Carne Asada Fries appears as a signature dish in 2 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Carne asada fries · Los Angeles
Frozen-style French fries piled with grilled steak, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and pico. A San Diego-LA Mexican-American invention from the 1990s.
Carne asada fries crossed up the California coast from San Diego, where Lolita's Mexican Food on Imperial Avenue is widely credited with the format around 1986: a paper plate of crisp fries piled with grilled steak, melted cheddar, sour cream, guacamole and pico de gallo. The dish reached Los Angeles in the early 1990s and became a staple of late-night Mexican counter spots, particularly across the Westside and the Eastside. It is messy, communal, eaten with two forks, and reads as the West Coast cousin of poutine and nachos. Most pure-blooded LA versions still use crinkle-cut fries.
Where to eat in Los Angeles:
- Tacos Tu Madre
- Eduardo's Border Grill
Carne asada fries · San Diego
A heap of crisp french fries, smothered in carne asada, melted Jack cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo and sour cream. Eaten with a plastic fork at the counter; invented in San Diego's Chicano taquerias in the 1990s.
Carne asada fries are a San Diego invention attributed to Lolita's Mexican Food, whose owners say a tortilla distributor suggested loading fries with carne asada and toppings in the late 1990s. The dish spread fast through the city's -bertos taquerias and became Chicano San Diego's house plate. Wikipedia and the LA Times trace the dish's origin to San Diego specifically; you can now find it at every late-night taco shop from Chula Vista to Pacific Beach, with regional debates about whether sour cream belongs.
Where to eat in San Diego:
- Lolita's Mexican Food
- Lucha Libre Gourmet Taco Shop
- El Comal
- Tacos El Gordo
- La Puerta