Puesto, San Deigo

Looking for Cali-Mex street food in San Diego then look no further than PUESTO at the Headquarters in San Diego.

I should probably first start off by saying San Diego is my favourite place on earth – it encompasses everything I love – great food, chilled out lifestyle, outdoor activities and most importantly Mexican food.

I was told by all my friends who reside or have been on holiday to San Diego that I must must must have mexican food whilst I’m there. Having been described to me as the best Mexican food outside of Mexico, it would have been rude not to give it a try.

After some research (aka recommendation from a fellow foodie friend of mine), we decided to head to PUESTO located at Headquarters and have a night of cali-mex.

Our hotel concierge helped us make a reservation for 3 people on a Frida night – very advisable as it saved us queuing and waiting 40 minutes for a table. We were pretty lucky as we booked for 8pm just the day before.

The restaurant is pretty quirky, a variety of seating to suit your mood from sofa seats where you can have a chilled out meal, bar stools if you fancied a meal without the typical restaurant atmosphere to proper tables (even then the chairs are all slightly different) so it stays through to their street food feel. I love the relaxed dining atmosphere here. This place seemed very new & the kitchen is open plan so you can see the chefs hard at work.

Upon  sitting down at the table you are greeted with a large bowl of tortilla chips and some salsa – we were ravenous so we devoured the first bowl. They were super scrumptious! But not to fear, they then just bring you another bowl and some more salsa. These treats makes a great combination with an iced old margarita.

We ordered a Mexican street bowl ($9) to share as a starter. The fruit was really fresh but I wasn’t too keen on the chilli powder and tangy sauce.

We then ordered 2 trio of tacos – one trio made up of chicken al pastor, cochinita pibil and lamb barbacoa (additional $1) and the other trio with chicken al pastor, cochinita pibil and filet mignon (additional $1.5). They were all super tasty but an honorary mention must go to the filet mignon – the meat was full of flavour and very tender, well worth the extra $1.5. It is worth noting that the tortillas are soft not like the tacos I’m accustomed to which have a hard tortilla shell but they were scrumptious.

We also ordered a filet mignon bowl which was the highlight of our meal. The meat was so  juicy and tender and full of flavour. There was a generous helping of avocado in the dish too. The black beans, jasmine rice and pistachio salsa complimented the meat very well. I would highly recommend this dish.

It seems guacamole is a firm favourite at this place but at $9 I find it on the pricey side.

This place won the 2015 Best Restaurant in San Diego Awards from San Diego Magazine and I can see why.

Location: 789 West Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101

Enjoy!

Follow me on Instagram or Twitter – @Gobbytraveller and hashtag #IGmealtime for a shout out.

Eat.Cook.Travel.