Mexican Restaurants – Page 30

Dinners with Friends – Revisits to Mariscos Los Koras and Halmouny (Hal Mu Ni), and some well wishes for Ed from Yuma….

June 23, 2010 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, What Howie Eats - Where the Foodie from Foodieview Eats

I don't know if you can tell, but I've been in a bit of an "eating rutt" since returning from China, where every meal, good or bad, was at the least interesting. Since returning from our trip, I've been cooking at home a lot. Whenever I get into these dips, I can always count on my friends to help lift me up. And having a monthly "eating club" consisting of Candice, Howie, and Jenne, is a sure remedy. This month, Howie was in the mood for Mariscos, so it was……

Mariscos Los Koras:

**** Mariscos Los Koras is now Mariscos Altata

I've posted on Mariscos Los Koras before, this Nayarit styled seafood restaurant lies right off the I-805 Martket Street exit, sort of standing all by its lonesome. I'm fairly certain the very nice lady working here didn't quite know what to make of us. She did find out something fairly quickly…. we like to eat, as after placing our order, she moved the four of us to a larger table.

Howie wanted to taste the Aguachile, so we started with that.

The citrus cooked shrimp came out in a large molcajete, which I could barely budge. This place tends to make some pretty bracing cocteles, and this was no exception…. it was quite sour, but wasn't very spicy.

I've always wanted to try the Sarandeado (Grilled whole fish) at Los Koras, so what better chance than on this day, with Howie on hand?

The flavor of smoky mesquite permeated the fish, which I think was a bit under-cooked. It was moist though. Unfortunately, the largest fish on hand on this day was 1 1/2 pounds, and Howie can do that solo…..

Of course it comes with all the fixins', salsa, tortillas(which were refilled a coupla times), and beans…… beans that we all found quite good, very tasty, better tasting than beans should be….

Until Candice said, "I know why….. I just bit on a piece of pork."

A couple of years…. well sheesh, now nearly five years ago, I visited Ed in Yuma. And the one item I clearly remembered were the empanadas from Mariscos El Nayarita. So of course I couldn't help but get a couple of orders of Nayarit style Shrimp Empanadas, right?

These weren't bad, but were a far cry from those empanadas. While those were light… you could eat them by the dozen, and crisp, these were almost flakey, and filling as heck. One was more then enough.

Funny thing was, the item everyone enjoyed the best was the one item I didn't take a photo of. Mainly because you can see it on my previous post. It was the Filete Los Koras, that green sauce is fantastic. The flavors emanating from that sauce…….

Sharing food, laughter, and stories amongst friends is always a great time. Of course, a couple of Micheladas, that beer-lime juice-chili concoction, sure helps as well!

Mariscos Los Koras
4297 Market St
San Diego, CA 92102

Halmouny (Hal Mu Ni) with Ed from Yuma:

A couple of weeks back, Ed from Yuma rode into town. We managed to grab a bite at Halmouny. I broke out the camera, even though I've posted on the place a couple of times already. The new shop looks pretty nice, much better than the modified fast-food look of the previous location one door down.

Funny thing, I always thought Kabul Market was pretty large, but looking at the space since Halmouny took over, it really looks pretty small. Must be all the dividers.

The panchan were all the usual suspects, but done pretty well. Our favorites (gamja jorim) were refilled…..

Knowing what a pork lover Ed is, I ordered the Gul Bossam – steamed pork to be wrapped, in this case, with cabbage leaves.

I've had this a couple of times here, and I gotta say, this was best so far. On occasion the pork has tasted flat and bland. Today, it was mildy sweet, and, can I say it? Actually tasted like fatty pork. A nice dab of bean paste and some radish and oyster, wrapped up in the napa cabbage leaf, this was pretty darn good. There were several moments when Ed was pretty close to doing the "delici-yoso dance".

The Galbi Jjim was a different story.

