Ch-ch-changes.

A recent visit to CAVA with my daughter sparked a discussion about trends in eating. I continually remark that Tom would be devastated by the state of dining out circa 2020 on. It is the very antithesis of everything he cherished.

Places like Chipotle have been around for a while. It has spawned local imitators like Felipe’s, but it is not only Mexican food that is available in this abbreviated cafeteria format. CAVA is a Mediterranean Grill that follows your instructions as they build a pile of food for you to eat. Blaze Pizza and 800 Degrees do the same with your pizza desires, etc.

The gist of our conversation that day was how far away all of this was from the basic tenets of Tom’s dining pleasure.  And then ML directed the conversation to the fast food of Tom’s day, burgers and fries, and how much healthier the food in front of us at CAVA was. 

I couldn’t deny that my gut bacteria was thrilled with all the pickled things on my plate. I made a point of loading up on all of that. But it was just such an unappealing pile of stuff indistinguishable as separate ingredients. And I couldn’t deny that those indistinguishable ingredients were hummus and grilled chicken filled with anti-inflammatory spices, blah, blah, blah. I further couldn’t deny that I loved these fresh Mediterranean flavors.

And then I had to yield the argument to her when she showed me the bill, ($22 for two) announcing that it would have been still lower had I not ordered so stupidly. What can I say? I was one of three people my age in a place packed with people her age. Good thing I had her as a sherpa, or I would have driven the people behind the counter as crazy as the Boomers right in front of me. Spicy lamb? Harissa chicken? So many choices! What is all this?

We left CAVA with me conceding to her on all points, declaring to return once a week to please my gut bacteria, if nothing else. Without her, she begged.

I had all these thoughts when I went yesterday to a new place called Taqueria Carnalito, a spawn of the budding Tacos Del Cartel empire. It's this same fast casual style of eating, not dining. Arrestingly bold in decor, the place grabs your attention as its parent company does at all their throbbing restaurants. Orange is the signature color here, and it is everywhere. The entire place is decked out in squares of bright shiny orange tiles. It’s not a big space, so shiny white tiles offset the orange. A row of orange counter seats line a window, and sweatshirts and other “merch” hang for purchase here. There are two stand up communal tables that separate the window counter from the open kitchen. A small cove with tables and tiled booth seating is off to the side.

The menu is smallish but adequate. I guess for a street food-style taqueria it is large. Tacos come in twos, so they can charge more. I ordered chicken and beef sirloin, plus refried beans and elote, the Mexican street corn. The young lady at the register was extremely pleasant and helpful to me in navigating through the order.

I was surprised to see that meat would come from a donar. On the back kitchen wall turned two spits, one stacked with beef and the other chicken. Beneath the glass separating me and the kitchen I could see the requisite bins of pickled items. My gut bacteria would be pleased. They sliced meat from the rotating donar with a large knife and placed it into the corn tortilla that had been heated on the grill beside the spits.

From there they went to the bins of pickled things, ladling crema and sprinkling cilantro and pickled onions onto the tacos. I didn’t notice any American-style cheese, so this really is a Mexican taqueria. After they filled cups with black bean puree and elote, it was placed in a beautiful orange bag. I skipped the wall of bottled drinks like sodas and aqua frescas and the communal salsa table on the opposite wall and left. The bill was $17.48.

The chicken taco was weird, coming off a a donar as a single slice of chicken thin enough for me to make it the taco shell. Huh? The beef sirloin were bits of meat more standard from a donar, with interesting spices, plenty of cilantro (at my request) and onion. This was tasty, as was the elote. The black bean puree was maybe the best I have had of this dish.

The conversation I had last week with my daughter popped again into my mind. This is the fast food model for this time. My thoughts darted back to a gigantic medallion that hung over the seating cove at Taqueria Carnalito. It contained the most overused and trendiest saying out there right now. It was written in Spanish and English. But at least it was written out and not displayed as a mysterious acronym.

“If you know, you know.” I don’t.