Having lived between LA and SD my entire life, and have visited SF regularly, always seeking out the mom and pop taco shops throughout California-
Nothing beats the San Diego style carne asada burrito- seasoned, chunky meat, guacamole, pico de gallo, chopped onions, chopped cilantro, heavy, thick tortilla. No beans, no rice, no lettuce, definitely no sour cream. Extra salsa is encouraged, but not required.
My favorite in all of California can be had at Kotija Jr. in Encinitas/Leucadia (PCH at Leucadia Blvd).
This site hasnāt been updated in years, but still has some good reviews (several by me)- http://www.burritophile.com/
It could be viewed as a riff on Willy Wonkaās three-course-dinner chewing gum.
Or a Mexican version of a Bento box. With careful selection and ordering, youād end up with an escalating taste sensation ā¦ as long as you started at the proper end.
Wow! A burrito turf war! I wonder if we can draw up some battle lines over BBQ! Texas brisket vs. Carolina pulled pork: which one is really BBQ? (Actually I swing both ways)
Theyāre both delicious, but I prefer pulled pork because can be worked into any meal of the day, so leftovers wonāt take up space in the fridge long.
In scrambled eggs, on toast, sandwiches, added to stew, in a burrito, on a bagel, in a gyro, on pizza, in ravioli.
I prefer enchiladas myself. I have always suspected the enchilada is an entirely bogus variety of food. And so it becomes the signal food of Los Angeles. The ground beef enchiladas at Campos are a thing to behold. A plate of tasty brown and red stuff. Donāt look too deeply at its history or you wont be able to finish.
So many souls lost in The Burrito Wars, try to have some godamned respect. I was there knee deep in black beans and salsa while the rest of you were all ādropping outā and āturning onā.
Americans fighting over who makes the best Mexican food: Classic.
Mexican burritos contain rice so, thereās that.
You arenāt the arbiter of what constitutes a burrito, bud. Here a āwrapā is almost universally a cold/room temp food. Burritos are always hot (the meat and tortilla at least).
You are killing me. I moved from San Diego to Portland several years ago and have to go back south to find a decent carne asada burrito. I donāt know where MichaelRpdx is getting his burritos, but all the ones Iāve had up here so far have had rice, beans and lettuce in them. NO NO NO. When I visit my parents, a trip to the taco shop is the first order of business.
First, disagree about lettuce. In fact I think naming which ingredients can and canāt be in a ātrueā burrito is complete nonsense. Are you going to make a list of ingredients that are fine to put on a pizza? Of course not so why do you think itās okay to limit a burritoās ingredients, especially taking into consideration your second point about the rolling style being unorthodox.
Second: Itās not unorthodox, itās wrong. Going back to the pizza example, would you enjoy a pizza on which each slice only has one of the pizzaās ingredients? No, thatās stupid.
Oh noā¦ here goes the flamewar. Ham & Pineapple is an awesome pizza.
Iām strongly of the belief that anything can go on a pizza, with one proviso: that everything on there is in bite-size chunks. A friend ordered a ācountry style pizzaā in Japan onceā¦ she received corn on the cob, roast potatoes and a full, uncut steak on a pizza base. Thatās an example where itās not a pizza but a plate of food with a pizza base instead of a plate (with a plate under that).