This was totally different from what we had before. In fact, check out the photos in my previous post and compare. On the good side, the meat on the thick beef ribs were tender, and of course that egg…. well say no more. This dish lacked the tangy-beany savory flavor of the previous versions, and wasn't nearly as spicy. Which led me to believe that either some of the cooking staff or the recipe has been changed.

The service was friendly as usual, and I think Ed even revisited after this meal, and enjoyed himself. I'm thinking of checking this place out again soon…. i'm wondering how many of the other dishes have changed?

Halmouny
4425 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

We'd like to send out get well soon wishes to Ed from Yuma:

Unfortunately, Ed from Yuma is out of action for a bit. He was working on a post for us when the accident occurred which makes me feel kinda bad…..

Rushing to finish a post, Ed's arm broke….

Damn, tripped up by a Dangling Participle…. those always get you! Seriously, Ed got tripped up in "some computer cords" and fell hard, resulting in a broken arm. Ouch! The good news is Ed is alright, and he did let me know that modern medicine is a wonderful thing. I'm also sure that Tina is taking good care of him. Lucky for Ed that it is his left, non-eating arm, otherwise he'd be sharing a bowl with Lucy.

We wish you a speedy and successful recovery Ed! Take it easy my friend.

What's the deal with the broken arms here…. a couple of years back Cathy breaks her arm, and now Ed. Wait a minute…. that means I'm next…. I think I'll go out and prophylactically get a full body cast…..

Tata’s in Yuma: Bodacious Tacos and More

June 15, 2010 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Like most readers at this site, ed (from Yuma) is awaiting more of Kirk's mindboggling posts on China, and Kirk and Cathy's regular looks at San Diego dining. While waiting, he thought he'd let you folks know about a new and interesting taco stand in Yuma.

Tata's has disappeared and been replaced by a new location for Rossy's. Unfortunately, none of the South of Mexico dishes described in this post are still available.

Last fall, Tina and I were exploring 8th St, looking to spot any new taco emporiums opened since the end of the summer. As soon as we saw a new truck in the old Tio Juan's lot, we made a U-turn, and pulled into Tata's Tacos:
At that time, the stand had been doing business for only a few days, so we sampled some tacos that evening. The smooth and creamy chichirones was bathed in spicy red chili sauce:
Oh so good and oh so not good for you. Yum.

The Cabeza was tasty too:
For both Tina and I, the best taco we had that evening was the tripitas:

Even though the portion was somewhat small, these rounds of pig intestine were wonderfully prepared. The textures ranged from crunchy to chewy to soft and melt in your mouth. The flavors started with upfront porkiness and finished with a haunting nutty earthy savory flavor.

Although our first experience at the truck was uniformly positive, it was months before we made it back (our bad). As soon as we opened the new two-page menu, it became instantly apparent that Tata's had morphed into an outdoor dining establishment unlike any other in Yuma.

Nowadays, some dishes characteristic of south and central Mexico are regularly available. For example, look at this picture of two new items. On the left is a tostada maya (a black bean tostada with cotija cheese). On the right is a Maria Felix, an empenada-like quesadilla with flor de calabazas (squash blossoms) and cheese:
When you open up the Maria Felix, you see the wonderful mix of ingredients combined into a joy bomb of flavors. The hand made corn tortilla shell is crunchy, but not greasy. The unmistakable tastes of summer squash and cheese fill the mouth with happiness:

Even more unusual is what Tata's calls a Tizoc, a hand formed corn tortilla wrapped around spicy huitlacoche (corn smut — called "corn truffles" on fancy menus):

Perfectly done here. Spicy chile notes deepen the dominant and complex earthy fungal flavors of the huitloche itself, while kernels of sweet corn add contrasting textures and flavors. While I am far from an expert on this kind of smut, Tata's tizoc is by far is the best I've ever tasted.

Tina and I also love a variation on the black bean tostada called the maya maya, which tops the black beans with grilled nopalitas salad, giving some contrastive tang and more textures to the tostada:

I'm still amazed right here in river city to find a taco stand that goes beyond the border and also serves several vegetarian dishes.

