It is a matter of incontrovertible truth that the finest burrito in town can be had at El Paso Grocery Store on the corner of Meade and Market. In the back of the store, one finds Charlottesville’s closest equivalent to a taqueria. (N.B., Excluded from the current taxonomy is the infamous taco truck, for as a mobile food-service unit, said taco truck can at any moment exist outside the boundaries of Charlottesville. It’s still, rumor has it, delicious.)
Certainly, other burritos merit mention: Atomic’s is good; Blue Moon’s breakfast burrito is quite comestible (though, truth be told, “breakfast burrito” in general probably ought to be a category unto itself); Qdoba’s is good but gets automatically disqualified because it’s owned by Jack in the Box. So, El Paso rests atop of a delectable pile of burrito makers.
And yet, despite the preponderance of delicious burritos in-town, one encounters a veritable burrito black hole in the 29 North/Hollymead area (where many a fine Cvillian’s your current author included punches his or her timecard, despite living in-town). This burrito shortfall is at once lamentable and reparable.
With the opening of Martin’s Grill Riverside (whoops!) and Christian’s Pizza, we have witnessed the successful transition of downtown operations to an outskirt location. Certainly, a burrito entrepeneur an El Paso II, even?! let us not overexcite ourselves”will eventually follow suit. It can’t possibly happen too soon.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Tagged as: Belmont, Charlottesville, Raves, Restaurants
Although I’m usually not one for chains, I’ve gotta say Chipotle is super tastey.
El Rey Del Taco, which used to be on Greenbrier, was pretty spectacular(from what I can remember from my “Senior Lunch” priveleges at AHS). That was kind of 29-Northish. I tried to meet my dad for lunch there last week, and I found that they had closed their doors for good.
I can’t recall if the “Taco Truck” had burritos or not, but the chalupa and big-ass fruit cup I received at the Graves Street party was a two-thumps up, four stars and Best New Music in my book.
El Paso remains king of the Charlottesville burrito. I recommend having a firend/roomie/band-mate who can speak spanish though, because I never seem to get what I want unless I have a translator.
On a final note, the last time I ordered the Burrito California at the downtown Guad(couple of months ago), I got food poisoning.
-Jon
P.S. Anyone remember El Cabrito’s?
BTW, Stanley, I believe it was Riverside, and not Martin’s Grill, that you were trying to mention.
But the whole Riverside/Martin’s thing is a blog post all on it’s own.
I couldn’t agree more! I have been eyeing that empty spot in Hollymead Town Center (where the video rental shop used to be). I have been hoping Zazus would follow Christians’ lead and open a shop up north. I even left a message on Qdoba’s web site, telling them about the need for a burrito shop in northern C’ville. I have to admit, I am a burrito addict, and I am tired of driving downtown to get my fix.
El Paso II, Electric Buggaloo?
As a burrito aficionado from the California School, where the tube food trumps all other options and a dizzying array of cylindrical delights await on almost every block, I appreciate this burrito update. I knew not of this secret back room burrito merchant at El Paso. I may remedy my lack of empirical experience this very affternoon.
I thank you stanley.
BTW, Stanley, I believe it was Riverside, and not Martin’s Grill, that you were trying to mention.
Oh, the embarrassment! You are correct, sir.
I have been hoping Zazus would follow Christians’ lead and open a shop up north
A co-worker shared rumor of just such an occurrence. We’ll see…
Wait! How can you possibly be overlooking the delicious chicken burrito at A Qui Es Mexico? I highly encourage all burrito fanatics to give them a good go and report back–having said that, I am going to go to El Paso today and get my hands on the reported best burrito in town…on the condition that everyone try A Qui Es Mexico.
I thank you stanley.
You’re quite welcome. Let us know how it goes.
Beware of Zazus - the owner buys so much shit from Sysco (not just raw ingredients like canned tomatoes but the pre-fabbed stuff) that she qualifies for the company’s Thank You cruise vacation every year. Ew.
(And she’s kinda mean.)
So how about a description of the El Paso burritos. I’m curious as to what makes them standout.
10: I’ve only eaten the vegetariano, so I’ll leave it to others to comment on the meaty ones. A description: they’re quite large for the price tag (~$5) and full of delicious rice and beans—which themselves are full of delicous flavor, unlike many burritos, which just use unseasoned black beans—in addition to lettuce, tomatoes, and really good cheese (asadero? maybe?). They aslo include lots of fresh cilantro and jalapeños, and some delicious cream, similar to sour cream but not identical.
