Anthony Bourdain:

Met with Marilyn Hagerty yesterday. An impressive, VERY sharp, and strong person. Proud to be publishing her. She promised to teach me Bridge! Photo by @LostInCentralia

♥ ♥

From The New Yorker’s new profile on Javier Plascencia, The Missionary:

Plascencia said he’d arrived at 4 A.M., with twenty-one hundred shucked Kumiai oysters from Laguna Manuela in the back of his car. At the festival, he grilled them, and sprinkled them with short-rib chicharrones, lemongrass foam, and ponzu sauce: oyster asada. The food writer Jonathan Gold came back for seconds. “That made my day,” Plascencia said.

Plasciencia is doing a pop up at El Take It Easy on March 5.

Went to Carnitas’ Snack Shack with Chris on Thursday for our first San Diego Burger Mob outing.

My review

Carnitas’ Snack Shack is a great place with a great concept. You order at window and walk around back to eat at a bar or tables under a big open roof. I join SD Urban in asking, “why don’t more establishments take advantage of San Diego’s climate” like Carnitas’ has? It’s almost shocking how nice it is to eat there, outside, tucked back from the street. Plus look at that graffiti.

Andy just pointed out to me something that I didn’t notice while I was there: there’s no way to tip. No jar. Nothing to add when you sign your receipt. He thinks it’s intentional, and I agree. It makes for a very easy, very pleasant experience. The food isn’t cheap, but it’s high value. The service is just right: a kid brings you your food. It’s as if they’ve stripped away as many things as possible that might distract you from the food – even any unnecessary walls.

The only time I noticed the service was when I asked the kid for mayonaise and didn’t get any. This fact was offset by their table of condiments which featured the giant bottle of sriracha pictured above.

The burger is really good. I decided to get it as they make it, which includes “bacon jam.” I think bacon jam is just a bunch of minced bacon. It was overwhelming and prevented me from appreciating the cheese or the spread. Otherwise, the beef, lettuce, tomato, and bun were all top notch. I ordered my burger medium, but they gave it to me pretty rare. I didn’t mind.

The fries are good too, nicely tossed with some kind of fry seasoning that I’ve had before but can’t pinpoint – slightly cuminy and maybe some celery seed in there too. Share an order because they give you a lot for one person.

I felt gross for the rest of the day. The burger and fries were really heavy and I ate too much. I’ll skip the bacon next time I order the burger, but I’ll definitely be back – it’s a nice place to be, and there’s a lot of other stuff on the menu I want to try.

From SD Urban:

We enjoyed a great lunch yesterday at Carnitas Snack Shack on University in North Park. What a transformation from the claustrophobic rear dining room at the former Vo’s Cafe to the open, airy space now. Why don’t more establishments take advantage of San Diego’s climate like they’ve done here.

Very good question.

tonyuribe:

Cali style

From Wikipedia:

The California burrito, a San Diego-area specialty, consists of chunks of carne asada meat, French fries, cheese, and either pico de gallo, sour cream, or guacamole (or some combination of these three). The ingredients are similar to those used in the carne asada fries dish, and it is considered a staple of the local cuisine of San Diego, California. With its merging of French fries with more traditional burrito fillings, the California burrito is an example of fusion border food. Although the California burrito originated in San Diego sometime in the 1980s, the first documentation of a burrito in its style can be found in a 1995 article in the Albuquerque Tribune.