At the same time, you can get great versions of many taco truck standards. For example, the horchata is good and the Tamarindo properly sweet and slightly sour:

When you wait for your tacos to arrive, you're given little bowls of frijoles gratis, which I like to enhance with some of the free condiments:

Speaking of which, the condiment wheel includes all of the necessary players — lemon wedges, cilantro, shredded cabbage, chopped onion, guacamole sauce, tomatillo salsa, and a fiery salsa de arbol:

And the tacos continue to be very good. In particular, the pastor has a nice marinade and profits from the char of the grill:

The outstanding barbacoa is incredibly beefy:

And we still love the tripitas, which are the best I've ever eaten:

Notice the wok hay on these:

And on our last visit, Tata's had caguamanta, stewed stingray tacos:

Again, the version here is as good as it gets, deeply savory, fishy in a good way, and complex. They told us that these tacos were going to become a Friday and Saturday night special. We certainly hope so.

I love Tata's (I never thought I'd write that in a blog post at mmm-yoso!!!). This small place is truly one family's labor of love. The father (Jose) grew up in Guanajuato and knows the cuisine of south and central Mexico; mom (Aleyida) does most of the cooking; grandpa provides the caguamanta recipe; and the son and his girlfriend (I think) are often waiting tables.

However, particularly at this time of year, Tata's does not seem to keep regular hours. I guess there is no point in being open if it is insufferably hot or crazy windy. Most evenings I guess they open around 6:30 or 7:00. I have no idea when they close, but I'm sure it is well past my bedtime. Give them a call before you drop by. If they are open, you will not be disappointed.

Tata's Tacos, 3121 W 8th St, Yuma AZ 85364, 928-920-1105 or 928-246-0049.

Las Herraduras: Lucky for Yuma

May 20, 2010 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Kirk has been eating his way through some foreign country. Cathy has been eating a lot just to keep this blog current. And ed (from Yuma) has been eating and finally has the time to share a new Yuma restaurant with you guys.

It's got to be tough opening a Mexican restaurant in Yuma, the kind of city where almost everybody has two or three favorite Mexican restaurants already. So when I heard that a new restaurant was going in the old Chile Verde location on 4th Ave between the post office and Fry's, I didn't give it much of a chance for long success:
On my first visit, the large main dining area was largely empty. On the other hand, it was clear that the owners had enough capital to redecorate the restaurant, keeping the comfortable booths and adding high backed wooden chairs marked with horseshoes (Herraduras) around sturdy tables.

I was immediately impressed by the thin corn chips and outstanding salsa:
The salsa is both spicy and full of chunky goodness:
That day the special was green chile. Of course, I had to try it, and soon received a steaming bowl of wonderful old school, Yuma style green chile:
This was an excellent version served more like soup than a stew. The broth was wonderfully beefy and flavored with both tomato and green chile. The coarsely ground beef fit the rest of the dish perfectly. I was amazed by the lack of grease as well.

To my surprise, the next time I ordered green chile, the dish looked completely different:
This is what I consider standard green chile. Chunks of tender pork swimming in a mild and complex sauce with balanced flavors of green chilies, tomatillos, and fresh minced cilantro. The differences in this version let me know the range of flavors and dishes the kitchen could prepare.

At this point, our Friday Munch Lunch Bunch (MLB) agreed to get together and try some different items. Everyone loved the salsa (and what's not to love), but the cheese crisp lacked a certain complexity of flavors, though the tortilla itself was nicely crisp:

One of my friends had the fish taco special, which she proclaimed was very nicely done, with crisp batter and fresh flavored fish:
Chip opted for the asada torta and was very happy with the flavorful beef, the crispy grilled bolillo roll, and the numerous toppings including numerous slices of avocado on the sandwich and the pickled jalapeno slices on the side:
Someone else ordered the caldo de res (beef soup), which tasted better than it looked, the clear stock being full of beef flavor:
But I think I ordered the best of all the meals, the albondigas:

Here the rich beefy stock was thickened with tomatos, giving the whole bowl the flavors of an excellent beef stew. The meatballs themselves were both full of flavor and soft and tender. As good an albondigas as I've had in Yuma.

