Farewell to Mario's La Fiesta

After reading an article that the original owners of Mario's La Fiesta were retiring after 52 years of running the restaurant, J and I headed back for a bit of nostalgia. As we searched for the address we discovered that they were no longer at their original Telegraph location, but across the street nearer to People's Park. When we arrived and looked over at the original Telegraph location, we immediately felt out of date.

Any concerns that things had changed substantially were quickly dispelled when we discovered the present location had the same decor, tables and benches that made the booths in the original location. The menu looked exactly the same as it was over a decade ago, even the prices appeared unchanged. We both looked at each other in disbelief. It was a bargain back then, so much so that one of my closest friends on a tight budget would always get a super burrito which probably weighed about two or three pounds to have food that would last him for the next few meals. I remember loving the vegetable soup they served at the beginning of each meal and that this was the place that introduced me to agua fresca.

I ordered red beef enchiladas and an agua fresca and asked whether they were still serving the vegetable soup. The server smiled and said yes of course. We were excited to find that the soup tasted exactly the same as did the salsa always sitting on the table and the unsalted bowl of chips. At that point I started to remember what the red enchiladas tasted like and the times I had eaten them, once an infamous night when I had overdone it. Then our dishes arrived and I felt transported back in time. The red sauce that I had forgotten was now completely familiar like having a chance meeting with a long lost friend and finding that you can pick up exactly from where you left off so many years ago. J said that her favorites were the same as well. We talked about the old days and the amusing things we did as kids. I'm not sure whether it was all the memories tied up with Mario's or the idea that as much as I've changed over those years something somewhere had remained exactly the same, but these were some of the best enchiladas I've had in a long time.

TACOLICIOUS ***

I happened to be on Chestnut and needed a late weeknight dinner. Good chance to give Tacolicious a whirl. I was a bit wary of the place because I haven't had much luck with a similar sustainable organic Mexican kitchen situated on the other side of town, and from the first time I saw it in the ferry building, I just wasn't sure to make of the comical name.  Did it make sense to eat Mexican food in the Marina at a place called Tacolicious?  I thought to myself, I'll probably leave wishing I had just gone to a taqueria in the Mission.  And yet, ignoring my preconceived notions paid off.  After one visit, Tacolicious won me over.


The salsa had fresh flavor, nice acidity with a hint of spice. After we polished off our first round of chips, we started on a ceviche appetizer.  The marinade was a tad too acidic, but the fish was fine and some little pieces of jicama(?) added a nice crunch. On to the tacos, very good across the board.  In order of my preference: braised short rib, smokey chicken, and crispy fried fish. I was excited to see the fried fish tacos, though the fish was less than crispy by the time it got to our table.  More impressive were the smokey chicken and the braised short rib tacos. The whole set came with a trio of salsa, each of them top notch.


I never ate at Laiola, but it's clear that the kitchen is taking its casual menu seriously. Tacolicious is at the top of my list for the next time I'm in the Marina.

Chestnut/Fillmore

TAQUERIA SAN FRANCISCO **

I've gotten into the habit of going straight to the Tonayense trucks and having tripe tacos on a fairly consistent basis.  Today, I decided to mix it up by trying out Taqueria San Francisco which is only a hop, jump and skip away at 24th and York.  TSF is in a clean, well lit corner spot with plenty of seating and Telemundo playing on one tv screen. 

Good, I can practice my Spanish while I munch on the some chips.  Unfortunately the chips were the generic type found at the majority of taq's around town.  They were saved by two varieties of salsa, one an innocent looking pico de gallo that revealed its inner spiciness after I ate a huge spoonful. It was fresh and piquant while the other liquidy red pepper tomato looking number, tasted bright and vinegary.  Both were good counterpoints to the heaviness of cheese and pork that was to come.

