Burritophile: Editorial Reviews

Sergio's Tacos (Los Angeles, CA) reviewed by Mark (7.5/10)

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:31:44 -0500

Have you been out for an evening where nothing special happened, but it somehow felt like one of the best days of your life? I live for those moments!

The Carne Asada at Sergio's is your basic LA street burrito: a foundation of refritos and rice, a good serving of chopped skirt steak, topped off with chopped onions, cilantro, and a generous helping of a chile arbol sauce. The steak wasn't particularly succulent or well prepared, the rice and refritos were inoffensive, and the tortillas came out of a bag. The ingredients were well mixed, but it was rolled in such a way that almost every bite got 4-5 (ingredient interspersed) layers of tortilla. So what's the draw here?

I'm not sure, but I can tell you that I was humming and smacking my lips all the way through that sucker. Part of the secret may have been in the (generously applied) sauce. I pretty much never comment on chile arbol (which I consider to be a pretty crude condiment), but this seemed to have a very nice mixture of piquancy, tang, and flavor that teased and satisfied my tongue, and turned all of those OK ingredients into a party.

I've tasted many burritos that made me happier ... but I've got no complaints about this one. If you believe that a basic LA street burrito can be a source of great pleasure, hop off at Atlantic (the next time you find yourself parked on the 5) and check 'em out.

Taqueria Tres Amigos (Half Moon Bay, CA) reviewed by Chris (8/10)

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:42:23 -0500

While i was once a semi-regular of Tres Amigos in San Mateo, the rumor mill (from multiple independent sources) all said that the Half Moon Bay location was the best one. Finally finding myself in Half Moon Bay, i had no choice but to check out these rumors. Sure enough, this is a darn fine burrito.

The first thing to notice is that the place is big and modern, yet maintains a proper taqueria feel. Chairs, stools, and tables are all dark woods, the tv is playing Latin American soccer. The smells of the grill fill the air. You walk up, you order, they deliver your food to you. The kitchen is in sight behind the counter but the grill is not. Those of you who know De Amigos in San Mateo will notice that the menu is identical- down to the styling and layout. There is common ownership of the two places, as i understand it.

My hopes for a quality burrito were high. I ordered a super chile verde. It was incredibly hot (temperature), and i had to wait a couple minutes to open it. Inside everything was done right. The slab was stable, ingredients were well proportioned throughout, and there was not too much of any one ingredient. The chile verde was good, but not strong enough for my liking- the tomatillos did not take prominence in the flavor. But otherwise, not much to complain about here.

The salsa bar is not as good or varied as the Tres Amigos location in San Mateo, but it is better than that of De Amigos. You have the choice of a pico, a smoother red, and a mixed greeny-brown-colored salsa. You can also get pickled jalapenos, onions and carrots. The free chips are good, but nothing special- like the other location, it's a medium for the salsa.

Overall, this is a very good burrito. Is it better than the location in San Mateo? That's a tough call to make based on a single chile verde burrito. My gut tells me this location has a slight edge over it's sibling, even though the salsa bar is a bit inferior. Regardless, the care and quality assembly tells me they're serious about making proper burritos, so i'd never have a worry about coming here.

El Faro (Folsom) (San Francisco, CA) reviewed by Chris (7/10)

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:08:19 -0500

Meeting my fellow editors for dinner, we decided to try a place none of us have visited. El Faro, a place that has the right look, the right breeding, but is limited by apparent laziness.

The outside says 'Home of the Super Burritos'. Inside, the place looks authentic. Near the door are a selection of Mexican baked goods. The burritos are ordered farther back, and about 3 tables with 4 chairs each are shoved against the wall of this narrow establishment. A large menu high on the wall has several types of burritos, including our choice, the Super.

No where on the menu does it actually list meat choices, but all the standard fare seems to be here; pastor, pollo, carne asada, chorizo (i think), and my choice, chile verde. All are kept in heating trays- not cooked to order and some had clearly been sitting there for some time. Burritos are assembled quickly and competently.

