I was working from home one morning and had calls scheduled thru lunch until the early afternoon. It was 9am and I was already hungry. I had been wondering how Barrio Donas was doing since my last visits had been right before the pandemic started. I went to their website to check on the hours and found that they now do online ordering so I decided to go for it. I placed an order and headed right on over.
I arrived right at the indicated time; though I had to wait for a bit. It was obvious that this online ordering thing was kinda new to them. The configuration of the bakery had been changed a bit to accommodate social distancing.
I was kinda hungry so I ordered the Pierna ($9.50). The first thing I noticed when I opened up the container was that the bolillo roll seemed different.
It was a lot lighter, both in color and heft than what I'd had here previously. But it was also much more yeasty than what I recall, though it hadn't handled the less than 15 minute drive home quite well.
But, this torta had twice the amount of filling than what I'd had before as well. The pork had been marinated and cooked well as it was so very tender. There was a slight heat and smokiness from what I assume is an adobo based sauce. I actually could have used more beans, onions, and tomato to balance things out….but I couldn't complain about the amount of filling in this sandwich.
About a week later, I was starving and had a break between calls; I decided to do the online ordering thing again and went with what has pretty much been my usual item at Barrio Donas; the A la Mexicana ($7.50). This time; maybe because it was 7am in the morning, my sandwich was waiting when I arrived.
The bread was the same as on my previous visit. Like the pierna, this had a bit more filling than what I'd had previously, though it wasn't super stuffed. This time the bread handled the trip home. And the yeastiness, combined with the mild acidic heat from the salsa, slight milkiness from the cheese, and the smear of beans just went well with the scrambled eggs.
Barrio Donas was doing good business during my visits and I'm happy to know that. In thinking back from the days when it was Best Donuts, the renovation to a more modern, sort of hipster Barrio Donas, and now with online ordering! They've sure have come quite a way! Derek Ray, I'm wondering if you've visited recently and noticed that Barrio Donas is now a bit more generous in terms of portion? 
Barrio Donas
4714 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117
Current Hours
Mon – Fri 6am – 6pm
Saturday 6am – 3pm
Sunday 7am – 3pm