I ordered a Super Quesadilla Al Pastor, despite the fact that Burrito Eater gave it a lower mustache rating than the Carne Asada.  You might wonder, what kind of Mexican food afficionado orders a quesadilla?  Well, it's just a burrito minus the beans and rice.  Cutting these corners are critical part of my strategy to avoid the need for a post lunch siesta and therefore a sign of prowess (think of everything I accomplish while you burrito eaters are sleeping).  The al pastor was juicy and tender with the right amount of smokiness and char without any of the dried out burnt bits that you sometimes get at other places.  It wasn't coming right off of a Mexico City style rotisserie, but it was on par with the al pastor at the trucks.  The cooks took a lot of care in making the quesadilla and I appreciated that the tortilla was fresh and nicely toasted.  I'll come back to try some of the other things on the menu.

EL DELFIN **'

Looking for soup and menudo, so we ended up at El Delfin.  The menudo was full of tripe in a thick and deeply flavored red broth.  The tendon and tripe were prepared so that each piece was thin and tender.  My only issue with the dish was that the stew broth was too thick and strong, almost a stew. 

The chicken soup was more of a soup with good chicken flavor and chock full of vegetables.  One of the better chicken soups I've had in the Mission.  Perhaps it was because they were busy, but I recall that they used to serve freshly fried tortilla chips.  No such chips on this occasion.  In any case I'll trade the fresh tortilla chips for the comfort that they'll be in business for a while.  I was glad to see that they were busy, I used to worry about them a little when I so often found the place empty.

Everytime I dine at El Delfin I get either the prawns with chile de arbol or with chile chipotle.  Yes, I know, a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.  I just can't help myself, I'm a chile head.  This time I went for the chile de arbol which was exactly as I remembered it, buttery, garlicky and addictively spicy.

Previous Post on El Delfin

POC CHUC ***

Poc Chuc panuchos, fried to a crisp and stuffed with their delicious black beans. Topped off with shredded turkey and some ultra spicy and vinegary salsa and you've got the crunchy, spicy, vinegar and herbs against the earthly beans and turkey. It looks like the place is busier than it used to be, but the food is as good as ever.

Previous Posts on Poc Chuc:

October 2007
September 2007 as Popol Vuh

Berkeley Oakland Tour

G and I headed to Berkeley and Oakland for an afternoon of food. The goal was to visit some old stomping grounds, have fun, not explode, and be back to the City in time for dinner.



Vik’s – Hyderabadi Fish was the daily special, we enjoyed the fish and the mild buttery sauce. I love the pickled achar and papam that comes standard with the specials. We also had the pane puri which is the mini puris with potato, chickpea and mint. I prefer the giant puri’s and liked the look of the dosas being consumed around us, but felt that would be far too filling to start off our day. We also had the Dahi Pakori a lentil dumpling topped with yogurt, which I did not like because of its sweetness. This is not a negative reflection upon Vik’s preparation. I’ve had this dish at other restaurants and didn’t like it. I just keep forgetting that I don’t like it and for some reason the description always attracts me. Note to self no more Dahi Pakori. The last time I was at Vik’s was about six years ago and the furnishings were far different. Good to see the place doing well with real seating and nice new counters.

Acme – picked up an Epi loaf, Pain Levain and an almond croissant for later. I was disappointed by the almond croissant. The Epi loaf was good, but I still prefer the walnut bread at Tartine (as well as Tartine’s Frangipane Croissant).

Then headed to the Cheeseboard for pizza. The pizza du jour was Asparagus, Prima Donna Gouda, Mozzarella, Olive Oil, Lemon Zest, Garlic and Parsley. Beautiful pizza, thin with the right amount of cheese, the lemon and parsley really stood out. The bottom was wonderfully crisp and supported the softer layer of crust above. Hooray, a place with good crust!

Café Rouge. I wanted to buy some sausages and decided on a few of their house made Merguez and Seville sausages. The seville was made of pork, proscuitto, all spice, and Seville oranges. At home I found it very tasty, salty from the proscuitto, red and slightly citrus from the orange, the flavor profile reminded me of a milder version of Calabrese sausage. We also picked up some proscuitto for a cheese tray we were putting together. The proscuitto was excellent with the port salute cheese brought by E on Sunday; it was not as intense as the one from Lucca.

