I'm not even going to try putting this all in one post. So here are just the links to the places we tried. Several people had given me recommendations for places to try, and sadly we got to almost none of them. I'm unhappy about that, especially about the ones we got at the picnic, but we just didn't have time. I still want to try those places, and next time we'll get recommendations first before building the itinerary. I am an idiot.
Taco Mesa, Costa Mesa
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/UCt1ydwvUNu
Antojitos Carmen Restaurant, Los Angeles
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/JsaUZYHF936
King Taco, Los Angeles
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/UWtWmeJ2z9w
Taqueria Cuernavaca, Ventura
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/6jFQGr6ydZf
La Super-Rica Taqueria, Santa Barbara
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/UByXT6m5UJK
Tacos El Grullense Jal, Gilroy
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/7CEUF4E6hQk
Taqueria Ramiro & Sons, Alameda
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/jVpmjquchbk
Tacos Guadalajara, Oakland
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/EjK3vVEcAB8
Pancho Villa Taqueria, San Mateo
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/JuDz7VMiNJj
Taqueria Sinaloa, Oakland
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/PCw9b6LNwWx
El Gallo Gina taco truck, San Francisco
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/XEkgJYmCARa
El Farolito Taqueria, San Francisco
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/STv6UdV54gp
Taqueria Los Charros, Mountain View
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/GxdBMH4VKTa
Tacos La Poteranca De Jalisco, King City
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/3ovdnoT2aSJ
La Picosita Restaurant, Santa Maria
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=4792102793249379818
Pancho Lopez, Calabasas
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/FqyEPrbQDnL
Metro Balderas Restaurant, Los Angeles
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/fB4QGzmx5My
Tacos La Estrella, Los Angeles
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/XEDpQdeysCB
El Pollero 95, Bell
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/Zv7iJDbpxHu
Juliana's, Anaheim
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/J4WBvBwe3Fs
Whenever I go to Los Angeles or the Bay Area or New Orleans I always spend a good amount of the trip filled with melancholy over the lack of a food culture in San Diego. There is just no getting around it - For a big city San Diego has strangely poor food. Just that. San Diego sucks for great food and food culture.
And the worst in your face example of this is Mexican. How can we have worse Mexican food when we're right on the Mexican border and the biggest demographic here is Latino? It feels like bizarro world when I need to drive further from Mexico to find great Mexican restaurants.
Yes, there is some wonderful Mexican food here. Super Cocina, El Pescador, La Fachada and others are really good. But 1) after you get past those few, things get thin quickly, and 2) there is nothing here that touches the breadth of authentic Mexican restaurants in LA. In San Diego we just have nothing to match up with LA eats like Guisados, Ta-comiendo, Monte Alban, El Huarachito, Babita, La Casita, Chichen Itza, Guelaguetza......... Etc, etc, etc, etc.
And don't even get me started on authentic taco trucks. San Diego has 4-5 in the entire metro area, Oakland has more than that on one street. Do we hate great cheap food or something?
It's sad to get the feeling, as I did, in the SF Mission district that some of the average Mexican food there is better than some of the top 10 in San Diego.
Oh well. I'll still enjoy tacos here. It just doesn't seem fair.
Well, the road trip didn't turn out exactly like I had planned. The plan was for 30 taco shops in 5 1/2 days, but we only got 20. The main problem was not realizing when I made up my list that the wife wouldn't be up for the sort of ordeal 30 stops would require. With the deal breaker being that she did not consider tripe tacos to be "breakfast" and kept insisting on eggs and toast.
I must admit though, eating that many tacos would have been a bit painful, and there was a big part of me that didn't mind at all devoting more time to her sight seeing and less to racing around stuffing my face when I wasn't hungry. 20 was comfortable, 30 would have been......... not comfortable.
I'm guessing one question people will have is, what was the best taco we ate? That's easy - El Farolito Taqueria in San Francisco
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/STv6UdV54gp
http://www.yelp.com/biz/el-farolito-san-francisco-2
But there is a problem with that. We barely scratched the surface. It would take weeks to get a meaningful idea of what the best tacos were in San Francisco alone. Same with Oakland, and LA, and everything in between. So please don't get the idea that we were there to find what was best. The goal was just to try lots of new things.
