On a mission in the Mission

Last week I made the easy pilgrimage from Oakland to San Francisco's Mission neighborhood with the worthy goal of eating another great sandwich from our 2025 resolutions list -- the Rajas con Queso from La Torta Gorda. 

Rajas are delicious strips of roasted poblano peppers and these came on a crusty, fluffy roll. The queso in question is queso Oaxaca - something like a cross between a jack cheese and mozzarella.

I’m a little ashamed to say I had never been to this spot before. It opened when I was living in the Mission not a mile away.  

At the time, I was subsisting on a diet of roughly nine super burritos a week -- one for dinner every night and another one for lunch on Saturdays and Sundays. I've since dialed back my burrito intake to roughly one per quarter, but I blame my fixation on that Mission District staple for missing La Torta Gorda. Getting there would have required walking past at least two of my favorite burrito joints.

One way to think of a torta is like a burrito on bread. In fact, many people in Mexico and many owners of taquerias don't consider the torta to be a sandwich at all. 

Don't believe me? Just check out the menu for La Torta Gorda, which includes 21 different tortas, like the Rajas con Queso and the Pierna Enchilada (which I also tried), and four "Sandwiches." 

Those sandwiches -- ham and cheese, turkey and avocado, etc. -- all come with lettuce, tomato, onions and mayo. That's stuff I normally love, but on a menu next to carnitas, carne asada and chicken tinga? It's just a hard sell.

And look, their smoked ham, turkey, and melted provolone sandwich does sound pretty good. But I can see why people might put it in a different class than something like this:

In any case, this visit was worth the wait.

Had any good sandwiches lately? Throw them in the MSD. 

We'll be back next week with a roundup of Club:Sandwich's trip to LA. Spoiler: Langer's is still great.

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