Headed to Ici. Tasted the Cardamom and Burnt Caramel. The burnt caramel had a bit too much of the bitter burnt flavor to me, I guess I’ve become accustomed to Bi-Rite’s salted caramel. The cardamom was good, but I settled on a Meyer Lemon with Gingersnap ice cream sandwich. Enjoyed the gingersnap layers very much and liked the Meyer Lemon ice cream, but it is slightly icier and more citrus than the one at Bi-Rite which I prefer. My friend had the Catalan Cream flavor and loved it. It was flavored with Anis, Vanilla and something else. She also loved the cone and commented that the flavors at Ici are fairly pure as if they should be served with something as a dessert. They are still good as stand alone ice cream (she preferred Ici to Bi-Rite), but better with the ice cream sandwich layer or their excellent cones. This made sense to me given that it was started by a former Chez Panisse pastry chef.

Off to Oakland's Chinatown where we had Har Gow at Delicious Foods. The Har Gow were particularly good, better than many of those I’ve had from the Clement take out places. Very good recommendation. A thinnish dumpling skin gently wrapping a soft shrimp filling. The wrapper was soft, not thick or gummy, and held together a substantial amount of shrimp. I will get those again.

Walked around the corner to Napoleon Bakery where we grabbed a couple of sponge cupcakes and custard tarts for later. The guy next to us was loading up on the cupcakes and said ‘these are great aren’t they, like biting into pillows.’ As I bit into one in the car, I found them soft and airy, simple and not too sweet. We consumed the tarts that night, nice egg taste, good crust - they held up well.

Then to Tao Yuen, a couple of doors down where we opted for the tofu skin rolls and a sesame ball. The tofu skin rolls were very crispy on the outside even though they had been sitting around and must have been fried a while ago. The flavorful filling had pork, shrimp, mushrooms, water chestnuts -- better than the soggy style served on Clement. The sesame ball was not good at all. Rice rolls were recommended, but both G and I agreed that we were not in the mood. I then sheepishly admitted I was not a huge fan of mantou or long rice noodles. G exclaimed “me too!” and we agreed that it was odd because many people whom we respect love them. We walked out and enjoyed our tofu skin rolls, happy with the knowledge that two people sharing the same stomach had managed to find each other in this crazy world of ours.

It was starting to rain, so we figured we better get to the taco trucks before it became too wet to eat outside. After cruising past several of them we stopped at Tacos Guadalajara. Both of us had al pastor. The al pastor had the spicy seasoning I expected, but the meat was cut a little more thickly than what I’m used to. I’m on the fence as to whether this was an improvement or not. There have been times I felt that the thin cut al pastor was too overpowering, this cut was thick and juicy and held up to the seasoning. The tortillas were slightly toasted, but still soft.

Made a short stop at Cinco de Maya Nieves shop on Int’l Boulevard where we were disappointed to find some regular ice cream bought wholesale. Of course, we were at the wrong place, not the food stall that we had intended to try. We ordered a hibiscus flavored snow cone. It was the typical kind that you get at a school fund raising carnival, but at least something to refresh us before we headed to Taqueria Sinaloa . The snow cone was too sweet and the ice was coarse (not like shaved ice in Hawaii). We would not come back here.

Finally a stop at Sinaloa where we ordered tacos de carnitas, al pastor and tripitas. The meat on the carnitas and al pastor were very tender and juicy. She particularly liked the soft juicy carnitas meat. The al pastor was tender though the sauce was slightly sweet, which I was not expecting. Tripitas were a bit of a disappointment for me, because the tripe was somewhat soft. I’m used to the Tonayense trucks where they fry the tripitas right before serving so that it gets crisped up to the consistency and taste of crisp bacon. The tortillas were crispy and a bit oily from frying. I’ll get the carnitas next time.

