It’s true. Sadly true.

Very de-motivational indeed

I’m back with yet another report on an authentic Mexican joint in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area.  If you know me well, then you know La Fuente is my favorite place in the entire world.  Well, that may be an exaggeration but it’s certainly up there.  Not only do they have the best chips and salsa guy in the entire world, but the best Mexican food in the area as well.  My buddy Tommy has been arguing with me for some time, and trying to say that Los Amigos kills La Fuente.  After my first trip, I completely disagreed with him.  I wasn’t impressed at all.  After a few months and multiple people telling me that Los Amigos has the best Mexican food in the area, I decided I didn’t have an open mind during my previous visit and it was time to give them another shot.  Not that I was going to be unfaithful to my beautiful La Fuente.  I’m what you could call a Mexican restaurant polygamist.  It’s OK to have more than one favorite.

Los Amigos is a bit of a cruise down Michigan Ave into the middle of nowhere, but nothing ridiculous.  It’s actually right past Gabriel’s Hoagies which almost lured me in and ruined Los Amigo’s second chance.  They’re housed in a building that’s a little intimidating looking, but once you step inside you find yourself in a very friendly, clean atmosphere.  The bar is right by the front door which is housed in a medium sized dining area where the smoking takes place.  I got there at about 4:30 PM on a Tuesday and the bar was completely packed.  More on this later.  As you walk to the back section of the restaurant, you enter a very nice and should I say festive(?) dining room.  I was surprised to see the area completely empty at this time, but that would change later.

Chips and salsa guy got chips and salsa down before I could even take a picture. Impressive.

After we sat down, about 5 seconds had elapsed before the chips and salsa were on the table.  Los Amigos chips and salsa guy definitely has talent, but just isn’t quite a first ballot hall of famer like La Fuente chips and salsa guy.  I don’t mean to take away from a very impressive effort, he’s just the early 90′s Buffalo Bills of chips and salsa guys.  No shame in that.

The chips and salsa at this place are quite good.  The chips are warm and obviously made in house, while the salsa is smooth, full of flavor and completely fresh tasting.  I’m not a huge fan of chunky salsa so this was perfect.  It looks a little like a picante sauce at first, but once you dive in there’s a few chunks of tomato, onion and other goodies.

I had heard rumors of drink specials that could make a grown man cry, so I asked the waitress what the current special was on margaritas.  The answer I got?  Half off all alcohol.  Yes my friends, half off all alcoholic beverages.  What she means by that is you take the price you would normally pay for what you’re drinking, divide it by two, and that’s what you’re actually paying.  So for every two drinks you have, you’re really paying for one full priced drink.  I know this doesn’t require that much explanation, but it sure is fun to explain how half off all alcohol works.

Naturally, I ordered a large margarita pitcher on the rocks which cost me $8.50.  Happy hour is 7 days a week from 3-6pm at this place.  This explains the full to capacity bar area on a Tuesday afternoon.   Alcoholics.

This place was impressive so far.  Talented chips and salsa guy delivering tasty chips and salsa and incredible drink specials?  They couldn’t possibly screw this up, could they?

The menu at this place has a ridiculous amount of items.  Usually I use the system of finding three things I want then picking one when the waitress puts the pressure on me, but I had to ask for more time TWICE.  They have your standard Mexican categories, but so many varieties of each item.  They have 26 combos, 14 specialties, 4 different types of fajitas, 11 burritos and much more.  I ended up sticking with the burrito portion of the menu, even though the Enchiladas Poblanas were stuffed with BRRF.  Yum.

I went with the Burritos Tampiqueno, which is two burritos – one steak, one grilled chicken, topped with green salsa and served up with black beans a rice.  I was almost lured in by the Pollo Loco, but the burritos just sounded too good to pass up.  What I got was a HUGE double burrito platter with plenty of beans and rice on the side.  This was the perfect portion for me.

The burritos were smothered in the delicious green salsa and were stuffed to capacity with fillings.  The steak was perfectly cooked and very flavorful.  The burrito consisted of nothing else to mess around with the flavor, just good ol’ salsa, tortilla, and steak.  The chicken was surprisingly flavorful as well, although not as impressive as the steak.  I have to say this is one of the more impressive burrito offerings I have ever received.  The fact that it’s as simple as it is but still incredibly flavorful is a huge accomplishment in my book.  Ahh, the beauty of Mexican cuisine.