And we learned many things.
- We learned Mexican food in San Diego really doesn't measure up. It's sad.
- We learned that wandering around supposedly dangerous areas of LA and Oakland really is a bit intimidating. But we've done it now. It's fine.
- We learned al pastor up north means what I think of as adabada, rather than spit-roasted.
- We learned shrimp cocktails up there are more like soup. Well.... they are soup.
- We learned potato tacos seem to be a San Diego thing, as I didn't see any on the trip.
- We confirmed tripe isn't something I particularly like, no matter how it's cooked. Though I will say the stuff we got in Oakland was the best I've had, and certainly worth trying.
We only got to three trucks on the trip. And I must say, I was hoping they'd be better. Not that they weren't delicious, they were, but the sitdown places we went were much better.
My favorite place on the trip was Pancho Villa Taqueria in San Mateo
https://plus.google.com/109877313588078729086/posts/JuDz7VMiNJj
http://www.yelp.com/biz/pancho-villa-taqueria-san-mateo
I know, it's a fancified corporatized abomination of a taco shop with stupid high prices for mini tacos. I get it. But I loved it anyway. Would I usually eat there rather than the small mom&pop places? No. Was it worth waiting in line for seconds and thirds? Yes.
Overall the trip was a great success and made me hungry for more. Next, we take on LA in a systematic Mexican food attack.
When we pulled out of San Diego on the first day of the trip I was filled with no small amount of dread. We had so far to drive, and so many places to get to, that I was pretty sure we would either end up being miserable or fail miserably. The night before I had told my wife, "This is a really bad idea. We're going to do it anyway."
But the first two stops we made completely turned my attitude around. The food was so delightful that it just made me happy inside, and eager to charge forward.
The first stop, Taco Mesa, is just a great taco shop. Very funky decor, interesting things on the menu, and really good flavors. From the first sip of their great horchata I was impressed. They also had breakfast tacos, which were about the first tacos my wife has ever gotten excited about (she usually just gets a carnitas plate). It was a step off of the well worn taco shop path, in a very good way.
The second stop, Antojitos Carmen, seemed a little boring on first impression. Lots of regular taco shop fare - Quezadillas, Sopes, Huaraches, Gorditas, Enchiladas, Tostadas, Tortas, etc. But once we got the food we realized what was special about the restaurant. Other taco shops put out bland imitations of these entrees, Antojitos Carmen was serving the real thing. And there was also the special sesame salsa (yes, sesame salsa) which will require it's own post.
The third place, Taqueria Cuernavaca, a small but packed Mexican restaurant in Ventura, continued the trend. The al pastor tacos I got were simple yet perfect. That might take some explaining. Al pastor, in my understanding, is slices of marinaded pork stacked on a rotisserie, then sliced off as it chars and served with fresh pineapple. What I usually get is just pork in sauce, or missing pineapple, or drowned in spices. This was perfect. And simple. And delicious.
All dread was forgotten. This trip was fantastic. One of the best vacations I'd ever had actually. I was in taco heaven.
But...... Things went down hill for a bit after that. The next few shops were good, but not special. Oh well.
I'm not sure what the lessen was here. I think we just got lucky that the first places we tried were that wonderful. Some slight changes to the itinerary would have gotten a clunker or two in the mix.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/taco-mesa-costa-mesa
http://www.antojitoscarmen.com/
http://www.yelp.com/biz/taqueria-cuernavaca-ventura
One of the interesting things about this road trip was how much the whole process of "road trip" has changed in just a few years. Smartphones and websites have either enriched the experience...... or ripped it's soul out and killed it.
Let me explain.
So I've done many rather huge road trips in my life. Driving thousands of miles a day used to be one of those things I just did now and then. For most of my life the process worked like this - Pick a few must-see destinations, book hotels, confirm I had maps, start driving. I generally had no idea what was up the road. The trips tended to be in the genre of "adventures of discovery". Radio was usually not an interesting option, and I tend to not talk much, so the trip was either silently alone with my thoughts or listening to the same CDs over and over. Eating was very hit or miss. Before Yelp and such, how would you possibly find a good place to eat in Pocatello Idaho other than random chance?
