the decor is just as crazy as "Handsome Johnny"……..
When Luche Libre Gourmet Taco Shop first opened, I like many others in the bloggersphere went to check out what all the buzz was about. The interior itself is probably good enough reason to visit at least once. On that visit, I got a Queso Taco:
Which was dry, tough, and bland carne asada, wrapped in a fairly tasteless, overly rigid, double corn tortilla, which was saved by the crisp mildly salty griddled cheese.
Of course I got the TJ Hotdog….. A bacon wrapped hotdog, with griddled onions and peppers….seasoned with mustard and (gasp) ketchup. A bargain at a buck-fifty.
I will say that you pretty much get what you pay for. I love TJ style Hotdogs, but I really didn't care much for this version. The first two times I had this, the bun was burnt, and not good eats.
I also noticed, that though the dog, an all beef "perro" had good flavor(though I'd like a bit more snap), for some reason the bacon is almost a non-entity in this flavorwise. To test this out, I once visited with an acquaintance of mine, a real fan of LL. Since I was buying lunch, I didn't think it would be really bad to play a little "joke" on him. I ordered his dog sans bacon. Our conversation got to the dog at hand, and I happened to mention how important the bacon was to this hotdog…… at which time he said something along the lines of, "yes, yes, of course this wouldn't be the same without the bacon. And this rocks!" Yeah, I guess that bacon makes this TJ Hot Dog, huh? Oh, I still haven't told him that he didn't have any bacon on his TJ dog……
Recently, after almost a year, decided to check out LL, and the TJ Hot Dog again. And I gotta say, even though the bacon is still waaaay back there in the background, this time the bun wasn't burned, and there was a good amount of peppers and onions…. and tomatoes adding a bit of tang to the whole thing.
If you'd like to read a very interesting post, one of my favorite fellow food bloggers, Masa Assassin has a fantastic post on the History of Mexico's bacon wrapped hot dogs. (MA also shares some my opinions of LL's dog….)
Over time, I've gotten a couple of emails extolling the virtues of the Carne Asada Burrito at LL. I don't know if you've noticed, but there has been a serious lack of "CABs" (Carne Asada Burritos) in my posts. If you've been reading long enough, you may remember that Howie had a not so little event called the "battle of the Bertos", a comparison of 10 Carne Asada burritos from places ending in "'berto". I guess you could call it "PTBSS"…. post traumatic burrito stress syndrome. Following the "event" I just couldn't face a CAB. Mention a CAB to me and I'd go though a series of ticks that would make a third base coach proud. But, as they say, time…. and hunger, heals all wounds. And recently, fresh off carne asada burrito rehab, I grabbed a CAB from Luche Libre ($4.85):
This was a good sized, two fisted burrito. And now is a good time to mention the salsa bar, with some good freshly made salsas, a la Mama Testa. My only complaint is a serious lack of "picante".
As for the burrito…. the beef in this was a total 180 from the Queso Taco. It was nice thickly cut what seemed to be flank steak, chewy, but in a good way. I still think it is a bit under-flavored, but I enjoyed the flavor of "the char".
The best thing the guacamole and the pico de gallo did was not to interfere with the beef. So perhaps I'm cured………
A good while back, I received an email from a FOY (Friend of Yoso), who deserves an apology since I can't find his email. He recommended something called the "DDT Loaded Baked Potato"($6.25). Over six bucks for a baked potato!?!?!! And yet, I was intrigued…. And when I picked my potato up, I understood why they called this the "DDT baked potato. The only question was what version of the DDT this poor spud was exposed to?
Was it the "elevated DDT", or perhaps the "spike DDT"? My money's on the "tornado DDT". This thing was a gooey, calorie bomb mess of a baked potato, with carne asada, grilled shrimp, mushrooms, and grilled onions and zucchini (you do need your veggies, right?), enrobed in melted cheese, and topped with a chipotle flavored sauce, much like the thousand island dressing stuff you get at mariscos shops.
Man, this was a mess…. and yet, I couldn't stop eating. I didn't want to admit it, but I kinda enjoyed this…… I did need a cold shower after, and I don't crave it, but I can't lie. This pushed all the guilty pleasure buttons.
I'm not sure I buy the "gourmet" part, as the level of refinement really isn't there. That aside, there are some novel items on the menu, the prices are reasonable, the quality of some of the ingredients is higher. At its best, LL is a notch above the usual San Diego Taco shop(thoughYMMV), and the food is "Gringo safe". And I haven't even gotten to the free chips……
Luche Libre Gourmet Taco Shop
1810 W Washington St
San Diego, CA 92103