After reading this post, I was tempted enough to head down to El Paso and damn, that was a tasty burritto. I had the beef burrito, which consists of chunks of spiced beef, mexican rice, beans, cilantro and hot sauce. The burrito was plenty large for $5 (not Aqui es Mexico large, but that those are ridicules), and it sounds like you can get a super (whatever that means) for $5.50. They also had vegetarian (see Stanley’s comment above), beef bbq (which is really stewed beef vs. southern bbq from what I could tell), pork and I don’t really remember after that. The beef itself had great flavor and was appropriately grissley at times, the hot sauce was the perfect level of slightly smoky heat and the cilantro created the perfect cooling effect to balance everything out. The guy in the back doesn’t speak much English beyond “to go?” but the woman who works the registered kindly ushered me to the back to find the kitchen and explained the whole regular vs. super thing, so don’t be intimidated if you took French in high school. I will definitely go back, probably before the week is out. I think this may even be a better burrito than Aqui.
I too only eat ‘los vegetarianos’ and am thereby unqualified to make critical asadas ala carne. Though that leads me to this thought… As a vegetarian, one of my most frequent complaints at burrito joints is the placement of the fixins, specifically when the various meats are placed behind the base ingredients. When the succulent chunks of critter are ladeled generously in the assembly process of the persons in front of me in line, invariably the odd bit will escape its intended destiny and land in, say, the rice. Those odd bits are then scooped up into my ‘vegetarian’ burrito, where upon discovery cause me much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.
I know we vegetarians are particularly annoying at times, especially the more dogmatic of us (of which I am decidedly not)… but it seems that as the placement of fleshy bits is irrelevant to the carne burrito assembly process, and invariably critical in the vegetariano, it would be a simple thing to arrange the steam warming bins in such a way that all can be happy. I have only ever mentioned this thought to the owner of Atomic, and I am happy to state that the bins remain arranged in such a manner as to please all to this day. Gold star for that.
The last time I ate a Zazusian tube, I discovered, post semi mastication, a rather large chicken nugget in my veggie deluxe. My humble request for a new tube was met with some eye rolling, but I was provided another. But then, what’s this? The new tube contained an even larger bit of bigbird. Granted, this was some time ago under different management so your milage may vary. However, I do not like how they have their counter arranged in such a manner as to prevent one from seeing all the options. I mean “Thai Slaw” may conjure up instant and accurate images in the minds of the bulk of the populace, but I am not among them. I need to see the goods. I like to be able to say “How about some of that”.
But enough tube musings… off to investigate Stanely’s reports of delicious latin mystery cream.
Hey everybody. Really love this site. I now have to check it multiple times daily to see what’s going on. But on to burritos.
For me personally, Mexican food is my favorite food. In that broad category, burritos are up there (along with nachos and fajitas). Like many, I was totally unaware that they had burritos at El Paso, and I’m actually there once a week to buy banana leaves and mole sauce for our tamales. I’ll have to give those a try. But I’ll also add that I’m a little surprised that they have burritos, since El Paso strikes me as a more authentic Mexican place (i.e. you speak Spanish there), and burritos don’t really exist in Mexico. IMO they’re more more Tex Mex/Tejano–and that’s what a few of my co-workers (from Mexico) said as well.
But anyways, my fave in town right now is Chipotle - yes, a chain, but I love the Barbacoa with their spicy red chile salsa. And I think their guac is some of the best also. Worth splurging for.
When I was in college I probably had Zazu’s twice a week, if not more, and I really love their medium green tomatillo sauce. The tanginess goes great with sour cream.
Best Burrito ever? IMO it’s in Carrboro, NC, appropriately enough, at a place called Carrburritos. Carrboro is a small hippie enclave on the border of Chapel Hill, and if you’re in the area, it’s worth a detour just to visit Carrburritos. I’ve had CA burritos in Berkeley and Santa Monica, and they were great, but I’d rank Carrburritos higher. Granted, I’m not a Cali local, so I probably wasn’t eating the best of the best, but from what I’ve had, Carrburritos is it.
Anybody else been there?
Shamless plug (our Monday special is a burrito sans tortilla - black beans, brown rice, romaine, cheddar, sour cream, and pico).
Speaking of Chipotle, the local food rumor mill has it that they either already are or will soon be using Polyface Farms chickens at the Barracks Road location. I’m torn between being thrilled that a food giant as big as McDonalds (they own the burrito joint) gets that local food is important (read: from a marketing perspective) and feeling like Mickey Big Fast Food is simply coasting on the fame Joel Salatin now has thanks to his role in Michael Pollan’s book Omnimore’s Dilemma, and that they don’t really love Central Virginia’s favorite hard core sustainable, natural, as it should be farmer like we do. I should probably just be happy I can eat wholesome locally raised chickens somewhere in Barracks, but that would defy my bitter nature.
Lys:
For the record, McDonald’s spun out Chipotle a while back, and as of 2006 it is a completely independent company. No more McOverlords!
- Hunter
Awesome! Now I can officially eat there for the first time as the guilt of in any way shape or form giving money to the force behind the “I’m lovin’ it” campaign no longer has merit.
Raise your hand if you ate at Chipotle tonight!
18: While I’m happy to have maybe played a role in your (and others’) burrito feeding frenzy (my girlfriend got a burrito today, too). I do hope you’ll try El Paso sometime, too.
