Inside scoop on a local favorite!

Wow - it's been a super long time since I've blogged! And to think that the last thing I posted wasn't even mine. I should be ashamed, but I'm hopeful that I'll recover.

So I had lunch yesterday with a friend of mine; let's call her 'Maura'. Maura and I really like El Guero Canelo, but not too many of our compadres do.

I have no idea what's wrong with them either.

So I head over there from work and pull into the parking lot - almost running over a cameraman in the process. They were filming owner and founder Daniel Contreras on front of the original Guero Canelo taco stand. I like seeing local media covering local businesses (especially ones that I enjoy and frequent), so I waved apologetically at the camera guy and pull into a parking spot. Little did I know how wrong I was about the 'local media' part of that...

Maura arrived a few minutes later and we order our meal: carne asada caramelo & Diet Coke for Maura, very mucho burro with chicken and a Manzanita Sol - or was it a Manzana Lift? - for me. We got our salsas, cucumbers, radishes, limes, and roasted jalapenos to enjoy before the food was ready and chatted. I was really bummed they were out of the roasted green onions - they're my faves. Maura ended up biting off a little more than she expected (sorry for the pun) with one of the chiles. It was a little higher on the Scoville scale than she expected, and it about put her out of commission for a little bit. It may have been the first time I've see her sweat, now that I think about it.

But I digress.

I need to talk about the chicken at this place. I'm not really sure what it is. I mean, it's chicken-y (new word o' the day) in flavor, but it's very uniform. And kinda spongy. And cubed - very evenly. It almost unnerves me, but yet I almost always order something with the chicken. I wish I knew what it was. Wait, I take that back - that's probably best not to ask about since I like it.

Maura enjoyed her caramelo, but then again she always does. I like their carne asada a lot, and combined with melty cheese and flour tortilla and it's elevated even higher.

I'm getting hungry.

Ok, so about that scoop. After we'd finished eating Daniel Contreras (El Guero Canelo himself) came over to bus our table. Maura asked him about the camera and the interviewing, and he said there were filming a spot for CBS Sunday Morning that's going to air on 11/22. Way to go Guero Canelo!

Granted, EGC and Sonoran-style hot dogs have been getting a lot of attention lately (Bon Appetit's Top 10 Places for hot dogs, New York Times: In Praise of the All American Mexican Hot Dog), but this is going to be a great story. Check it out next Sunday!

And in the meantime, go to El Guero Canelo and have a Sammy Dog, or a caramelo, or a very mucho anything in support of this great local success story.