Starting off the weekend with a burrito and a beer
In California, or more specifically as it relates to my story, in San Francisco, there’s a lot of talk of amazing Mexican food. The word best gets used pretty frequently. The best burrito, the best taqueria, the best this, the best that.
So naturally, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. After consulting a few food blogs and other websites, some SF locals, and my handy dandy Lonely Planet guidebook, the name I kept getting was La Taqueria. Other places popped up here and there but none with the same frequency or hardcore following as La Taqueria.
“Best Mexican in the Mission!”
“Their burritos are incredible!”
“Ohmygod my favorite!”
When a friend from New York came into town for the weekend and suggested burritos, La Taqueria was an obvious choice since she’d also heard it was a must on the San Francisco food circuit.
Maybe I had set my expectations too high. Maybe I was awaiting some sort of religious experience via burrito. Maybe I thought I was getting a life altering moment wrapped in a corn tortilla.
Good, yes. Best? Debatable.
Don’t get me wrong, my carne asada burrito was good but it was neither mind-blowing nor the best Mexican food I’ve ever eaten in my life. Pretty good yes, but the absolute best? I’m not ready to hand out that kind of accolade.
The meat was juicy and soft, and the whole burrito in fact was a drippy mess (something I don’t mind in a burrito) yet it lacked something. There were red beans, sour cream and chunks of fresh tomato, but I still found myself squirting jalapeño sauce on every few bites to liven things up. I left out the guacamole and cheese because I didn’t want to complicate things or bury the taste of the carne asada but in retrospect, maybe that’s where I went wrong.
Someone we were with ordered chips with guacamole and salsa but even that wasn’t anything spectacular. While the guacamole had nice chunks of creamy avocado, I didn’t taste much of any other ingredients. My friend resorted to sprinkling salt on each mouthful she scooped up. The salsa, a pico de gallo of sorts, had a little more kick but made the chips underneath it soggy and wet.
After everything I heard about La Taqueria and its burritos, I had been ready to gorge myself, so much so that I walked all the way there from where I’m staying which took about an hour at a brisk (i.e. hungry) pace. Like I said, it was good but not the best, and I just don’t know that I’ll make that trek again on foot just for another burrito.
The Good Fork 
That’s because you need to come to LA for a mind-blowing burrito! (hint, hint)
Funnily enough, one of the best burritos I’ve ever had was at this little hole-in-the-wall Mexican place around the corner from where I went to school at the University of Hawaii. They made these incredible carne asada burritos consisting of a flour tortilla stuffed with meat, Monterrey Jack and queso blanco cheeses, grilled onions, fried potatoes (very similar to french fries) and just a little bit of sour cream…Oh my God those burritos were so good it makes me cry just thinking about it. I’m not sure if the place is even open anymore since that was about four years ago, but I will find out and if it is you must stop there on your next trip to the Islands.
As for LA, I will make it my personal mission to seek out an amazing burrito place and let you know…or if I can tempt you out here I will make you one myself, with my freshly made roasted tomato salsa, guacamole and tortilla chips! Then you can write an article about me, lol :-p
Another great article Angie, even if La Taqueria didn’t turn out to be all you’d hoped for. Keep up the good work! I always come on here and torture myself salivating at your pictures whenever I have the late night munchies or am trying to figure out what to fix for dinner 😀
Ooh! I looked up the place I was talking about…not only is it still open but it seems to have done quite well…they have a website now, you can check it out @ http://www.diegostacos.com. The burrito that I was talking about was Diego’s burrito…I’d forgotten that it has guacamole in it too. So good!
Christiane! I toooootally wanna come visit you in LA! Let’s make this happen. You know, and I’m not just saying this to say it, some of the best guac I’ve ever had was the one you made in London for that Cinco de Mayo get-together at Lawrence’s. Every time I’ve made it after that, I’ve tried to stick to how you made it. Mmmm I want some right now actually.
I thought my tacos were pretty darn good, esp. the carnitas one. Maybe the tacos is their true calling and not the burrito? The guac did lack soooo much salt though.
Just yesterday I saw the carnitas tacos listed on a list of 100 things you have to eat in San Fran, so maybe that’s where I went wrong. Shoulda got the tacos. Grr. Next time!