Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

At Aladin Trio, an overseas reflection of American fast food

Shawarma is joined by hot chicken, French fries, and burgers from Baghdad

Nashville hot chicken and "tornado fries"
Nashville hot chicken and "tornado fries"

Eleven years ago, an Associated Press story kicked off global news coverage declaring a “Burger boom in Baghdad.” The story documented a growing popularity of American fast foods in post-war Iraq, including fried chicken and pizza. A Baghdad resident quoted in the piece proclaimed, “We’re fed up with traditional food… We want to try something different.”

Place

Aladin Trio

2650 Jamacha Road #123, El Cajon

Sure enough, a current search for burger restaurants in the Iraqi capital suggests there are now some 200 burger restaurants, most locally operated, boasting names such as West Burger, Viking Burger, BBQ Burger and, aptly enough, Boom Burger. It almost makes you wonder what America’s beefiest export looks like, after passing through a cultural filter to show up halfway around the world. Anyway, it made me wonder. Which is how I would up eating a three-part lunch at Aladin Trio.


Some may have encountered this operation as a food truck parked by Jamacha Road liquor store in El Cajon, or previously doing business as Baba’s Trio, which used to post up in South Park. A few months back, Aladin Trio re-launched as a brick and mortar, just a short drive down Jamacha, in Rancho San Diego. It’s tucked into a shopping center headlined by Ralph’s and MacDonald’s, where the tidy, little counter shop is able to expand on its original fast food trio: shawarma, falafel, and Nashville Hot Chicken.


In this part of East County, shawarma and falafel are no more surprising a presence than that MacDonald’s, but halal hot chicken’s bound to stand out. It’s tough to imagine much variation with fried chicken strips glazed in spicy sauce ($11.49 with fries, $12.49 on a sandwich), and I didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. My chief complaint would be that Aladin’s hottest, “fire” spice level fell a couple rungs shy of the ghost pepper heights I’ve grown to expect.


A food truck turned counter shop in Rancho San Diego


When it came to Aladin Trio hamburgers, though, I didn’t have expectations, spicy or otherwise. I haven’t been to Iraq, and couldn’t tell you to what degree these Rancho San Diego burgers are representative of Baghdad tastes. However, the names of several burgers do correspond to Baghdad neighborhoods. Al-Jadriya features grilled onions and tomatoes; Al-Karadda adds grilled eggplant, and Al-Harthiya is topped with French fries. Meanwhile, the Baghdad burger offers grilled mushrooms, while the Aladin burger includes a portion of beef shawarma atop its burger patty. They range in price from $9 to $13.

Sponsored
Sponsored


The likes of shawarma and eggplant notwithstanding, what immediately stands out as different about most of these burgers is the choice of sauce used to dress them: “Aladin sauce or brown sauce.”


Brown sauce seems to be what the British know as HP Sauce. Made with tomato, tamarind, and date, I could best describe its flavor as a cross between Kansas City style BBQ and A1 steak sauce. Having tried my Al-Jadriya burger dressed with the tangy-sweet brown sauce, I’d recommend that anyone with American burger tastes stick to the second house option: Aladin sauce, made from the more familiar mixture of ketchup and mayonnaise.


Aesthetically, these differ from American-style burgers somewhat in terms of shape. In So Cal at least, we favor 3- to 4-inch diameter burgers, stacked vertically with thick (or double) patties and however many layers of toppings. Aladin’s have closer to a 6-inch diameter — roughly the size of a compact disc, if that reference still makes sense. On that wide, soft, sesame seed-coated bun sits a bigger yet flatter beef patty, with toppings spread across it so the whole thing sits flatter. I don’t think the dimensions affect it much aside from making it less photogenic. Honestly, it’s not too remarkable a burger to begin with, so a prettier picture might help.


An Al-Jadriya burger, with grilled tomatoes and onions


Actually, little on the Aladin Trio menu photographs well. Unless, ironically, you stick to potatoes. First, there’s a menu of kumpir ($9-$13), which are effectively Middle Eastern baked potatoes, made more interesting to look at, and eat, because they’re served with melted butter and mozzarella, and — just like the adjacent grilled cheese menu — stuffed with all of the above: falafel, hot chicken, burger patties, or shawarma.


Most interesting here though are the so-called “tornado fries.” Also known as tornado potatoes, these essentially take a spiral cut to a small potato, creating a long ribbon of starch that’s stabbed through with a skewer and then deep fried. Dusted with salt and paprika, the result eats like a long, winding, contiguous potato chip. I’d never encountered this before, and it turns out to be a South Korean street food innovation. Which suggests there’s more than just American fast food culture staring back at us from Baghdad anymore.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Big swordfish, big marlin, and big money

Trout opener at Santee Lakes
Next Article

Jazz guitarist Alex Ciavarelli pays tribute to pianist Oscar Peterson

“I had to extract the elements that spoke to me and realize them on my instrument”
Nashville hot chicken and "tornado fries"
Nashville hot chicken and "tornado fries"

Eleven years ago, an Associated Press story kicked off global news coverage declaring a “Burger boom in Baghdad.” The story documented a growing popularity of American fast foods in post-war Iraq, including fried chicken and pizza. A Baghdad resident quoted in the piece proclaimed, “We’re fed up with traditional food… We want to try something different.”

