The Burrito Blog

Can't Beat Gummy Worms For Dessert

While many may be put off by the idea of dining within a gas station, consider the benefits:

• Unbeatable drink selection
• Unbeatable confection selection
• Novelty and charm
• Stuffy Beacon Hill characters take their food to go

Mine first burrito from Villa Mexico was served up with chicken, rice, cheese, salsa, and the usually avoided black beans.

I've always been partial to the steamed tortilla. Villa Mexico serves up a grilled burrito. This great divide between burrito fans is well known. So here are some words for the grilled tortilla enthusiasts: you will have a hard time finding a better grilled burrito in Boston than the one served at Villa Mexico.

I'll be back for certain. Say what you will about tortilla heat application methods. You can't beat gummy worms for dessert.

This Villa Mexico meal was rated: 7.1.

Thursday, July 03, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Can't Beat Gummy Worms For Dessert

Welcome To Villa Mexico

Burrito Blog has long been a fan of hole in the wall establishments, but this is something different. Villa Mexico is the main attraction in the mini mart of Grampy's Gas Station on Cambridge Street (Map) across from MGH.

Formerly a gas station deli, Villa Mexico started in 2006, the latest culinary expedition of owner Julie King. Check out the official website here, and a video of the exterior below.

This entry is filed in Villa Mexico.

Thursday, July 03, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Welcome To Villa Mexico

Speedy Dave

Dave Stuart, Junior Analyst, is as quick on the wit as he is on the chow. He could barely control the rapidity of his burrito to mouth reflexes to pose for a picture at Anna's Taqueria. It had been a while.

Unfortunately, the speed at which Burrito Blog posts stories is inversely related to my level of other responsibilities. It's easy to forget that Burrito Blog is merely a hobby. The best hobby ever, perhaps, but a hobby none the less.

Dave, I'm sorry this took me a month to post.

This entry is filed in Anna's Taqueria.

Monday, June 30, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Speedy Dave

Anna's MGH Finally Open

After much anticipation and long delays, Anna's Taqueria finally opened the doors to their location on Cambridge Street across the street from Massachusetts General Hospital (Map).

Anna's first location in Boston proper will open at 7am on weekdays and 8am on the weekend. Why so early? To serve breakfast burritos.

Thanks to Amanda for the tip.

This entry is filed in Anna's Taqueria.

Sunday, June 15, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Anna's MGH Finally Open

The Best Looking Salsa, Part 2

See also: The Best Looking Salsa (part 1).
This entry is filed in Anna's Taqueria.

Saturday, June 14, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for The Best Looking Salsa, Part 2

Taqueria Mexico Beacon Street Closes Doors

Less than two years after opening across the street from the well established and massively popular Anna's Taqueria, the Brookline location of Taqueria Mexico has closed its doors.

Bad location, location, location.

We were weary of the idea from the start, until meeting the El Presidente. Going to miss that for sure.

This entry is filed in Taqueria Mexico.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Taqueria Mexico Beacon Street Closes Doors

More Mr. Serious Than Before

It's been two years since first witnessing the preposterous portions provided by Los Primos in Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach.

I don't usually republish emailed photos or stories, but this specimen, named Mr. Serious, is always worthy of special attention. Many thanks to Mandy who sent in the photo.

Yes, it's actually called 'Mr. Serious' on the menu.

This entry is filed in Los Primos Cantina.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for More Mr. Serious Than Before

Burritos Only Look Boring

The kind t-shirt vending fellows at No Star got in touch to share their appreciation of the endless possibilities that lie within the sealed tortilla.

product page

In exchange for spreading the word, they hooked me up with a shirt with parabolas and Cartesian coordinates.

Burritos and geekery go together like beans and rice.

See also: Burritos Before Tables and Graphs and the Chipotle Caloric Frequency Distribution.

This entry is filed in {News}.

Sunday, May 25, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Burritos Only Look Boring

Pay Today, Free Tomorrow At Boloco

If you buy a Boloco burrito today, 5/22/08, and keep your receipt, you can trade it in for a free burrito tomorrow. It's part of a promotion to reduce the woes of their planned $0.25 price increase, due to rising food costs. I think that's pretty nice of them.

Official statement here.

See also: Food Prices Outpace Inflation, CPI

This entry is filed in Boloco.

