more articles like this

Tell them you found them on Edhat!
www.edhat.com/referrals

Fiesta Food
updated: Jul 30, 2012, 3:02 PM

I'm going to go for the gold this Fiesta! The question to Fiesta Foodies is, what are their top three picks for food in the Mercado?

Places People Are Talking About:

Del Norte	El Zarape's	Our Lady of Guadalupe
Torta	Veteran's Booth

What People Are Saying:

COMMENT 303028	2012-07-30 03:05 PM
my FAVORITE type of Fiesta question! So, in my opinion, you HAVE to eat the tacos from El Sitio, then move on to the grilled corn on the cobs, then finally eat some churros for dessert!
COMMENT 303032	2012-07-30 03:19 PM
Jaycees taquitos, and the churros which are usually close by the Jaycee stand.
COMMENT 303040P	2012-07-30 03:49 PM
Carnitas tacos from the Mayo's stand. Delicious. Those shrimp avocado are great too. Churros!
COMMENT 303043	2012-07-30 03:57 PM
El Zarape's cactus salsa and goat tacos!
COMMENT 303045	2012-07-30 04:00 PM
Corn dogs at the Veteran's booth Taquitos- beef Churros
COMMENT 303057	2012-07-30 04:42 PM
Stay away from the Mercado. The food, for the most part, is horrible and way over-priced. If you want the best available food during Fiesta then go to Our Lady of Guadalupe church on Nopal. But get there VERY early (11am) or else you will stand in line for an hour for tamales and when you get to the front of the line they will tell you they are sold out. The posole there is wonderful and you get a huge steaming bowl for a decent price.
COMMENT 303064P	2012-07-30 04:51 PM
Too funny. Not a single mention of Spanish food even though it's old Spanish days. Oh yeah, that's because there isn't any. That's why it's called Mexican Mardi Gras!
COMMENT 303094	2012-07-30 05:44 PM
Torta
COMMENT 303098	2012-07-30 05:48 PM
064p, you mean with white people dressing up as spaniards all week? Relax, it's a festival. It's supposed to be fun.
COMMENT 303123	2012-07-30 07:15 PM
3064... you might want to consider that "Spanish Days" relates to language and culture rather than heritage.
CAPTAIN HALEY	2012-07-30 08:21 PM
@3123: No, it relates to the relatively brief period in California history when this area was under Spanish rule. It's a time that has been romanticized in motion pictures and literature.
GRANNYFRANNY	2012-07-31 07:13 AM
If you follow Barney Brantingham's column in the SB Independent (on-line if you want daily reports) you will find out all you need to know about the best Fiesta foods.
COMMENT 303212P	2012-07-31 07:18 AM
Can we get back to the food recommendations? : )
COMMENT 303213P	2012-07-31 07:18 AM
SB needs a Tamale Festival!
COMMENT 303217	2012-07-31 07:32 AM
the corn of course, and the avocados with the shrimp and always a churro!
EDHATBARBARA	2012-07-31 08:47 AM
I love to eat the ceviche salad each year, the fresh fruit with chili powder (yum!) and the goat tacos at the downtown Mercado (have never been to the uptown one). I have also gone to the food court at Our Lady of Guadalupe, and there enjoyed some of the best pozole I've ever eaten, taquitos unlike the usual commercial ones and really superb tamales. As another poster said, go early, however, or you'll stand in long lines! Plenty of seating available there too.
COMMENT 303246	2012-07-31 08:52 AM
Like many others I refuse to celebrate Old Spanish Days because it commemorates the death and destruction of the Chumash people!
EDHATBARBARA	2012-07-31 09:00 AM
http://www.independent.com/news/2011/aug/04/eating-fiesta-barney-style/
COMMENT 303255	2012-07-31 09:21 AM
Had a torta a couple years ago at one of the mercados and it had ground beef in it .. unacceptable.
COMMENT 303275	2012-07-31 10:02 AM
Move Fiesta into the streets and stop shoving everyone into De La Guerra Small Space. Also stop pretending alcohol isn't the biggest driver of tax revenue. Open State Street to merchants and restaurants. Put hard entrances that are monitored and police enforced. Every Big City in the world does this and it works. Torta.
COMMENT 303278	2012-07-31 10:11 AM
Why they dont close down the entire lower state is beyond me - its a cluster uck of a mess and there is no need for cars on State St...
COMMENT 303283	2012-07-31 10:22 AM
303275, While opening the main street through town to merchants and restaurants is a great idea, putting hard entrances that are monitored and police enforced is totally impossible, and the fact is that NO Big City in the world does this. It's my opinion that State St should be closed to traffic EVERY weekend and on ALL holidays between Sola and Gutierrez. Sell licenses to merchants / food vendors and use some of that money to hire crossing guards at all cross streets. Give them cool uniforms. But we should definitely stop at allowing open containers, a la Bourbon St in N.O.
COMMENT 303302	2012-07-31 11:23 AM
Definitely the food from Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is authentic!
COMMENT 303366	2012-07-31 01:26 PM
Del Norte is where I end up anymore. I used to prefer the De la Guerra spot for the jalapeno poppers and HUGE beef ribs but I tire of all the children's strollers being run into my shins and back of my calves by rude, inattentive parents. Del Norte is at the Las Positas and State intersection, in a huge park with tons of space. There are a couple of stands that do excellent tacos there and the fresh lemon and lime -aide is spectacular especially if it's hot and sunny.
COMMENT 303397	2012-07-31 02:28 PM
Del Norte is just a bigger version of DLG plaza with kiddie rides. Way over-priced food that is utterly horrible. If it's good, authentic food you are after then stick with Our Lady of Guadalupe church.
COMMENT 303511	2012-07-31 06:47 PM
Mayos
EDHATBARBARA	2012-08-01 12:28 PM
Just back from el Mercado at DLG plaza and it was YUM! Ate the El Zarape taco trio of Chivo (goat) Birria (beef) and Adobado (pork) with the cactus salsa and a limonada! The taco plate was $7 and the lemonade was $2 -- I don't think it was overpriced at all. Have you eaten downtown lately?