However, they have issues. The chile verde is not stewed pork, but rather they take their carnitas and then add the green sauce to the burrito. The tortillas are not heated or grilled before assembly, nor is there a post-wrap heating of any sort. Oddly, you can get either refried beans (which were fine) or whole black beans, but not whole pinto beans. The excess sauce combined with liquidy guac and sour cream made for a very soupy burrito- i could slurp out half of the innards. Worse, the guac and sour cream contributed little flavor.

Despite these assembly issues, the overall flavor was decent. My chile verde had a nice tomatillo flavor with a bit of heat to back it up. I enjoyed eating it, even though it was a bit messy and a chore to keep from falling apart.

Burritos come with some chips and a plastic cup of salsa. There is nothing wrong with either of these, but they aren't special either. A salsa bar would have been a nice inclusion.

Overall then, El Faro produces a decent burrito, one that i wish i had in Philly or anywhere else in the country. But there are so many places it could be improved: if they'd not water down the guac, if they'd heat the tortilla, if they'd cook to order... So many ifs keep this place from being great.

Ceviche Taqueria (San Mateo, CA) reviewed by Chris (7/10)

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:53:32 -0500

Ceviche Taqueria is a newcomer to the busy stretch of San Mateo's B street. Can they do something different and unique to stand out among so many good places?

The place looks small as you walk in, but there is a sizable eating area in the back past the grill. It's a bright, clean, welcoming atmosphere here.

As the name suggests, they specialize in seafood. Lobster, shrimp, salmon, halibut are among the choices. These cost significantly more than the standard chicken and pork burritos. If you find steak too ordinary, you can even order a filet mignon burrito.

I had wanted to try the lobster and steak burrito, but as chance would have it, they were out of lobster. My friend and i decided on two burritos- a salmon and a filet mignon. The salmon was very good, and left no doubt that it was the star ingredient. Every bite produce a good strong salmon flavor. The guac was well distributed and the cheese was nice and melty throughout. The filet mignon was good, but not so good to justify it's increased cost ($4 more) over the regular steak.

Each burrito had a few problems though. The salmon burrito did not have sour cream included; it came in a plastic cup. The salmon also did not include beans. While the salmon was solidly built, the mignon had stability issues and effectively collapsed with about one-third remaining. The mignon did have beans, but they were white, not pinto.

Before the burritos, we had some complementary chips. The chips themselves were fine. In the back, the impressive-looking salsa bar was full of fresh ingredients, but they were bland. The spicy salsa had very little kick, and the verde had next to no tomatillo flavor. It was disappointing.

Two burritos and a bottle of jarritos cost $25- a hefty fee for lunch.

Overall, Ceviche produces a decent burrito with only a few flaws. But to get to their truly unique flavors, you've got to pay through the nose. I don't think it's worth that price on a consistent basis. Still, a solid offering from the newcomer. If they bring those prices into line and add a few spices, they'll have something truly good as well as unique.

Taqueria Real (Novato, CA) reviewed by Dan (8/10)

Fri, 15 May 2009 21:37:00 -0500

Taqueria Real sits smack in the middle of a not-very-exciting stretch of business park in Novato; not the kind of place where you'd expect to find much. Indeed, it's the only food purveyor of any kind in sight. Four outdoor seats for nice spring days, a salsa bar with the normal four, plus limes and pickled jalepenos.

I ordered a supremo - they have regular, supremo, and gigante. The supremo is your standard super; the gigante looks...well, gigantic. Wet burritos are called "chile verde," although there wasn't any actual chile verde on the menu. All the other normal meats are available. I went with pastor.

Yum. Good al pastor - not world-class, but more than serviceable. Rice didn't take any prisoners, but rice really shouldn't be in the prisoner-taking mode in a burrito. Good guac, fantastic salsa, melted cheese, and hot all over. Nothing mind-blowing, but solid work all around. And did I mention the salsa? That stuff was good.

Cozy Corner (Los Angeles, CA) reviewed by Mark (7/10)

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:59:48 -0500

Einstein is credited as defining insanity as doing the same thing, over and over again, and expecting different results. I keep going to non-burrito places, expecting one of them to surprise me with a great burrito. I have yet to find a great burrito that way, but sometimes they aren't half bad.

