El Farolito

South San Francisco, CA

I seem to be on a taco/burrito kick since early February. If you asked me last year to have Mexican food, I would've been "meh". I haven't really had real Mexican food since sometime junior year in college. I fully blame this drought to my ex-roommate. Ahem, now there was some drama...I'll save that for another time. =T

That person robbed me of my love of Mexican food for at least 5 years!!! Oh, the tacos I could've had...and I no longer consider this person a friend for more of attitude and personality issues, not so much because of Mexican-food-deprivation.

My curiosity and appetite had been rekindled by various archived Chowhound threads on taco crawls as well as kick ass tacos at Taqueria San Jose in SF. I'm far from working my way down the list of various meats...as well as figuring out what good carne asada, carnitas, al pastor, etc. tastes like. I will get down to the organ meats (not squeamish...I *heart* properly cooked tripe and assorted organs) but no brains for me. Brain has a very distinct taste and smell to me that I just dislike. My rule is that I need to try new foods at least 3 times before ruling them out. FYI, brains were ruled out over 15 years ago.

The sucky part is, 3 tacos usually fill me up so I don't really get to try too much at once. Time to round up friends willing to taco crawl with me...

Anyway, too much rambling...onto the food!

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I must have been to the South San Francisco branch of El Farolito at least 7 times before I realized (this week) that it was El Farolito. *blush* I guess I never noticed the lighthouse logo...just the massive line out the door during lunch. My defense: the co-workers that recommended the place didn't know the name either! =)

Disclaimer: I've never tried the SF locations of El Farolito before so I can't compare the SSF branch to the others.

I had been daydreaming about tacos and burritos since my limited Fruitvale expedition a few days ago and decided to quash this craving after a Monday night workout. Luckily (or unluckily) for me, the El Farolito is about 5 minutes away from work. The place looked different nearly deserted at 8:30pm at night, but hey, no biggie. Grand Ave. doesn't seem to be really hopping on a weeknight, anyway. I ordered a roasted chicken (pollo asado?) taco ($1.70) and a regular carne asada burrito ($3.95?).

Somewhat unattractive in this photo...but tasty nonetheless. I usually order pollo (not roasted, but stewed?) but I was feeling roasty that night. The chicken was a wee bit on the dry side but I could tell it had been marinated in something good.
My thoughts:
Chicken: 7/10 - Moistness is key...this would rank higher if it had been more moist...kinda greasy though
Tortillas: n/a - No score since I didn't think it was fair to judge the tortillas after the drive home. Rather pliant...
Other toppings: 8.5/10 - Fresh...less cilantro would be better...haha
Overall: 7.75/10 - Will need additional (fresher) samples for evaluation. =)

Next up was the carne asada burrito.



Until recently, most of my burrito experiences had been with the San Francisco Mission-style "super" burrito: tortilla (steamed or grilled is debatable), meat, rice, beans, cheese, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole all rolled tightly in foil. I've only recently started eating the regular burritos to taste the basic combo of ingredients and tacos for tasting the meat. Flavors seem cleaner without the guac and sour cream. Being a regular burrito noob, I didn't realize the regular burritos were just as massive as the super burritos here at El Farolito. Good gravy...this sucker was thicker than my forearm and weighed at least a pound! Silly me - I expected the regular burritos to be smaller since, well, they're not "super". ;) Pictured above are cross-sections of the burrito...bottom one a bit more zoomed in. I only ate about 1/3 of it since I had had that chicken taco.

I chose carne asada since I remember I had ordered it when a Hong Kong cousin and his new bride came to the US for their honeymoon. I think the burrito scared and intrigued the heck outta them...sheer size, exotic (to them) ingredients, interesting packaging. Not much, if any, Mexican restaurants at that time in HK. I just remember the mirrored expressions they had when I told them they had to share that whole burrito: O_O deer in headlights, I tell ya.

My thoughts:
Tortilla: 8.5/10 - I now see why some people preferred grilled tortillas...gives it a different flavor and slightly flakier texture. Bit greasy though.
Carne asada: 8.5/10 - Solid beefiness. Seeing the burritomaker cooking the meat to order was a plus. A grill would've been better but this meat had a nice flavor.
Beans: 9.5/10 - Hesitate to give it a 10...but these were DAMN good beans. Not a refried beans kinda gal, but I love me some whole pintos or black beans. Very flavorful...debated about trying to get a pint to go the next day. =D
Cheese: 9/10 - Melty, helped with the cohesion and structural stablility, but not bold. Me likes.
Salsa: 9/10 - Perfect amount - no sogginess here! I really wish "hot" salsa was really spicy. =(
Rice: 9/10 - Not dry, not too flavorful in a good way...meshed well with other ingredients. Soaked up excess fat and juice well.
Overall: 9.25/10 - Bonus points for the excellent construction of the burrito...I totally admired the perfect cylinder and it's taut surfaces before eating.

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El Farolito is a big YUM in my book. Will definitely be stopping by for burrito fixes near work. It was SO good in fact, that I went back on Wednesday (after another workout...hehe) for an al pastor regular burrito. The al pastor was excellent...though Taqueria San Jose in Oakland edges it out for now until I have El Farolito's in taco form. Again, that burritomaker(s) have skills. I don't want to break it down since I don't have photos (oops), but the al pastor burrito gets a 9.25/10 for now.