Much, much better: I've got to give my mother props, she's always up for trying a new burrito place. In this case, we returned to one of the favorite taquerias of my distant past: El Faro on Monument Boulevard in Concord.

I hadn't been to El Faro in about 10 years, but nothing much had changed. Well, they were resurfacing the parking lot, which made getting to the front door a bitch. I had forgotten that the "regular" burrito ($4.95) is honking big; in my experience, only El Zamorano on Foothill Boulevard in Oakland serves a bigger one. The "little" burrito ($3.95) makes a better lunch portion, unless you can truly afford to take a siesta.

I got my standard chile verde with pinto beans; mom got a beef tamale dinner (about $7). The burrito was as good as I remembered it, although you do need to add pico de gallo (it comes on the side) to really punch up the flavor. Mom was a little dismayed at the size of her tamale plate (enormous), but went after it like a trouper. The tamale had a nice balance of meat to masa and was really delicious. She got horchata - more vanilla than usual, and I guess what you would call full-bodied. I got tamarindo, which is really my favorite, but for some reason isn't carried by a lot of taquerias.

"Why don't they have the telenovelas on?" was mom's only complaint - all three TVs were turned to cable news.