Restaurant Review: Taqueria El Farolito (North Beach, 1230 Grant)

El Farolito is reputed to be one of the two restaurants in San Francisco that invented the Mission-style burrito. I live in Chinatown, so I can't really head down all the way to Mission to the original location, but I *can* get a burrito from their North Beach location. 

The door and the shop is a bit on the small side, and the door is facing Grant, not Columbus, which makes it a little hard to find. Got in. There are many seats available, but I needed to head back to work. So I ordered a superburrito al pastor to go. It took 5 minutes, as I did watch them cook it. I also ordered an horchata. I guess I was thirsty, and I finished the horchata before burrito arrived. The horchata has visible spice bits and was quite delicious. 

I got the burrito wrapped in foil, plenty of napkins, and small cups of red and green salsa, all in a nice and thick plastic bag with their logo and verbiage. 

Got back to my "office" (only a few minutes away), and started to unwrap the burrito by tearing off the foil on one end. Strangely, the inside seems a bit... dry, but then, that's why we have the salsa. It's wet enough with the salsa, then I started to worry I don't have enough salsa.   

Then I started to notice red oil dropping onto my desk... Huh? It seems the burrito foil wrap developed a leak at the bottom. I had to hold folded napkins against the bottom of the burrito, while I unwrap and consume the top. It is a bit dry without the salsa, as the pork seems overcooked and dry, or did all the juice went to the bottom? 

I ran out of salsa when I consumed 3/4 of the burrito. There was a little "crunch" with the pork... I seemed to have gotten burnt bits of the pork. Should I have ordered carnitas? As I was full, I dumped the rest into the trash. 

Overall, the superburrito is merely... average. The horchata was good, but it can't really raise the overall score. I probably should try Taqueria Zorro again. It's been a while since I've been there. 

Taqueria El Farolito (North Beach): 3/5

Restaurant Review: La Venganza in Ikea Saluhall San Francisco

 Decided to walk around a bit this Saturday, and decided to give Salut Hall another try, and decided to try La Venganza, a Mexican Vegan eatery. Ordered a Tostada de Barbacoa (simulated), which is actually made of mushroom, and an horchata. This is what I ended up with...

It's not bad, it's not really "barbacoa", and the jalapeno isn't distributed well. There's a little bit with the guac, and that's it. I was expecting a bit more salsa, but there's enough beans here so it's okay. It's a bit on the cold side. I probably should have ordered "carnitas" instead. 

The horchata tastes okay, but it's not really that fresh, the cap was on crooked, and it's not mixed well, with a lot of the cinnamon and stuff settled in the bottom. They did warn me to shake well, but I didn't realize they mean cocktail shaking vigor. 

The problem is... the price. For $16 for the tostada, and $6 for the horchata, there's really not that much food here. I guess that's the "vegan tax", eh?  

3.5/5

Quick Review of Zen Yai and its Boat Noodles

Got out of CPMC Van Ness and needed late lunch, and decided to try Thai food, and Larkin has a bunch of Thai restaurants. Picked the closest, which happens to be Zen Yai, at 771 Ellis St.

Sat down, staff recommended beef "boat noodles", reasonable price of $15. Take a look at its picture to the right. 

You're looking at pork skin (chicharones), meat balls, mixed meat (with beef organs?) thinner rice noodles (even thinner than typical pho noodles), and some slices of beef (not visible). 

I have never had boat noodles before, and my closest point of reference would be Vietnamese pho, and there are definitely some similarities. However, these boat noodles have more organ meat, more complex flavor, and a lot of water spinach/kangkong? Very dark broth with a lot of mixings, not very beefy (or at least, not the kind of Vietnamese pho broth beefy), and not that salty either. 

Will probably go back to try some of the other dishes they have.

They also have pork boat noodles, which I guess would have more pork-based stuff than beef-based stuff.