The unofficial larb eatery

From Ghetto to Gourmet, from Pabst to Perignon, EatFiend is where you will find pictures of food, skateboarding, the ways of the Almighty Larb and drunken ramblings about pictures of food.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Carne Asada with extra nostalgia

I don't know why Northern California just can't get burritos, or for that matter Mexican food, to taste... what's the word... GOOD.

Since I've been on vacation in good old socal, I've been ramming burritos into my gaping maw like they don't exist in norcal. That statement may as well be true, because they're substandard imitations of what is to be found down here.

I went to Clayton's Mexican Takeout in Coronado today, long considered to be one of the crappier Mexican takeout restaurants in San Diego. It stood up to expectations.


The carne was overcooked and the veggies were lousy. But here's the sad part: It was 1000x better than any burrito I've had up north, even in the depths of the Mexican neighborhoods where one would expect the best qauality Mexican food. I enjoyed the hell out of a burrito that has to be one of the worst in San Diego, just because Northern California Mexicans can't get their shit together.

Just a quick summary of what a standard carne asada burrito consists of up north:

"Steak" (which I still refer to as carne asada, even though most mexican restaurants don't). This is a pretty accurate description because it seems that they don't season, marinade, or do much of anything with it.
Rice and Beans (I mean what the flying fuck? They put them on tacos too. Do I need to take these Mexicans to Mexican cooking school?)
Lettuce and tomatoes.
Guac and sour cream for like, $1.50 extra.

Carne asada burrito in San Diego:
CARNE ASADA. REAL. CARNE. ASADA.
Guac, sour cream, cheese, and lettuce & tomatoes if you want it.

I went to a place in Fruitvale, a shitty neighborhood in Oakland not too long ago. Naturally, the shittier the neighborhood, and the more Ethnically Mexican a neighborhood is, the better one would expect the burrito to be.

I asked for a Carne asada burrito a-la-socal, as above. Specifically, I asked for no rice and beans. So somehow, in their mind, that meant "Put a weird fucking salad thing in as filler." So it was like a norcal burrito, except instead of rice and beans, it was shredded lettuce with what tasted like some overly sweet miso dressing. Yeah, really fucking authentic there, chumps.

I digress. My point is that San Diego's crappiest offering still puts the Bay Area to shame. Anyone want to invest in a Mexican restaurant to be opened in the East Bay? I will put these assholes out of business with a real taco shop.

No comments :

Post a Comment