After the lunch, we compared notes, and every one was pleased with his or her dish, and considering the varied palates of the group, that rarely happens.

At this point, Tina and I started trying various other dishes. Once, Tina had the hass burrito, a nice combination of carne asada, fresh green chile strips, and cheese:
The beef was both tender and flavorful and Tina was impressed by how the cheese and the green chile slices contributed to the overall flavor.

Once I ordered a Lenten special, calabacitos:
The melty white cheese covered a stew of squash, fresh sweet corn, and fresh tomatoes:
Another common lenten dish in Yuma households is Chile rellenos. The first time that I ordered the chile rellano lunch special at Herraduras, it was truly outstanding:

The mild green chile was well fried in its egg batter, but the highlight of the dish was the tomatoey sauce that covered the chile. That sauce combined perfectly with the vegetable flavors of the chile itself:
In the six months since Las Herraduras opened, I have only been disappointed in two dishes. The chicken fajitas:

And the pollo asado burrito:
In both cases, part of my problem is the rather dry chicken breast meat. The burrito would have been 100% better if it had contained a generous portion of guacamole — of course, that preference probably reflects the two years I spent living in San Diego where the art of asada/asado burritos has been perfected. The chicken fajitas no doubt would've been better served on a hot platter in the restaurant, but the chicken breast just didn't have much flavor and the vegetables were not uniformly cooked. Nonetheless, I can imagine that these chicken dishes might well be favorites of white meat chicken fans.

Since I hate to end a post on a down note, I want to finish by talking about and showing you pictures of what I think is the best menudo in town, served with chopped cilantro and onion and a nice bolillo roll:
Lover of tendon that I am, I was delighted to find a slice of pata de res hiding in the bottom of the bowl:

The perfectly grilled, crispy crunchy bolillo roll matched perfectly with the tendon, the succulent and tender tripe, the chewy kernals of nixtamal, and the rich chili flavored broth:
It doesn't get much better than that. And Mexican restaurants don't get much better than Las Herraduras. Let's hope these are lucky horseshoes.

Las Herraduras, 2256 S. 4th Ave, Yuma AZ, 85364, 928-783-0559. Open daily 11am-9pm.

Playing Chicken: A bunch of chicken posts – Saffron, Nazca Grill, Mercado 2000, Casa de Pepe, Sab E Lee 2, and more….

March 23, 2010 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Peruvian Restaurants, Thai Restaurants

Whew, this post has taken me almost five months to get together…. talk about a flocking long time. A while back I thought it would be fun doing a post on some of the different variations of grilled and roasted chicken in San Diego. So here goes….. oh, and why did it take me so long? The answer is at the end.

Pollo Asado from Internacional 2000 Taco Shop – Bargain City:

On one of my previous posts on Internacional 2000, I mentioned the plumes of smoke rising in the air from the chicken being grilled over mesquite in the parking lot. I also noticed that the chicken was mostly precooked, and moved from the taco shop to the grill for reheating. That just didn’t sound promising. But once, while doing part of my South Bay taco crawl, MrQ decided to purchase the Pollo Asado, since it was just $8.50, for a whole chicken a fixins’. The chicken was better than I thought it would be, so on a later visit, I decided to get it.

So for $8.50, you get a whole grilled chicken, beans, rice, salsa, condiments, and tortillas. Man ,what a deal!

I had thought the chicken would be dry and tough as heck, but it wasn’t. Also, because the chicken didn’t have much of a salt flavor, I’m thinking that salt use was minimized to ensure that the bird wouldn’t dry out. The chicken did have a wonderful smoky mesquite flavor. The tortillas, once warmed a bit was decent, the rice was quite dry.

But the beans……

Were quite good, rich, beany, and creamy….just don’t look at ’em after you refrigerate the stuff….. you WILL know why they taste good. Sometimes, it’s better not to know…….

