The One That Got Away — 5.0 — Super-Mini El Sacrificio, El Rincon, San Jose del Cabo, Los Cabos, BCS, MX.
“In a little cafe on the other side of the border……”
Yeah, yeah, I know how hungry you are. That early flight out of Norte America, the smoggy lay-over in a city that won’t be mentioned, long lines at immigration in Los Cabos International and THEN you get the red light at customs and they confiscate all that beautiful Tillamook white cheddar AND the smoked salmon you were trying to smuggle….damn… it has been a long, long day my friend and you just HAVE TO find something to eat….
My other friends are probably going to ICE me for telling you this but you got to check this place out: El Sacrificio.
In those bad old days, the days before the bridge across the Rio San Jose, (yeah the bridge that was a next-year-for-sure rumor for about 35 years), El Sacrificio was already here, but the restaurant was only a couple of round tables made from wire spools, a tent with a tin roof and they served fresh camerone and pescado, occasionally pulpo, sometimes various farm meats, rolled on hand built tortillas harina about whenever the shrimp boat came in to La Playita or Fortunato slaughtered a cow. No real schedule. Could be any day, could be anytime. But it was delicious.
That old Italian gringo, that Tomas Marsano, he’d come down here and buy a couple dozen rancho de carne burritos at a time and keep them in his ice box at his palapa above Shipwrecks Beach. He’d buy the whole stand out if he could and give those yum yums to all his friends, but they had a limit for Old Marsano, 24 to go. That was a good time, I’ll tell you that. Good times, all gone now.
Now? Restaurante El Sacrificio is a solid concrete fortress, two stories with the bottom all kitchen and an open counter top facing the dirt street and if you get there about 11 AM most any day there is a long line for burritos. Yeah, and the local Cabosonians say you can get LO MEJOR pierna de puerco burrito in the entire EL MUNDO….
Yeah, kiddo that’s what they say, and I know you’ve been practicing your high school Spanish for months now in anticipation for this trip but, mi amiga, do you speak light-speed Spanish? Faster than a speeding bullet Spanish? Because….
When you go to order at El Sacrificio they are RAPITO like EL LOCO. Boom boom boom burrito out the door. No time to catch your breath, long line behind you, everyone talking at once, no “Mas depacio por favor” around here fellas, the Spanish language is made to be mumbled, half a word then another half on top of it and two thirds on that and then down to an eighth of a word and you got your point across so move on….Burrito out the door.
But don’t be afraid, traveller, because they asked you what you wanted and the best you could do was “Carne asada, por favor” and then five other questions in two half seconds, and then from you: “Si, si, si si…” and who knows what you ordered….possibly it is a nice arrachera burrito, fine all alone, but you got yours garnished with lengua and ghost peppers that are so hot they were once proven to have started the Chicago Fire of 1874….
Calm down, compadre. Take your four burritos wrapped in waxed paper (they have banned plastic wrap in Los Cabos, Hooooooray) and fitted nicely into a little paper bag and go sit under the side tent at a nice picnic table and take your medicine. You said you were hungry.
Lengua is cow tongue? Oh well…. No worries. This is going to be delicious…..
