if you like Persian food, I can recommend the little restaurant in the back of Balboa International Market. Their produce and their homemade Persian breads are great, too!

Any new Mexican taco truck discoveries? In Chula Vista a wrong turn off I-5 onto Avenue L led me to the Toys-R-Us parking lot and a Mexican seafood taco truck which I believe is even better than Mariscos German (my former taco truck benchmark). The truck seems to be in the parking lot all day; it's not hard to spot. The shrimp tacos (and all of the tacos so far) are ocean fresh and wonderful and they are very cheap. Also there is a complimentary fish broth which is fantastic ($1 for refills). Another thing that is very nice for those who don't carry cash is the fact that Mastercard and Visa are accepted here.

Surati Farsan Mart was a real disappointment! Has it gone downhill lately? I ordered samosas with cholle to take out about a month ago and my son ordered another chaat (I forget which; it wasn't as bad as mine). My samosas were very small and the crust had a hard, overly-reheated texture; there were NO chutneys either! Any Indian restaurant should be able to make a decent samosa; even the Indian pizza restaurant in Joshua Tree makes a better samosa! I can recommend Madras Cafe in the same Black Mt. Rd. shopping center as Surati; their South Indian lunchtime buffet is excellent. Complimentary dosas (not much filling but what there is, is good!) and excellent sambar and rasam and unusual South Indian dishes you don't get anywhere else. Just don't go to Madras Cafe on weekends; too many babies and harried staff.

My recommendations are probably too late for your trip but may help someone else! The town of 29 Palms: Not many places to eat here; this is a military base/town way way out in the desert. (This is the northern entrance to Joshua Tree NP.) Last summer we were surprised to find a real gem of a restaurant in the middle of town called Palm Kabob House; run by a sweet family from Baghdad! Very good inexpensive food; plastic ambience. Stay with the traditional Middle Eastern dishes. We had falafel with tahini sauce, pita bread, hummus and pickled turnips; also shwarma (forget what kind of meat we had). Everything was fresh, homemade and good and the food was inexpensive. The service is warmhearted and friendly, typically Iraqi. About 20 miles down the highway is the town of Joshua Tree (and the west entrance to Joshua Tree NP); this town is tiny. We like Sam's Pizza in the middle of the town (the main street is the highway). Sam turns out to be from India and we tried the Indian snacks on the menu (we didn't try the American/pizza side of the menu). The food is reasonably priced but the service is slow and not particularly friendly. We took out some Indian snacks out to the car (samosas and pakoras) and they were very good; nice chutneys too! If I were to eat in the restaurant and order something like a korma or chicken tikka masala I would specify "spicy." I have a feeling these dishes might be spiced quite mildly for the tourists. Another possible place to eat in Joshua Tree is the Royal Siam Restaurant (also on the main highway) -- Thai food in the desert! We've been eating at this restaurant for 15 or 20 years but our last experience a year ago (the rock climbers' famous all-you-can-eat weekend buffet) was disappointing. Royal Siam has a different cook now and the dishes on the steam table didn't taste freshly made or individually spiced. However, there was a lot of food and the buffet is not expensive. Next time I'll order off the menu and see what the new cook does with individual dishes. By the way, in the old days if you ordered "spicy" at the Royal Siam you would be blown away! I love spicy food but I would be careful even with the new cook!