We did use a sprinkling of Tajin Classic Seasoning…. the stuff we call, “This is not a candy” seasoning:

I’m wondering how many complaints the company got from folks who tried to eat this thinking it WAS candy, causing them to label the product thusly?

The verdict? Not the most fantastic pollo asado I’ve ever had, but pretty good, and for $8.50? Bargain city!!! Just as a reality check, to the right is about seven bucks worth of food from the local “Crazy Chicken” joint…. which includes some of the worst tortillas I’ve ever experienced. In all honesty, I don’t mind the chicken……

Internacional 2000 Taco Shop (Window in the parking lot of Mercado Internacional 2000)
1415 3rd Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Pollo Asado from Casa de Pepe – No thank you:

On one of my “Sunday Stuffs” posts back in January of 2008, I mentioned seeing Pollo Asado being grilled in the parking lot of a taco shop on Imperial Avenue. This bright, colorful, and possibly luminous restaurant is called, Restaurant Casa de Pepe:

If the bones of this place look familiar; it because this used to be the location of El Comal, before they went “uptown”.

Almost every weekend, I’ve seen the guy in the parking lot grilling chicken.

I crossed the street and took a look at the chicken, which looked pretty good. So I told the guy that I’d be going into the restaurant to pay, when the guy held up a pot full of kinda gross barbecue sauce, and told me; “you want BBQ on chicken, right?” I should have taken this as a bad omen and high-tailed it out of there, but instead I just said “no thanks” and went into the restaurant and paid my $7.95.

Hmmm, they forgot my tortillas. I loved the variety of salsas provided, as well as the cebolla. The chicken was terrible, terribly bland and dry.

The rice was decently flavored, but the beans were very bland, and too soupy for my tastes.

Maybe I shoulda gotten that barbecue sauce, huh?

Restaurant Casa de Pepe
2822 Imperial Ave
San Diego, CA 92102

Pollo ala Brassa from Nazca Grill – getting better all the time:

In my previous post on Nazca Grill, back when they first opened, I indicated that though the chicken was moist, here was something left to be desired with regards to flavor. I’m glad to say that the last time I ordered it, the chicken was very good. Still moist, and more balanced in flavor. You could tell that even though it wasn’t cooked over hardwood, it had been finished with it.

For $11.95 you get the half chicken meal, which comes with papas fritas (french fries) which usually ends up pretty soggy by the time you get home, and good sized salad.

I do wish they’d just sell the chicken ala carte. Anyway, a picture is worth a few paragraphs……

I still think the Aji Amarilla (yellow chili sauce) is too mild, and needs some zip. But compare that chicken to my previous post……

**** Nazca Grill has closed

Nazca Grill
4310 Genesee Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

Rotisserie Chicken from Saffron Thai Grilled Chicken – I could never figure out why…..

This place is so popular. When I first ate the chicken from here back in 1998, the first thing that went through my mind was “huh”? To me the chicken here isn’t “Thai Rotisserie Chicken”, it ain’t even close to Kai Yaang. Those were my thoughts back in 2006 when I did my last post on Saffron.

And after eating Kai Yaang in Thailand twice, this ain’t even close. The chicken from Pok Pok might as well be in another universe. Another sad thing is, I really enjoy Su-Mei Yu’s book, Cracking the Coconut. There’s even a Kai Yaang recipe in the book, which features her “Big Four Paste” (coriander seeds, garlic, cilantro stems and roots, white peppercorns), minced ginger, cumin, tumeric, and caraway(strange, no lemongrass). Not even a whiff to be found on this chicken.

I didn’t think you’d be happy with this, a two leg plate ($4.99):

So I went ahead and had a half chicken plate ($7.86):

Instead of my usual Sriracha ($1.29 a bottel at 99 Ranch Market, BTW), I went with the red pepper sauce, which was too sweet, like simple syrup, and the peanut sauce, which was too much coconut and sugar, and not enough peanut.