Thanks to the folks on Chowhound who armed us with recommendations and maps for our tour, I was happy with the food sites around Berkeley and Oakland. Even after trying eleven places in one afternoon, I was already thinking of new possibilities for further adventures.

Our day was a success, we had fun, survived without any permanent injury to internal organs and were back in time for dinner. Hopefully G will be up for Part Two on the next visit to SF.

CHICHEN ITZA***

Update: This place is now Poc Chuc.



Just returned from dinner at Chichen Itza, the restaurant formerly known as Popol Vuh. The food was a great value, the overall quality of the food was high and dishes well executed. There are few places in the City, if any, that eight people could eat this well for a pre-tip bill of $16 per person.

The restaurant was kind enough to share a two traditional Yucatecan dishes that are not on their menu. The roast chicken leg in mole and the tamales colado. The roast chicken was tender, though I felt that the mole was somewhat thick and lacked depth. The tamales colado on the other hand had the texture of soft creamy and very fine polenta -- comforting. The filling was shredded chicken in a savory yellow sauce that had a slight cheese flavor. The flavors blended well with the creamy outer layer, this was my definitely my favorite dish of the night. Unfortunately, they don't make this regularly.

The other stand out for me were the handmade tortillas. Almost too good to fill with lots of things, just a bit of pork or a smear of bean puree was enough to highlight the fresh handmade goodness.

Also good were escabeche de pavo, panucho, poc chuc and the extra creamy and savory mashed potatoes that accompanied several dishes.

The only items that were not to my particular taste was the duck, which I prefer more rare and the lamb, which seemed somewhat dry. These were personal preferences not missteps by the kitchen. Service was friendly and eager to please, the food arrived quickly and the overall quality was excellent. Definitely return to try some other items.

16th at South Van Ness


Previous Posts:
Popol Vuh Revisted October 2007
Popol Vuh September 2007

LOLO***

Several weeks ago, dinner at Lolo. First off, extremely friendly staff some of whom hail from from Guadalajara the original home of the proprietors. The menu is a mix of the favorites from the couple's restaurant in Mexico with some influence from their Turkish co-owner. The menu is indeed eclectic with everything ranging from heirloom tomatoes with feta, kalamatas and oregano, to pistachio encrusted salmon with wasabi cream sauce to beef tongue with roasted poblano curry.

We started with the panko encrusted shrimp wrapped in jicama with chipotle aioli. The jicama was thinly sliced and served as the tortilla wrapper for the shrimp, the seasoning of the shrimp and the chipotle aioli were right on, but the shrimp were on the small side so they were overwhelmed by the fried outer shell. Not a lot of shrimp flavor, but still very tasty.



Next came my two favorite dishes of the evening. The Octopus Tiradito and the Huitlacoche Dumplings. The octopus was thinly sliced and topped with lime, red pepper powder and a squirt of chipotle aioli. The octopus was fresh and had a nice bite to it. We put the thin slices on bread like carpaccio and devoured the whole thing in about two minutes.



The huitlacoche is something that I had never tried before and was described to me as a corn truffle or mushroom growing on corn. Pronounced 'kweet-lah-coh-chay', it is essentially a fungus or smut that infects corn. The dumpling wrappers were thin and allowed the huitlacoche paste to shine through. It was a smokey savory flavor, so delicious.



For entrees we sampled the flank steak with peach and strawberry mole, braised beef tongue with roasted poblano curry, and pistachio encrusted salmon with wasabi cream sauce. The steak was properly cooked and the accompanying peach and strawberry mole dipping sauce was savory, not sweet as we had expected. The sauce was unique enough to make me order this even though I normally enjoy steak at home.



The only miss was the braised beef tongue. The meat was tender and cooked well, but the poblano curry had a Japanese curry flavor and didn't match well with the tongue.




The pistachio encrusted salmon was also very Japanese, the crust was light and crispy and the salmon just lightly rare on a pool of teriyaki style sauce. The texture of the crust with the pistachios and the creamy wasabi sauce worked well. This is one I would definitely order next time.