It's an LA story. A middle-eastern family opens a sandwich place, in a latino neighborhood, next door to a 50 year old grill, across the street from a Burger King, and a block away from a legendary taqueria. My best guess was they couldn't afford the rent in Glendale. We checked them out shortly after they opened, and they had several family members working but no customers. They treated us like royalty and made us a very good turkey sandwich (freshly slicing all the ingredients). We resolved to give them some more business, but feared they were just in the wrong location (wrong culture, lots of competition, and precious little lunch trade). A month later, they must have started to figure this out, because put out a sandwich board in front that said "Tacos and Burritos". They weren't going down without a fight!

Today I was hungry, and didn't have much time ... and I decided to give them a try. Again I was the only customer (sigh, at noon on a Friday) and I asked the owner what kind of burritos they had, and he asked what kind of burrito I wanted. We quickly settled on a beef burrito (dry, no sauce) and I watched as they carefully sliced, grilled, and filled.

There were large slices of fresh onion, tomato and bell pepper, the steak was in large chunks. The refritos were a savory thin layer that seemed to glue the rice to the meat and tortilla. The fresh vegetables would have been more at home in a Greek salad than a burrito, but they played nicely off of the refritos, rice and meat. There was no heat (picante) to it, but it was actually a pretty good show. They supplied supplementary heat in the form of red and green salsas. I thought the green was pretty good, but I was actually enjoying the burrito pretty well as served.

People who put that much care into food preparation deserve to succeed. If this sounds like a place you might like to give a try, drop in any time. No reservations required.

El Burrito Express (Divisadero) (San Francisco, CA) reviewed by Chris (8/10)

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 12:09:38 -0600

When i first heard the name `El Burrito Express', i was worried. It sounded like it might be a gimmicky fast-food place like Baja Fresh. But the reviews of the place were very positive, and i'm happy to find the reviews were right- a darn fine place i'd happily revisit.

The place is set up as a classic taqueria. You walk up, you order, then they deliver your burrito or call you to come get it. The menu is confusing. There are burritos, super burritos, bronco burritos, and super bronco burritos, and probably others that i'm missing. The different versions are separated by size and ingredients. The Expresso Burrito is mammoth- two tortillas to create a monster as large as the Super at La Costena.

The standard meat choices are available, plus a couple extras- chicken, chile verde, chili colorado, carnitas, steak. Not too varied, but quite sufficient. I stuck to the Super Chile Verde.

After just a few minutes nursing my Jarritos, my burrito was ready. It was more than ample and was solidly built and wrapped. The tortilla had some nice grill marks to it. I dug in. It had good flavor- a good chile verde, but perhaps a bit light for my liking (i like the tomatillo flavor to be really strong). All the standard ingredients, guac, sour cream, cheese, rice, were well-integrated and played their role properly. The burrito did develop a small tear, but retained it's integrity without incident. This was without a doubt a very good burrito.

There is no salsa bar, but chips come with your burrito, along with a couple cups of salsa, one spicier than the other. You can also request a green salsa. All three were quite flavorful and worthy complements to the burrito. The chips were golden yellow and crunchy, cooked just right.

I don't know if i'll get back to El Burrito Express, but it's not due to a lack of desire. These are some darn fine burritos without any major issues. A solid 8.

Dos Coyotes Border Cafe (Sacramento, CA) reviewed by Eric (6/10)

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:15:15 -0600

I don't know. Calling Dos Coyotes a taqueria is kinda like calling the Sacramento Kings a pro basketball team. Sure, the trappings and ingredients are there, and they perform according to the definition--serve Mexican food, play basketball--but something's just missing that prevents you from really feeling like you're getting the true experience.

Dos Coyotes is in a food court along with California Pizza Kitchen, which is the "restaurant" that may epitomize all that is evil about California Cuisine (or "California Cuisine," as I like to "say.") The interior is all southwest-y, and the menu's written in chalk. There's a tile floor. Prices are what you'd expect at a food court, mall-type establishment.

I ordered the Southwest carnitas burrito ($6.50), which comes "with chips & salsa bar." To my chagrin, I discovered that these were two separate entities. Instead of a bar that contains chips and salsa, they give you a rinky-dink amount of chips, and then you can take that set amount of chips to the salsa bar. Salsas are appropriately too sweet or too spicy, with the concomitant lack of flavor.

