I was introduced to Chipotle by a colleague who’d been staying at the Comfort Inn across the road for the past two months. "Every time I get tired of pizza, pasta and sandwiches, I head for Chipotle," she said. And that, as it turned out, was what happened to me too - and with a frequency that I hadn’t imagined myself capable of. Three days out of seven, I found myself heading for Chipotle for dinner.
Chipotle is a good, honest-to-goodness Mexican joint, all smart brushed steel, black-and-white photographs, blond wood and deep red finishes. There’s also an outdoor seating area, but since I went in the heart of winter, sitting outside was out of the question. But the inside is comfortable enough: no-nonsense, sleek, and a great place to sit and have a cosy chat while you eat. Mostly, fellow diners would include families and businesspeople - including a lot of people staying at my hotel! Chipotle seems to have a large fan following.
Which brings me to the food: good wholesome stuff. You go up to the counter, place your order, and choose what you want in it. The counter staff - a friendly, helpful lot - whip up your order for you and raise a check, which (depending on what you choose), will usually be between $7 to $10 per person.
I generally ended up settling for a burrito bol: a bed of rice topped with beans, and with loads of add ons. I tended to alternate between chicken, pork (cooked with beans), and shredded beef. Along with that, I’d ask for sauteed green peppers and onions; salsa, grated cheese, sour cream, and guacamole. Chipotle offers three types of salsa, in varying degrees of `heat’- the spiciest, a fiery red in colour, was very hot- so hot, in fact, that even I, very used to spicy food, found myself gulping down gallons of juice to douse my tastebuds! The mild salsa, more tomatoes than anything else, was what I usually had.
Other than the burrito bol, the other items I tried on the Chipotle menu included the burrito (all the ingredients of the burrito, wrapped in a large and soft flour tortilla) and crisp tacos. The ingredients - the meats, beans, peppers and onions, salsa, sour cream, cheese and guacamole - remain the same for just about everything, but you can choose what you want and how much you want. With a bottle of fruit juice added to my order, I usually ended up paying around $8 for a hearty meal. Extremely good value for money!