This trip was nothing like that at all.
For this trip the Droids changed nearly every facet of the experience. With Yelp I can find a great place to eat anywhere any time. Maps? Why do I even need them, when I have full satellite navigation in my pocket? Radio? With the Droids plugging into the car stereo we had endless options to choose from - thousands for songs, hours of podcasts, radio stations anywhere in the world, TV or movies even.
The biggest change is certainly the combination of Google maps and GPS. I'm not even sure if this trip could have been pulled off without those. Many of the taco shops we went to were a real pain in the ass to get to. Trying to navigate around unfamiliar parts of Oakland or LA using paper maps would have driven my copilot to an enraged meltdown. With the Droids I just pulled up taco shop, hit "navigate", and started driving.
The Google sat nav even tells me exactly how long it will take to get someplace. And yes it takes traffic and road conditions into account. Wondering how long it will take to get from Gilroy to a picnic area up in the hills of Berkeley? The Droid tells you, to the minute, and it was always right. Wondering what lane to be in? The Droid tells you. Worried about getting lost? It's not even possible.
And one of the central logistic issues of a road trip - getting gas in the car - now involves picking a nearby station off a list based on user reviews. One is closer, but people say this other one has easier freeway access and clean bathrooms. Oh, here's some pictures. Yes, navigate me to that one.
So is this a good thing, or is the road trip experience now ruined?
Sure, smartphones make it easier, and less boring. But that also removes much of the charm. A road trip used to be a bit scary. Simple things like getting some food in your mouth used to be a bit of an adventure. Getting lost might be a classic story you'd tell people about for years. Potentially running out of gas used to add a sense of danger. The sence of "where the hell am I?", or "What the hell do i do now?" used to be core to a road trip. Now.... not so much.
Bottomline - Not knowing what might be around the next bend in the road used to be a thing that actually existed. But now I have an icon on my phone that will tell me every interesting thing within 50 miles. With reviews and photos.
Ruined? Not for me. In my humble opinion it's much better.
So the buzz in tech this week seems to be the feature war going on between Facebook and Google+. Google+ opened it's beta with tons of features people had been wanting for years, then Facebook quickly added many of those features. Now we have this major slap fight over which will win, and which doesn't get it, and which is stealing what, and on and on about what everyone wants and doesn't want.
Like this -
https://plus.google.com/113117251731252114390/posts/cmrXCip3uhu
While fun and thoughtful, I find it all a bit beanplating. That is, over thinking something so passionately that you forget it's just a plate of beans.
I think most users like Facebook because it is simple.
I think most users like Google+ because it is fancy.
And depending on what you want, either may be broken.
These are two different products, and they always will be. Comparing features, strategy, implementation, etc is digging too deep if what users really want (in the case of Facebook) is just to share a silly little thought with family and friends. And it's silly to define a service (in the case of Google+) by it's limited feature set and small userbase if it's in the beginning stages of beta.
To me this is how the "fight" matches up right now -
Facebook has a huge number of people who just want to keep very informal contact with people they normally wouldn't bother keeping in contact with at all. And they want it to be dead simple, because if it takes effort it's just not worth the bother.
Google+ has, by comparison, a tiny group of beta testers who want a wider ranging feature set, tied into other Google services, where they can dial in settings and privacy/access. And they'd like to have more involved conversations. And they'd like to connect to cool people in addition to friends and family.
By analogy - Facebook is a small highschool/coworker/family reunion. Google+ is a huge state fair.
These are two very different things. And they will have different failings in any feature war. For Facebook the failing will be making a bunch of features, when people liked it for how simple it was. For Google+ the failing will be having a complex social hub that won't attract people who want simple and minimal. But..... so what? I suspect both will be huge and successful.
In short, Facebook vs Google+ is more like snack vs meal, rather than Ford vs Chevy. And in the end, people will likely use both.
