TAQUERIA CANCUN

Today’s adventure takes us to the vibrant and colorful Mission District of San Francisco. We are visiting one of the many infamous taquerias that are located though out the ‘City’. Taqueria Cancun is located on Mission St (not Market). This is the main thoroughfare of a plethora of ethnic and culturally diverse group of restaurants, food stores and entertainment. The streets are alive with tourists, locals, foodies, gang bangers, and today Ms. Goofy & yours truly. The burrito gods were with us and blessed us with a parking spot out front.

Taqueria Cancun has been featured in numerous television and newspaper stories. It always ranks high in the ‘Best of the Best’ burritos. Our purpose today is to see if their burritos live up to the hype. It is Saturday afternoon during the noon hour and the place is jumping with people. Flashbulbs are popping to illuminate the scene for the tourists and possibly fellow bloggers. The servers seem used to all the picture taking because they are posing and hamming it up for the cameras. It is colorful inside with all the murals on the walls. There is a fairly long line at the counter to place your order.

The line moves quickly because of the small army of burrito preparation technicians. Today we ordered ‘The Big One”: a wet burrito with al pastor (spicy pork) covered with two salsas, red gravy and sour cream. A super carne asada was our other choice. We also ordered chips and salsa. You receive a number and need to find a table. Your number is called and you return to the counter to pick up your order.

The salsas were spectacular and small. They are dispensed in microscopic cups. A ‘pico de gallo’ style salsa was mild but had a pleasant citrus kick. A verde salsa studded with avocado had a slight warming effect. They were scooped up with some lackluster possibly day old tortilla chips. We might have even got the bottom of the pile because whole chips were a rarity. We went through our salsas liquidy split. The servers refilled our tiny salsa cups several times by request.

Our number was called and our burritos were retrieved. The “Big One’ was colorful and pretty, not to mention huge. The spicy pork was tasty and not to hot. The red gravy tasted of dried chili and cumin. This was a Kodak moment. The carne asada was a tube of beans, rice and avocado with possibly a few chunks of grilled beef. It was tasty but I think it was mislabeled. It should have been called a ‘Wish” burrito. I wish there was some more meat.

Overall our visit to Taqueria Cancun was fun. A colorful neighborhood with parking right in front and cheap eats. I do need to mention that the prices were more than reasonable. The burritos were tasty and large. We took home half for snacks later. Our chips were mediocre, the salsa’s small, and the meat scarce but we enjoyed our visit. Would we return? Yes, but there are a lot more burrito joints in the ‘City’ to explore.

Taqueria Cancun
2288 Mission St.
San Francisco, Ca. 94110