Day 35- Sombrerro's

For today's burrito, I headed to the Sombrero's that I had passed a couple days ago on my way to Taco Fiesta. Someone (I can't remember who) had recommended to me the Sombrero's by Sports Arena, but as yesterdays unintentional repeat has shown, chain restaurants- even small ones- will have consistency.

I ordered form the drive through, and to their credit this is the only place so far that asked if I wanted sour cream or guac added to my California burrito. Hell yes I'll take sour cream, thank you very much.

I appreciated the ability to make it to my taste, but unfortunately it was a bland burrito. It tastes like what I imagine a McDonald's California burrito would taste like. Nothing too exciting, just sort of... food. And in retrospect I suppose the fact that they asked if I wanted sour or guac should have tipped me off; that's probably the taco shop version of "You want fries with that?" which is the hallmark of average fast food.

Day 34- Rolberto's (oops)

Things have been hectic lately, so it's been tough to squeeze in my daily burrito (that's what she said), and even tougher to keep up on the blog. Today I worked a long day, then had a comedy show to perform with the always funny Rajan Dharni, amazing San Fran comic Tyson Karrasch, and unbelievably hilarious Guy Branum. Holy shit is Guy funny.

Anyway, I hadn't seen Tyson in forever so we had a few drinks after. I headed home around midnight still not sure where today's burrito would be found. I just sort of cruised around until I stumbled upon a Roberto's in... I don't know. What neighborhood is El Cajon and the 15?

Hmmm, this place looks familiar.

Once I walked in and saw the bars between the kitchen and the dining area I realized this was a Rolberto's- and I had already been to another of these. Oh well, my bad. Anyway, their burrito was pretty good, but again it lacked sour cream or guac. Other than that, very tasty. The quest continues...

33- Taco Fiesta

I am determined to end this slump I'm in. 2 bad California burritos in a row, this can't continue. Today's pick was Taco Fiesta, not only because it was recommended to me by 3 San Diego comics: first Dirtfoot, followed by Matt Zint and Nic Flair, but also because it has "fiesta" right in the name. It happens to be located right across the street from another place on my list- Sombrero. Looks like I may be back here tomorrow.
Dirtfoot actually met me there for today's dinner. I ordered my California burrito, hoping that these comics were right, and it was ready in less than 2 minutes. I know fast speed of service generally equates to quality, but it's got to be some sort of bell curve; there's certainly a point where it's made so quickly that it's going to suck.

Luckily that wasn't the case today. Taco Fiesta has a kick-ass California burrito. I can't top-10 this one though. Excellent carne asada, crispy fries, good amount of cheese, but they follow a pattern that I've been experiencing with alarming regularity: pico only, no guac or sour. I think it could be a conspiracy. And if it is, legendary San Diego comic and Comedy Store regular Bob Hansen will surely have the scoop on it.

32- Sabrosito

I'm barely 1/3 of the way in and I see no end of new taco shops in sight. The recommendations are piling up as if they were the collective boulder to my Sisyphus. Oh yeah, there's mythology references here; nerd alert.

Had an incredibly fun evening performing on the Adams Art Fair Comedy Trolley (with San Diego regulars April venture, Michael Delvey, Matt Zint, Gene DeBruler, Jinnie Freeman, and Chip Nicholson), but after barely getting my fix in yesterday I wanted to avoid the last-minute rush.

The trolley made a 5-minute pitstop at one point for a smoke break. I thought it would be funny to get off the trolley, run 2 or 3 blocks down the street, and get back on when it resumes it's rounds. Funny to me, anyway. As luck would have it, when I got to the next stop to wait there was a Taco shop right there. Day 32 about to be official.

I ducked in the door and asked if they could make a California burrito in 3 minutes. And they hooked me up. I had my burrito in hand a full minute before the trolley even arrived. It was not a great California burrito; they don't use guac or sour, and the carne asada was a bit gristly, but I give them points for service. I might even give Sabrosito's another shot after B90X is over.

Day 31- MXN

Today was a close call. I worked all day, then had to cruise straight to OBC for open mic, as well as recording the set for awesome headliner Jiavani Linayao. She killed, by the way. After that, Jia and I met up with hilarious local comics Christian Spicer (and his super cool wife Amanda) and Sam Wiles (how's that for name-dropping, bitches?) to go see X-Men: First Class. Really, redally, just a bad movie. It wasn't outright horrible but it fell so short of it's potential that it seems worse than it really is.

In hindsight I should've known that such a bad movie is a harbinger of a bad California burrito. I went to MXN, which I was dubious of in the first place since it's a chain. But enough people had recommended it to me to give it a shot. More importantly it was open at 1:30 AM and on my way home. I dig the novelty of the serving basket they use since the drive through is on the wrong side of the car.

The first two bites were all tortilla. Barely any filling in this Cali burrito. What the eff? Plus they served it with only salsa- no guac or sour. That immediately moves it to near the bottom of my list.

So to recap- not much substance, lack of key ingredients, and questionable quality on the ingredients that WERE there. Pretty weak overall, and in retrospect a perfect companion to X-Men: First Class.

30 Days in the Hole- Rigoberto's

Who doesn't love a Humble Pie reference? I was in La Jolla to see awesome comics Jesse Egan and Christian Spicer, so I headed over to Rigoberto's. I had passed it a few nights ago driving around and it got added to the list.
Daaaaaaamn was it good! Possibly the tastiest carne asada of any of the places yet, and definitely the best fries. And mother-effing LOADED with cheese. Right now it's sitting like a brick in my stomach. A delicious, delicious brick. Unfortunately they only serve it with pico. If it was served with sour it would be the new #1.

Also, I think I may have picked up a tapeworm somewhere along the way. I find that as I'm eating the California burritos, I'm actually getting hungrier with every bite. So I figure it's either that or some kind of Mexican gypsy curse.

Day 29- El Cuervo

Meh. Been a while since I had a bad burrito, but it happened today. Another recommendation from cooler-than-Samuel-Jackson Amanda Spicer; her first one was great, this one... not so much.

The packaging should have been a dead giveaway- styrofoam and tin foil? What the eff, El Cuervo? They serve it loaded, which is to say guac, sour, and pico. But it just doesn't work. Their pico tastes a bit off somehow. I don't know how you fuck up pico, but El Cuervo does. Kudos to you, El Cuervo. The fries were good, but that's about the only positive. This was another one of those sad California burritos that suffers from ingredient separation: one bite of just guac, one bite of fries and meat, one bite of pico.

I would definitely say pass on this one. If you're in the area and craving a California burrito, just go across the street to La Posta.