Live From Burritoeater Towers!October 2008
Things Are Afoot. Things are Occurring.
- New T-shirts are imminent, it's true. New styles. New colors. Same silly mustache logo. Of course, a few sizes and colors remain available in our Apparel Bazaar -- at pre-holiday prices, no less.
- Our Press / In the News section debuts this month. See for yourself all the nice things the media has said/written about our salsa-splattered crusade over the years.
- Naturally, dogs also enjoy the burritos.
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October Taqueria Visits
10/28: We nearly broke out our GPS in order to track down stealth slabwagon Los Compadres on Tehama. Actually kidding about the GPS.
10/26: Our foiled lunch from Golden State Market was about as successful as its namesake NBA franchise is most seasons.
10/20: Nearly six years after our panel's first visit, Taq. La Paz rang up its finest effort to date.
10/16: It was gangly burritos, $5 cans of Tecate, and plus-sized gumballs galore at Taq. San Jose on Mission.
10/13: Once again, San Francisco is a three-El Balazo city.
10/10: We've had better days at Chavo’s.
10/7: Curbside Taq.'s respectably unspectacular debut on the Burritoeater charts landed squarely in the middle region, just north of Springfield.
10/4: Booming spice, unfailing intangibility, and a sharp ingredient mix still couldn’t drive our Taq. Guadalajara burrito over Eight-Mustache Pass.
10/1: Taq. El Farolito’s 24th St. shop rose above all its usual rice-related glitches to bang out a big winner.
- New T-shirts are imminent, it's true. New styles. New colors. Same silly mustache logo. Of course, a few sizes and colors remain available in our Apparel Bazaar -- at pre-holiday prices, no less.
- Our Press / In the News section debuts this month. See for yourself all the nice things the media has said/written about our salsa-splattered crusade over the years.
- Naturally, dogs also enjoy the burritos.
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October Taqueria Visits
10/28: We nearly broke out our GPS in order to track down stealth slabwagon Los Compadres on Tehama. Actually kidding about the GPS.
10/26: Our foiled lunch from Golden State Market was about as successful as its namesake NBA franchise is most seasons.
10/20: Nearly six years after our panel's first visit, Taq. La Paz rang up its finest effort to date.
10/16: It was gangly burritos, $5 cans of Tecate, and plus-sized gumballs galore at Taq. San Jose on Mission.
10/13: Once again, San Francisco is a three-El Balazo city.
10/10: We've had better days at Chavo’s.
10/7: Curbside Taq.'s respectably unspectacular debut on the Burritoeater charts landed squarely in the middle region, just north of Springfield.
10/4: Booming spice, unfailing intangibility, and a sharp ingredient mix still couldn’t drive our Taq. Guadalajara burrito over Eight-Mustache Pass.
10/1: Taq. El Farolito’s 24th St. shop rose above all its usual rice-related glitches to bang out a big winner.
Gesturing Wildly With BurritosSeptember 2008
September Taqueria Visits
9/26: Which Taq. El Castillito shop will represent the local chainlet in our upcoming Slab Scrum? Surprisingly, not the one on Mission.
9/23: La Playa Taq. produced another winning, greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts-we're-totally-overdoing-the-hyphens burrito.
9/21: Out at Geneva and Mission, Taq. La Iguana Azul seems to have the Seven-Mustache Shuffle down pat.
9/18: Taco Del Mar’s latest foiled effort played at a lower level than its final rating suggests.
9/16: Our high noon duel with Taq. Zorro ended in 7.42 unexciting mustaches and a number of onlookers wondering what all the shrugging was about.
9/13: Like its immediate predecessor three days prior, the La Palma Mexicatessen kitchen clanged hard on cheese. Unlike its counterpart, it produced an otherwise strong burrito.
9/10: Our first burrito at the new Taq. Vallarta in the Excelsior? Thwarted by InvisiCheese™.
