I've been wanting to try Nick's Crispy Tacos for a while now. It's an interesting little place off of Broadway. At night, the place is Harry Denton's Rouge, a fairly hip bar/club that seems to have become a stable singles spot in the city. For whatever odd reason, during lunch, they clear out the floor and half of the club becomes Nick's Crispy Tacos. When you walk in at first, it's a bit strange - just imagine walking into any typical club, except that it's all empty and cleaned up, and it's daytime. Yeah, the dance floor looks pretty messed up. Anyway, I heard they have some pretty good tacos at this place so I finally tried it out.

carne asada and carnitas tacos, Nick's Way - $3.25 each These tacos are a bit pricier than a taco truck taco, but they're definitely significantly bigger. Nick's Way means they crisp the tortilla and add jack cheese and guacamole (for $0.75 more per taco). The tacos themselves were great - stuffed to the brim as you can see, and I'll admit not very easy to eat. To my surprise the tacos had beans in them, which I don't like in my tacos, so if you don't either make sure you tell them. Overall I'd say it was pretty good - the meats were tender and flavorful but just a touch salty. The salsa was great (though not spicy) and the guac was not bad. I've since read that I should have gotten the fish tacos, which are significantly better. I'll try them next time.

For a few days that happened to coincide with Geoff's visit, my mom and I had the honor of hosting Sonam Llamo, star of Khyentse Norbu's (my mom is a student of his) movie Traveller's & Magicians. Sonam and her sister Phuentsho, who are from Bhutan, were in SF for a few days to appear at some of the movie screenings around the Bay Area. The movie is quite beautiful, and I believe the first feature film to be shot in Bhutan, so go check it out if it's playing near you! Anyway, here is a lunch we had with them at Maya. Maya is a sort of fancy-ish Mexican place that I go to every once in a while. It has been pretty consistently good in the past.

guacamole - avocado, tomato, onion, cilantro - $7

quesadilla abierta de tuna - crispy flour tortilla, pan-seared tuna, jicama salad, roasted sesame chile de arbol salsa - $13.5 This place has some of the best guacamole I've tasted. You can ask to have it spicy, and they actually put a decent amount of heat in it. The chips are always hot, thick, and crunchy - always a great appetizer to share. The open-faced tuna quesadilla was less specatular. The tuna was okay - rare in the middle and tasty when combined with the salsa. I guess I enjoyed the jicama salad, which was a refreshing break from the fish. The tortilla portion was a little bit dry though, and I think the cheese may have been melted too far. Maya has an excellent tortilla soup which I didn't get this time around, and a wonderful tampique�a steak that I also love. Actually, there are a lot of of items on the menu that I enjoy - the tuna quesadilla is probably the least exciting thing I've tried there. I also recommend you try their freshly-made juices which vary from day to day. They have a prix fixe option that is $20 for lunch and $30 for dinner which includes appetizer, entree, and dessert, and allows you to choose from a wide variety of stuff off the menu. It's a really good deal which I'd suggest taking advantage of.

Got a chance to hit up El Tonayense, the taco truck on 16th and Harrison. Still a lot to go on though on the SF list.


carne asada tacos Business as usual. Sorry about the weird glare, big tree + bright sun + no seats/tables = bad picture. Still good stuff though. I've noticed a few other taco trucks around - one just down the street in front of the Best Buy parking lot, and another across the street from the court house on Bryant. Hopefully they will keep popping up. Taco trucks rule.

As with every trip back home, I had to hit the taco truck at least once. El Tonayense... may not look like much but DAMN it's good.


tacos - carnitas, carne asada, cabeza It's the first time I've gotten carnitas and I don't think I will again. Overall my favorite is probably still carne asada. God I wish Boston had Mexican food.