Geek at Play

Anthony’s Tacos

I’ve come to embrace the Anthony Bourdain school of restaurant selection. Several times in his show “No Reservations” he has pointed out that the best way to find good local food is to watch where the locals are eating. No matter how “divey” the place looks, if it’s full of people, you are bound to have a good (and safe/sanitary) meal. The locals won’t keep coming back if the food was gross and gave them the runs.

In California (and elsewhere) there is what I will call the “Taco Truck Corollary” that should be fairly obvious. I like to keep an eye out for where taco trucks park near work and home. When I see that a particular truck parks in the same place repeatedly and is consistently surrounded by dirty-handed, hard-working, blue-collar Latinos grabbing a meal, I add it to my list of places to get food.

I have yet to be disappointed with the results of this technique. I’ve had many good $5 meals, and not once have I gotten food poisoning or even an upset stomach. In fact, I’ve had far more sickness after eating at chains than any rolling “roach coach”. It’s simple, tasty food made by people who are truly invested in its quality (it’s their livelihood).

Hooray for taco trucks!

Just an update

There are so many things going on. My friend KX gives me a semi-monthly reminder of the form “Did you realize it has been x months since you blogged?!”. And, yes, I totally realize that. There is so much I want to comment on, but I haven’t. The US is in a silly war. My company is being acquired by Cisco. I visited my family (including a new nephew) over Christmas. I got professional portraits taken by Loic Nicolas. I quit smoking. So much is going on that I really don’t know what to write.

I want to express outrage, joy, fear, frustration, and simple, giddy glee. The question is, though: Is a blog the right place? I really don’t know.