9/8: Other potential names for Tacos El Tonayense’s lettuce-laced Super Vegetarian burrito: Meatless Silver Bullet; Portrait of Drab Adequacy; Hot Rice Salad.
9/5: Taq. El Farolito in the Excelsior couldn’t pin down any perfect element ratings, but it still scored mighty well overall on our Greco-Roman wrestling scoresheet.
9/2: Our return to the San Francisco tortilla fold at Taq. El Gallo Giro resulted in a review that, in its opening sentence alone, lunges at references to burning blimps and dirty dogs. We’re glad to be back.
9/26: Which Taq. El Castillito shop will represent the local chainlet in our upcoming Slab Scrum? Surprisingly, not the one on Mission.
9/23: La Playa Taq. produced another winning, greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts-we're-totally-overdoing-the-hyphens burrito.
9/21: Out at Geneva and Mission, Taq. La Iguana Azul seems to have the Seven-Mustache Shuffle down pat.
9/18: Taco Del Mar’s latest foiled effort played at a lower level than its final rating suggests.
9/16: Our high noon duel with Taq. Zorro ended in 7.42 unexciting mustaches and a number of onlookers wondering what all the shrugging was about.
9/13: Like its immediate predecessor three days prior, the La Palma Mexicatessen kitchen clanged hard on cheese. Unlike its counterpart, it produced an otherwise strong burrito.
9/10: Our first burrito at the new Taq. Vallarta in the Excelsior? Thwarted by InvisiCheese™.
9/8: Other potential names for Tacos El Tonayense’s lettuce-laced Super Vegetarian burrito: Meatless Silver Bullet; Portrait of Drab Adequacy; Hot Rice Salad.
9/5: Taq. El Farolito in the Excelsior couldn’t pin down any perfect element ratings, but it still scored mighty well overall on our Greco-Roman wrestling scoresheet.
9/2: Our return to the San Francisco tortilla fold at Taq. El Gallo Giro resulted in a review that, in its opening sentence alone, lunges at references to burning blimps and dirty dogs. We’re glad to be back.
Get Yer Slab OnAugust 2008
Our grizzled judges panel is a confirmed omnivorous lot, but this team of bean-encrusted veterans is nothing if not opportunistic. If the strength of a San Francisco taqueria's burrito menu is in its meatless options, we need to know first-hand.
Periodically, we get e-mail from concerned readers that we're paying short shrift to our vegetarian and vegan audience. It's not our intention to leave anyone out of our circle of readership -- except perhaps for the few devoted "wrap"-eaters lurking out there, whose palates we figure have suffered permanent damage by now. So, in the interest of egalitarianism in the burritoplace, it's clearly high time we run down some of the finest meat-free slabs on Burritoeater record. Five in particular have poked their way through San Francisco's glurgy summer fog:
Papalote, Mission, 5/30/2006
Super Marinated Tofu: 9.00 mustaches
One of the only burritos to ever merit our ultrarare "masterfoodpiece" distinction, this extraordinary lunch featured grilled tofu fresh off a stint in rich achiote marinade.
Taq. San Francisco, Mission, 3/1/2008
Super Chile Relleno: 8.73 mustaches
The dark green casing of the central chile component delivered subtle flavor, as well as a whole hell of a lot of melted panela cheese from within.
La Corneta Taq., Glen Park, 8/11/2006
Super Chile Relleno: 8.64 mustaches
The cheese-filled vegetable hunk was an extraordinary centerpiece here, and made us feel as if we’d been conscripted into a semi-secret chile relleno burrito appreciation society.
Taq. Can-cún, South of Market, 7/9/2008
Vegetarian, 8.36 mustaches
San Francisco’s most celebrated meatless burrito finally mustache-rated well last month.
Mariachi's, Mission, 7/26/2007
Super Chile Relleno: 8.36 mustaches
Mariachi's offers eight “gourmet vegetarian” choices, plus several other sans carne options; its super chile relleno burrito got the thumbs-up go-ahead from our panel last summer.
