Taqueria Pancho Villa (Or: A Mission for A Mission Burrito)

After the refinement and excitement of Thomas Keller, where do you go for lunch? The modest, hardworking people of my stomach wanted a revolution–

–not every meal has to be hoighty-toighty, they said. It’s time for real food, basic food, cheap food. It’s time for a San Fransisco staple: a Mission burrito.

Following the comments from my initial San Francisco announcement, I chose Taqueria Pancho Villa:

Walking inside, I instantly knew I made the right choice. See the people behind the counter? They’re not punk kids working after school jobs at Chipolte, they’re actually Mexican!

The meat is cooked on a grill, as you can see here:

And look at the authentic decor:

Here’s what the place looked like from my table:

And here’s what I ordered. A watermelon drink called Sandia:

It was truly awesome and instantly refreshing.

And then my burrito. Here it is in foil:

At first I ordered the carne asada but, seeing that the beef looked a bit dry, I quickly changed it to the roast pork but then reading the description on the board, I wanted the marinated pork instead so I changed–again–to Al Pastore. It was an excellent choice, as I soon discovered, biting in:

Look at that burrito, filled to the brim with rice, beans, pork and (because I got the super burrito) sour cream, cheese, and salsa. Phew. I didn’t get very far:

I left more than half. But people ask how come I don’t gain 1,000 pounds eating what I do, and that’s the answer. I don’t eat it all.

And because of my restraint, the revolution in my stomach quickly ended. The people were happy and they prospered.