Thursday, May 22, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Pay Today, Free Tomorrow At Boloco

Mistake At First Bite

John did not like Alberto's either.
This entry is filed in Alberto's.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Mistake At First Bite

Cinco De Mayo, My Birth

To new readers of Burrito Blog, please get acquainted with our annual Cinco de Mayo celebration. It goes like this:

1. I encourage you to eat some beans and drink some tequila.
2. I remind you that I was born on this day.
3. I ask you to buy me lunch via paypal or buy an I Heart Burritos t-shirt.

Seriously, I've got so much cotton piled up in the closet. I've got to get rid of them. Someone you know will think it's funny. Help me out.

See also: Happy Birthday to Me and Snubbed by MSNBC on My Birthday

This entry is filed in {News}.

Sunday, May 04, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Cinco De Mayo, My Birth

Time Running Out On Taco Truck Parking

Junior Burrito Analyst Dave Stuart brought this Los Angeles tragedy to attention:

...taco carts would be required to change location every hour, with violators facing fines, misdemeanor charges and, possibly, jail time.

As if Los Angeles traffic weren't bad enough, now you'll have to drive around until you spot a taco truck, then hope it's still there by the time you find a place to park.

Sometimes government interference with business gets a bit ridiculous. This time, they're messing with your lunch.

Sign the Carne Asada is not a Crime petition.

This entry is filed in {News}.

Friday, May 02, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Time Running Out On Taco Truck Parking

Taqueria La Mexicana Grand Opening

After witnessing the insane crowds at the unofficial reopening of Taqueria La Mexicana, they're ready for the real deal.

From the Internet:

This Saturday, (5/3/08,) Taqueria La Mexicana is holding their Grand Opening, from 3pm - 8pm, outside, in the parking lot. Be sure to bring your friends for authentic mexican food and a good time in the cantina!

Also, Monday is Cinco de Mayo. For this special day, Taqueria La Mexicana will have a free "chip and salsa bar," with food and drink specials, inside.

Vaya con tacos!

If half as many show up to the official reopening, well, just get there early.

This entry is filed in TaQueria La Mexicana.

Thursday, May 01, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Taqueria La Mexicana Grand Opening

Chipotle Ignores Own Nutrition Information

I get furious when people give numbers a bad name. Read on and you'll agree, or skip to the chart.

From the Midtown Lunch post that inspired the analysis:

The law requiring all chain restaurants in New York City to post calorie information goes into effect today. And while it is still being fought by the New York State Restaurant Association, many have already complied, including Chipotle, which has already posted a Calorie Range for all of the items on their menu. There’s only one issue… somebody’s math sucks, because when you compare the ranges posted to the (very difficult to find) nutritional information on the Chipotle website, it doesn’t quite match up.

What's truly offensive is the deliberate misrepresentation of customer ordering habits. They state the caloric range of a burrito as 420-918. A range is low to high. All inclusive. We'll take a closer look in a moment, with the help of my beloved Excel 2007. Download the analysis.

First, let's get familiar with the Chipotle menu as concerns burritos. The Chipotle burrito and fajita-burrito variation have up to seventeen distinct ingredients, which can be broken up into three basic components: tortilla, filling, and topping. All caloric values are taken directly from the official nutrition information provided by Chipotle.

• Tortilla, 290 Calories (Required)
• Fillings (Minimum 1)
• Rice, 160 Calories
• Beans, Choice of
• Black Beans, 130 Calories
• Pinto Beans, 138 Calories
• Meat, Choice of
• Barbacoa, 170 Calories
• Chicken, 200 Calories
• Carnitas, 210 Calories
• Steak, 190 Calories
• Toppings (All Optional)
• Fajita Vegetables, 70 Calories
• Salsa, Choice of
• Tomato, 20 Calories
• Corn, 100 Calories
• Red Tomatillo, 28 Calories
• Green Tomatillo, 15 Calories
• Cheese, 110 Calories
• Sour Cream, 120 Calories
• Guacamole, 140 Calories
• Lettuce, 5 Calories

Of course, you can order a burrito consisting of only beans and a tortilla, so Chipotle indicated that as the low end of their caloric range: 420. Logically, the high end should consist of a burrito with the works. It doesn't. Not even close.

The burrito analysis team developed a list of the 4,640 ways you can order a burrito at Chipotle using the above criteria. Then we solved for calories in each burrito configuration and created a frequency distribution.

There are zero burrito configurations with fewer calories than Chipotle's lower bound value. There are 1,913 configurations with more calories than Chipotle's upper bound value. That's a bad start.

