Family feast at Telefonica Gastro Park

It was a classic family outing with my parents, my brother, his pregnant wife, and their two-and-a-half year old son. My brother picked us all up. In the car we started debating on where to eat. When everyone wants to eat something different, by default I think of a food court. Situated behind a telephone company in downtown Tijuana, Telefonica Gastro Park is by far my favorite of all the trendy food courts in Tijuana.

Telefonica is home to my favorite hot dog (Humo) and to one of my favorite burgers (Maquina 65). It has a great Greek place called Creta, some of the best ramen with Don Ramen, delicious trendy Los Angeles looking brunch with Azarosa, creative Mexican dishes with La Carmelita, and much more. It also has a lot of vegetarian options and craft beer bar.

My parents have never been there, and my brother and his wife visit almost as often as I do. I looped around the food trucks carrying my nephew, considering my options. I was between a breaded tongue torta from La Carmelita or a rabbit pibil style sandwich from one of the newer stands, Satabu.

“Chawich conejo,” said my little nephew when I told him my choices. He just started to come into the world of language, and no doubt he recognized the word conejo (rabbit).

Both my parents chose hot dogs from Humo and loved them. My brother, feeling ill, only grabbed tomato soup from Creta. My sister-in-law got the gorgonzola-and-bacon burger from Maquina 65. My nephew got his favorite food, corn on a cob (a side from Humo) and picked fries from other plates.

I have had the rabbit from this Satabu before, but that was inside a taco and also in a different dish which was served on top of some gnocchi. The sandwich was the same rabbit pibil concoction but between two slices of wheat bread. It came with a side of fries, sweet yam, and arugula.

Pibil is typically served as cochinita pibil, a traditional Mexican pork dish marinated in citrus juices and seasoned with annatto seeds (giving it a reddish color). Satabu replaces the pork for rabbit. It tastes similar to cochinita pibil but with much leaner meat. The dish fares best as a taco, but as a sandwich is not bad, especially for $4. On top of the gnocchi it felt like an afterthought.