22nd near Mission

EL DELFIN***

In search of a place to sit down and enjoy a long meal, we headed to El Delfin on 24th Street. The service was very homey and we were immediately given freshly fried tortilla chips. The two rounds of sangria were reported as excellent. We had the molcajete volcano as a starter then two types of shrimp, enchiladas and fajitas. The molcajete (mortar) volcano was bubbling red mortar full of spicy red sauce, fresh cheese, green onions, nopales, and beef accompanied by tortillas. The sauce was spicy and was supposed to be balanced by the cheese, but the cheese was a plain farm cheese which did not add or reveal any depth to the sauce. The nopales and meat were good wrapped in the tortillas, but overall the interesting presentation overshadowed the one dimensional taste of the red sauce.

The restaurant offers several different preparations of shrimp. We chose the camarones de arbol chile and the camarones de chile chipotle. De arbol chile originated in Mexcico and is popoular in Western Mexican cooking. It tastes similar to it's cousin the cayenne pepper, but had more depth than cayenne. The pepper was cooked with a cream resulting in a creamy red-orange colored sauce. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and complimented by the spicy sauce. The camarones de chile chipotle was also excellent and had the bold flavor of chipotle chilis, milder and more smokey than the de arbol sauce.

The enchiladas are a favorite of the one El Delfin regular at the table. He felt that the red enchilada sauce was more flavorful than the other places on Mission and would definitely order this dish again.

Next time, the camarones de chili arbol and sample a dish that uses the enchilada sauce.



24th and Folsom

POPOL VUH**' Revisited

This place has been renamed POC CHUC and serves the same excellent panuchos, beans and tortillas as before.

When you've got a cold, nothing hits the spot like soup. The spicier and saltier the better, because all subtle flavors are lost to your cold. Perhaps that is why I thoroughly enjoyed the Mondongo at Popol Vuh. A beefy broth with a roasted tomato base flavor surrounding pieces of tender tripe. The soup gets its flavor from the large bones which look like cross sections of a shank bone, but were lined with a fatty looking protein. As I bit into the slightly chewy gelatinous layer, the server told me that it was the 'knuckle' of the cow. Um, cows don't have hands -- so then this must be cow's feet? In any case, the consistency and taste was almost exactly like pig's feet which explains the rich flavor of the soup. With the addition of half a habanero, some cilantro and onions, I regained the ability to breathe through my nose. Who needs sudafed when you have chilis?




Previous Post on Popol Vuh

16th at South Van Ness

EL TONAYENSE TACO TRUCK***'

El Tonayense Taco Truck on Harrison and 22nd. When you haven't eaten all day and have barely a jingle worth of change in your pocket, taco trucks are the way to go. This is one of at least four in the Mission, all of them scattered on or around Harrison Street south of Division. Though it makes no sense, the food at the trucks is better than their bricks and mortar taqueria on 24th Street.

For $7, I ordered two Tacos al Pastor and two Tacos Tripitas, with the spicy sauce and extra jalapenos on top. Even though I ordered them with single rather than double tortillas, I could not finish more than three of these bundles of meat, onions, cilantro and sauce. The al Pastor is very juicy pork cut into tiny pieces and heavily seasoned so that the meat is red all the way through. In fact, the meat with the spicy sauce was slightly overwhelming. My favorite was the Tripitas. The tripe is cut into small pieces and crisped up on the grill so that it is crunchy on the edges, yet has a nice chewiness to it. I suspect they are crisped up with lard or some other pork fat because I could detect a little baconiness to them, but that might've just been the salty fatty flavor. The al Pastor is better than the one at Taqueria San Jose, but I would probably have it with no sauce or inside a quesadilla or burrito - something with cheese to balance the seasoning. The nice thing about the 22nd Street location is that there are a couple of tables with chairs that look like they belong to the corner cafe. Fortunately, they don't seem to mind that patrons of the truck are always using them.


Harrison at 22nd St.

