Food Truck Bite of the Week: Going Back to Cali

By Lou Bustamante Tue., Jul. 31 2012 at 9:00 AM

Categories: Cheap Eats, Street Eats

Lou Bustamante

California Pork Sisig Burrito

Our weekly bite explores the city's food trucks, one at a time, highlighting our favorite mobile dishes and snacks.

The Truck: Señor Sisig
The Cuisine: Filipino meets SoCal Mexican
Signature Item: California burritos--San Diego style creation with french fries inside.
Worth the Wait in Line? Yes.

Thanks to clever riffs on classic dishes that incorporate bold new flavors and traditions from other cultures, the food truck ~~fad~~ trend has established home cooking from other cultures as local comfort food. Take Señor Sisig's California Sisig Burrito ($8, choice of pork, chicken, or tofu, with fries, shredded cheese, pico de gallo, Mexican crema, guacamole), which beautifully appropriates the San Diego surfer-style burrito that swaps out beans and rice for french fries.

Lou Bustamante

The calm before the lunch time storm

The burrito has heft in weight, calories, and flavor, with the tangy-crisped sisig flecked with cracked black pepper, tasting like a cross between carnitas and adobo. For those unfamiliar, Filipino sisig is often made by braising pigs head and liver seasoned with calamansi lime and chili peppers, then finished on a hot metal plate or flattop grill to develop crusty, meaty bits. Chef Gil Payumo makes their version with pork shoulder instead of the more traditional offal for a cleaner and meatier sisig. For those that don't dig on swine, they make sisig chicken and a variation with fried tofu with sweet chili sauce.

It's easy to imagine the fries being more filler than taste, but they add satisfying potato flavor and great texture, even halfway through when their crunch has softened. The rest of the Mexican condiments integrate so well with the sisig that it doesn't feel gimmicky, simply worthy of chasing a truck down.

Lou Bustamante tweets at @thevillagedrunk. Follow SFoodie at @sfoodie, and like us on Facebook.