Speaking of which: belmont yo - what did you think?
Oh, and I second mau’s recommendation to eat at Aquí es México. Excellent Mexican and Central American cuisine. You’d have to go to DC to get a better pupusa. mmmm. pupusas…..
Chipotle taco salad is pretty bomb. The vinagrette sauce or whatever that is romps it.
(and they have decent burritos)
We reviewed Aqui a while back..it’s good if you haven’t been there.
As for Zazus.. that place has gone WAY downhill since it opened. They used to use high quality stuff and probably realized it cost too much.
Polyface at Chipotle? Seems impossible that that farm would be able to produce that amount of chicken, but what do I know. (Not much.)
Chipotle’s guac tasted like play-doh last night. Buzzkill…
BTW Stanley, you know The Invisble Hand’s and I’s burritos are the best in town.
dijon: I reject your claims of burrito superiority as patently absurd. How could an invisible hand even make a burrito?! An invisible burrito, maybe…
Zazus sucks. End. Of. Story.
I wanted to hate Chipotle, I really did, but I can’t. Yum.
I’m still holding a California driver’s license, so I consider myself qualified to speak on the Burrito issue
Hollymead absolutey needs a Burrito joint, though I’d settle for a good Mexican place.
Okay dude, the next burrito session will feature:
onions
green peppers
portabello mushrooms
cilantro
seasoned black beans
monteray jack, cheddar, and goat cheese
fresh jalepenos
hint of roasted red peppers
hint of tortilla chips for texture
pinch of fresh roasted garlic
which will be topped with sour cream and one of your special salsas, and a squeeze of lime.
we’ll pair it with a fresh Tecate or an aged Spanish red.
I await the described burrito, dijonbray.
(In case anyone hasn’t caught on, dijonbray and I are housemates. I abide his misspellings. He, apparently, is making me dinner tomorrow night. So it’s a fair trade. Huzzah, burritos.)
The lack of excellent burritoage in Cville pains my soul daily. I feel like I’ve tried it all.
Atomic, bless their hipster hearts, really do put a good effort forward. But the blandito just too tidy and healthy-ish. La Taza, as much as I want to celebrate all things Belmont, just really sucks. I mean REALLY sucks. And there ain’t nothing wrong with a little corporate-franchisey-deliciously-the-size-of-a-small-child Chipotle burrito now and again…but we have to admit it’s not a true Cville experience. Where is the perfect burrito?
I generally passo on El Paso, but I’ll give it a go. Anything to get a quick fix. I can’t take it much longer. Somebody’s gotta remedy this burrito crisis we’re in.
Hi, there. Being forthright from the get go I wanted to let everyone know that I work for Chipotle and am the person that has worked on our side to build the relationship we have with Polyface farms today. I am really excited to see some people recognizing our relationship with Joel and his family but there are some apparent misconceptions about that relationship and what we actually buy from Joel, and I wanted to clear some of that up. I, myself, have been a member of Joel’s buying clubs going back before we had the opportunity to do something with him and our restaurants. Given where his farm is located and its size, it wasn’t until we opened our Charlottesville restaurant there on Barracks Road a year ago that buying directly from Joel was even an option for us. Chipotle has a commitment to supporting sustainable agriculture and family farming going back seven years now, and we’ve been leading the charge in sustainable food practices in the restaurant industry. This is not a marketing scheme – it’s a real vision and represents our highest priority as a company. We do not want to be a part of any food and farming practices that are based on the exploitation of the people, land and animals. We already serve more naturally raised meats than any restaurant in the world. And our standards for “natural†go far beyond the very basic USDA definition. Our naturally raised meats come from animals that are humanely raised, never given antibiotics or added hormones, and fed an all vegetarian diet. All of the meats we serve at our Charlottesville restaurant meet these standards. The meat we buy from Polyface is actually the pork we use to make our Carnitas (slow braised shredded pork). That should not turn off all of the chicken lovers out there, however, as we buy all of our chicken today from Bell and Evans, a naturally raised chicken supplier in southern Pennsylvania. We hope to be able to begin to buy some of Joel’s beef in the next several months but are unable to do so today just because of supply limitations. Today naturally raised beef comes from a variety of ranches – not all of them local, unfortunately. But we are working every day to change that. We are really proud of the food in all of our restaurants across the country – not just because of the taste and the value it represents, but also because of the level of integrity we have been able to introduce into a major food stream here in the US. I don’t want to monopolize this blog so I’ll stop there. But if anyone would like more information on our efforts on our sustainable ag practices and support, feel free to visit our Web site at http://www.chipotle.com or drop me a note at ppetrilli@chipotle.com . Thanks! Phil Petrilli
Uhhmmm… what the fuck was that?
And I’ll give a quick review of Taco Bell’s new Cheesy Beefy Dealy:
Fucking. Gross.
Incuces rectal dry-heaving.
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