Stephanie went with the Special Dinner, which had caught my eye as well.  This Special Dinner, which is a perfect name, comes with one chalupa, one chile relleno, one taco, one tamale, and served with beans and rice.  I’m pretty sure she assumed that it was mini portions of each, which I did as well, because her facial expression turned to horror when the waiter brought her out two completely full plates of food.  This was like a Mexican combo for the Gods.

The special dinner turned out to be pretty so so, or to be really clever… not so special.  The enchilada was just as good as my burrito and topped with an absolutely delicious sauce.   Unfortunately, the taco was your normal every day taco, the tamale was very average, and we couldn’t even remember what the chile relleno was until we took another look at the menu.  Chile rellenos are normally one of my favorite foods in the entire world, but this one just fell a little flat to me.  Overall not an awful dish, but I would suggest wandering your eyes elsewhere.

Special Dinner part 1: Chile rellano, guac, taco

Special Dinner part 2: Tamale, enchilada, beans, and rice

Completely stuffed after finishing mine and half of Stephanie’s dinner to go along with two baskets of chips, I sat back and let my stomach stretch out a bit.  I couldn’t possibly eat any more food after what I just ate.  The portions were perfect and that was a whole lot of lime juice and tequila that I had just taken down.  Definitely couldn’t eat anything else even if I wanted to.  Nope.

Oh wait, they have Fried Ice Cream.  Yes, I ate more.

All in all, not a bad place at all.  Drinks are cheap, portions are large and fairly priced, and the food was good.  I would have to say they easily make my list of top 5 Mexican joints in the area, but no where close to #1, which is still reserved for my beautiful beautiful La Funete.  Definitely worth a try if you’re a fan of good, authentic Mexican food like myself.

If you’re going to head over there, make sure you print out one of the many coupons on their website.  Savings is always a good thing.

About a year ago, the old A&W location on Washtenaw that had been vacant for years had a sign out front advertising that a burrito joint called Pacific Beach Burritos would soon move in.  This caught my eye because I am a burrito fanatic.  They’re like beauty wrapped in a tortilla sleeping bag.  It saddens me that I don’t have a place around here to get a quality burrito to go.   Sure, we have Qdoba, Chipolte, Panchero’s, and Moe’s within a 15 mile radius, but no actual burrito joints.  Big Ten Burrito is great and all, but it’s a ways to drive for me.  About three months ago the place finally opened and I was there.

The following is a multiple part piece.  I have been to Pacific Beach Burritos several different time and have had mixed feelings on the food I have received each time.  The food given to me during one of my visits was enough to make me never go back again.  I decided to return today to give them one final shot.  They had one final opportunity to earn my love.  This sounds like some sort of VH1 reality show, but hey.. I take my food seriously.  Especially my burritos.

During my first visit to Pacific Beach Burritos , I noticed several things right away.  First, there were several cars parked right out front, but no actual customers in the place.  Apparently these first few spots out front are for the employees.  One of them drives a Mercedes.  Weird.  Second, there is a salsa bar.  To me, salsa bars = success.  Give me the freedom to sample every kind of salsa you have and control how much goes on my food and you might have a loyal customer just because of that.  Bland food?  That’s OK.  I’ll cover it in salsa and things should be alright between us.  Third, the cooks in the back are wearing actual white chef coats.  There’s not just one guy wearing a T-shirt in the back rolling up your burritos.   There’s three or four guys in full chef attire making burritos and whatever else they do back there.

The menu consists of burritos, tacos, tortas, combo platters, and salads.  The menu is simple but the few options that they have are very diverse.  There are 13 different types of burritos, 7 different types of tacos, 3 different tortas, 6 combination platters, and 4 salads.  There’s a side section where you can add quesadillas, nachos and other items to your meal for only a few dollars more.  You can also add items from the “extras” menu, such as mexican carrots, tortilla chips, jalapenos, pico de gallo, or guacamole.  Most of the items are available with Carne Asada steak, chicken, or pork.  The menu is very impressive and is available on their website.

I ordered the Macho Ypsilanti Burrito which consists of Carne Asada Steak, pico de gallo, rice, and beans.  I figured this was the best burrito for me to try because it consisted of ingredients that I was most familiar with.  If this standard issue burrito was good, I figured I would return and sample some of their other menu items.  I stopped by the salsa bar and picked up some of the spicy and mild salsas, as well as their green salsa verde.  I was impressed so far.

