This is considered a sandwich taco as there are two corn tortillas with melted cheese in the middle along with your choice of meat; in my case, it was al pastor, the pork meat on a spit that gets shaved off with a knife. I got mine tonight at a pop up, and I chose pickled red onion and red salsa hot sauce as my condiments. There was good corn flavor from the tortillas along with some crunch and sourness from the pickled onion. This spicy and savory taco sandwich was definitely a good meal for the price.
Location: A Mexican pop-up on Camino Aventura at Palm Drive, Desert Hot Springs, California. Date: December 27, 2023.
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This is the one keto friendly dish from a food truck that often sits outside my local bar. It consists of a low carb tortilla with cheese, beef birria (shredded beef in chile sauce), shredded cabbage, onion, cilantro, and salsa. It came with a bag of fresh radish and cucumber slices. This was a tasty dish with fresh crispy veggies and two hot sauces, a green tomatillo one and a red chile one. I'm not on any diet at all, but I would order this one again. The top photo shows the vampiro in the take out container, and the bottom photo shows the vampiro plated at home.
Location: Taco Shop 760 outside Escapade, Palm Drive, Desert Hot Springs. Date: September 22, 2023. These Thai appetizers were Fried Tofu and Veggie Rolls. The tofu was fried until crispy on the outside, and the pieces were served with sweet and sour sauce that had crunchy peanut bits in it. The Veggie Rolls were the star of this show. They were stuffed with crispy cabbage, wood ear mushroom, and chewy glass noodles. The spring roll wrap was super crunchy. The sauce was a simple sweet and sour. These were Thai street food, and I enjoyed them both and made a meal out of them.
Location: Uncle Chai Thailand Street Food, 69930 Hwy 111, Suite 122, Rancho Mirage, California. Date: July 15, 2023. I ordered one Poblano Twinky at the Monday evening Queso Gringo street food at The Craft Lounge Taproom, but they generously gave me two because they said they were smaller than usual. These were bacon wrapped poblano chiles stuffed with cream cheese, very smokey tri tip, and tomato. The chiles were covered in BBQ sauce. The whole experience was a sweet, spicy, and smokey heaven.
Location: Queso Gringo at The Craft Lounge Taproom, 690 Beaumont Avenue, Beaumont, California. Date: June 26, 2023. This is street food that shows up every Monday outside The Craft Lounge in Beaumont. The Fry Bread Taco was Tonight's Special, and it came with refried beans, cheese, tomatillo sauce, and choice of meat. I chose the smoked tri tip, and when I bit into the taco I had an OMG moment. The generous portion of tri tip was tender and very smokey in the best way possible. This flavor could only come from a home smoker used lovingly. The fry bread was crispy, there was creaminess from the beans and cheese, and there was just the right amount of spicy heat. The taco was garnished with chopped tomato. If you get the chance, try this taco with the smoked tri tip; it should amaze you.
Location: Queso Gringo at The Craft Lounge, 690 Beaumont Avenue, Beaumont, California. Date: June 19, 2023. I was looking for an evening snack, and I found this five-pointed star of semi-sweet spice cake topped with slivered toasted almonds and sesame seeds at a little shop around the corner from my hotel. The nuts and seeds made the tender cake quite chewy. I broke off a little piece in my hotel room and poured some Nicaraguan rum on it, and that was good! I tried to save a piece for my morning coffee, as this would have made a great coffee cake, but I couldn't resist pouring more rum on it and eating it all at once.
Location: A little tienda on 4th Street NE, Leon, Nicaragua. Date: February 24, 2023. These are available on the streets of Leon along with other pastries. If you miss the street vendors, and you need a late night snack, you can get these at little shops. The slightly salted dough was a little tough, as it probably has to be to survive the street, and I wasn't sure that I'd have gotten pineapple from the jam if I hadn't been told; however, it wasn't very sweet (which I appreciate), there was a little tartness from the jam, and it bailed me out for very little money when I needed a snack in the evening. This has inspired me to try some of the other street pastries in Nicaragua.
Location: A street in Leon, Nicaragua. Date: February 22, 2023. This dish was pork pieces steamed with sauce and spices and served with boiled yucca, a couple of tomato slices, and cabbage slaw with shredded carrot for color. The yucca is the starch, the cabbage is fresh and crunchy, and the pork all but falls apart. The dish is served on a banana leaf. The kitchen was a hole in the wall, and the only tables were located outside in the little plaza, so I'm calling this Street Food. When the yucca soaked up the sauce from the pork, it got really tasty. The sauce was red from achiote, and it had some finely chopped onion in it. The sauce had sour orange in it too, making it similar to what you find in the Yucatan in Mexico, where this dish is called Cochinita Pibil.
Location: Chanchito Doña Lucia, Plaza Los Poetas, Leon, Nicaragua. Date: February 14, 2023. Every evening, the big grills come out in front of the Central Market in Leon. Among the variety of grilled items, I chose plantain, beef meatballs, cheese, and pancake. The plantain was just slightly sweet, the grilled white cheese was still firm, the four meatballs came in sausage casing and were somewhat sour (I think vinegar was in the recipe), but for me, the thin rolled pancake was the star of the show. It had just a hint of sweetness, it was just a little chewy, but in a good way, and it had bubbles in it, but it wasn't sourdough. I added cabbage slaw to my plate that was just slightly pickled and had some grated carrot and thin radish slices in it, and my plate was served with a corn tortilla. This was a really good plate of food, and the grilled pancake was a nice surprise.
Location: Mercado Central at night behind the Cathedral, Leon, Nicaragua. Date: February 13, 2023. For my trio of street tacos, which are defined by small corn tortillas, I chose Al Pastor, Grilled Shrimp, and Vegetarian. Because I was there at lunch, I got a free side. The bartender said that the corn was his favorite, so that's what I got. The Al Pastor was adobo pork with pineapple chimichurri, the Grilled Shrimp was marinated in chipotle and served with cabbage, pico de gallo, and chipotle mayo, and the Vegetarian was finely chopped portobello and shitake mushrooms, squash in chile pasilla, tofu, tomato, onion, and panela cheese. The Al Pastor was amazing. When I bit into it, the tangy pineapple chimichurri splashed all over my shirt. I love it when that happens! The Grilled Shrimp was a bit disappointing as I failed to detect much chipotle. The Vegetarian was interesting. I could taste mushroom, even though I couldn't see much, and the panela cheese came as a thick slice that had been grilled. The corn side dish also came with grilled panela cheese which lent smokiness. I may give the shrimp a pass next time, but I'll definitely be back for the juicy Al Pastor.
Location: Low Desert Modern Mexican, 1775 E Palm Canyon Drive, Ste 405, Palm Springs, California. Date: February 4, 2023. |
AuthorChef Roland has been a legal resident of seven countries and has travelled in over thirty, documenting food along the way. He currently resides in the desert in Southern California. Categories
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