POPOL VUH**'

Update: This place is now Poc Chuc.

Lunch hour in the Mission is full of options. Why have carnitas or tripitas at one of the excellent taqueries everyday when you can throw in some regional variations from time to time? That is why I returned to Popol Vuh, a Yucatecan place on 16th and South Van Ness near the Jeep dealership. On my first visit with A, we sampled the panuchos. I asked for one with turkey, a traditional panucho filling, though it was not on the menu. The very friendly server (who seems like he's the owner) was happy to oblige. I found the panuchos to be as good as any I have eaten in SF. The menu states that the tortilla is handmade, I could definitely taste the difference. I'm sure that they hand make theirs on the premises. The pickled onions atop the panucho were bright and fresh and it seemed that the cook takes pride in her cooking. The second time I went, I peeked in the kitchen and was delighted to see a 60-ish year old Latino woman at the stove. She bore some resemblance to the server, so I'm guessing it's a family operation. Mom in the kitchen and son at the counter. No wonder they take such care with each dish.

This time I ordered the Escabeche de Pavo which was a simple home style preparation of turkey in a meaty broth topped with some pickled onion and accompanied by pickled jalapenos. This was comfort food at its best, simple and warming. I felt really guilty about wasting the stack of beautiful handmade tortillas they set in front of me. So I immediately indicated that I wouldn't need them. Next time I need to try the Mondongo.



16th at South Van Ness

PLAYA AZUL*** & THE LIME TREE*'

Met up with A for a lunch of Caldo de Siete Mares and a Tostada de Ceviche de Pulpo at Playa Azul, and then we went over the top with a double at Mitchell's. The soup was very hearty and tomato based full of vegetables and seafood. We were smart enough to split the soup as I think it would be just too much for any one person. The ceviche is a very good deal and I would definitely go for the pulpo again. Next time try the Filete Relleno (fish stuffed with crab and shrimp), taco salad cancun and the tostada de ceviche de camarones. Also the blood orange sorbet at Mitchell's was excellent.

After that hearty lunch, I really wasn't in the mood for a big dinner, but I had to catch up on all of J's news. We settled on The Lime Tree as I read that they had a good cheap Roti Pratha. It is indeed a good deal for only $2.50, but a bit too buttery for my tastes. So moist it was like a flattened croissant. Delicious, but the dipping sauce had too much curry powder and wasn't that flavorful. We also enjoyed the Martabak which is the same roti wrapped around some ground beef and onions. This would be a good lunch, solid and more tasty than eating a hamburger. The beef rendang and roasted chicken with sweet chili sauce were subpar. The rendang had no depth of flavor, no spiciness whatsoever. It could just have easily been an Irish beef stew as a Indonesian curry. The roasted chicken was nothing special, not bad tasting, but I think I could do better at home. Still, all this food with soft drinks for only $20 with very warm and friendly service. Nice neighborhood lunch stop. Next time stick with the Murtabak.

MI LINDO YUCATAN***

Update: 24th Street location is closed.

 

Dinner at Mi Lindo Yucatan. I cannot get enough of the super spicy green salsa -- why in such tiny little bowls? Cochinita Pibil has a spicy and deeply flavored red sauce, fork tender pork wrapped in a banana leaf. This is spicier and different than the Poc Chuc which is a grilled pork with plenty of smoky flavor. The Poc Chuc has a brighter flavor than the super savory cochinita pibil because of the lime and pickled onions. Tortilla soup, too interesting and tasty not to order. No panucho this time, but definitely next time. Also for next time, the quesadilla looked great with shrimp and a salad in the dish. 24th St.

Tried more flavors at Bi-Rite. Honey Lavender was good, but lighter and too subtle to pair with a strong flavor, perhaps good alone. Malted Vanilla with peanut brittle was very good, strong malted flavor - get this again. Tried the lemon for the second time and thought it was too lemony to have with any other flavor. Tried Ritual Coffee Toffee, seriously coffee flavored and keeping me awake. Good for breakfast?