This time I'm in the Big Apple! A city that is wild, crowded, diverse as hell, and honestly… that’s the charm.

I'm lucky to be able to visit NYC🍎 at least twice a year, and since these are business trips, most of the expenses are covered by my company — including meals. So of course I take this opportunity to go out and explore restaurants and try as much food as possible (as allowed by budget 😜). Thanks to this I've had the classic hot dogs in Central Park, burgers, burritos, NY-style pizza (ooooooobviously), sweet treats (might actually do a post about one of my favs 🤔), sandwiches, Chinese… and I'm waiting patiently for next trip to keep on trying more — and maybe repeat a couple favs.

Follow @MXBS13

Follow @MXBS13

Sorry for being away for so long, but as you know, these are strange times.

My opinion may be biased due to my cultural background, but still, I firmly believe there is no better food in the world than Mexican food. Don't @ me.
The thing is that in San Diego being so close to the border, one would think it wouldn't be hard to find some good Mexican food, right? False.

Obviously, there are a lot of so-called "Mexican" food restaurants, and nostalgia has led me to eat in lots of those places.
Don't get me wrong that doesn't mean they are bad! In fact, I've enjoyed most of those places, and I often go back. The thing is that it is NOT real Mexican food. Once you understand that simple fact, you can still enjoy the food.

But hope is never lost, and if you search carefully, you can hit the jackpot. Today I get to talk about one of those jackpots.

The place

Curious; I found this place a couple of years ago thanks to Uber Eats and to my fianceé who once sent me some chilaquiles to my workplace. Why? Because she's cute and she's the best.
At the moment I thought those green chilaquiles were pretty good and that's it.
A couple of months after I wanted some chilaquiles again and checked the app, but the delivery and service fees were more expensive than me driving there. So... I went to this place, which luckily it's not far from where I work.

At that time when I discovered the place, it had another name, but now it's called Cocina 35. If I thought the chilaquiles back then were great, I found they were voted the Best Chilaquiles in Town.
The place is famous for their chilaquiles, and obviously, they're my favourite dish when I go there; but if you're not into them (we can't be friends if you don't) or want to try something else, they have different options depending on the location.

There is one location in Downtown San Diego. They offer chilaquiles with different salsas and toppings, and also serve breakfast options like eggs, tamales, tortas, and desserts.


The other location in Otay, near the Otay border, besides offering the same as the Downtown location, they have some more lunch options such as burritos, enfrijoladas, and sandwiches.


You can check the menu for both locations here.

The chosen dish

Chilaquiles, of course. But what kind?
When ordering, you can create your own by choosing the ingredients on top and salsa, or simply choose a creation from the chef.
In my case, I love ordering the "La Bomba" chilaquiles.


This magnificent creation has cochinita pibil, creamy habanero salsa, avocado (which of course I took out), sour cream, cotija cheese, cilantro, and pickled onions.

What's great of the chilaquiles here are the tortillas used. They are not bought from Costco or Walmart. They really are cut and home-fried tortillas.
They're made perfectly, not too fried, not too soft.

Now, what makes "La Bomba" chilaquiles great is the habanero salsa, which one would think is unworldly spicy, but no. Because it's creamy, it's barely spicy, and it has an amazing flavour. And of course the cochinita pibil on top. Here I have to admit it's not authentic Yucatan's cochinita pibil, but it's still pretty good.
And the portion size is more than generous 👌.

This place definitely has earned the title for the best chilaquiles in town!


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Challenge complete! 10 days of strict diet and an eating schedule, and after losing 3.65kg, I'd say it was a success. To not undo what I've accomplished, I just need to maintain certain habits. But that doesn't mean I am not allowed to indulge myself every now and then, and of course, that's something I need to do so I can keep writing.

If you remember the asada fries entry, you know I love potatoes, especially fries. How can I reward myself after a well-done challenge? Fries, of course. But this time, not any kind of fries.

Before starting this food-writing side project, I embarked on the mission to find the best buffalo fries out there, and while I haven't written about my favourite buffalo wings and fries place yet, it's a hard contender. Soon I'll write about it... but for now, I went and try contender number one.

The place

It must be promising if the place is called "The Buffalo Spot".
It has several locations across California, Texas, and Arizona. Luckily in San Diego, there are 2 locations, one in the Bonita area, and the other one in Lemon Grove.
The one I went to this weekend was the one in Bonita. It's actually in the Westfield Plaza Bonita's food court.


Just like any mall food court, it is a counter in the middle of many other food counters. You get in line, order, and wait on the side for your order to be ready.
There's the option to order take-out or eat there in the mall's eating area.

I haven't been to the Lemon Grove location, and I can't get into too much detail on how it looks and the environment, but that one is an independent local. Meaning it's not in a food court, but still, it's not a big restaurant.


As you may guess from the name of this place, their main dishes are wings and fries.
You can choose between class bone-in and boneless wings. Chicken tenders. A variety of sauces from the classic Buffalo sauce, to BBQ,  sweet-spicy, garlic, lemon pepper, or teriyaki.
You can add seasoning to your fries to increase the flavour.

Not what you looking for or not enough? They also have Buffalo Cali Burrito.
The class California burrito is made of fries and carne in a burrito. the twist with this burrito is, well, buffalo fries made a burrito. (I have to add this to my to-eat list 🤔).
They even have salads if you're looking for healthy option... at least a less fattening, as you can choose to put buffalo in them. 

But what I got was even better...

The chosen dish

The slogan claims to be the home of the best buffalo fries, which by itself already sounds inviting, but how can they make them better? Hot Cheetos Buffalo Fries!

I reckon it doesn't take much to put Cheetos on top of a dish... but doing so increases the dish's likeability by a huge percentage. And if it's Flaming Hot Cheetos, it's doubled.
C'mon, just look at it:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Max Sanchez (@mxbs13) on Jan 24, 2020 at 3:22pm PST

I had my fries seasoned with lemon pepper and medium buffalo sauce, and all I can say is that it's terrific.
I know it's not the healthiest dish, but it's great for a weekend, to have it with friends, or to watch sports (especially right now with the SuperBowl so close).
There are different sizes, so it's up to you if you want to share... or have a big stomach.

Something important to mention is that it is a limited-time dish. There's no word on how long it will last but don't take chances and go try them.
Although, on Instagram, they told me that if they're popular enough, it may return to the menu.



And well, the final verdict?
I really liked them, and I'm going back before they disappear from the menu, but I'd put these in 2nd place in my scale of "Best Buffalo Fries".
The fries are perfect, the sauce is excellent and classic, but the chicken portion is not enough. Missed opportunity there.
But still, they hold a sweet spot.

Max's Score: 8/10 (9/10 with Cheetos 🤤)


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