Casa del Sol

Casa Del Sol is located on SE Division St. in Portland, Oregon. It's around SE 143rd and Division, so you'll have to drive pretty far east. But trust me, this panda will drive wherever he needs to go to try a place out. Food is such an evil hypnotist that way.

You really can't miss this orange building, with a tall roof-like portion to it. The inside feels like a festive Mexican restaurant. A flat-screen TV plays Spanish programming. There's a place near the counter with a bunch of Mexican candy/goodies for sale.

I got the Super Burrito ($6.25): choice of meat, pico de gallo, sour cream, lettuce, cheese, beans, rice, and guacamole. I nixed the sour cream and chose lengua (beef tongue) for my protein. An extremely thick burrito awaited me. I'm no expert on guessing burrito weight, but it had to be over two pounds. Maybe closer to three.

I've never had lengua prior to this, and boy, was it a great choice. Very tender and moist, seasoned well. The refreshing lettuce and pico de gallo helped offset the more filling beans and guacamole. The Spanish rice was cooked very well. Nice steamed flour tortillas somehow kept the filling inside this thick beast.

It's like the size and heft of a freakin' football

They have habanero salsa as a condiment option. Nice spice for a heat-seeker like myself!

Mmm...spicy

I'm a big breakfast burrito fan, and if I'm ever down there again, I'll consider their breakfast burritos. The regular is a very reasonable $3.99, containing cheese, two eggs, hash browns, and meat (ham, bacon, or sausage). The super breakfast burrito is $6 and contains all the meats PLUS chicken fried steak, mushrooms, onions, and peppers.

Aside from the usual tacos, quesadillas, and tortas, Casa del Sol also offers huevos rancheros, sopes, chiles rellenos, and Mexican breakfast plates. All reasonable prices, in my opinion.

Are you a person who can pack away a serious amount of food? Take on their Man v. Food Carne Asada Kilo Challenge. It's a kilo (2.2 lbs) of carne asada, an order of beans and rice (basically a large plate of each), ten tortillas, and salsa. If you want, you can opt to do double order of rice or double order of beans instead. There appears to be no stated time limit, although I could be wrong on that.

Man v. Food Carne Asada Kilo Challenge

If you finish, the meal is free, you'll get a free meal for your family or friends, and your pic will go on their wall of "Kilo Champs." Fail, and your pic will go on the wall of "Kilo Chumps" -- and your wallet will be much lighter. As of early August, only two winners in 14 attempts.

Actually only two winners (don't think guy on the left was one of them)

Where I'd likely end up

Will I try? Hell no. I know my role these days: stick to normal amounts of ridiculously spicy food and love it. But my competitive eating buddies would easily nuke this challenge. It probably would be a matter of whether they would smash the house record (whatever time that is).

But yeah, I liked my burrito here. It wasn't life-changing, but hey, still great. I'll try to be back in the future for more. 7/10