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Impression: Taqueria Can-Cun: Recommended

3211 Mission Street
San Francisco

Taqueria Can-Cun is basically across the street from my new apartment; as a result, it has become my default quick restaurant. If I don’t want to cook, I can always nip across the street for a burrito. My usual choice is a regular burrito with grilled chicken ($3.80) on a wheat tortilla (80 cents extra). I think the wheat tortilla is worth it, both because I like to eat whole wheat when I can and because Can-Cun grills their tortillas, which renders a white tortilla a bit dry and flaky for my tastes. The wheat tortilla retains more chew through the grilling process. As I’ve mentioned before, I like a relatively dry burrito, and Can-Cun’s are very much to my taste. The burrito is hefty, and holds together well through the last bite. The meat is spicy and tasty — just on the edge of being a bit too rich for me. The meal comes with a big handful of pretty tasty chips, and two salsas. One is a nice pico de gallo-type salsa which I eat with the chips; the other is a hot green salsa which I leave be.

I’ve also had the plain quesadilla ($2.50), which is good but unremarkable. I should try some more of the meats. Plus, they have the dread alambres.

Originally published on Tournedos

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Impression: Julie’s Healthy Cafe: OK

2562 Bancroft Ave.
Berkeley, CA

Julie’s is one of the Berkeley restaurants that boggles me a little bit, because I’ve never been even though I lived in the area for many years. I think it’s because the restaurant is set back from the street, past an outdoor seating area, and it’s not especially inviting. However, this week I went in to give it a try.

Julie’s serves breakfast, sandwiches (hot and cold), and stir-fry. It strikes me as an odd assortment, but I’ve seen a bunch of burgers-and-stir-fry places lately, so perhaps it’s a trend. I had the chicken broccoli stir-fry ($6.95), a soda ($1.00), and a cookie ($1.00). The stir-fry was pretty good, though I would have called it a chicken mushroom stir-fry; there were a whole bunch of mushrooms, and only a few sprigs of broccoli. The chicken was tasty, and the seasoning was fine, though maybe a little one-dimensionally soy-based. The cookies are apparently low-fat. I can’t recommend them; my cookie was bland and boring. Sometimes a low-fat dessert is less worth the calories than a full-fat one would be.

Originally published on Tournedos