chipotle, for dominic.

chipotle is not my favorite place. growing up in texas, i was used to having tasty, cheap mexican food at my disposal. that is, until i moved to new york. there are seemingly many, many mexican joints, but i have yet to find one i really like. they just lacking, in everything.

and new yorkers love burritos. maybe it's all of america, but i am unsure. real mexican food is not so burrito-heavy, but, well, you take what you can get.

we used to have burritoville, which was my favorite of the chain burrito places, but it closed down, of course. (i would eat one during the faculty meeting at school every friday, and my fridays are not the same without it.) it was spicy and lovely, and nothing came from a can. my kind of place.

there is a chipotle near my office, and my co-workers love it. i rarely want to go. it just doesn't do it for me. and there are some reasons.
1. it was owned by mcdonalds. i learned of its ownership many years ago, and used to boycott it just on principle. mcdonalds is known for using less-than-ideal products and advertising gimmicks, and i just did not want to support the operation. a nugget is not a part of a chicken, and those fries are not vegetarian.
2. the 1000-calorie burrito. we are supposed to eat approximately 2000 calories per day. probably less, really. there is no reason for one item to have so many calories. it's hard to burn. i realize that mexican food items are often pretty fatty, but this takes the cake (or the burrito). this is no lie. in new york, chains are required to post calorie-content on the menus and i've seen it with my very own eyes.
3. i just don't think these burritos are all that.

my friend, dominic, was dreaming of burritos one night at spuyten duyvil when i started to rant about chipotle. he was surprised to learn i was not a fan of the chain. i was suprised to learn, as he whipped out his fancy iphone and proved to me, that chipotle is not really like mcdonalds at all. or tries not to be.

From Newsweek:
"In 2000, Chipotle has been serving sour cream and cheese free of the hormone rBGH, organic beans, and naturally raised pork, chicken and meat. Last month it announced it would buy locally grown produce whenever possible. Up next: dairy products from pasture-raised cows.

Chipotle uses few USDA-certified organic products and instead follows its own, sometimes less stringent, protocol. Pigs destined for a Chipotle Carnitas burrito receive no antibiotics, eat a vegetarian diet and must have access to either open pasture or deeply bedded pens. Unlike organically raised animals, their feed does not have to be organic and pesticide-free. Both protocols allow pigs to spend their lives indoors in crowded conditions, though farmers like Kremer shun that practice."

ok, ok.
now, i can criticize the taste of their products, but not their practices. it seems that they have seen the light. they are trying, at least. those are horomone-free calories. and from animals that might have seen grass. maybe. but that's a rant for another time.