The burrito itself got low marks for presentation. No foil, just a lump of tortilla next to aforementioned chips. Imagine my surprise, then, when I bit in and the burrito was pretty darn tasty. The meat was very rich and savory, although it definitely was not the carnitas I'm used to--more of a barbecue flavor than true crispy fried pork. The guacamole was fresh, and I could see the chunks of avocado. The salsa was sorta spicy (I shudder to think what I would have gotten had I asked for "mild")...and that's pretty much what was in the burrito. No rice, no beans. Apparently you get those with the Border Burritos, which will set you back an additional buck and a quarter.

The juice from the salsa led to the use of copious napkins, but the tortilla held up very well despite the lack of reinforcement. I ate the whole thing quite happily. I want to dock them for price, but then I recall that even some of the more traditional places are inching within six bucks for a burrito.

If you find yourself at the mall, there are worse things than a burrito at Dos Coyotes--you could, for instance, be a Kings season ticket holder.

Antigua Bread (Highland Park, CA) reviewed by Mark (7.5/10)

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:33:47 -0600

It was a rainy morning, and we felt more like going out for breakfast than cooking something, and we decided this would be a good time to visit a nice local coffee shop and bakery. We've been there before, and it is a pretty good place ... but this time they were advertising a steak breakfast burrito, so we went for it. I've had (fortunately more than I can remember) bad experiences with ordering burritos in burger places, and had doubts about the wisdom of getting a burrito from a bakery that doesn't sell tortillas ... but hey, it was cozy in a nice place and "adventure" IS my middle name.

After a few minutes of good people watching and nice latin jazz, they brought me out a nicely foil wrapped log, the first bite of which told me that this was going to be a good day! Large chunks of succulent steak, mixed with well fried potato chunks, swimming in mild cheese, laced with little chunks of barely fried onion, and bell-pepper ... quality ingredients, carefully prepared, and masterfully assembled made for a wonderful experience. As served there was nothing Mexican about this burrito, but that didn't stop it from making me happy. There was a pretty nice chipotle salsa on the side, but there was nothing wrong with the performance being turned in by the basic cast.

Call me old fashioned, but I think of burritos as spicy fare that comes from wagons, stands, and cheap lunch places. I have probably felt that a mild sprinkling of sleaze was part of the magic, and that without it, they just aren't the same. I've had some pretty good up-scale burritos (e.g. Poquito Mas, or my first palate expanding La Salsa experience) ... but I think I still considered those to be cleaned up burrito joints. A trendy coffee bakery is clearly on the other side of (some) line. I guess that if they could gentrify Venice and Echo Park, they can gentrify burritos too.

I'll have to go back and check out their Chorizo. You can't gentrify that!

Dos Amores (Newtown, PA) reviewed by Chris (4.5/10)

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 23:29:03 -0600

A Pennsylvania Dutch Farmers Market is not the place i'd have expected to find a burrito place, but such is the world we live in. Despite dubious cooking methods, this was a half-decent lunch, but a better place to pick up supplies to make your own burritos

This isn't much of a place to look at- just another shack with a colorful sign in the middle of the Farmer's Market, and not much of kitchen. The burritos are made in advance. When you order, they take it out and heat it up. They appeared to use a combination of microwave and a panini-press-like device. The end result was a well heated burrito. It's short and squat with crisscross grill marks on the outside. The ingredients are simple. Sour cream and salsa (more like a paste) are served in small plastic cups. It was not wrapped in foil, but was solidly built and never fell apart. The pork of mine wasn't anything special, but neither was it bad, just... boring.

Chips don't come with your burrito. You can buy packs in bulk though, of various types. Same goes for the salsa- plenty to choose from, but as this is a market, they're not part of the burrito. Finally, this place has one of the best selections of Jarritos flavors i've seen in some time.

This burrito was certainly better than what i had expected, but i can't really call it good. They function mostly as a market, not a restaurant or taqueria, and so their prepared burritos aren't really good. They'll fill your stomach and little else. If however you're looking for supplies for to make your own burritos, this would be a good place to stop.