Place

Aladin Trio

2650 Jamacha Road #123, El Cajon

Sure enough, a current search for burger restaurants in the Iraqi capital suggests there are now some 200 burger restaurants, most locally operated, boasting names such as West Burger, Viking Burger, BBQ Burger and, aptly enough, Boom Burger. It almost makes you wonder what America’s beefiest export looks like, after passing through a cultural filter to show up halfway around the world. Anyway, it made me wonder. Which is how I would up eating a three-part lunch at Aladin Trio.


Some may have encountered this operation as a food truck parked by Jamacha Road liquor store in El Cajon, or previously doing business as Baba’s Trio, which used to post up in South Park. A few months back, Aladin Trio re-launched as a brick and mortar, just a short drive down Jamacha, in Rancho San Diego. It’s tucked into a shopping center headlined by Ralph’s and MacDonald’s, where the tidy, little counter shop is able to expand on its original fast food trio: shawarma, falafel, and Nashville Hot Chicken.


In this part of East County, shawarma and falafel are no more surprising a presence than that MacDonald’s, but halal hot chicken’s bound to stand out. It’s tough to imagine much variation with fried chicken strips glazed in spicy sauce ($11.49 with fries, $12.49 on a sandwich), and I didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. My chief complaint would be that Aladin’s hottest, “fire” spice level fell a couple rungs shy of the ghost pepper heights I’ve grown to expect.


A food truck turned counter shop in Rancho San Diego


When it came to Aladin Trio hamburgers, though, I didn’t have expectations, spicy or otherwise. I haven’t been to Iraq, and couldn’t tell you to what degree these Rancho San Diego burgers are representative of Baghdad tastes. However, the names of several burgers do correspond to Baghdad neighborhoods. Al-Jadriya features grilled onions and tomatoes; Al-Karadda adds grilled eggplant, and Al-Harthiya is topped with French fries. Meanwhile, the Baghdad burger offers grilled mushrooms, while the Aladin burger includes a portion of beef shawarma atop its burger patty. They range in price from $9 to $13.

Sponsored
Sponsored


The likes of shawarma and eggplant notwithstanding, what immediately stands out as different about most of these burgers is the choice of sauce used to dress them: “Aladin sauce or brown sauce.”


Brown sauce seems to be what the British know as HP Sauce. Made with tomato, tamarind, and date, I could best describe its flavor as a cross between Kansas City style BBQ and A1 steak sauce. Having tried my Al-Jadriya burger dressed with the tangy-sweet brown sauce, I’d recommend that anyone with American burger tastes stick to the second house option: Aladin sauce, made from the more familiar mixture of ketchup and mayonnaise.


Aesthetically, these differ from American-style burgers somewhat in terms of shape. In So Cal at least, we favor 3- to 4-inch diameter burgers, stacked vertically with thick (or double) patties and however many layers of toppings. Aladin’s have closer to a 6-inch diameter — roughly the size of a compact disc, if that reference still makes sense. On that wide, soft, sesame seed-coated bun sits a bigger yet flatter beef patty, with toppings spread across it so the whole thing sits flatter. I don’t think the dimensions affect it much aside from making it less photogenic. Honestly, it’s not too remarkable a burger to begin with, so a prettier picture might help.


An Al-Jadriya burger, with grilled tomatoes and onions


Actually, little on the Aladin Trio menu photographs well. Unless, ironically, you stick to potatoes. First, there’s a menu of kumpir ($9-$13), which are effectively Middle Eastern baked potatoes, made more interesting to look at, and eat, because they’re served with melted butter and mozzarella, and — just like the adjacent grilled cheese menu — stuffed with all of the above: falafel, hot chicken, burger patties, or shawarma.


Most interesting here though are the so-called “tornado fries.” Also known as tornado potatoes, these essentially take a spiral cut to a small potato, creating a long ribbon of starch that’s stabbed through with a skewer and then deep fried. Dusted with salt and paprika, the result eats like a long, winding, contiguous potato chip. I’d never encountered this before, and it turns out to be a South Korean street food innovation. Which suggests there’s more than just American fast food culture staring back at us from Baghdad anymore.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Wild Wild Wets, Todo Mundo, Creepy Creeps, Laura Cantrell, Graham Nancarrow

Rock, Latin reggae, and country music in Little Italy, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Harbor Island
Next Article

Big swordfish, big marlin, and big money

Trout opener at Santee Lakes
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader