The Taco Traveler

I've just been reminded by my lunch why I registered this domain name in the first place. I sit now, in The Upstart Crow bookstore / coffee shop in Seaport Village, downtown San Diego, after having just had lunch across the sidewalk at Harbor House restaurant. My idea was (and still is, I suppose) to have a searchable database and user reviews of not just restaurants, but locations and "passion foods." To allow people who are passionate about a certain sort of food to be able to find The Best Fish Taco or The Best Creme Brulee or The Best Caesar Salad or The Best Steak or The Best Eggs Benedict in any city they happen to be in around the world. Of course, it started with just fish tacos, but I've expanded it to all my favorite stuff.

Yes, I'm sort of specific in my tastes, and other peoples' favorite fish tacos may be nothing like mine, but whatever, it's my site. There will be certain criteria for each food. For Caesars, did they overload it with cheese? Is it spicy? Garlicy? Too thin / broken (no egg yolk, usually)? Can you taste the anchovies? If not, can you get real anchovie fillets on the side, or do they use a paste? So at Harbor House, the Caesar was pretty good, but failed on the anchovies (they use a paste) and though I'd requested "easy on the cheese" it came loaded with semi-chunky (but very good) parmesean. No fresh-ground pepper was offered. :/
 
For Fish Tacos, what sort of fish? Fried, grilled, baked? How's the white sauce? What's the filler like? Cabbage, cilantro, chopped peppers... whatever. And the one thing that really gets to me... do they have a freakin' hot sauce besides goddamned Tabasco? Harbor House, no. Good tortillas, good cabbage mixed with cilantro (stuff your own), good fried flaky whitefish, bland pico de gallo, bulk mixed white and yellow pre-shredded cheese (bleh), a mediocre white sauce, and no hot sauce but Tabasco. And so close to Mexico, too. Arrrrgh!

Oh, and the server brought my tacos like 8 minutes after she had brought my Caesar. I was about 5 bites into it. Nice timing.

Anyway, not much more to share. This place (Upstart Crow) is a special place to me. It's where I came many many days before going to work at the Marriott while in college, and I'd sit here, in this very window seat and write in my journal. I'd practice writing (describing the people who walk by, the smells here in the coffee ship with the books and the dust and the french roast), confiding in my journal, writing crappy poetry, and I think I even did some sketching. When I was really adventurous I'd turn around and grab a Heidegger or Derrida and see if I could even come close to decifering what the hell they're talking about.

So that's what I'm going to do now. Baffle my brain with some Heidegger, drink some good French Roast, and create some writing that's absolutely not for public consumption. And maybe eat a cookie; hey, I'm riding my bike everywhere!

TT