Is It Sushi? Is It A Burrito? Or Is It Something Else Entirely?

It’s a strange concept. Take a dish that is naturally light, fresh, delicate, and dainty — supersize it — and throw as many crunchy, creamy, fusiony ingredients as you can into it. What do you get? A sushirrito.

Even before I had moved to San Francisco, Sushirrito was already near the top of my SF must-eat list. There was just something about that super-hyped, unusual sushi-burrito hybrid that I just couldn’t resist trying for myself. Yes, I know the concept sounds a little ridiculous — why would anyone want to shove sushi ingredients into a burrito format. And yes, I know that the Japanese have already mastered the supersized sushi form through handrolls. But, I do love sushi and I do love burritos, so I was curious enough to find out if this Bay Area combined evolution of the two would form a recipe for success.

(more…)

Continue ReadingIs It Sushi? Is It A Burrito? Or Is It Something Else Entirely?

Unusual Yucatan Specialties from a North Beach Hole-In-The-Wall

What:

Panuchos
Let’s name all the Mexican dishes you’re used to finding in restaurants. Tacos, burritos, nachos, tortas, quesadillas, flautas, tostadas, etc, etc, etc. I bet we could go on and on and on. But, how about a “panucho”? Ever heard of that? I certainly hadn’t before this meal, but I’ll get more into that later.

Near the corner of Broadway and Columbus, right where Italian North Beach meet Chinese Chinatown, a brand new eatery recently opened. That’s where a tiny shop that formally housed a divey Vietnamese restaurant called Vietnam was and where this Yucatan-region Mexican specialist, Panuchos, is now housed. In my observations, the clientele consists mostly of blue-collar Spanish-speaking workers in the area — which I take as a positive indicator of the authenticity of food made at the place. I guess you’ll just have to read more to see.

Where:

On the border of North Beach and Chinatown
620 Broadway San Francisco, CA 94133
[wpgmza id=”295″]

When:

Great for a solo lunch at the counter, take out, but probably even best for a late-night bite to soak up all of your boozy North Beach mistakes. They’re open til 3 AM! (more…)

Continue ReadingUnusual Yucatan Specialties from a North Beach Hole-In-The-Wall

A Grand, New, Cal Mexican Hot Spot in Downtown Paso Robles

In general, Paso Robles is a pretty quiet, sleepy, little wine town. Whether you’re looking for a nice place to drink or eat dinner downtown, people tend to recommend the same handful of places. That’s probably because new bars and restaurants don’t open very often, and the options always are what they are. But, when new bars and restaurants do open, they tend to cause a big stir. Recently, a massive new bar and restaurant popped onto the downtown scene – a trendy, upscale, Baja-style Cal Mexican joint called Fish Gaucho and I knew on my most recent trip that I had to see for myself what all of the hype was about.

(more…)

Continue ReadingA Grand, New, Cal Mexican Hot Spot in Downtown Paso Robles

Crushing Ridiculously Delicious Filipino Burritos with a Michelin Starred Chef

The San Francisco food scene is full of all sorts of inventive, creative crossover cuisines. And one of the city’s most loved and most delicious integrated creations comes from a beloved Filipino-fusion vendor called Señor Sisig. This city seriously has so much love for this truck – I’ve honestly never heard a negative word spoken against it, and that says a lot in a city so extremely divisive and combative about whose favorite place is best. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that they exist in a category all alone by themselves – absolutely no one else is competing in the Mexican-Filipino arena. And why would they? This truck’s reputation alone would be nearly impossible to topple.

(more…)

Continue ReadingCrushing Ridiculously Delicious Filipino Burritos with a Michelin Starred Chef

Burritos Bigger Than Your Head at La Costeña in Mountain View

If there’s one dish that the Bay Area does better than anywhere else in the country, it’s most certainly the burrito. Even in Silicon Valley, where finding anything decent to eat is a challenge, there are a number of more than just passable options. Through my exploration of Sunnyvale, I’ve found Taqueria Latina, Ruby’s Taqueria, and in the neighboring town of Mountain View another excellent shop called La Costeña.

Whereas the former two are pretty classic Mission style Mexican, I think that La Costeña’s creations lean closer to Cal-Mex. The shop is a little brighter and a little cleaner than the others and the produce is super-fresh tasting. It’s just that I’ve found that the flavors tend to deviate just a bit from the truly traditional Mexican flavors – hence Cal-Mex.

(more…)

Continue ReadingBurritos Bigger Than Your Head at La Costeña in Mountain View

Solid, Cheap as Hell Mexican at Taqueria Latina in Sunnyvale

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Finding a decent meal in Sunnyvale has always been a challenge and always will be. But, when I dig deep enough and keep my eyes firmly peeled, I have actually been able to find a few local gems.

On this particular day, I took a mile-long walk down a suburban road I’d never been down before stumbling onto something intriguing. For the majority of the walk, I saw nothing worth a second glance, but then I spotted it. It shined in the distance like a shining beat-up beacon of hope. The sign read Taqueria Latina.

(more…)

Continue ReadingSolid, Cheap as Hell Mexican at Taqueria Latina in Sunnyvale

Mike Winston’s Best Bites of 2014

What a year!! I did something like this last year too, but oh boy was 2014 a doozy. I started off living in NYC, then a started a new job that whisked me off the San Francisco and Silicon Valley for a few months before ultimately relocating to San Francisco permanently. And along the way, I squeezed in a couple of vacations too.

Sooooo, I did a LOT of epic eating this year. And truth be told, I found it particularly difficult to narrow down my list as concisely as last year’s, but I somehow managed. So, without further ado, I present the winners (and runner-ups) broken down by category. I tried to cluster similar dish types together, but really they are in no particular order. Let’s begin!

And if you wanna hear about the 2014’s Best Cocktails, read more here.
(more…)

Continue ReadingMike Winston’s Best Bites of 2014

El Farolito Makes the Best Damn Burrito in the Entire World

There’s been a lot of talk on the web recently about who makes the best burrito in the world. Nate Silver’s Burrito Bracket brought this issue right to the forefront and the Internet community immediately jumped in to battle to fight for who they believed was the real best.

Now, I haven’t eaten nearly enough of the competing burritos to make a conclusive judgement on the bracket’s findings, but I recently took a trip to their #1 seed, but surprisingly early knockout, El Farolito, and I’m having a hard time believing any burrito in the world could be better than the ones they served to me.

(more…)

Continue ReadingEl Farolito Makes the Best Damn Burrito in the Entire World

La Texanita: Guy Fieri’s Go-To Hometown Mexican Spot

I ventured into the land that birthed Guy Fieri.

Santa Rosa is the place the spiky Food Network demigod calls home. I wasn’t intending to eat at another place that had been featured on Diner’s, Drive-Ins, and Dives so soon, but given the fact our day trip that ended up taking us to his hometown, it shouldn’t be too big of a surprise that we did. We were actually in Santa Rosa exploring the area’s wineries, but pre-noon wine tasting on an empty stomach pretty much always necessitates a good, filling meal. My growling stomach went straight to Foursquare to find a killer lunch spot nearby which led us to the Fieri-favorite La Texanita.

(more…)

Continue ReadingLa Texanita: Guy Fieri’s Go-To Hometown Mexican Spot