I won’t eat at Chipotle. I don’t care for their burritos, I think rice in a burrito is generally an abomination, and the rice they use doesn’t help their cause. Chipotle just tends to be another “bigger is better” sort of thing. I’ll always favor just about any Mexican place run by Mexicans over it. That said, it’s probably not as bad as Taco Bell and you can ask them not to put rice in the things. If it works for you, then fine.
That’s an American thing. Mexican-style burritos do not contain rice.
They taste good. I don’t give a fuck if it’s authentic. I eat at the Olive Garden to spite my own heritage.
That is because you live in California (assuming bear flag republic means what I think it does). Even within California there are lots of places that don’t put rice in. When I came out to California from New Mexico for school it was weird because they put rice in burritos. When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s you never saw rice in burritos.
This is all pretty reasonable burritos are cheap food. There is not much rice grown in New Mexico but there are beans so the cheap filling is beans. In California both rice and beans are grown so you get a lot of burritos with rice and beans in them.
All the “authentic” places around here have rice on the burritos. It’s only the chains that don’t offer it (except Chipotle). The places owned by Mexicans and catering to a heavily Mexican customer base always have it.
it belongs in there if I want it there.
I’ve always bought my burritos at one or the other of the “-bertos” places and there’s never been rice on them. I always associated rice in burritos with cheap fast food, a la Taco Hell.
Chipotle’s alright. “Authentic” food carts are usually hit and miss. People tend to tout the good ones and forget about the bad ones, so they end up characterizing “authentic” as “good as the best burrito place I’ve been to where there were actual Mexicans (or people I thought were actual Mexicans) in the kitchen”, by which standard I’m sure Chipotle comes off wanting.
Also, not really relevant to the OP, but I was pretty annoyed that the author of the article making the original complaint was riffing off a Slate article, and he willfully misread the Slate article so he could play food snob.
The Slate article’s point was that Chipotle found a successful marketplace for a product: “high end fast food”. That is, still fast food, but better, and more pricey, then the bottom end places. In the case of Chipotle, that basically means: “better then Taco Bell”. I doubt most people would argue with that assertion.
Ha I wish any of the efforts around here tasted as good as Chipotle’s. We need Chipotle or some Mexicans to come here and open up shop in Ireland.
Taco Bell now has a competing offering, which Zagat says is almost as good as Chipotle’s. I have tried it before and found it to be basically a failure pile in a sadness tortilla. I have never had Chipotle’s, and am not encouraged to do so by my Taco Bell experiment.
(Note, for the record, that I can eat Taco Bell’s unapologetically cheap and crappy grub all day, so this isn’t snobbery per se. 
)
I recently had Taco Bell’s offering as an alternative to Chipotle’s Burrito. I think I paid $3.99. I overpaid. I wouldn’t get it again if it were $1.99
I eat Chipotle about once a month. When you don’t live in Cali, it’s a great bargain in fast food. Good food. Not authentic, but worth every penny.
Chipotle is great. But if you eat their food expecting an authentic Mexican meal, burrito, etc, you are a fool. That’s a YOU problem, don’t hold that against Chipotle.
If you go there wanting some of the best, freshest, highest quality fast food, then you will be satisfied.
And for those folks who want “authentic” Mexican food - Do you wear centuries old traditional Central American clothes when you eat your authentic food? Did you drive a modern car to get there?
In other words, you are ridiculous. Food should be judged for what it is, not for whatever your mixed up notion of what it should be.
As said before, Chipotle is OK but you have to take it at face value. It’s corporate fast food.
Luckily for me I live in Chicago where there’s a damn good mom and pop taqueria within (almost) everyone’s reach (if you chose to live in the Gold Coast or Lincoln Park that’s your own damn fault :D).
I’m about 99% certain you’re wrong about that.
There really is a big difference between Chipotle and most fast food. Chipotle actively increases the quality of their ingredients as time goes on. Generally, corporate fast food places decrease the quality, using cheaper substitutes as time goes on.
Who knows what the future holds, but for now they have very high standards.
Having said that, supporting locals wins out for sure.
I’m out in the western burbs and there are plenty of mom and pop taquerias within 10 minutes. They outshine Chipotle rather prominently. Having said that, Chipotle’s perfectly servicable fast food.
I love Chipotle.
But it isn’t SUPPOSED to be authentic Mexican food. It was founded by a white American guy who graduated from the CIA. His vision is that food served fast doesn’t have to be low quality and that delicious food doesn’t have to be expensive. Nothing in there about authentic.
Since he’s expanded to 1200 restaurants since opening the first, people seem to like them. Maybe you do, maybe you don’t.
They are huge - I can get two meals out of one (like others, I tend to do the bowl - I’m gluten intolerant and Chipotle is one fast food I can eat fairly reliably.)
Yea, here’s the Slate article the OP’s article was riffing off, and the point of it, which the OP’s article misrepresents, isn’t that Chipotle is the best burrito in the world, but that the founder of Chipotle has found what was an unoccupied niche for “high end fast food”.
Its not supposed to be better then the best “authentic” burrito you’ve ever had, its supposed to be better then Taco Bell.
For those of you who’ve never been there, I feel it’s worth mentioning that Chipotle is faster than plenty of other fast food places, including ones with lower quality food. The relatively small number of options and their assembly line setup means you can actually get your food during the lunchtime rush in less time than it normally takes at the burger chains or Subway.
The size is what kills me. Just make me two regular sized ones instead of that one big one that takes two hands to eat. (Ratio is everything)
Also, sour cream should NOT be in gravy form. Just say’n.