El Zarape 10 (!!!) Years Later and a Walk Around University Heights

Recently I was thinking about areas that I hadn't been to in a while and University Heights came to mind. I couldn't recall the last time I was in the area.....at least not since Covid. So, on a recent weekend morning I decided to drop by and take a nice stroll.

I parked across from Trolley Barn Park and crossed the street.

In case you're wondering why this is called Trolley Barn Park.

This was the actual site of the Trolley Car Barn from 1913 - 1949.

While crossing the street, I realized that over the years I've driven by the park many times; but had never walked through the park. Well, this morning was as good a time as ever to do so!

I actually entered the park from Panorama Drive.

It was mid-morning and all the "activities" were just getting started......yoga...

Soccer for little "kiddies"....

The sidewalk has markings of the streets along the old trolley route.

There's an interesting marker that details the route of the trolley.

And there's also a very nice view of Mission Valley at the south end of the park.

    I'm sure you've noticed all the signage and artwork with ostriches in the University Heights area.

Do you know why?

Well, the area at the southern end of Park Boulevard was W. H. “Harvey” Bentley's Ostrich Farm; yes, for real! According to the University Heights Historical Society:

"In 1904, John D. Spreckels invited Harvey Bentley to relocate his ostrich farm from Coronado."

There's this gate which was the entrance to the ostrich farm.

And there's this sign, which I didn't recall seeing before. According to this post, the sign just went up in May of this year.

I also noticed the mention of "William Hilton's Silk Mill". It turns out that the structure that now houses Meraki Café was once the location of a silk mill!

Around this time, I decided to grab a bite. Over the last couple of months, I'd been wondering how some of the "old time" (to me) places that I hadn't visited in years were doing. So I decided to head on over to El Zarape. Now I knew that I hadn't been to El Zarape in a while; but man, it had been a decade since I last visited. And before that visit was a seven year gap! I knew that El Zarape currently opens at 10 in the morning on weekends, so I was fairly certain that I wouldn't have a problem placing a takeout order.

The layout and design looks basically the same as it did a decade ago......

As did the menu....with the hipster additions of "Beyond Meat"...and the other stuffs that I would never try like the "Aloha/Wasabi/Soy" burritos.

For old time's sake I ordered two of my "standards" from the old days; a Fish Taco and a Shrimp Taco. The gentleman working was very friendly and it was a short wait....I sat outside for my order. I then made the short walk back to Trolley Park to eat.

Opening things up....well, the tacos didn't look too promising.

Though I will say that the avocado sauce and salsa rojo taste exactly the same. Though I'm guessing that due to Covid precautions the old salsa bar is gone and now the sauces are served in containers.

The shrimp taco ($4.25) was less than pleasing.

   The shrimp was rubbery, the tortilla didn't hold up and fell to pieces after my second bite, even with a protective layer of cheese. This was just so very bland, I didn't expect the sweet-richness of wild caught shrimp, but this just had so little "shrimpiness"....take a look at what the shrimp taco looked like before.

It doesn't even look like it's from the same restaurant....though I guess a lot can change in a decade. 

It used to be that the Fish Taco at EZ was sort of a loss leader....it was still 99 cents in 2012! Now it's $2.50 which I think is a good price in this day and age. But the main question that came to mind when I looked at my taco was where's the fish????

It was just covered with a ton of cabbage, which was much more thickly sliced than before. As you can tell by the color, the fish had been fried too long; the batter had really darkened and the fish was dry.....though the crema and the avocado sauce helped things out a bit; the sliver of fish  made this more a cabbage taco with a garnish of fish.

I really didn't expect too much from EZ, but it seems that time hasn't been too kind to the tacos at El Zarape. It's kind of sad really, since there was a time when I thought the fish tacos here were delici-yoso, of course that was a very long time ago.

Still, I was quite sad.....

El Zarape
4642 Park Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92116
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 11am - 10pm
Fri - Sun 10am - 11pm

On the bright side of things, I did learn a bit about the history of University Heights.

Comments

[kat]

even if EZ was disappointing, I’m glad you explored the park:)

[Sandy]

Nice park! I haven't been to El Zarape in ages; we used to make lunchtime runs from Kearny Mesa to pick up burritos. If the tacos didn't stand the test of time, I'm not too hopeful for the burritos.

[Kirk]

I did enjoy checking things out Kat!

Yeah, it was kind of sad Sandy!

[Kenneth]

Best local tacos I've had are at West Coast Smoke & Taphouse on their Tuesday taco night. Very reasonably priced and very filling. Plus great beer. Lots of outside patio seating in this BA5 era.

[alnc]

I really enjoy it when you give us some history about SD. Very interesting.

"...and the other stuffs that I would never try like the "Aloha/Wasabi/Soy" burritos."

It's also great when you release your inner curmudgeon. I can feel your cringe.

[RedDevil]

Tried EZ once way back when. Thanks for the reminder that it’s unnecessary to hurry back. Also thanks for the local history lesson. Good stuff!

[Dereck]

I used to live right by the Trolley Park when I moved to San Diego. I always liked walking through the park and relaxing there, grabbing some food from EZ or a coffee from Twigs and heading back to the park like you did.

It does sound like I will skip EZ in the future if I get back to the area again.

[Joy]

I've been once and had a similar experience. Oscar's not too far from here does the same 10 pounds of cabbage trick to hide the fact that there's practically no fish. I'm grateful to be spoiled with excellent tacos of all sorts in the South Bay!

[Kirk]

That sounds great Kenneth!

I'm glad you find my curmudgeonliness amusing ALNC! ;o)

It's somewhat sad since EZ used to be a favorite of ours RD!

Well, maybe for old times sake Dereck?

Yes, definitely more and better choices in the South Bay Joy. Though EZ was....at least once upon a time quite popular.

[Som Tommy]

Never knew why ostriches were on the banners. Thanks for the story

[Kirk]

Glad you liked the story ST!

[Soo]

Lovely park. Been a long time since I visited.

[Kirk]

It is a very lovely park Soo!