San Diego is a city that loves its food.  When a hot new place opens, they can have a great  presence on social media, they can advertise and they can turn up at festivals with a booth but nothing spreads like wildfire faster than word of mouth.  Of course, wildfire spreads even faster than word of mouth as we in San Diego have been grimly reminded of in recent weeks.  Drought, Santa Ana winds, Global warming.  Basically we’re all doomed.  But back to the important stuff.  We love food!  Carnitas Snack Shack made a HUGE splash when it opened a few years ago in North Park.  Lines up the block are a daily sight.  So many people were shocked to discover I’d never eaten here and it was one of the first places I put on my list when I came up with this whole thing.  Reputation is stellar and expectations were high.  My band of merry men (and women) were ready to meet this challenge!

Aimee–Roommate since the 90’s, BFF, allergic to hot dogs and therefore labeled a commie by many

Amy-Vegetarian Belle, Author, Event Planner

Anna-Educator, flannel wearer, still mad at us for going to Snooze without her

Craig-Jackie’s lucky and mysterious other half, picture unavailable

Jackie-Awesome Soprano, fellow East Coast transplant, Has a Vegas story or two

Joey-Future music professor, Saceraz drinker, makes a mean cup of coffee

Kelsey-Project manager, Advanced level foodie, Has been known to drop it like it’s hot after a few cocktails

Mike & Marjy-The package deal, a pair of my favorite foodies who once served me cake on a stick in the snowy mountains (true story)

Carnitas Snack Shack changes its menu daily depending on what they’ve got.    There are some items that are repeat favorites so your mileage may vary in hopes of finding everything you read about here.  This should get an idea of what their menu features.  The back patio features a full bar with spirits and lots of beers.  Marjy got the Crabbie’s Ginger Beer.  Basically ginger beer with alcohol = WIN.  She loved it.  Aimee and I both had a Diet Double Cola.  I’ve gotten used to the taste of diet soda so when a diet cola is designed to taste just like a regular cola, it’s not always a good thing.  I found the drink cloyingly sweet.  Amy ordered a Modern Times Black House, a long-standing favorite beer of hers.

As far as the main dishes went, a few of us ordered the same thing but we still had a pretty decent cross section of the menu.   Joey, Mike, Craig and I all ordered the Triple Threat: Carnitas, Pork Schnitzel, Bacon, Shack Aioli & Pepperoncini pickle relish.  I also had a side of steak fries.   This sandwich is not for the faint of heart.  Joey found all individual components of the sandwich delicious but the schnitzel made it a bit unwieldly to consume.  Mike ate it as an open faced sandwich, whereas Craig and I simply opened our faces and made it work.  While Craig felt the bacon was the real star of the sandwich, the carnitas seemed bland to him.   Mike loved it and said that the only way it could be made more decadent was to replace the bun with a donut.  As for me, I really liked it but I am simply not built to consume food like this anymore.  It was rich, tasty and full of meaty goodness.  I would probably share this sandwich in the future but 25-year-old me would eat these daily.  Granted, I probably wouldn’t live to see 38-year-old me but I would die happy.

I would like to take a moment to also praise the fries.  Though they’re called “Steak fries” they are actually shoe string cut.  They were tasty with a nice spicy kick to them.  They are served with a house “Ketchup”.  The thin & soupy texture of the ketchup basically earned it the name “Tomato Soup” from me and my friends.  Tasty but not quite ketchup in my estimation.

Marjy ordered the Pork belly ap: Seared pork belly, frisee salad, apple lemon vinaigrette & sweet-spicy glaze.   She found it tender and not as rich as she was expecting.  Her salad was adequate and the tang of the mustardy dressing was good but might have been better served with a tarter apple.  She also got the chips and H&B guac, which was chunky and good.

Anna and Kelsey both ordered the Snack Shack Burger with aged white cheddar, bacon jam, lettuce, tomato and shack aioli.  They also had similar experiences with it.  They found the aioli to be good with the bacon jam (another stand out).  Their burgers were well cooked.  They both said the fries and “tomato soup” were excellent.    Amy had the Beet Terrine: Local Beets with goat cheese, spinach, frisee salad & balsamic glaze.   There were not many vegetarian options on the menu and she had low expectations for this terrine.  She felt the dish was pretty straight forward but nothing remarkable or worth coming back for.  It should be noted that in the dietary restrictions department, what Carnitas lacks in vegetarian options, they almost make up for in their wide selections of Gluten Free options, which Marjy appreciated.

Jackie ordered the Snack Shack Rueben Sandwich with pastrami, sour kraut, swiss and thousand island.  She declared this sandwich “rocked her world”.  The bread was buttered and delicious with great pastrami.  It was also loaded with sourkraut, which she loved.   Aimee had the Snack Shack Steak Sando with blue cheese spread, red onion, apple and lettuce on sourdough.  She also had an order of steak fries.   She found the sandwich a little spicy but super tasty with quality bread.  Aimee’s fries were a little spicy and sized to share.  The “Tomato soup” was okay but she described it as thin and off-putting.

In the interest of thoroughness, we all ordered desserts.  These seemed to be the biggest downfall of an otherwise really solid meal.  Joey & Aimee had the Peanut butter Cap’t Truffle, which I tried.  While Joey found it bittersweet and tasty, he did find it difficult to eat with it’s thick coating and the captain crunch seemed unnecessary.  Aimee felt the size and shape of the dessert both defied what could be called a “truffle”.  I thought the truffles were tasty but more than a handful to eat.  Reaching all levels of flavors required more than one bite.  Not that I have a problem with that but it made it hard to eat.

Kelsey and Anna both had the Bacon Chocolate Brownie.  They were not fans.  They felt the brownie was lacking chocolate flavor with weak caramel (wrong consistency) and barely any bacon.  Kelsey also ordered the Sour Cream Cake with berries, which she labeled a complete throw-away.  She said it was basically coffee cake with a bit of jam at the bottom.  Amy had the Peanut butter Pie, which she felt was yummy.  I had some and I gotta say I agree, it was super tasty.  Jackie & Craig had the Chocolate Bacon Whisky Truffle.  Jackie felt the chocolate was so strong it cancelled out the other flavors.  She added that the dessert on the whole seemed to lack complexity.  I tasted this truffle and I have to agree.  The flavors were so muddled I had to be reminded what else was in it aside from chocolate.

So overall, I found Carnitas Snack Shack to be well worth the hype.  While it’s small, there is a great patio out back with a cool vibe.  The staff was awesome and friendly.  The food was tasty and well prepared, but skip dessert and stick to the meaty stuff.  It’s what they do best.

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