Next best several meals, all at home, all
tri-tip - what can I say? Grilled it blue rare
over lump charcoal (the rest of that Cowboy brand
stuff, which did its best but couldn't ruin the
meat). Did it blue rare over assorted scavenged
wood, which was surprisingly good, because most
of the wood here is eucalyptus. Did it medium-rare
in the oven before that thing crapped out forever.
It's hard to ruin a tri-tip, though the ones I
picked to be maximally marbled were somewhat
tenderer than the ones previously acquired and
frozen by Lilli possibly with the help of her son.

Lilli tried out the Claim Jumper blueberry pie,
which was okay, reminiscent of the A&P pies of
yore (I neglected to have her spread butter on the
crust before reheating, which is good for ready-
made pie) - both a little too runny and a little
too thickened; some decent blueberry flavor.

=

On our way back from one of our adventures, Lilli
introduced me to the Burger Bench, Escondido, which
has a great reputation.

You order at the counter, they give you a number,
and then your food gets runnered out when ready.
The help seemed hypereducated for the job - college
kids and recent grads by the looks of them. No way
would they stoop to wiping down the tables (long,
like picnic tables), so I found goo on my arm. I
got some water and did the job myself.

Lilli had the normal burger, hold the cheese - it
was 9 oz or so of quite good meat, done just a
hair over (I keep trying to get her to order rare,
because the fashionable medium-rare always comes out
medium or plus). Sturdy bun, negligible lettuce and
tomato, but greasy cooked onions made it interesting.
Bench sauce is a greasier version of Mighty Mo sauce
but not bad for that. Fallbrook Merlot was too sweet
and too berryful but seemed to go okay - I applaud
the restaurant for offering local wine, and fallbrook
makes some decent stuff, but this wasn't it.

I got the chorizo diablo burger, which was a messy
muddle but enjoyable enough. Rare might have been
a killer, because without a firm patty, everything
blended into mush. The menu lists "mizuna, tomato,
cream cheese, Jalapenos, Cheddar, chipotle mayo,"
and it was a bit too gooey altogether. I pulled out
the chorizo patty and ate it separately (nice spice,
too salty), but the thing was still too squirty messy,
so I took off the jalapenos and ate them separately
and had an almost manageable sandwich.

The Alesmith nut brown ale did not go well - it was
hoppier than the brewery's claim of 12 IBU, and the
sweet maltiness further complicated things.

=

On our way down Grand Avenue to Burger Bench, I'd
spotted the Cuscatlan Salvadorean restaurant and
resolved to try it. The opportunity soon arose (on
the way back from my chamber music buddies), and at
late lunchtime we went into a cool, darkish room
that might have been welcome had the weather been
warmer. A couple other tables were occupied, plus
during our stay another party came in.

Not being able to decide from the pretty extensive
menu, we decided to split the Combinacion Cuscatlan
(listed as an appetizer); it might have made an
appetizer for 6 - we ate and ate and still had a
bunch to take home for snacks. Not knowing that
ahead of time, I ordered a pupusa de loroco as
well - this came bigger than normal, as if they
were rewarding me for ordering it. Sadly, the
loroco buds were swimming in melted cheese and
could have been asparagus for all I could taste.

Revueltas pupusas were corn pastries filled with
cheese and beans, very hearty; one gets two on
this platter, and one each with a side of beans
might have made a light meal.

The sweet corn tamal tasted like sweetened Ivory
soap. Not my favorite food in the world.

There was a pork tamal that was somehow peculiar
despite having nicely seasoned pulled pork inside -
later the reason became clear; other correspondents
claim that it's made here with potato flour.

Shallow-fried plantain slices were riper than I
like and thus a bit sweet and goopy.

Fried yuca was more to my taste, though they
used some big (therefore fibrous) ones. The

chicharrones that came with were way too lean,
fried hard, so not that enjoyable.

Bowls of quite good black beans and quite thick
sour cream accompanied.

To drink Lilli had a glass of red ink the less
said about the better; I sensed the pitfall and
had a tasty horchata that was so good I had
seconds.

The help was friendly and willing but slow. Not
a problem, as we were in no particular hurry.
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