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Get In The Station Wagon, Kids
Burritoeater's Board of Directors has generously called a four-week recess for summer travel. Four weeks! Bozeman, Cody, Durango...here we come. Look for our San Francisco taqueria adventures to resume in early September.
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August Taqueria Visits
8/4: We descended into Taq. El Castillito on Church for another evening of we’ve-lost-our-skeleton dancing to tuba pop on the jukebox – fresh-squeezed carrot juice in one hand, super pollo burrito in the other.
8/2: Papalote strengthened its current chokehold on our No. 1 spot with another mighty slab at 24th St. and Valencia.
Periodically, we get e-mail from concerned readers that we're paying short shrift to our vegetarian and vegan audience. It's not our intention to leave anyone out of our circle of readership -- except perhaps for the few devoted "wrap"-eaters lurking out there, whose palates we figure have suffered permanent damage by now. So, in the interest of egalitarianism in the burritoplace, it's clearly high time we run down some of the finest meat-free slabs on Burritoeater record. Five in particular have poked their way through San Francisco's glurgy summer fog:
Papalote, Mission, 5/30/2006
Super Marinated Tofu: 9.00 mustaches
One of the only burritos to ever merit our ultrarare "masterfoodpiece" distinction, this extraordinary lunch featured grilled tofu fresh off a stint in rich achiote marinade.
Taq. San Francisco, Mission, 3/1/2008
Super Chile Relleno: 8.73 mustaches
The dark green casing of the central chile component delivered subtle flavor, as well as a whole hell of a lot of melted panela cheese from within.
La Corneta Taq., Glen Park, 8/11/2006
Super Chile Relleno: 8.64 mustaches
The cheese-filled vegetable hunk was an extraordinary centerpiece here, and made us feel as if we’d been conscripted into a semi-secret chile relleno burrito appreciation society.
Taq. Can-cún, South of Market, 7/9/2008
Vegetarian, 8.36 mustaches
San Francisco’s most celebrated meatless burrito finally mustache-rated well last month.
Mariachi's, Mission, 7/26/2007
Super Chile Relleno: 8.36 mustaches
Mariachi's offers eight “gourmet vegetarian” choices, plus several other sans carne options; its super chile relleno burrito got the thumbs-up go-ahead from our panel last summer.
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Get In The Station Wagon, Kids
Burritoeater's Board of Directors has generously called a four-week recess for summer travel. Four weeks! Bozeman, Cody, Durango...here we come. Look for our San Francisco taqueria adventures to resume in early September.
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August Taqueria Visits
8/4: We descended into Taq. El Castillito on Church for another evening of we’ve-lost-our-skeleton dancing to tuba pop on the jukebox – fresh-squeezed carrot juice in one hand, super pollo burrito in the other.
8/2: Papalote strengthened its current chokehold on our No. 1 spot with another mighty slab at 24th St. and Valencia.
Hype. Chew. Mull.July 2008
Up on the 13th floor of Building 4Q here at Burritoeater Towers, Forecasting's senior management team has been mapping out corporate pursuits slated for the second half of 2008. The biggest scoop? Another even-year'd playoff tournament (2004, 2006...) looks set to occur later this year. We're already beginning to amass piles of lunkheaded sportscaster cliches for our third go-around of postseason radness, and we couldn't be more a-titter about it: It's the 2008 Slab Scrum, San Francisco, and it's brought to you by Beatrice. Get up with it.
Forecasting hasn't settled on an exact start date yet, although we're almost certain they'll schedule the '08 Scrum to get going sometime after the "ber" months arrive. As for the entrant field, look for old and new favorites alike to slug it out amidst whatever sort of clever tournament format we can rig up -- perhaps eight taquerias slogging through three rounds over six-plus weeks (as in 2004 and 2006), perhaps some sort of silly mashup-type of deal where we persuade a guy from Castillito to get behind the counter at Chipotle for a day as part of a reality show pilot we're working on, or perhaps our panel will just eat every Scrum burrito with their hands tied behind their backs. Or maybe the whole thing will be called off due to a bizarre kitchen doping scandal. In any event, stay tuned.