The best piece was the thigh which was passably moist. The leg however, had been sliced, possibly to check “doneness” and was, as a good FOY once described the chicken here as “petrified”. The breast was worse.

The skin was tough and too chewy. To be honest, that two leg plate I had earlier was better. I’m thinking the earlier in the day you go, the better your luck may be. Someone once told me it’s the sauce that makes this “Thai”, so I asked this person, being of Italian heritage, if I got a supermarket rotisserie chicken, and gave you a teensy container of marinara sauce, if I could call that “Italian Chicken”? And to add insult to injury, I once bought an entire bird from Saffron and a rotisserie chicken from Costco, and provided a bottle of Sriracha. I asked some friends which bird they enjoyed better….. guess which? Well, enough of that. I was told that the chicken here back in the late 80’s and early 90’s was great, but something happened.

I do still enjoy the “Cambodian” salad:

I believe the success of Sab E Lee displays that San Diego does want “real” flavors. So maybe someday……..

Saffron Thai Grilled Chicken
3731 India St.
San Diego, CA 92103

Speaking of Sab E Lee (2):

**** This location of Sab E Lee has closed

Here’s the Kai Yaang from Sab E Lee 2 .

Not amazing, but solid. Since the chicken hadn’t been sliced into parts and held on trays it was very moist. Nice salty, mild garlic and lemongrass flavors. The sauces, one tamarind and palm sugar based, and the other a nam prik (fish sauce and chilies) were serviceable.

I need to go back and take better photos.

Sab E Lee 2
9159 Mission Gorge Road
Santee, CA 92071

So why did this post take months? Well, back in November, the Missus saw this commercial and was traumatized.

So now the Missus won’t eat chicken or turkey…. but will eat duck!

I guess I’ll just have to:

“keep on dreamin’
The thoughts that are in my brain
You just keep on being
The lady I can’t explain “

“Lady I Can’t Explain” by Jimmy Buffett

Luche Libre Gourmet Taco Shop

March 8, 2010 mmm-yoso Hot Dogs, Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

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

La Fachada

February 25, 2010 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

A couple of Saturdays ago, during the big rainstorm, a couple of good friends and I decided to do a taco crawl. The weather refused to cooperate, howling wind and pouring rain, but I gotta give it up for JohnL and TammyC, they handled the dripping canopies and pouring rain like troopers, and we managed six stops, and about a dozen tacos a piece (including a coupla gobernadors, etc). In need of a stop where we didn't have to suffer through water pouring onto our tacos, and us. I suggested La Fachada. It had been a whilem and I thought after doing the mariscos thing, a coupla street sized tacos would make for a nice change of pace. Of course, the La Fachada I'm mentioning is the trailer parked in the lot of the restaurant.

And they were doing some pretty good business, even on a stormy Saturday……

Each of us went with tres (three) tacos. I selected Birria de Res (spicy braised beef), lengua (tongue), and cabeza (beef head), a buck-sixty each.

Much of it was like I remembered, the tortillas, even though hand made (pressed), tasted mass produced. The birria was on the stringy side, and the chili flavor was a bit muted. The lengua was a bit too waxy. The cabeza was very nice though, moist with an intense gamey-beefy flavor.

One thing that I didn't recall, was how spicy the pickled onions with habanero were…… pretty darn hot! The salsas are tried and true, nothing spectacular, but it met my expectations. Overall, a nice stop. So a couple of weeks later, I was in the area, and decided on a nice breakfast of a couple of tacos.

This time it was (from let to right) carnitas, adobada, and cabeza(again).

The real winner of the bunch was the carnitas, crisp, rich, and full of flavor, it really hit the spot. The adobada was pretty weak and too tough. The cabeza was even "beefier", and perhaps a bit less fatty/greasy.

I really enjoyed the carnitas, and may make it a point to drop by more often then the every coupla years thing I've been doing. Funny thing is, I've never been "in" the restaurant, as I've always eaten at the taco cart, so I can't help you there.

