Give Me Some Tongue

I like taco shops that offer "odd" cuts of meat. And when I say odd, I mean that from the perspective of the commercialized diet of cheeseburger and pizza. Anyone who's followed my meals knows I love raw fish. The cuts of tendon and tripe you find in pho tickles my fancy equally well.

So, what meat did I get? Tongue and head (for linguistic sensitivity the sign advertised them as lengua and cabeza). They're really tender. Only 99 cents each. I'd do better to go on Tuesdays, when they have a 75 cent taco deal.

My mission to locate the best eating places in the High Desert continues. Los Jalapenos #2 certainly does a good job in Victorville (and just 100 feet from a Taco Bell), but honestly, they're not a total High Desert experience. Their first location is in Rancho Cucamonga. The search continues.

Chile Red

Rancho Cucamonga is home to a very small Mexican restaurant with a very big eating challenge.

This is the Killer Burrito. It comes in several different variants, including one extremely spicy version. They all clock in at the $10-11 range. Eat it in one sitting and receive a free t-shirt as well as your picture on the Wall of Fame.

The restaurant staff on-hand was literally two people, the server and the cook. They insisted to me that the Killer Burrito weighed 3 lbs, but judging from previous food fights this was more in the 4-5 lb range. The burrito was flavorful and tender. Using a fork and knife I was able to get it down in 9 minutes.

The cook couldn't believe it when the server told him I was finished. He insisted on coming out from the kitchen to take a look, and yeah, it was legit. The server then told me the house record was 7 minutes. You know, I probably could have snagged it if I wasn't busy taking photos and fidgeting with my phone.

It might be possible for a mass eater to put away two of these burritos. Apparently one man made the attempt, but only got 25% into the second one before - uh - leaving his soul all over the floor. That was an hour-long effort as well. There are rumors of an upcoming burrito-eating contest at Chile Red, but nothing confirmed. These small places are usually a lot of fun and I liked my time there.

I'd like to go back and sample their spicy Killer. Decked out with jalapenos and hot sauces, it's sure to give a little rush. Maybe it'll help me break the 7 minute record.

Difficult Presentation

Sometimes, it's hard to make things look right. This is the Triple Kingburger Challenge from Fatburger in Rancho Cucamonga. Got it a couple weeks back. I didn't like the way it looked when it came to my table. It resembled a culinary mess...


Wow. It didn't matter much which angle you looked at it. Taking off the wrapper may have made it worse. Flatter. Well.... maybe it isn't easy to take 24 oz of beef and make an appealing tower from it, but I've seen better examples before.

At least the taste was just as I remembered.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

While most of my posts are related to enormous meals and portions, I've recently begun to think of a different idea. Would it be possible to find a level of constant high consumption that might be stretched out throughout a whole day, to achieve caloric saturation without the usual feelings that result from buffets and challenges?

To be brutally honest: yes. There are plenty of athletes who maintain daily routines of 6000-12,000 calories. They don't seem to suffer distended guts too often.

Just a lot less intense - trading space for time.