Recently, I was hankering for a Cubano….but of course Havana Grill in Clairemont had closed! So, I decided to go for something else…..maybe a sanguche? I know a lot of folks really like Sangucheria…but to be perfectly honest, I’ve been underwhelmed by the sanguches there on my three visits….they use telera rolls….nothing like the traditional Peruvian Pan Frances like they do at places like Dona Paulina in Lima. And while the Sanguche at The Peruvian Spot was pretty massive, I did enjoy the Sanguche de Chicharron there when I visited back in February of last year. They also open at 10am, so I could beat any crowds in that rather small parking lot on the corner of Mesa College Drive and Ashford.
It was pretty quiet during my visit. With only one other customer….who seemed like a regular coming in for an order.
I was rather surprised to see that the Sanguche de Chicharron was still priced at $14.95….it hadn’t gone up in the last year-and-a-half. Of course, there were some alarm bells going off in mi cabeza, wondering if what I’d get would be radically different from my previous visit.
I was happy to see Bottled Inka Cola, which is vastly superior to the canned and plastic bottled versions. If I recall, the nice woman, who if I recall correctly is the owner told me this was imported…which means it uses cane sugar instead of corn syrup….it also is much cleaner tasting with an awesome light “fizziness”.
As for the sandwich….well, it’s still quite large!
But it has definitely changed! Instead of a variety of pork cuts, thinly sliced, and decent fat, with good porkiness, this version had three thick, tough, and dry slices of pork.
Only that middle slice had a decent pork flavor, the other two thick and dry chops was definitely in the “other white meat” category. The roll was still very nice, fairly light and yeasty, and held up pretty well. Nice layer of camote slices added a good sweetness. The salza criolla tasted more like straight-forward pickled onions, really sour, and lacking in a touch of spice. And there seemed to be a bit too much of it.
If you’d like to see what the sanguche de chicharron looked like before, here’s a photo.
Hmmm……..
Well, in terms of price….you do get quite a large sandwich….but in my opinion, it’s nothing like what it used to be. It’s not bad mind you; it’s just not as good in my mind.
The Peruvian Spot
7510 Mesa College Dr.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Sunday, Tues – Fri 10am – 8pm
Closed on Saturday and Monday
Soon enough my lomo saltado arrived. Quite a bit of onions and papas frita in this. The rice was fairly dry and chewy, but edible, and seemed to have been seasoned a bit.
The presentation was lovely; though the boiled egg was overcooked. The chicken was fairly bland, stringy, and there was a bit too much mayo. The potatoes were nicely done though.
Loved the crust of the empanadas. Even though it wasn't slightly flakey, it had a nice crunchy texture. I didn't care much for the dusting of sugar as I think it detracted from the overall flavor. Like I mentioned earlier, the sauce did well with the pastry, deflecting some of the sweetness and helping with the texture of the beef which was pretty chewy.
This was a lot less stuffed than the version at The Peruvian Spot. It had a drizzle of Mama G's sauce which did a pretty nice job of adding a creamy, mild spice to things. The ratio of camote and salsa criolla to meat was quite balanced.
The young lady working asked me if I wanted to try the spicy versions of Mama G's sauces and brought some over when I said yes. The verde was quite nice, not overly spicy to me. I added a tad more to the sandwich and used it to dip the very dry and limp fries.
Some Aji Verde was provided, which was much better than the other two I tried on my previous visit; somewhat creamy, tangy, some decent spice.
Speaking of acidity; man, this version was on the sour side. At least it wasn't overly salty. I think it could have used more onions for an added sweet-pungency.
This was interesting as in terms of flavor, it seemed to lack the sour vinegar tones. Though, I had to remind myself, when reading tomes like 
Anyway, in terms of the dish, the beef was really tough, and quite “metallic” in flavor. There wasn’t enough tomatoes to add a nice acidity to the dish. As for the papas fritas….well, I had to “dig” to find them. There were a few quite dry pieces of potato provided. In terms of flavor, this was slightly salty, lacking in the sour tones, with metallic tones. The rice was fine, though also on the dry side.
The southernmost 'anchor' building used to be a small grocer which had a small restaurant connected. Now, the grocery building is another location of Keg 'n Barrel, a beer and liquor store. The restaurant is walled off and a separate business, Sangucheria PSF (Peruvian Street Food), which opened in January 2022. Kirk posted about it 
The small shop has seating for about 35 and is walk up, order and pay. Your food is brought out to the table.
The simple menu has a good variety of choices.
We decided to share. First, a cheese empanada ($6). Thin, flaky crust filled with a hefty amount of warm, firm (not gooey) Oaxaca cheese. This was very satisfying.
The Choripan sandwich ($10) was served with two house made chile based sauces (that one on the left is catsup; the green one had a pleasant heat and that yellow one was spicy, probably habanero or a cousin).
Served on a thin/ crisp crusted, warm bread which was light and airy (and crushed down easily), this weighty sandwich was enough to share.
Two split then grilled chorizo links topped with a house made chimichurri sauce (with distinct parsley, garlic and oregano flavors). You know I am picky about chorizo (see 
That catsup was for the sweet potato fries ($4.50) we ordered. We also shared an Inka Kola ($2.50); the familiar vanilla soda flavor brought back good memories.
Like before, the sandwich uses a yeasty Telera roll. The pork was more seasoned than I recall, the pork was quite chewy, which is in line with 
I would also vote to have more camote, as it makes little impact on the sandwich.
