Potle

On my first day in New York, my brother and I set out for burritos. We were under a time constraint and the numerous mexican places that don't serve any pork weren't helping. Fortunately, carnitas was on the menu at what he considers the best burreatery in the city :













This is the 19 St. Mark's Place location, though there's probably one closer to you. The closest to me is on Gilman St, the Berk, but that will change soon. I've had a couple carne asada burritos from there and knew it was a cut above most chains. So I got my carnitas burrito with rice, pinto beans, salsa fresca and the red tomatillo. In case you've never been to Chipotle, they ask about each ingredient before it goes on your burrito. It's like Subway but with edible food.























This was a pretty darn good burrito. The meat was nicely textured, the salsas were tasty and the rice and beans really reflected the fact that they hadn't been sitting there for several hours. If it's possible to glean a message from a burrito, this one does its best to inform you that it's made up of a lot of different things. The cilantro lime rice has a presence of its own; it's not just a backup foodstuff that serves to fill out the burrito and absorb some of the juice.

I noticed that my burrito was salty. I eat a lot of salt, so for a burrito to make me notice its saltiness, it would have to be . . . well, let's find out. At Chipotle's extensive site, we poke around until we find the nutritional information in the "Useful" FAQ, hidden behind the "Magical" FAQ. I ate 3620 milligrams of sodium. Hoyvinmayvin! Also, my 988 Calorie burrito makes it look like perhaps Rubio's was the outlier. The unhealthiness, however, won't stand between Chipotle and its rightful position as the #1 chain reviewed so far.

Chipotle makes a good effort to not feel like a chain. One wall features a black and white photo of the restaurant when it was first opened in, er, a few years ago. My photo of the photo didn't turn out, but I did get a shot of this quasi-pre-columbian guy :




























It's labelled puff.jpg because I was sure he was smoking a stogie or a fattie. But that wouldn't make much sense, especially when the alternative interpretation is that the burrito-shaped tube he's holding is a burrito. It's not much bigger than his nose, though. Maybe he's trying to make you appreciate the giant burritos we have now by showing you the tiny ones they had to make do with back in the time of very elaborate and heavy hats.