Takeout Picnic With Diversion: Tacos, Fries and Everything Nice

After the past few months, I think we all need a little Diversion, and takeout from a local place of that name was just what I needed on a Friday night. I’m tired of being home, but not quite ready to fully go out, and for me, takeout picnics have provided a perfect balance between being out in the world, staying safe and feeling good about my choices. At the moment, a restaurant that makes curbside easy and delicious is exactly what I’m looking for.

The menu at Diversion is fairly expansive, ranging from burgers and pizza to tacos and loaded fries. This makes it a great place to please a variety of tastes, and ideal for sharing items with a group so you can try a little of everything—that’s what I did. Diversion makes online ordering easy, with lots of room for substitutions and alterations built in to the ordering system. It is also very easy to schedule your pick-up, which is a big deal to me as I’m always making orders and realizing too late that I need to pick them up in 15 minutes.

We ordered our meal earlier in the day, then picked it up curbside at 7 p.m. The waiter brought our food to the car, and we drove to a nearby park to enjoy the beginnings of fall weather and our meal. As a group of three adult eaters, we found our order to be just about perfect for our hunger; we each got to try a variety of food and ended the meal full but not overly so. And at around $35 including tip, it made for an affordable and delicious meal.

“The chicken parmesan sandwich was so good I almost regretted not buying two.”

To start, we dug into a plate of Poutine ($3.99). I loved how they packaged the gravy separately, as this helped keep the fries crisp and let us feel like we helped—-in the smallest of ways—-to make our dinner. In the time it took to get to the park and unpack our meal, the cheese had solidified slightly, but it added a lovely saltiness that balanced well with the dark beef gravy.

The Parma Pollo ($8.99), a chicken parmesan sandwich, was so good I almost regretted not buying two. On a toasted bun, the moist breaded chicken was layered with salty cheese and tomato sauce with just a hint of spice that lingered on my tongue. Foolishly, I cut this sandwich into quarters, and if we hadn’t had more food to look forward to, the three of us may have had to duke it out for the last bites. As it was, we settled our differences and promised to make it up next time.

After the sandwich, we dove into the Taco Mix (3). At $9.99, it comes with—you guessed it—three tacos. I love that each taco can have its own protein. We chose all three on blue corn tortillas, and went for carnitas, portobello and steak as our proteins.

The carnitas taco was messy to eat, but in the best way. The loaded taco was a bit much for the tortilla, and in the end it was easiest to bring the whole plate close to my face before lifting the taco to take a bite. The meat melted in my mouth and combined with the tortilla to make for an indulgent and creamy bite.

“The food was excellent and the expansive menu could please a crowd of eaters with varied tastes.”

The next taco up was the portobello. It was a little spicier than the carnitas but much easier to eat. Though all three tacos had cabbage, the balancing crunch it added to the soft portobellos was especially delicious. Overall, the effect was meaty and filling, despite the lack of meat. You can also make this taco entirely vegan by subbing vegan cheese ($0.75).

Finally, we rounded things off with the steak taco. This taco found the middle ground between the messier carnitas taco and the tidy portobello option. The meat itself had a sweet and almost fruity flavor that I loved, but its subtlety made it difficult to taste against the other taco components, like the cabbage and pico. A bit more seasoning could have brought out the meat’s flavor and balanced the taco a little more, but overall it was still tasty.

We ended our meal with the Hope’s Royale Cookie ($2.50). A chocolate chip cookie with semi-sweet chips, coconut and macadamia nuts, it had a crispy outside and soft middle. I appreciated both the overarching coconut flavor and the semisweet chips, which saved the cookie from being oversweet. The macadamia nuts added a soft crunch that complemented the other textures in the cookie and made it fun to eat.

“Diversion makes online ordering easy, with lots of room for substitutions and alterations built in to the ordering system.”

All in all, Diversion was a great take out spot with excellent service and an easy online ordering system. The food was excellent and the expansive menu could please a crowd of eaters with varied tastes.  Check out Diversion Eatery and plan your own takeout picnic while the fall weather still allows it.