I went back to Alejandro's last week and had the carnitas burrito (which was quite tasty, by the way) but it made me realize that the super hot-sweet flavor of their barbecued pork burrito is all in the barbecue sauce, not in the pico de gallo. Nice going, guys!

Also went to Picante in Berkeley on Friday night. The family and I got stuck in traffic on I-80 westbound -- is there any time of day or night, any day of the week that freeway isn't clogged with cars? -- and my blood sugar started crashing, so we hopped off the freeway at Gilman. Picante, a kind of hybrid taqueria/restaurant, was almost as crowded as the freeway, but we were able to place our order at the counter, find a table and get served within about 20 minutes. I had vegetarian tamales, a little bit of a departure for me. Picante's are filled with winter squash and roasted hot peppers and served with a spicy avocado-based salsa. Sabroso!