The California Burrito

The California BurritoA couple months ago a new Mexican restaurant opened right near where I work. I was alerted to its presence by a handmade neon poster board sign as I drove by one day on my lunch break. Check out the picture of the sign below. Clearly when you see a sign that awesome the first thing you want to do is stop in and give that restaurant a try right? And stop in is just what I did!

The name of the restaurant is simply “Mexican Restaurant.” I’m not sure if the owners just haven’t thought of a proper name yet or if they just got some sort of awesome deal on the green and white “Mexican Restaurant” sign that’s attached to the building, but at least there’s no confusing what type of food they serve! Imagine if all restaurant names were this simple. An Italian restaurant simply named “Pizza and Pasta,” or an American place called “Burgers and Fries” perhaps…

In addition to not having a name for their restaurant they don’t have any menus either. Their “menu” consists of a wall with the items and descriptions written on pieces of colored construction paper as well as a large selection of stock photos of Mexican dishes. It’s only after you stare at the wall until you decide what you want to order that you’re seated at one of their eleven tables.

Originally I was planning to try their chicken enchiladas, but that was until the California Burrito caught my eye. They described it as steak, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and fries all stuffed inside a flour tortilla. How could I pass that up? The waitress asked me if I understood that the fries were actually INSIDE the burrito, which I thought was kind of funny, but she went on to explain that the description had been confusing a lot of people and that most of them expected the fries to be served on the side. I told her that the fact that it was stuffed with fries in addition to everything else was one of the main reasons I ordered it. If only she could see what I usually eat on a daily basis…

I’ll have to admit that I didn’t have very high hopes for this place at all, but they surpassed all my expectations. My burrito was absolutely packed with steak and just the right amount of everything else. The worst part about some burritos is taking a bite and getting a mouthful of tortilla because your burrito is barely filled with anything at all or tasting only sour cream because they just globbed it all into one area instead of spreading it out. My California Burrito on the other hand was assembled perfectly and each bite contained the perfect mix of all five ingredients. Stuffing fries inside a burrito seemed a little weird to me at first as well, but when you think about it it’s basically just the same as adding potatoes.

I guess the moral of this blog post is that just because a restaurant doesn’t have a name, a fancy sign or any menus doesn’t mean that they don’t have some pretty awesome food. Oh yeah, and if you’re looking to try out Mexican Restaurant for yourself you can find them in the strip mall on 88th and Brown Deer Road in Milwaukee right next to the store that sells wigs.

8 Comments on The California Burrito

  1. AJ
    March 26, 2012 at 12:23 pm (12 years ago)

    Kinda scary… BUT actually looks GOOD!!!

    Reply
  2. Whammy!
    March 26, 2012 at 1:13 pm (12 years ago)

    It really is a California burrito. You’ll find that in almost every taco shop in SoCal. Carne Asada (what you call steak) and fries are the two requirements. 99% of the time it’s got yellow finely shredded cheese and you always see either guacamole or sour cream. Regardless of the place, most of the locals I know make them put guac and sour cream on theirs.

    It looks like you pretty much got the real deal 😉

    I know of no better drunk food and it’s relatively safe to say it’s probably in most dude’s weekly or monthly diet around here.

    Reply
  3. Lunchbox
    March 26, 2012 at 4:02 pm (12 years ago)

    Everything about that place is awesome. Damn you for posting this while I’m on a low carb diet.

    Reply
    • Nick
      March 26, 2012 at 4:07 pm (12 years ago)

      Just go there and order a giant pile of meat!

      Reply
  4. Rodzilla
    March 27, 2012 at 8:20 am (12 years ago)

    Loving that construction paper menu

    Reply
  5. Poco
    March 29, 2012 at 1:41 am (12 years ago)

    That burrito sounds ingenius. I’d definitely eat one.

    Reply
  6. Nick
    September 19, 2013 at 11:15 pm (11 years ago)

    I’m 5 pages into this section of your blog. Damning myself for not saving the links I’ve hit so far.
    For some reason, THIS is the item I want to eat most so far.
    Your post is about a year old as I type, just hope this place still exists.
    I’ll report back soon!

    Reply
  7. Pooh Bear
    May 7, 2014 at 5:53 pm (10 years ago)

    That’s what all good Mexican restaurants look like in California.

    Reply

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