A couple of weeks after our taco crawl, JohnL contacted me…… at the end of the email he wrote "maybe over some tacos LOL I've been taco crazy ever since…." Looks like we'll go for more than a dozen next time?

La Fachada
20 25th St
San Diego, CA 92102

Saturday Stuffs: Goodbye Playa Azul, Hello Yakyudori Ramen & Yakitori, and a Balboa and Clairemont Drive Taco Truck update

January 30, 2010 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, yoso-silly

Playa Azul Closes:

Sometimes when I take my sweet ‘ol time on posts, it backfires. After a visit to Playa Azul during the Autumn, I just kinda waited around…… A few weeks back, I decided to do one more visit, and finally a post, and this is what greeted me:

Even the mural had been removed:

Sad……

Anyway here are some photos from our visit.

Yakyudori Ramen and Yakitori coming to Convoy:

Word of this has been spreading quickly. You know, I’ve never done a post on Yakyudori…. well, because my photos have never come out. This is the former site of BBQ Express Teriyaki, and before that Extreme Pita.

The sign says grand opening will be… Monday, February 1st!!! Wow, that’s fast.

4898 Convoy Street, San Diego, CA 92111…….

(Yet another) Taco Truck on the corner of Balboa and Clairemont Drive:

Two weeks ago I mentioned that the Mariscos German truck was back on the corner of Balboa and Clairemont Drive. Well, this past week, I noticed another truck in it’s place:

Sheesh, what is this…… taco truck roulette. Hopefully, I’ll be able to check it out before it vanishes…..

Not about food:

One of my favorite FOYs(Friends of Yoso) is “Canine Cologne”, whose blog Pink Candles at Ridgemont High is fun, delicious (in the virtual kinda way), and also somewhat nostalgic. One of my favorite series of posts that CC does is called ABC Music Videos, where Ms Cologne (he-he-he) posts music videos every week based on letters of the alphabet. I’ve kidded CC that one day I’d do a “homage” of sorts to her ABC videos….. and I think I found what I needed…. so without further ado:

A is for Akebono:

Yes, these are actually commercials for the series “Glee” in Japan. And in case you don’t know who Akebono is you can find more info here. Funny thing, I actually saw Akebono, when he was Chad Rowan playing basketball for Hawaii Pacific University!!!

Anyway, for some reason the commercials made me smile….. Hey, it coulda been KennyG ok!!!!

Have a great weekend!

Saturday Stuffs: What’s up with Royal Mandarin, and some Taco Truck Stuffs

January 9, 2010 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants, Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants

Royal Mandarin update:

To follow-up on a comment made on my December 30th post by Johari, regarding the fire at Royal Mandarin. You can see a more detailed story here. I decided to take adrive down to National City myself and check out what's going on.

As you can see, the entrnaces and a couple of the plate glass windows have been boarded up.

What was really interesting was the large group of folks in the place…. lot's of chatter going on…..

To get to the point, it looks like Royal Mandarin will be reopening soon, though I think a March date is pretty ambitious.

Taco Truck Stuff:

Over the holidays, I noticed that the Mariscos German Taco Truck was gone from the lot on the corner of Balboa and Clairemont Drive. I hoped that it was only for a break over the holidays, and I was rewarded with a sighting of the truck this past week. So it looks like the truck is back.

On a sadder note, it looks like the La Princesita Taco truck is gone from the Linda Vista location for good. A sad day indeed…..

Tortas Y Mas – Chula Vista

December 15, 2009 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Sandwiches

**** Tortas y Mas has closed

On this past rainy weekend, the Missus decided She wanted some manju from Hogetsu Bakery, so I made the drive down to Chula Vista. Unfortunately, possibly due to the weather, when I arrived at Hogetsu at 10 am they weren't open yet. I waited about fifteen minutes, until my stomach told me to grab a bite to eat, and return later. Rather than the usual suspects, I decided to drive around a bit and find someplace I hadn't eaten yet…… so even while I was tempted, Tacos El Gordo was not an option. What I did notice was that the former La Torta location on H street had become Tortas Y Mas:

I didn't quite know what to expect from this tiny, sunny little restaurant.