Macho Ypsilanti Burrito

The burrito I got was good, but nothing great.  The size was large, but nothing close to the burritos I had heard stories about on the West Coast.  The steak was very tender and juicy, but really lacked flavor.  The fillings were light, and most of the burrito consisted of tortilla.  The most disappointing part was that the salsas completely lacked flavor, as well.  Not only was the spicy salsa not spicy, but it really didn’t taste like anything at all.  The mild had a little flavor, but was almost as bland as the spicy.  The salsa verde was the same story.  The meal ended up being rather bland and I was not impressed.  I was actually rather disappointed.  I figured I would have to give them another shot at a later date.

About a week later, I returned to give Pacific Beach Burritos another shot to earn my love.  I decided to switch it up and order the Chorizo Burrito, Enchildas Combo Platter and a Shredded Pork Burrito.  This may seem like a lot of food for one person, but I wanted to give them every chance to impress me.  Unfortunately I didn’t bring my camera so you’ll just have to trust me.  The Chorizo Burrito consists of chorizo, of course, and eggs.  Pretty simple.  What I got was a gigantic burrito stuffed with about 99.85% chorizo with the rest being egg.  It was completely overwhelming and I couldn’t even get through a quarter of it.  Don’t get me wrong, I love me some chorizo but as the only component in a burrito?  It just seemed completely ridiculous to me.  The Enchiladas Platter was/were ONE ENCHILADA that was the size of a frozen taquito that one might purchase at the grocery store, and topped with a flavorless red sauce and a drizzle of sour cream.  It was horrible.  Somehow, the pork burrito topped each of them.  The Pork Burrito was the same as the Chorizo Burrito, in that it was all pork.  This would be excusable if the pork is flavorful and juicy, but it wasn’t.  It was tough and lacked any flavor whatsoever.  I ended up taking two bites and throwing it away.  I immediately wished I had brought my camera, because Pacific Beach Burritos would have felt a Tio’s like wrath on Epic Portions.  I swore this would be my last visit.

Recently, I decided to give the place one more shot.  I’m not sure why, but I wanted to like Pacific Beach Burritos.  The place the kind of charm that I look for in a joint and I had been waiting forever for it to open.  It couldn’t be that bad, could it?  We would find out…

This particular visit, I decided to order the San Diego Burrito, which consists of Carne Asada steak, french fries, cheese and sour cream, and three Rolled Tacos with chicken and guacamole on the side.  I asked for several cups of the hot sauce hoping they had adjusted their recipe due to massive amounts of customer complaints.

San Diego Burrito

San Diego Burrito

The burrito was a little better, but it still shared that bland taste with the other burritos I had tried.  The steak was once again juicy and tender, the fries were crunchy and made a nice addition, the cheese was a little heavy(and yellow), and the sour scream was a pretty scarce.  It was filling and tasted pretty good, but it just wasn’t what I had expected when I first saw the place.  The salsa was once again tasteless and not impressive at all.

Rolled Tacos

The rolled tacos weren’t too impressive either.  Actually, they were rather terrible.  They resembled the same microwave style taquitos that came with the enchiladas.  They were tiny and sprinkled with what looked like just  a bunch of random toppings(tomatoes, onions, ect.).  I ordered mine with chicken because I had stuck to the Carne Asada in every other item I had ordered and was horribly disappointed by it.  I guess it’s rare that you actually get chicken that’s anything special at a Mexican or Southwest joint, but this chicken just wasn’t good.  The beef made up for a lack of flavor with juiciness and the chicken completely lacked that.  It was dry and tasteless.  I will say that the guacamole was good stuff, which made the tacos edible.

Dry chicken tacos

It’s been a pretty disappointing few visits to Pacific Beach Burritos.  I had very high hopes for this local burrito joint, but every thing I’ve eaten has either been very average or fallen completely fat.  I can’t decide whether or not I will give them another chance, but the fact that they’re about to start offering delivery will probably mean I’ll give them a chance for redemption for the simple fact that it will be convenient.  Don’t get me wrong, they’re not terrible and I would recommend that you give them an opportunity.  I just wasn’t horribly impressed by them.

