Bite and Booze by Jay D. Ducote

Monday, November 9, 2009

San Francisco Part I: Taqueria La Cumbre

This past weekend Eusebio and I took to the friendly skies courtesy of our dear friend Amanda who happens to work for Southwest Airlines.  Amanda has graciously flown me all over the country for the past several years and I am very thankful to her.  We headed West to the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival in San Francisco, CA.  Immediately upon arriving in Oakland, Eusebio and I took the BART across the bay to San Fran and walked a couple blocks, past Union Square, to our hotel.  We stayed at the Grand Hyatt which was an interesting place to be for the weekend because all of their housekeeping and food service staff were on strike!  Good old California labor union strikes.  We walked up to a hotel that was being picketed by its own employees right outside of the front door with rhythmic drum beating and constant chanting of "Don't check in, just check out!"  Having already made reservations and paid for the room, and thinking that the fact that we just walked up on a real-life labor strike was hilarious, we proceeded to check in, throw our stuff down, and go grab some lunch before our festival activities started at 5:00 p.m.

Our San Francisco culinary journey got started with a ride on a classic street car trolley and a trip to the Mission district. The Mission neighborhood exists as an incredibly impressive international melting pot of residents and restaurants. From sushi to Salvadoran, pizza to Pakistani, eating well should be easy to do in Mission for everyone who walks its streets. We had heard of Taqueria La Cumbre as the innovator of the authentic overstuffed mission-style Mexican burrito. For those of you who know about Freebird's or Izzo's, that is what I'm talking about... but way better!

Taqueria La Cumbre, Mission District, San Francisco

The Taqueria has a lot more to enjoy than just the burritos.  They offer many different Platos Mexicanos for the frequenters to consume, but it is pretty obvious that their mission-style burritos are what they are famous for.  Meat filling for the burritos comes in the form of carne asada (steak beef), pulled pork, chicken, several flavored versions of beef, pork, and chicken, and beef tongue.  I didn't look over the menu long before ordering my "super" burrito.

Menu Board at Taqueria La Cumbre

I ordered the carne asada super burrito which came with grilled steak meat that was chopped right in front of me, Mexican rice, black beans, fresh guacamole, sour cream, cheese, pico de gallo, and hot sauce which was all stuffed inside a giant flour tortilla.  The meal came with corn tortilla chips and a selection of salsas.  I added a Mexican beer, Negra Modelo, to the feast just to top it off properly and help wash all of the spicy goodness that I was about to consume down.

Super Burrito, Chips, Salsa, and a Negro Modelo at Taqueria La Cumbre

The completely stuffed burrito fillings exploded both figuratively with flavor and literally out of the thinly pressed tortilla. Rice and black beans created the bulk of the subsistence but the seasoned beef and guacamole were still the flavor highlights.  Fresh ingredients all around gave the burrito the taste that made it famous.

The Stuffing of My Super Burrito

While there might be rival burritos out there in other parts of the country and world, I certainly can not get anything this good in Baton Rouge.  I love how the restaurant has maintained its original, classic, casual atmosphere with friendly service.  The Mission district as a whole was an area of San Francisco that I could spend a lot more time in.  There were unique restaurants and shops at every corner, each with its own culture that it contributed to the overall diverse cultural center that is San Francisco.

In San Francisco Part II, I will write about the adventures that we had on Friday night at the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival Street Vendor "Fare"!  Stay tuned!

La Cumbre Taqueria on UrbanspoonTaqueria la Cumbre on Urbanspoon

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1 comment:

  1. Good to know we weren't the only ones eating food besides what was offered at the festival. :) This looks so good! You can find really great Mexican food in CA. It's just a fact! (And we've found it in LA, so if you visit, we'll take you.)

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