Chipotle

1512 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 558-5213
Website

That's right, Chipotle. But wait, it's okay because McDonald's no longer holds a majority share. As you will soon see, I have been lucky enough to be driving around in a 2011 Chevy Camaro, which I will talk about in further detail later. See how pretty it looks in Center City.

Anyway, I hadn't been to a Chipotle in years, and with the somewhat recent outpost being opened on Walnut, I felt that maybe I should see how El Fuego's corporate competition stacks up.

 

The corridor to get back to the line is thin, sleek and attractive. I know I am not "supposed" to like this place, but I can't find anything to complain about.

They operate on the usual burrito-joint assembly-line process.

I went with a chicken burrito and a barbacoa (my favorite) bowl.

Barbacoa below.

The burritos are massive, as expected, and I am not ashamed to say, delicious. Everything was delicious, in fact. The cilantro rice actually had flavor and was cooked just right. All of the ingredients were well prepared, from the slightly spicy adobo marinated chicken to the roasted chili-corn salsa.

In the bowl, the spicy shredded beef barbacoa was tender, had some real heat, and ALMOST stood up to my favorite (and standard for comparison) out West. I liked both the bowl and the burrito, but I'll always favor my Chipotle ingredients wrapped in a tortilla.

It almost pains me to say that this place is better than El Fuego, but it is. There was plenty of flavor, and given their efforts to sustainability, they're not quite as evil as other, comparable fast food establishments.