#CrowdsourceAdventure: Famous Food

Sunday, November 24, 2019

"Is there a dish your region is famous for? French onion soup? Philly cheesesteaks? Fried chicken sandwiches? Street tacos?
Go find some, then write about what it’s like to eat the most clichéd food in your area. Why is this dish the most known food in your region? Research to find out."


Well, I like food, so why not start with this challenge? 


I'm currently living in San Diego, California, so the first thing I needed was to look for that famous food in California. Well, according to Food Network it's the avocado toast. Two problems with that: one, I don't like avocado, I know it's kind of a boom right now but I just can't stand it, I hate it. There's no way I'm eating an avocado toast. And second, a toast? Really that's California's iconic food? I mean, Connecticut has the white clam pizza, Illinois has the deep dish pizza, Kansas has BBQ ribs, even Nevada has something more elaborate, steak and eggs! And California has avocado on a toast? Hell no. 

Ok, let's take one step back, instead of searching for California's iconic food, why not look for the local dish? What's San Diego's iconic food? Turns out there are several options, and most I have already tried and for this, I wanted to try something new. 
In the list at no. 1 comes the In-n-out burgers; they're not bad, I really like them because they're fresh and simple, but naah, gotta try something else. I also found in the list the asada fries, and oh boy I love 2 things in this life: pizza and fries, so of course, I've had several asada fries in the past. There were desserts in the list too, like açai pancakes or gelato, but still, nothing new and I wanted a main dish, not dessert... until I saw what appeared to be the winner.

Getting to the chosen dish 

This little piece of heaven on Earth is served at Carnitas Snack Shack located at San Diego's Embarcadero. I know well the area because it is west to SD Downtown, it is a nice place to walk and enjoy the view of the sea and Coronado, but I had never seen this eatery before, I didn't even know it existed until I did my research. Turns out it's actually famous with a very good reputation, it even has a stand inside Petco Park (the San Diego Padres home stadium).
I also should have made researched events in the area too because this weekend the Wonderfront Music and arts festival took place, and if on a regular weekend finding parking is hard, today it was almost a nightmare. Besides I am not a people person and the idea to walk in the middle of huge crowds was not appealing making me consider to abort the mission and try again some other day... but no, I was already there and honestly, I was hungry.



After looking for a while and almost giving up I was lucky to find parking very close, in front of the Midway Museum actually, and from there I just had to walk north a couple minutes.
It wasn't that hard to get to the Carnitas Snack Shack, so I was finally ready to order...

...the chosen dish:

It's called the "Triple Threat Pork Sandwich" and its combination of pulled pork, bacon, and pork loin schnitzel stacked on a bun. Because there's no such thing as "enough pork".
This place serves mainly pork but you can also find steak, chicken, and salads. But if you love pig as much as I do, the triple threat pork sandwich is your must-have. 

I'm no food expert, I just like to eat, and let me tell you, it was love at first bite. It was perfect because the meats were soft and juicy, and the bacon was on point, not undercooked, but also not crispy overcooked. 
It does not have any sauce so you can enjoy the true flavour of the meats. Of course, you can add ketchup or hot sauce, but why ruin something already delicious?

There's also a little bar section so you can pair your meal with beer, cocktails, margaritas, and even wine. 

What makes it special?

I think I made it clear that I loved it, and I see myself going back, but is it the best dish I've had in my life? Not really. It's a fairly easy dish to prepare, and in the end, it's a sandwich.
What I think it makes it special is the promise of 3 different types of meat in one bun for a fair price, because the most common is the pulled pork-only sandwich, usually with BBQ. And because it is in a popular tourist area it's great for a quick bite.
Still, it deserves to stay on the list of the best food in San Diego because the meat is tasty. If you ever visit San Diego's Embarcadero give it a try. 



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Why am I doing this?

A few years ago I used to write a lot, in fact, this very blog was born because of that. I used to write about tech news and short stories. But suddenly I just stopped, I don't know why given that I enjoyed it so much. And writing ideas, gone too. I want to change that and start writing again, just for fun because it's relaxing, and who knows where this might take me.

I recently started reading "Crowdsourcing Paris: Memoirs of a Paris Adventure" by J. H. Bunting, and besides of being a great, funny and interesting book about his adventures in Paris, he includes a series of challenges at the end of each chapter for the reader to complete (it's not mandatory of course), and I thought why not? I need something to write about. So here I am, writing again and for the public (because I'm not publishing my journal).

What makes it challenging?
First, I have to do stuff. I'm shy and I like to stick to my routine. With these challenges, I have to get out of my way and try new things, and that's always good. Besides, that could always lead to an interesting story.
Second, English is not my native language, and while I believe a have a decent language level there's always that fear that I do not have enough vocabulary or that my grammar is not correct.
So please feel free to leave comments or reach out to me to let me know if I've made a mistake if there's something I can improve, or even if I'm doing ok.

Thanks for taking the time to read me and stay on the lookout for more.



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I am part of the OpsTechIT team at Amazon in Tijuana, Mexico, but I also like to eat and occasionally write about it. Sometimes I also enjoy flying my drone and code Alexa skills.

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