Having ordered and witnessed the orders of thousands of burritos, we created two subsets of burrito types, small and normal. A small burrito has 2 fillings and 1-3 toppings. A normal burrito has 3 fillings and 3 or more toppings. For example:

• Pinto Beans, Rice, Cheese = Small
• Rice, Steak, Fajita Vegetables, Tomato Salsa, Guacamole = Small
• Pinto Beans, Rice, Chicken, Cheese, Tomato Salsa, Sour Cream = Normal
• Black Beans, Rice, Carnitas, Cheese, Green Tomatillo Salsa, Guacamole, Lettuce = Normal

We plotted these frequency distributions over the set of all possible burrito variations. Think Venn diagram, but cooler.

Click for full size.

Most customers are likely to order small or normal burritos. The caloric range of these ordering configurations, according to Chipotle's own nutrition information, are way off from what they claim on their new menu.

	Low	High
Chipotle Claims	420	918
Actual Small Burrito	585	1030
Actual Normal Burrito	840	1343

What's really infuriating is that Chipotle has additional information with which to conduct this analysis; they can approximate the consumer's likelihood of ordering each option. If you combined the probabilistic order trend information with nutrition information, you'd get an even better estimate of the calories consumed per burrito. But they're not interested in that. They're interested in lying to you.

How many calories are in your Chipotle burrito of preference? Check out the calculator here.

See also: Behold the Possibilities and the original coverage.

This entry is filed in Chipotle.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Chipotle Ignores Own Nutrition Information

Unheeded Anaheim Warning

Maybe it was the high expectations from email:

You have not tasted a Burrito until you have been to Alberto's in San Diego, CA for a carne asada burrito.
or
Face it pal, your blog site is incomplete, because you have not tasted the standard by which all others are measured.

Maybe it was that I didn't get the carne asada burrito. Or maybe it was that John and I went to an Anaheim location (Map), despite warnings that Alberto's is only to be consumed within the greater San Diego area.

Whatever the case, we were underwhelmed by Alberto's. The food was greasy in a bad way, and the establishment was empty and pretty filthy. After a trip to the bathroom to wash the manos, I decided they would be cleaner if I didn't touch anything.

Alberto's, I have not given up on you. San Diego or bust!

This Alberto's meal was rated: 2.1.

Friday, April 18, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Unheeded Anaheim Warning

Welcome To Alberto's

Burrito Blog has come under fire for inadequate coverage of the long standing Alberto's / Roberto's / Otherberto's feud. Extenuating circumstances have impeded our ability to visit the 'Berto's in question. Finally, we have reached Alberto's.

Recall San Diegan burrito expert Paco's explanation:

Since you are sort of a burrito historian, you'll appreciate the Roberto's / Alberto's longstanding blood feud and its subsequent cascading effect on 95% of the burrito purveyors of our fair city as witnessed by the fact that most taco shops in town are named with infinite variations of the suffix "berto" no matter how ridiculous.

The Roberto's / Alberto's rivalry started when two brothers by those names inherited the original "Roberto's" chain, the granddaddy of all taco shops, from their old man. The younger brother, Alberto took his share of Roberto's restaurants and renamed them after himself. As the older brother expanded his number of shops, the younger brother followed suit.

Soon, both shops could be seen all over San Diego County. As the expansion grew to the point of diminishing returns somewhere in the mid eighties, they both began to sell off their less popular shops. Not to lose the drawing power of the Roberto/Alberto name the new owners of these shops began renaming them in a similar fashion to the point of lunacy. It started innocently enough with Gilberto's and progressed to such ridiculous and obviously made up names such as Adalberto's, Filiberto's, Hilberto's, Ediberto's, and my personal favorite Ramberto's...etc, etc, you get the picture.

Founded in 1975, Alberto's now has over 50 locations, mostly in California. Check out the official site and menu.

This entry is filed in Alberto's.

Friday, April 18, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Welcome To Alberto's | Comments (1)

Let's Drive To Brighton For Tamales

As many may be aware, my favorite item at Boca Grande is the tomatillo chicken tamale.

I was craving a dose of monster tamale goodness last Sunday and with Cora hustled over to Boca Grande in Kendall Square, Cambridge. I'm supposed to be some sort of burrito expert right? Well I expertly forgot that Boca in Kendall is closed on Sundays.

To Brighton!

That hit the spot. As always, the tomatillo chicken tamale delivers the goods.

This Boca Grande Taqueria meal was rated: 8.0.

Monday, April 14, 2008 by Jonah. Permalink for Let's Drive To Brighton For Tamales

Still hungry? Dig into the archives.