I have a system when I go to Taco Bell.  Some might call this the J.O.H.N. system, but I can’t come up with any words that make sense to fulfill that acronym so actually no one calls it that except for me.  I like to order a few different courses like I’m eating some fancy meal.  I usually start from the $.89 menu options, such as pintos and cheese or perhaps the 5 layer nachos.  I then progress to the middle of the road items such as 1/2 lb cheesy potato burrito or a cheesy bean and rice burrito.  The main course comes after that, usually consisting of a chicken quesadilla or a grilled stuft burrito.  I like to keep it fresh with variety, never ordering a burrito for all three courses.  That would get real old real fast.

The beautiful part about the J.O.H.N. system is that Taco Bell is aware of my frequent boredom with the same menu items.  This is why they frequently come up with new menu items to freshen up my courses.  The best is when they debut a new $.89 cent item, because the cheap items don’t switch up too often.  Most recently, they came up with the Beefy 5-Layer Burrito, which consists of the Taco Bell hall of famers and nothing more. No fancy Baja or avocado ranch sauce in this burrito. They stick with only the classics.  It’s like the Mexican pizza of burritos, except people might order them that aren’t over the age of 40.

Beef, beans, cheese and sour cream, all wrapped in a tortilla that’s covered in another tortilla, but not until they smother the in between area with nacho cheese.  How perfect is that?  $.89 cents for all of that?  In these harsh economic times, this has to be the perfect fast food menu item, as well as a perfect option for my “appetizer” course.  This has increased my Taco Bell intake by at least 325% over the last few weeks.

I would like like to reiterate that that actual burrito is wrapped in an additional tortilla that has been smothered in nacho cheese.  Seriously, who thought of this?  I hope they have been promoted or at least given some sort of medal of honor.  Not only does the additional tortilla help hold in the ingredients, BUT IT HAS MORE CHEESE!  NOT JUST THAT SHREDDED CHEESE, BUT NACHO CHEESE!  I apologize for the caps, but it’s an idea that has me excited about eating.  Look at this picture!  Amazing!

So to the team that developed this burrito and to Taco Bell in general, Epic Portions salutes you for perfecting an appetizer perfect for the J.O.H.N. system, and creating one of the best Taco Bell menu items of all time.  I am excited to be a part of it.

Adam attempts the The “B3″ — Big Badass Burrito.  Tonight at 10:00 PM Eastern time on the Travel Channel.  Make sure to tune in.

For some reason I have never gotten over to Big Ten Burrito in Ann Arbor.  If I had to guess what that reason was it would probably have something to do with my laziness but that is usually trumped by my hunger for good food, specifically gigantic burritos.  Yesterday, I finally decided to make the trip and conquer their giant burrito.  I have to say, I was not disappointed.

This burrito was filled guacamole, sour cream, rice, pinto beans, grilled chicken and cheese wrapped inside a 2 tortilla sleeping bag.  I have to say, it was extremely delicious.  The ingredients were well portioned, and no one ingredient dominated.  It wasn’t like a Qdoba or Chipolte burrito where half of the burrito is rice.  In addition, their hot sauces were very good.  The regular sauce is a green sauce that has very good heat, while the Diablo is a legitimate hot sauce.  Be careful with that stuff.  They do give you a regular chunky salsa with cilantro, if heat is not your thing.

Even better, at BTB Cantina, they serve alcohol.  Very cheap alcohol.  I got to wash down this monster with frozen margaritas that only cost me 2 bucks a piece.  We hung out well after we were done with burritos and watched rugby on their flat screen TV.  Well done, BTB Cantina.  Well done.

Oh, and just so you think I’m even cooler than you already do, I finished half of my girlfriend’s regular sized burrito as well.  Actually, I believe that just makes me fat.

This mofo weighs like 2 pounds

My gift to you.. Pictures of me eating

I haz conquered the burrito

Big Ten Burrito (Cantina)
1140 South University
Ann Arbor, MI
http://www.btbburrito.com/

I picked up a burrito at Chipotle the other day, which is a change for me because I am a firm believer that Qdoba makes the better burrito.  My burrito at Chipolte was a lot smaller than what Qdoba usually gives me, but the taste seemed to be almost equal if not better.  I then  wondered if the reason I preferred Qdoba all this time was simply because of their Queso sauce?  I decided to organize my thoughts and do a little research to determine who was creating the better burrito.

