An SF eatery has the Food Network’s second-best sandwich in the U.S.

Editor’s note: In this recurring column, SFGATE food writers celebrate the Bay Area’s rich deli culture by spotlighting longtime family-run delis — the neighborhood institutions — and the newer community sandwich hubs.

Many cultures from around the world have developed unique sandwiches that reflect their bounty. There are sandwiches from Italian delis that specialize in cured meats, banh mi from Vietnam, Cubanos from the midnight cafes of Havana, katsu sandwiches from Japan and so many more. Mexico is no different — along with cemitas, chanclas and pambazos, perhaps the most versatile of the Mexican sandwiches is the torta.

A typical torta includes refried beans slathered between halves of a telera (a soft, white Mexican bread), with thin pads of queso fresco, sliced red onions and avocado, as well as a smooth layer of mayonnaise before the addition of a typical meat — chicken tinga, carne asada, carnitas or the like. San Francisco is lucky to have a torta that was once named the No. 2 sandwich in America by the Food Network — the Pierna Enchilada torta. And it lives, where else, in the heart of the Mission.

La Torta Gorda, housed in a Warriors-blue building with yellow trim, red murals left of the entrance and Spanish tile roofing, is one of San Francisco’s best torta restaurants. Owned by Armando Macuil and his wife Maira, the family-owned business has been feeding San Franciscans at 2833 24th St. for 16 years (the restaurant opened at a different location in 2002).

It is known for traditional Poblano food (Armando hails from Santa Ana Xalmimilulco in the state of Puebla) such as mole poblano, taco árabes (which highlight the large Lebanese population in the basin of Mexico), mixiotes de borrego (lamb barbecued underground) and a Mexican specialty ingredient called huitlacoche — an edible fungus that grows on undeveloped maize and has been called the “Mexican truffle,” due in part to its high cost.

However, the highlight of the entire menu is the Pierna Enchilada torta — stewed pork in a plethora of chilis to create a spicy flavor, and where the meat is as tender as pulled pork. The sandwich made its media debut in 2014 when actor Kyle MacLachlan ate at La Torta Gorda before heading up to the Napa Valley for “The Getaway,” a discontinued TV show produced by Anthony Bourdain.

“He pulled up in front, in his limousine, and he didn’t know why his producer had sent him here. He thought he was going to wine country,” Armando told SFGATE in an interview. “When he finished the torta he said, ‘Now I know why I came here.’”

The restaurant has since been featured on the Travel Channel, Netflix and, as previously mentioned, this torta was named the second-best sandwich in America in 2015 by the Food Network. It’s certainly worth the hype. 

The lean braised leg meat is bathed in a red chili oil. It’s impossible for the juices not to drip down your hands and stain your lips. There’s also a heat that builds if you eat it too fast, but is otherwise delectable. The creaminess from the avocados, queso fresco and mayo subdue the chili-infused flavor, as best they can, while the refried black beans provide an earthy, nuttiness that enhances the whole sandwich. Priced at $10.95 for a “junior” size and $13.95 for a “regular” size, it’s a sandwich where all of the components come together and work perfectly. In short — it’s flawless.

Everything on the menu at La Torta Gorda, including the Pierna Enchilada, is Armando’s mother’s recipe. What’s more, Armando recreated each dish from memory.

“She never wrote anything down,” he said. “So I had to do experimenting — trial and error — until I got everything just right.”

Armando has one of those brains that remembers numbers and minute detail well. 

“He’s such a perfectionist,” Maira said. “He doesn’t stop until he thinks it’s the best.”

An accountant by trade, Armando moved to New York City in 1998 to “do the numbers” for an Italian deli. One day, he was asked to help manage the floor because someone had called in sick, and so Armando got his first taste of running a restaurant on the operations side. Turns out, he had a passion for it. After jumping around a few different restaurant jobs in New York City, he visited San Francisco on vacation in 2002 — and never left.

While in San Francisco, his hometown friend introduced him to the former owners of Casa Sanchez, maker of the ubiquitous tortilla chips found at grocery stores across California, and they hired him to be their accountant. But he also started selling food, using his mother’s recipes, out of the front room of the office building for Casa Sanchez on 24th St., which now houses a small cafe called Dynamo Donut & Coffee. That’s where he met Maira, who was an early customer.

“I used to be his customer. I would walk by his shop every day,” Maira told SFGATE in Spanish. “He would make me my special torta — just beans, avocado and cheese.”

In 2003 they moved into their current space, which is next door to the former Roosevelt Tamale Parlor and just down the street from St. Francis Fountain. The interior is decorated with all recycled items from other restaurants that donated to Armando and Maira when they were setting up shop. Four mismatched-in-size mirrors hang on the right-hand wall beneath dangling lamps and framed artwork. Throughout the shop, sports memorabilia makes its presence known, like soccer balls, a basketball and New York Yankee gear, that being the baseball team Armando became a fan of while living in New York City. There’s even a back patio, which is a peaceful place to eat a torta when the weather permits.

In 2015, when the Food Network had emailed saying the pierna enchilada torta had been selected as one of the top five sandwiches in America, the Macuils gathered their friends and family to watch the countdown show, which they showed on the TV above the doorway to the patio.

“When the show started we were like, ‘Wow, we’re the fifth best sandwich in America,’” Armando explained, fully expecting them to be revealed as No. 5 on the list. “When it got to No. 4 we said, ‘All right, we’re gonna be number four in America” … finally when they showed us at No. 2, we were like, ‘Oh my God, we’re the number two sandwich in America! ’” (A meatball hero from chef Mario Carbone won first place.)

The praise kept coming. In 2017, La Torta Gorda was featured on the Travel Channel’s “Food Paradise” TV show. In 2020, another of Armando’s giant tortas was featured in the Netflix series “Somebody Feed Phil,” in which New York Times bestselling food writer J. Kenji López-Alt took host Phil Rosenthal to his favorite spots in the Mission. When they stopped at La Torta Gorda, they ordered the Mega Cubana — a towering mountain of milanesa (like a Mexican schnitzel), ham, chorizo, eggs, turkey, the pierna enchilada meat, and of course refried beans, queso fresco and avocado. It is a true behemoth.

Despite all of these accolades, Armando is a humble man who just wants to feed the people that enter his restaurant, and keep busy cooking up specialities from Puebla that you can’t find anywhere else in San Francisco.

“I admire him very much. He works so hard,” Maira said of her husband. “What can I say? He’s the love of my life.”

La Torta Gorda, 2833 24th St., San Francisco. Open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.