Churros, sometimes referred to as Spanish-doughnuts, are fried dough pastries popular in Spain, France, and Latin America. Churros are long and star-shaped and coated in sugar and cinnamon. San Diego’s proximity to the Mexico border makes it a churro hotbed in California. Old Town Sand Diego houses countless churro shops itself. After combing through the numerous restaurants, we’ve narrowed down the list to the top three churro places, ranking them gold, silver and bronze.
Gold: Coyote Cafe Street Stand: $2/each
The Coyote Cafe is a huge restaurant right in the heart of Old Town, but they have a special stand specifically for churros and tortillas offering passerbys the chance to experience Mexican culture. The street stand is literally a raised counter on the side of the street, with heaps of raw tortillas and a woman reaching out with tongs to take your money and doled out churros immediately. The churros were hot, crispy and obviously freshly made. The center was filled with a delicious warm cream and the outside was coated with the trademark sugar and cinnamon, but weren’t too sweet.
Silver: Fred’s Mexican Cafe & Cantina: $3/3
Though Fred’s was a sit down restaurant, they had a Churro To Go option that we could order from the bar. It took about 5 minutes to get the churros. The churros were the sweetest ones we tasted, but still not too sweet. They were very crsipy and flaky and fresh. These churros, however, did lack a soft center that often accompanies the crunchy outside. Nonetheless, for their $1/churro price, it was a fantastic deal.
Bronze: Old Town Mexican Cafe: $3.50/each
Despite what it’s name suggests, the Old Town Mexican Cafe is not a casual coffee shop. It’s a sit-down restaurant that had no other option than to get a table and sit down and order. Though the churros are way more expensive here, they were at least a foot long. We had to wait for at least 20 minutes for our churros and they too lacked the soft, creamy center we so desired. These churros were the most expensive we encountered and it was a little uncomfortable to have to sit down and be waited on just for churros. But they were warm and crisp.
By Trisha Chaudhary and Pen Terry