First of all, Founder Steve Ells attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY; afterward, he became a line cook for Jeremiah Tower at Stars in San Francisco. There, Ells observed the popularity of the taquerias in the Mission District. In 1993, Ells took what he learned in San Francisco and opened the first Chipotle in Denver, Colorado in a former Dolly Madison Ice Cream Store near the University of Denver campus using an $85,000 loan from his father. The name derives from the Mexican Spanish name for a smoked, dried jalapeño chili, and ultimately derives from the Nahuatl language. In 1998 McDonalds made a heavy investment in the company expanding it from 15 stores to over 500 by 2005.   McDonalds owned the majority of Chipolte until 2006 when they decided to sell all of their shares to concentrate on making even more terrible food at McDonalds locations.

Qdoba was founded by Colorado native Anthony Miller and Robert Hauser, and opened their first restaurant in 1995 in Denver.   In 2003, Jack in the Box acquired the chain from a private investment firm called ACI Capital.

Both establishments have or had the backing of successful corporations that have already made millions flipping burgers.   Qdoba and Chipotle offer relatively short menus, with their burritos taking center stage. You can watch your burrito being assembled in roughly the same order at both places: tortilla, rice, beans, meat, salsa, sour cream, and cheese. Following this Subway-style assembly line, you end up with a neatly(hopefully) wrapped burrito at both places.

The Comparisons

1. The Menu – Both Chipotle and Qdoba offer basic burritos with chicken, beef, and steak. However, Chipotle’s beef option (barbacoa) is shredded, seared, and braised – a winner compared to Qdoba’s more boring ground sirloin. Chipotle also features carnitas, a spicy pork option. Outside of these basic burrito fillers, though, Qdoba has a much more expansive menu that includes tortilla soup, dinner nachos, quesadillas, salads, and specialty burritos (mole, pesto, etc.). If you want choices, Qdoba is much, much better.
   

   The Victor: Qdoba offers a more extensive menu with different sauces, which includes the famous queso sauce.  Qdoba is the winner here to due to quantity.

2. The Tortilla – edible flour wrapper Qdoba has a thinner tortilla which is more suseptable to breaking.  This seems strange since Qdoba has based a lot of their taste around the sauce that is added.  Many times when eating at Qdoba the ingredients come right out of the tortilla and I am forced to eat it all with a fork, which just doesn’t work for me.   Chipolte’s tortilla seems to be a stronger, thicker tortilla which seals in all the ingredients.
   

   The Victor: Tortillas are supposed to serve as sleeping bags for their ingredients.  If you take this into account, Chipolte is offering the superior product due to structural integrity.

3. The Rice and Beans -Both chains offer cilantro rice, pinto beans, and black beans. The rice at Chipotle tends to be fresher, with more of the actual cilantro flavor that is bragged about on both menus..  Chipotle’s pinto beans are also more flavourful, as they’ve been prepared with some bacon.
   

   The Victor – The black beans are pretty similar at both Qdoba and Chipotle, but Chipolte gets the nod due to freshness and a little bit better flavor.

4. The Chicken – I order the chicken during the majority of my visits to both locations, so this is a very important ingredient for me.  I have had a few times where the chicken at Qdoba has been a little questionable.  I can’t put my finger on it, but it just didn’t taste right.  Every time I have visited Chipolte, the chicken is delicious and tastes fresh.  I should note that Chipolte has pledged to use only naturally raised meat, organic produce, and dairy without added hormones. All of Chipotle’s chicken and pork are naturally raised (i.e., open-range, antibiotic free, and with a vegetarian diet), as well as 50% of the beef.
   

   The Victor – Chipolte takes this category with ease.

5. The Salsa – Qdoba offers five salsas: pico de gallo, chile corn, verde, roja, and habanero.  Chipotle offers four options:  pico de gallo, red tomatillo, green tomatillo, and chili corn.  Qdoba seems to offer more of a variety, and Chipolte has the hotter option.
   

   The Victor – There is no winner here..  Both establishments have delicious salsa.

6. The Toppings – The sour creams are both pretty much the same.  If you want guacamole, you can rest assured that it is fresh at both places.  Both advertise that the product is made freshly on the premises each day.  Qdoba offers a wide variety of sauces which create different types of burrito including queso and BBQ sauce.  Chiplote has stayed away from the sauces, allowing their ingredients and salsas to create the flavor.
   

   The Victor – Qdoba wins easily.  That Queso sauce has to contain crack and while it’s nice to have a burrito full of fresher ingredients creating flavor, sometime it’s also nice to have a big messy saucy burrito.

While Chipolte seemed to win my contest, I think both establishments are offering good products.  Qdoba did copy Chipolte’s concepts but it’s not like burrito joints were invented by either company.