When Does a Taco Become a Culture

A recent Salon.com article by Mark Dery, would seem at first glance, to be the most complex culinary paean to a taco ever authored in English.

At first glance.

What it really is emerges between the lines: an encomium on the cultural and ethnic machinations of Southern California--a tasty treat of an essay.

Dery dices and chops up culture at NYU. His website is worth a perusal as well. Anyone who can fetishize a taco (in Tex[t]-Mex, I do the same for Tumble Inn french fries) is a friend of mine. If you are in San Diego, go to Ponce's on Adams Avenue and ask for the special hamburger that's not on the meñu--the Mexican burger! A tasty melange that is one part velvet, one part Cinco de Mayo, and one part Uncle Sam. If the love child of Ronald McDonald, Lupe Vélez, Cantinflas, and Cuahtemoc were a hamburger, you could devour that morsel at Ponce's. Their secret? A cheese chile relleno between the meat and the bun! Yowza!

Their margaritas rock as well!