Torta: quarantine edition

Saturday, April 18, 2020


Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but you know... can't go out right now. At least not to discover new restaurants and dishes.
Still, it's good to order delivery or take out to support local restaurants, and let's be real, there's a moment when you just don't want to cook for at least one day.
And that's why I did this week. I went to Uber Eats and searched for something other than burritos or fries.

The Place

The location of this place it's kinda confusing because it does not appear in Google Maps and does not have a webpage. But it obviously appears in Uber Eats.
It's called Buckaroo Foot Long Tortas, and it's in National City, CA.


It seems like it's two restaurants operating in the same location because if you search for the address, you get "Chamango"... but honestly, that doesn't matter as long as I get some good food and it's delicious.

As you can get out of the name, the main dish in this place are tortas. Most of them are the traditional ones, nothing too fancy.
For example, ham torta, chicken torta, turkey torta, even veggie torta.
Of course, they also offer other things but mainly to complement your torta, like fruit salad, regular salads, and esquites (more on that shortly).
For beverages, there are juices, smoothies, water and sodas. And that's pretty much it.
Sorry I can't talk about the location or the interior, but I didn't go this time.

The Dish

For a couple weeks I've been craving specifically for a milanesa torta. I couldn't do it at home because either I did not have the correct bread, or the supermarket was out of the beef required to prepare the milanesa (hate you all who are overstocking, it's just a health crisis, not the end of the world! ...yet), and then I found this place online! It had exactly what I wanted! So, a milanesa torta was the chosen dish.


Don't know what a torta is? Well, it basically is a sandwich, but what makes a torta, a torta, is mainly the bread which in Mexico is known as "pan telera", or torta bread (duh). This is a telera:


Then the primary ingredients in a torta are, besides the bread, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, jalapeños, onions, avocado, and the main protein, in this case, it was milanesa... oh, and I took out the onions and avocado (because team #NoAvocado).

And what is a milanesa? Just breaded beef. This dish is typical of south and central America (the continent, obviously, don't be a nationalist moron). By itself, it can be pretty good and tasty, but put all these ingredients together, and you get one perfect torta.

What I like about this place, and why I liked this torta, it's that it really is prepared the Mexican way. It has the right ingredients and nothing more. No yellow cheese or any other Chicano-us inventions.
No, if you're looking for something like the real deal, this is the place. In fact, I want to order again from this place and try other tortas.

For the side, I also got another great dish; while I love fries, it wasn't time for fries. A Mexican dish deserves a Mexican side: esquites!


Esquites are a popular, and delicious, snack in Mexico. They're also known as "elote en vaso" (corn in a cup). The corn grain is generally boiled in water and then toasted, but it needs to be in a cup.
What's great about it is that it can be prepared in different ways, for example with lime and chile, mayonnaise and cheese.
Fun fact, the word esquites comes from the Nahuatl word ízquitl, which means "toasted corn".

The verdict: It was great. I satisfied my craving, and I appreciate the fact that this place prepares it the Mexican way, as it must be.
I can't give it the 100 grade because it still not Mexican, but it's pretty close. At least this place just became one of my favourite eateries because I love tortas (c'mon, who doesn't).
I also liked and appreciated that they don't charge you extra for those essential ingredients. In other places, they charge you extra for jalapeños! That's crazy.
I'm definitely ordering from this place again, and I think it will be sooner than later.

So, if you are in the San Diego, National City, or Chula Vista area, you can definitely order from its place through Uber Eats. Or you can go and order for take-out.
Remember to stay safe, stay home, and support your local places as much as you can.



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