I had the torta campechana at El Vaquero for lunch takeout today, and it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. I’d still probably choose it over La Victoria or Tenoch, but the carnitas were a little dry. And the sandwich overall was a little muddled flavorwise. The roll was nice and fresh though and the hot in-house serrano salsa they make is pretty good to pour on anything they have
I’ll give the tortas here another shot before I totally write them off as “just OK”. Next time I’ll get the lamb one.
For now I think the tacos are better than the tortas.
passing_thru, you have probably posted about your favorite tortas in the area but my memory is not great. What are some of your favorites? I’ve only had Tenoch and La Victoria.
I actually have not found any local torta spots that I really love. Largely they all fall into a sort of middle ground, decent sandwich category but nothing I’ve had in this space in the area has stood out, unfortunately.
We got Oleana and Sarma take out for a 65th birthday recently. From Oleana, everything was great as usual but the standout was a blueberry blackberry galette with orange blossom labne. I almost never eat dessert; I could eat this every day. From Sarma, the highlight was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten, and it was packaged on ice: SPICY CRAB GAZPACHO green tomato, avocado, watermelon, olives
fwiw, a few odds and ends of late from me for the somewhat moribund takeout thread. it’s really not as much fun to write these up as actual in person restaurant reviews, is it? be that as it may, personally I’m still not eating out in-restaurant these days as yet (though y’know, if I am going to do that I probably should soon–the chill breezes of October aren’t all that far away!) so takeout really remains my only current restaurant food.
For one, I finally scratched the itch of the fried clam lunch with an outing to Fresh Pond Seafood in Arlington. There’s no looming trips for me to Ipswich or Quincy, so ya take what ya can get and luckily this place in Arlington does it up proper. Fries are meh but the clams for the price are pretty good and not greasy, and I even go for the flour based thick milky chowder here. Overall I think this spot is a good quality seafood market that is smart in serving up a limited menu of takeout items that are simple but well prepared and priced competitively.
I’m still a fan of Colette, the French bakery that opened in Medford just steps from my door during the pandemic. I got a great sandwich from there last week–salami and pickles on a buttered baguette. Hoo boy, that’s good stuff.
Otherwise, I’ve returned recently at least one day a week to my Harvard Square job which means I get one lunch out a week down that way. I’ve had some quality Darwin’s sandwiches (the Concord is my favorite, but I like the Brattle too). I’ve also been visiting my old friends at Cilantro for Chinese lunch specials–in my experience, this place is not exceptional but the 10$ lunch specials are made with care and full of flavor. Spicy Dry Diced Chicken Sichuan Style is a consistently good option and studded with dried chilis, Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce and Beef with Long Horn Peppers also in the mix. I usually do a chicken wing or crab rangoon for the extra–neither is anything special. I hope these folks do Ok, when I go in to pick up my takeout the place is empty and I can’t help but think of all the people who would usually be in here when I’d eat lunch in house. But they are hanging in and hopefully they stay afloat.
Also revisited the Tasty Burger for the first time in a long time one time of late… They have a new burger, the Patty Melt and at least on a first try it was actually great–tons of caramelized onions and a griddled bun that was coated with outside American cheese. Mine may have been well attended because I was buying it at 11:30 in the morning and there was nothing else to occupy the cook’s attention, but taking it and scarfing it down in an underpopulated Harvard Yard made for a good summer lunch.
Lastly, I got takeout last week from the Yo.Ko popup that’s at La Brasa thru tomorrow and it was dynamite (see picture below). There was a chicken thigh katsu sando on a white sandwich bread (that seemed totally in house) and some really sharp pickled shiitake. It had daikon and chinese cabbage and a sort of okonomiyaki style sauce. Really good. But the star was the pork belly onigiri pictured here that I ate some hours later–it was amazing, perfectly cooked rice wrapped in seaweed filled with crunchy pork belly bathed in a mayo style sauce. Just top notch.
One son loves the Deep-fried Chili Tofu at Cilantro. and the other loves the Fish Filets with Chili Pepper Thanks for the reminder…I should get some takeout there soon.
I just had my first visit to Elmendorf in Cambridge. Bought some freshly ground local flour and sourdough starter. What a delightful shop. All kinds of wonderful things, including baking books!
Not normally a muffin person, I couldn’t resist getting a ginger plum muffin. Mind blown! Who knew a muffin could be so good? The fresh flour in the muffin elevated it. Best muffin I have ever had.
Looking forward to returning and trying one of their sandwiches which looked great, plus a hot drink. Plenty of seating outside, nice people. What a gem!
I completely agree about their chocolate chip cookies. Best ever, anywhere! I got curbside pick up from them for fresh ground corn meal and King Arthur all purpose flour among other items during the early days of the pandemic. It is an amazing shop with all kinds of enticing and unique merchandise. And the people who own it are extremely knowledgeable and helpful and friendly and kind. Definitely a local gem to support. Same for Curio spice in Cambridge. I just got a curbside pick up from them.
We were thrilled with the delivery from Juliet of the wonderful Día de los Muertos meal. The pozole and tamales were some of the best things I’ve eaten in a very long time. They added in a sugar skull and a tissue flower so we could start our own ofrenda. This was such a wonderful surprise and the quality of both was as superb as the meal was. The delivery was on time and we received very clear email instructions for heating it up…easy to do.
We liked it so much we are going to get the tamale dinner for take out…it’s on the menu now but probably won’t last long!
All of our many experiences of Juliet food have been over-the-top excellent with very high quality ingredients and preparation.
I have very few exciting things to report for outside food lately, have mostly retreated to eating largely at home still. But since things are slow here of late, here’s a couple quick hits:
Pennypacker’s–my first two visits here were underwhelming but I have gotten sandwiches a couple times lately and they were pretty good. I really liked the house made pastrami one and the linguica sandwich is also worth getting.
Sarma–got up early one morning and decided to walk to Union Sq. to get some stuff at Reliable Market. (Side note: the takeout scallion pancakes from here are still good!) On the way I went by Sarma and got one of their breakfast sandwiches–the sausage-egg-feta sandwich is really nice. Maybe a little pricey, but it was loaded with flavor and a perfect stop in the park thing to eat.
Hen Chicken & Rice–got takeout from this new Union Square place, and they do a pretty solid rendition of khao man gai. I got the classic version which turned out to be juicy white chicken over some really delicious and well made rice, accompanied by a small chicken broth/daikon soup. The place is super clean and the people seem really pleasant and they nail the sort of neutral flavor of this chicken specialty. It comes with a sauce that has a little chili in it if you want to bring up the heat and there are other versions beyond the original that have variations like more spice, dark meat chicken or crispy varieties. The place is promising, I’ll go again.
