Chipotle sucks.

is there lard in there?!

You're not gonna believe this shit...real Mexican food often has lard in it! I don't know what's in the Chipotle tortilla, but soy flour can ramp up the protein count a lot.

I believe McD's sold off Chipotle ownership, not sure. Chipotle is very good though, and makes some efforts to source pork and beef from small producers. It's still fast food, not health food.

rereading this paragraph, i think fast food might be slightly inevitable, although last night i didnt eat dinner and instead saved myself until 4am for chicken kebab at the 24-hour pakistani place in crystal city. the problem with this approach is that i am eating hours after the constant stream of drinks that are inevitable at my job (especially on a slow night) (a place where leaving at 4am on a saturday night/sunday morning is considered leacing early).

Not necessarily. Real FLOUR TORTILLAS have lard (or, like I said, vegetable shortening) in them, but the great majority of actual, authentic Mexican food is actually supposed to be healthier than what American food is supposed to be. Mexican cooking relies a lot on grilling and spices in order to make things taste really good, and a lot of the sauces are really not that bad nutritionally.

It's when you get to the Tex-Mex type things (and when real Mexican food is prepared incorrectly, e.g. frying fajitas in tons of oil instead of just grilling them -- and yes, fajitas ARE authentic) when you run into health-oriented problems.

p.s.: I would not trust a Mexican restaurant that touts itself as "authentic" that's located anywhere aside from California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Denver, or Chicago. Or possibly even Oklahoma or certain areas in Alabama or Georgia.

People seriously need to get over their lard fear.

I mostly make my own food. I admit I love my cream and cheese but at least I know how much and where its gone.

Wahoo Combo 2 blackened fish extra salsa and rice-- that's lust.

I don't really think of them as Mexican food though.

Chipotle's first ever joint is about two blocks from the law building at DU, so I get that a lot more frequently than Wahoos. No complaints.

(Thanks for the OTM-ing, Chris. You're probably as big an expert on this cuisine as I am.)

Mexicans are the third largest hispanic community in NYC.

See, I was ALMOST going to mention NYC, but thought otherwise because I didn't think the Mexican-American representation was going to be all that much. (I know there are a TON of Latinos in NYC, but I always think they're mostly of Dominican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or South American extraction, so it's kinda cool to know the makeup of this ethnic category is changing in America's largest city. Thanks for the information!)

And I didn't know Detroit or Minneapolis/Wilmar had heavy concentrations of Chicanos. Okay. This must mean that the obvious, i.e. the Latino populations in MI and MN are pretty much concentrated in the large cities and surrounding suburbs of the two states. (And if I were ever to live in Detroit or Minneapolis and felt homesick, I'd be able to satiate that homesickness temporarily through the power of food.)

(BTW, we just recently got our first three local Chipotle Grills in. There's one close to the house I'd been wanting to try out, out of pure curiosity. Though not anytime soon, since I had a filling bowl of fideo and beans for dinner tonight.)

YOU ARE A WISE MAN.

I don't really think of them as Mexican food though.

It's a classically American story, I think -- son of immigrants becomes a surfer dude, parties down with friends in Baja, gets hooked on fish tacos and wonders what he can do about it. Wing Lam, hero.

Personally, I like Chipotle. I don't see how people can quibble about notions of authenticy anyway, when, if memory serves, burritos aren't even Mexican. I always thought their origin was American, by the border.

"In the 1950's, spicy food began to appear in the mainstream American diet for the first time. Salsa, burritos, nachoes, tequila, tacos....Many of these dishes were Tex-Mex inventions. In Mexico, only people in Durango knew what a burrito was. It was a locals-only treat."

Spencer totally owns this thread, btw. Brilliant.

The one in Brooklyn Heights is about the only decent, cheap food to be had on weekends... And their guac is very good.

not true! how about a salad or sandwich from garden of eden or lassen & hennigs? also, my little pizzeria on court street makes a serious slice.

lol

Woman who assaulted Chipotle worker sentenced to fast food job for two months

(Judge) Gilligan told Hayne she could cut off 60 days in jail if she agreed to work at least 20 hours per week at a fast-food restaurant for two months.

Hayne accepted.

In court, Hayne apologised and tried to explain the rationale behind her screaming at the Chipotle worker, 26-year-old Emily Russell.

"If I showed you how my food looked and how my food looked a week later from that same restaurant, it's disgusting looking," Hayne said, according to WJW.

"I bet you won't be happy with the food you are going to get in the jail," Mr Gilligan quipped.

a 3 hour trial