Los Reyes de la Torta

I traded in my beloved Audi A3 2.0 Sport over the weekend on a new VW Passat Komfort sedan. While I dearly loved my Audi, I hardly drove it now that I work from home and it's sport suspension was very rough on my delicate girlfriend. So I spent Saturday afternoon at the dealer and came away with a Candy White 2008 Passat. I even managed to lower my monthly payments a bit. It's got the same engine as my A3, but amazingly it's actually slightly lighter. Go figure. I lost my dual-zone automatic climate control and heated seats, but I gained Sirius satellite radio, an AUX port for my iPod (more on that later), a sunroof, trip computer, a much larger gas tank, and a lot more room inside.

As I was sitting at my desk last night, I realized I hadn't seen my iPod Nano in a while. That's when I remembered it was probably in the armrest of my Audi. I called the dealer and the lady I spoke to said she'd make a note to have someone check it this morning. Well, by noon I hadn't heard anything, so I drove down. One of the salesmen (apparently the one I dealt with on Saturday quit yesterday) drove me to the lot it was secured in while the paperwork is done. Alas, my iPod wasn't there. We talked to the lady I spoke with last night, but she said she hadn't looked for it yet. So either it's here in the house and I just can't find it (doubtful) or whoever processed my car helped themselves to a free 2GB Nano (most likely). I have faint hope that it'll turn up after a more thorough search. In the meantime, I've got a couple older iPods that'll work just fine in the car. I mostly use the Nano at the gym. No moving parts in case it falls off the treadmill or crosstrainer. The new iPod Touch looks to be a viable replacement... :)

One my way home, I decided to stop by Tortas La Presa, a Mexican sandwich shop I'd read about on AZCentral.com for a torta, a type of Mexican sandwich. I didn't have the exact address, but knew the general location on 7th Street just south of the mountain pass. I also remembered it was in the 9000-block. As I searched, I saw a place called Los Reyes de la Torta in roughly the right spot. I assumed I probably had two places mixed up, so I pulled a u-turn and went to Los Reyes.

Since I was somewhat pressed for time, I decided to get takeout. I grabbed a menu and looked through it quickly. I decided to get a cubana (ham, cheese, pork sirloin). I ordered and paid at the counter and waited. I looked over a takeout menu and decided there are a lot of items I'd like to try. They serve a lot more than just tortas. After about 5 or 10 minutes, they brought me a bag with my sandwich in a styrofoam container and a couple of small containers of red and green salsa. I got in my car and headed home.

After a 15 or 20 minute ride, I got home. The container seemed pretty heavy, so I wondered if I had some sort of sides too. Nope. Opening it revealed a large sandwich cut in half. Layers of thinly sliced meats were topped with avocado and cheese. I took a bite and realized it was also topped with jalapenos. I removed the slightly soggy top (due to the long ride, no fault of the sandwich) and scraped off the chiles and avocado. The sandwich was very flavorful and I really enjoyed it. Next time I'll plan better and eat it there. There are quite a few tortas on the menu that look really good.

I looked online and found that I was indeed at Tortas La Presa. Sometime around late August/early September the owner changed the name when he expanded the location to add a few more dining rooms.