Friday, May 19, 2006

Fast Food Friday @ BARBERITOS

Well, today ended up being another Fast Food Friday since I got to leave work at lunchtime. Today I decided to go to a new restaurant in town that opened up a few months ago. I have been meaning and meaning to go there but just never got around to it. Barberitos is a small chain of fast food restaurants that is basically something like a cross between Taco Bell & Subway. They serve burritos and nachos and such, but the store is set up like Subway where you just go down the line and tell them what you want on your food and they make it there right in front of you. According to the info at their website, they are only in a few states so far, so there may or may not be one where you live. Apparently, they also normally serve beer, hence the cantina part of their name, but they were not serving beer here at the one where I live yet because it was covered up on the menu. Maybe they are still working on getting their beer license.

One of the reasons that I had been wanting to try this place is because I knew that they actually serve a vegan burrito, and that's exactly what I got. It was a great big spinach tortilla filled with rice, black beans, lettuce, tomato, onion, mushrooms, guacamole and some grilled chipotle tofu. It was quite good. Gosh, it is so nice when you walk into a restaurant and see the word VEGAN right there on the menu. It makes things so much easier. Although some of the people working there aren't too familiar with what that means judging from the fact that the guy making my vegan burrito asked me if I wanted cheese on it.

The burrito came with some chips and homemade salsa. Overall it was a good meal. It was slightly expensive (close to $9) in my opinion. I could have gotten something similar at Taco Bell for a whole lot less, but of course it wouldn't have had grilled tofu on it. I will probably eat there again someday.

Well, that does it for Friday. It's time to go and mow the yard now. I plan on making some more Seitan Buffalo Wings tomorrow (probably tomorrow, maybe Sunday, but most likely tomorrow) and I will photograph each step of the process and post it on here as a sort of Making Seitan 101 tutorial. I swear guys, it's really easy, you'll see.

So thanks for stopping by and I hope everybody has a great weekend. I'll see you here with the seitan sometime between now and Monday. Have a good one!
VEGAN BURRITO W/ CHIPOTLE TOFUTORTILLA CHIPSTORTILLA CHIPSFRESH SALSALIME

9 comments:

KariDyan said...

mmmmmmm. I just started liking tofu. It's weird, I was always afraid of it (!) because of what I Thought it would taste like. But it doesn't taste! it's fabulous.

And this resturaunt you went to sounds like Chipotle--my favorite. They have the bestest chips/salsa and black beans on the planet!mMMMMMMM.

Thanks for the tutorial in advance. I can't wait.

Kari

Anonymous said...

One time when I was getting a pita from pita pit- I had asked for a vegetarian pita and the person asked me what kind of meat I wanted.

Kris said...

That looks great. Out west we have a chain called Taco del Mar that has a vegan burrito on their menu. They are all over the west coast, but it looks like they are moving east. They don't have tofu, though, but another smaller chain called Moe's does. It looks like there are quite a few Moe's in Tennessee. Their prices are really good.

I recently ordered a veggie burger at a local place and the waitress said "would you like bacon with that?" Then she noticed my stare and said "oh, yeah, I guess not". LOL

I'm not sure if you know, vegancyclist, but Chipotle is owned by McDonald's. I used to eat there alot too, their burritos are very good, but I'm not really comfortable with McDonald's having my $5. I don't think they like people to know they own it, because it's such a nicer atmosphere.

karen said...

This looks good. I am trying Harry's Burritos next Saturday with my friend. They have them in NYC and Westchester. You can get tofu and soy "meat", vegan sourcream, cheese, etc. I love when a place has actual vegan ingredients and options. Having the choice of grilled tofu is great!

It's surprising they make such cheap ingredients expensive. Kinda like places that charge MORE money to get a meal WITHOUT the chicken or meat in it!

Anonymous said...

Two burrito bars to try: Freebird's World Burrito, which is tasty and vegan without the cheese, and Mission Burrito, which has a few more veg toppings than Freebird's (sauteed mushrooms, sauteed spinach, grilled red peppers, alfalfa sprouts, . . . you get the picture). Plus, Mission Burrito also offers a vegan tortilla soup option!! YUM!!
--K

Freedom said...

I can't believe there is any restaurant, let alone a fast food place, that actually has vegan on the menu. Here in Australia, that is unheard of - you'd only find it in a vegetarian restaurant. In a way I'm jealous, although it doesn't bother me much cos I prefer to cook for myself.

Anonymous said...

While in Louisiana I went to a Mexican restaurant (Chile Verde), run by actual Mexicans. I asked if the beans were vegetarian. "Yes, no meat," he said, enthusiastically. I asked if they had lard. "A little bit," he said, making the little-bit hand gesture, but he seemed reluctant to divulge this. "Then they're not vegetarian," I told him, and he seemed crestfallen.

We really do need to do some educatin'.

kennyboy said...

I probably need to take back the couple of semi-negative things I said in this post.

I don't guess I should fuss about the cost too much since I was paying for choice and quality, both of which were met. There have been a few other burrito places open up here recently, and none of the other ones even offer a tofu option.

As for the guy asking me if I wanted cheese, I guess it IS possible that someone who is not a vegan (either a vegetarian or omni) might actually prefer the chipotle tofu over any of the meat, so they would have no problem with the cheese. I just never really thought of that before.

I really need to get back to Barberitos.

Ms. Meander said...

to me, Barberitos has the WORST rice ever. it just kills a burrito to have rice that bad on it. i don't know what's wrong with it, it's kind of bitter and unfinished tasting somehow. like someone dumped the oregano can into the bowl, perhaps. anyway, i have been there and got the tofu burrito and that was all i could taste was that horrible rice. and for the price? that really bummed me out. in the future, if i feel moved to try them again, i'll just ask to have the rice left off. and maybe some extra guac, because guac makes the world a happier place.