you aren't likely to exit CA 99 for earlimart as there's little else there but car and tire repair shops on the west side and essential organizations (school, church, etc) that make up such small mostly hispanic communities in the south and center of the valley. if you want a real taste of what these little "towns" are like then just drive off into the middle of nowhere to the east and every so often you'll come across another one. it's unlikely that the name of the place will be listed on a roadmap if you have one, but then after all that's what your gps is for. or perhaps you're one of those odd individuals we hear about who seem to enjoy being lost in la mancha, questionable as that may be. in this case i was simply hungry, hadn't been in earlimart for years, and only then because my car was overheating. if that's your issue i can report that most of the mechanics' shops along the west side of the highway are still going strong 24x7 most likely, as you'll never be without work if you know how to fix farm vehicles.
i'm not normally a fan of food cart or wagons or whatever they're called. but this one had a kind of colorful awning over the eating area with a gathering of "diners" seated at the tables, lending a sense of a homey place to somewhere that is actually just another dusty spot off the road. so without going further along the side road this place was calling me for lunch. i ordered a carnitas burrito, carne asada vampiro, and a mulita which came with a variety of pickled radishes, cabbage and onion. i also noticed birria de chivo on the menu but that is only for sundays as it turns out which might seem a bit odd to you. if so you might want to know that birria and menudo are traditional folk medicine hangover remedies in latin america, and people do in fact do more of their beer drinking on saturday nights. (a curious and dangerous sport at such evenings is to drive on these backroads with headlights off, resulting in many a "t-bone collision" when two cars engaging in this practice happen to meet at right angles. best avoid driving anywhere around here at night other than on major highways like 99 or 5.)
so if you're only going to have goat or tripe stew one day of the week, sunday morning is the time. all the meat here otherwise was really good and powerful in a way that citified mexican tacquerias don't deliver, nor are there often these alternative ways of putting meat inside a corn or flower shell. mulitas and vampiros are similar to tacos but grilled and may be with or without cheese inside. the crowning touch for me was the roasted red pepper salsa, which packed a 12-gauge punch. not a place or food you're likely to enjoy every day, but on this afternoon this was a great find and would be especially so if you happen to be stopping at earlimart, ca. read more