I don’t think I’ve ever come across anything called a ‘rolled taco’. If it’s meat rolled up in a corn tortilla and fried, it’s a taquito (‘little taco’). If it’s (usually) mean and (usually) cheese rolled up in a flour tortilla and fried, it’s a flauta (‘flute’).
Up here in the PNW, flautas are called ‘crispitos’. I always asked for flautas. I think they call chimichangas ‘crisp burritos’. (Also, they call potato wedges ‘jojos’, and fish tacos are almost always served in a flour tortillas. It is a silly place.)
In California, “Rolled tacos” are the exact same thing as corn-shelled taquitos. The toppings include any combination, or none of the following: Guacamole, lettuce, and shredded cheese. What’s on them and what they are called depends on the restaurant and local preference. Most call them taquitos, but I’ve noticed that a lot of places in the Inland Empire (just east of San Diego) call them rolled tacos. I speculate that the name caters to what in the recent past was a large population of elderly retirees from back East who might find a word like “taquito” to be a might exotic. On the coast, Mexican restaurants are more likely to use the Spanish names for menu items.
I was born and raised in Southern California and still can’t wrap my head around south facing beaches. I used to volunteer at a pinball museum in Banning. And that’s where I noticed that several restaurants refer to taquitos as rolled tacos. When I was a kid in 1970s Newport Beach it seemed weird that the grandparents of all my friends were in places like Hemet and Beaumont.
It’s Banning. They do things differently there. I’m also not surprised that they called them “rolled tacos” back then, either. Hell, it wasn’t until I moved from SoCal to Alaska of all places that I experienced non-Cantonese Chinese food!
Actually, checking photos of menus, Roberto’s calls them “rolled tacos.” They are a San Diego institution, so there’s another data point.
The Orange Julius in Westwood Village a billion years ago put grated parmesan cheese on their chili dogs, and I still l have cravings nearly 50 years later.
A coworker of my sister once pronounced Beaumont as Bee-mont. We still call it that.
Never have I seen anything called a rolled taco. As above, little ones are taquitos and bigger ones are flautas.
Before we moved from San Diego, we lived within (long) walking distance of Roberto’s #10, where we spent a considerable portion of our discretionary income.
Wienerschnizel for me. Yeah, they used American cheese; but that, combined with the very soft steamed bun made for the best stomach bombs. I made a copycat Tommy’s chili sauce, and found it to be pretty close to Wienerschnitzel.
So as I’ve said, I avoid carbohydrates. I never liked rice in my burritos (being from San Diego), but I noticed years ago that one spoonful of rice adds 5 pounds to my weight. But all of this burrito talk is sorely tempting me to get a proper, large flour tortilla and make a burrito like I grew up with (no rice). Carne asada, guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes, and a bit chopped onions. (Actually ground beef would be closer, but… Dude. Asada.)
Del Taco uses ground beef, as does Taco Bell. I mentioned Del Taco’s Macho Meat Burrito. Seasoned ground beef, lettuce, tomato, chopped onions, cheese, and red sauce. It weighed at least a pound. I just looked up the Macho Combo Burrito (ground beef and refried beans instead of all meat), and it weighs 19 ounces. Surprisingly, it’s only 950 kilcalories. (And 100 g carbohydrates, less 16 g dietary fibre.)
I don’t remember Roberto’s #10, and I lived right around the corner from there, on Louisiana and Meade. I probably spent too much time at the “Second Wind” bar.