I guess part of me expected La Torta "regurgitated" and indeed some of the menu was the "torta gringo style" theme, though there are burritos and even Alambres (think fajitas) on the menu. I quickly removed any thoughts of The Torta Factory from my mind.

The Owner, an energetic and very friendly gentleman named Silvio took my order. I went with one of my favorites, a Torta Milanesa ($7.25):

This Torta Milanesa came dressed without frijoles, but with a thin slice of ham and some cheddar cheese which gave it a nice zip. The avocado had a really nice flavor as well. The birote (roll) was very run of the mill, and not nearly as good as what I recently had at La Abejita.

I really enjoyed the potatoes, which truthfully could have been more crisp, but was much more aggressively seasoned with salt, pepper, and chili powder than what La Torta puts out. In fact, I finished the steaming potatoes before anything else.

The best part of the torta for me was the milanesa, beef very thinly sliced, lightly breaded, and fried to a crisp….. the edges were pleasurably crisp like bacon. It was also pretty tender…. I've had my share of gristle filled tough milanesa, so this was very nice.

For some reason, I ate all the potatoes, and could only manage half the sandwich. I asked if I could get my half sandwich wrapped to go, and was told with a smile, "oh yes, no problem". A few minutes later, I was handed a large styrofoam take out container. Surprised I told the gentleman that he didn't need to go through all the trouble, he could have just wrapped up the torta. His response? "I saw how much you enjoyed the potatoes, so I gave you a little more to take with you". How's that for nice……. if anything, just that gesture will have me back when I'm in the area……… Sometimes, simple acts like that can just make your day a bit sunnier, in spite of all the rain and cold.

So maybe next time, before you catch the trolley and you need something to tide you over…..

Tortas Y Mas
730 H Street
Chula Vista, CA 91910

New to the Rotation: Mariscos El Pescador

November 24, 2009 mmm-yoso Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

Over the last couple of months, I've noticed that much of our rotation is seasonal. There are places like Latin Chef that fit into our Spring/Summer plans than during the Fall or Winter. Other places, like Asia Cafe we really don't visit often enough anymore. So those have been removed from the rotation…maybe just until the next time I update.

Over the last 3 months, the Missus has often requested a drive down to Chula Vista, and a visit to the Mariscos El Pescador truck. Even though thre are more than a few Mariscos places and trucks closer, heck there's even the new Mariscos German truck about a mile-and-a-half from us. But the Missus enjoys the Caldo de Pescado (fish soup) from MEP the best.

So we'll make the drive so the Missus can get Her hands on the always scalding hot Caldo de Pescado from MEP.

It's not super consistent. We've found that the soup is best between 10am and 2-3 pm, so we usually drive down on a Saturday or Sunday……though I have found myself racing traffic (and the clock) down the I-5 on a weekday evening to get the Missus Her fix.

She loves the large and abundant chunks of fish, usually plump and tender.

It comes with some hand scalding tortillas wrapped in aluminum foil, and for $5, is well worth the price.

Of course, I enjoy the fish tacos here. And I'm not above ordering something else to sate my hunger.

Tacos de Marlyn anyone?

Mariscos El Pescador(In the parking lot of RTA/Toys R Us)
1008 Industrial Blvd
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Our updated "Rotation" Page can be found here. There will be one further update coming up.

Of course, if we're making the effort to drive down to Chula Vista, we're going to attempt to maximize the effort. Which means that if we're in the area on a Saturday, a stop at Hogetsu Bakery is a must…

As is a stop at La Moreliana, so the Missus can restock on Coricos. We'll usually make one additional stop, and thus far, it's the Al Pastor from Internacional 2000 that has the lead over the Carne Asada at El Poblano. You gotta love greasy goodness…..

So what's on your rotation this winter?????