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July Taqueria Visits
7/24: La Salsa’s unlikely stint among our Mustache Chart’s top ten reached its expiration date.
7/21: To no one’s surprise, tiny bits of leafy, green stalks contributed to our foiled dinner at new slabbery Cilantro.
7/18: Pasilla Mexican Grill approximated the formula that’s earned Chipotle so much burrito market share in recent years. In other words: disappointing lunch.
7/15: An off-night in the El Burrito Express kitchen on Divisadero cost it the top perch on our Mustache Chart.
7/12: The new Taq. Reina’s shop in Crocker-Amazon is a mean, mean mustache machine.
7/9: The final piece of our Taq. Can-cún puzzle fell into place with our notably drug deal-free trip to the shop on Market near 6th.
7/7: Part II of our Taq. Can-cún Trilogy this week took us to the local chainlet’s flagship shop at Mission and 19th, where our winning burrito streak came to a 7.83-mustache end.
7/5: Our all-Taq. Can-cún week led off with a real bang, as the Mission/Valencia shop’s kitchen gymnasts came within a hair’s breadth of nailing a nine-mustache dismount.
7/3: The Gordo Taq. kitchen on Clement made 9.08 mustaches look mighty easy. That's two all-time burritos within the span of six days. San Francisco, alright.
7/1: Are the final two words of our latest review of Tacos San Buena about the profiled eight-mustache burrito? Or the review itself? Or perhaps the final line in There Will Be Blood?
Forecasting hasn't settled on an exact start date yet, although we're almost certain they'll schedule the '08 Scrum to get going sometime after the "ber" months arrive. As for the entrant field, look for old and new favorites alike to slug it out amidst whatever sort of clever tournament format we can rig up -- perhaps eight taquerias slogging through three rounds over six-plus weeks (as in 2004 and 2006), perhaps some sort of silly mashup-type of deal where we persuade a guy from Castillito to get behind the counter at Chipotle for a day as part of a reality show pilot we're working on, or perhaps our panel will just eat every Scrum burrito with their hands tied behind their backs. Or maybe the whole thing will be called off due to a bizarre kitchen doping scandal. In any event, stay tuned.
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July Taqueria Visits
7/24: La Salsa’s unlikely stint among our Mustache Chart’s top ten reached its expiration date.
7/21: To no one’s surprise, tiny bits of leafy, green stalks contributed to our foiled dinner at new slabbery Cilantro.
7/18: Pasilla Mexican Grill approximated the formula that’s earned Chipotle so much burrito market share in recent years. In other words: disappointing lunch.
7/15: An off-night in the El Burrito Express kitchen on Divisadero cost it the top perch on our Mustache Chart.
7/12: The new Taq. Reina’s shop in Crocker-Amazon is a mean, mean mustache machine.
7/9: The final piece of our Taq. Can-cún puzzle fell into place with our notably drug deal-free trip to the shop on Market near 6th.
7/7: Part II of our Taq. Can-cún Trilogy this week took us to the local chainlet’s flagship shop at Mission and 19th, where our winning burrito streak came to a 7.83-mustache end.
7/5: Our all-Taq. Can-cún week led off with a real bang, as the Mission/Valencia shop’s kitchen gymnasts came within a hair’s breadth of nailing a nine-mustache dismount.
7/3: The Gordo Taq. kitchen on Clement made 9.08 mustaches look mighty easy. That's two all-time burritos within the span of six days. San Francisco, alright.
7/1: Are the final two words of our latest review of Tacos San Buena about the profiled eight-mustache burrito? Or the review itself? Or perhaps the final line in There Will Be Blood?
