Taquería San Bruno

Why it's on the list

The most operationally useful pin on the whole list. San Mateo Avenue is about ten minutes from SFO, which means this is the burrito that turns a dead layover into the best part of the trip.

I have eaten here with a boarding pass in my pocket more times than I want to put in writing. If you have forty minutes between the terminal and the freeway, this is the move.

The layover math

Ten minutes from SFO, straight off the 101. Rental-car returns are close enough that you can build this into the schedule instead of gambling on it. One piece of hard-won advice: don't eat it in the rental car if you can avoid it. I made a tactical error once and the Elantra remembers.

Region

Peninsula, San Mateo Ave in downtown San Bruno.

Format

Counter service. Check the restaurant's site for current hours.

Trip fit

Layover-grade. The best forty minutes near SFO.

Before you go

• Check hours on the restaurant's own listing before you drive. Ours would go stale; theirs won't.
• Ask whoever takes your order what they'd get. It has never once steered me wrong.
• Bring cash. Plenty of counters prefer it and a few still require it.
• If you're eating in the car, ask for it double-wrapped and don't let it steam in the foil.

ask the counter. order that. full send.

Elsewhere on the trail