Category Archives: Southwestern

Mucho Burrito-Fast Casual in the West End

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Mucho Burrito opened its doors in the summer of 2011 and the people are eating up the fresh take on take on Texmex classics. With locations across Canada and some in the states it’s a better option than Taco Bell or Taco Time-these guys here are cooking real food here right in front of your eyes so you know your not getting any mystery meat here!

Here is what there all about according to their website:

“Get ready to change your tune about what you think Mexican food is! Mucho Burrito™ hits just the right notes with our made-to-order gourmet Mexican menu. Just one taste of our hand-rolled burritos, tacos and quesadillas will tell you how much effort we put into our mouthwatering products. We’ve put a fresh gourmet spin on Mexican food! Our tender “barbacoa” (shredded beef) and “carnitas” (shredded pork) are slow-cooked (about 8 hours!), retaining the tantalizing flavor of the Mexican seasonings we amply apply. There’s a reason these meats are marinated overnight – it’s called “succulent!” Delicious salsas and guacamole are made daily. Mucho Burrito™ offers it all in a bright, fun contemporary atmosphere you’re sure to love.”
Johnny Mucho

I will say it was refreshing to see real meats being grilled in the open kitchen and veggies being sautéed in fresh batches as needed for the burritos and other dishes-something you don’t usually see at fast food restaurants.

This review is based on a couple visits, on my 1st visit I went with the 12″ medium Barbacoa burrito with guacamole for .99 cents extra and a side of black bean and corn salsa with tortilla chips for $2.09 more, they also have a selection of Mexican soda’s-Jarritos, that I quite like so I grabbed a pineapple soda.

One think I will say is that this meal came out to just about 15 bucks-a bit on the expensive side for a meal for one but the ingredients were really fresh and it tasted just fine, the beef was flavorful and melt in your mouth tender. It was packed with ingredients and then grilled in a press resulting in a crisp top and bottom but on the other hand it was a pain and a mess to eat and ended up falling apart.

They have a selection of salsas you can add to your burrito-I went with the green tomatillo, it was pretty mild and you can also add fresh chopped jalapeño for some spice then if you want more heat they have a selection of hot sauces up front for your enjoyment.

The black bean and corn salsa that I chose is one of the options to have in your burrito so it wasn’t a wet salsa like you would expect so eating it with the chips was a bit hard and it’s better off used in the dishes, they had the traditional mild,medium and hot salsas to choose from for your chips, the chips were hot and fresh and fried on site I think, packaged up in little brown paper bags and placed in a warming cabinet up front, it was a nice touch from just plain old cold bagged tortilla chips.

On my 2nd visit I decided to go with what I would usually have-a burrito salad for $8.99, this time I chose the carnitas-slow roasted shredded pork-one of my favorites. Again I went with pretty much the same stuff as I had in the burrito but the rice is replaced with lettuce, you also can choose your beans-pinto or black-in both cases I went with black beans. This was a good meal and was just what I was expecting, the pork was flavorful and tender. Again my meal came in at the $13 mark after taxes.

To wash it all down I chose a grapefruit Jarritos and I’d recommend it to anyone-it’s super refreshing and tastes just like the pop named Squirt that is sold in the USA.

With the choices in meats-they even have chorizo as a choice and the quality if the proteins Mucho Burrito is set apart from similar TexMex fast food places but the price for a meal won’t have me coming back when there are better price options for me closer to my apartment but it’s a good option if you work in the area or are just looking for a quick TexMex meal.

Mucho Burrito (Davie) on Urbanspoon

Steamrollers on Robson Street

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Steamrolls has been serving up there fresh and healthy take on burritos in Vancouver for over 10 years now.
Your food is assembled in front of you with freshly prepared meats, vegetables and sauces daily and they use steam to cook everything.  I’ve been eating off and on there for half of that time and the one thing I keep coming back to is the Original Wet Burrito.  If you want you can get any burrito made into a salad bowl or “roller bowl” as they call it and you can add beef or chicken for $2.
This is the Original Wet Burrito for $7.45 + $2 for chicken.  It’s definitely called the wet for a reason!, it’s a flour tortilla, spanish rice, pinto beans, jack cheese, lettuce, guacamole, garlic yogurt sauce and bathed in their mole sauce.  The mole here is on the sweet side but it is quite flavorful and works with the ingredients in the burrito and it’s definitely a knife, fork and spoon type of dish.
Steamrollers have a ton of other menu options for breakfast, lunch and dinner and do seasonal specials like a turkey burrito around Thanksgiving and Christmas, follow them on twitter @steamrollers

Steamrollers on Urbanspoon

Chronic Tacos Granville Street

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The newest addition to the downtown eats scene is the taco chain Chronic Tacos.

The story of the company  in a nut shell is this-”Chronic Tacos, Inc. was founded in 2001 by Daniel A. Biello and Randall L. Wyner. The idea came after a long night of revelry in a west Newport Beach , CA shopping center close to where the friends had lived for the past 12 years. The concept was fast, fresh, made to order Mexican food that was far superior to that of the competition, with large portions and fresh salsa at a great price”~Quoted from there website.

As a result you basically have the Subway of tacos-not that there’s anything wrong with that but it’s standard food and pretty Americanized I found when compared to other Mexican taco shops around town. The menu is soft shell corn or flour tortilla tacos, burritos and Tex mex southwestern fare. The staff is really friendly and ready to answer any questions you might have so they get good marks for service and the decor of the restaurants is clean and sports bar like with flat screens on the wall so it’s great to catch the game. The Granville location is the most unique I’d say-the space has really high ceilings and the walls are adorned with graffiti art, crystal chandeliers, deep red walls and black leather seating-kinda bordello of blood if you ask me but it’s suits the vibe of street outside.

Food wise I went with a couple of standard items-a couple of there  “fatty tacos”, my personal favorite of the real Mexican style tacos is the Al Pastor-pork that is slow cooked with pineapple-melt in your mouth delicious and theirs here is nice and spicy and I decided to get their signature fish taco-beer battered mahi mahi and topped traditional baja style-they say their’s are the best so I had to see how it shapes up to Tacofino’s take on heaven.

The Al Pastor taco $3.79~slow braised pork with pineapple in a spicy sauce, this is one of my favorite ways to have pork and especially in a taco, the pineapple is braised with the meat and by the time it’s finished its nicely broken down and in the sauce.  I’d have this taco again but with shredded cabbage instead f the lettuce like I had here, I also had tomatillo salsa on this and theirs has a nice kick.  They offer free guacamole on all of there tacos but you have to specifically have to ask for it and its a must~Chronic tacos guacamole is really good and made fresh daily.

The Baja Style Fish Taco $3.79, beer battered mahi mahi with shredded cabbage, cheese and pico de gallo with a squeeze of lime, I flaked out here and forgot to ask for guacamole, this taco was alright but nowhere near the best in the city, the fish was kind of flavorless and tasted just of fried and was kinda of dry so the guacamole really would have added some needed moisture, on the bright side the salsa here isn’t as wet as Tacofino’s which get’s them points but Tacofino wins with their tempura battered fish.

At the end of the day my meal was all right and I’ll stop in with friends to try the other meat offerings they have but I’m going to be getting my baja style fish tacos from another joint.

Chronic Tacos on Urbanspoon

Feastro~The Rolling Bistro

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After seeing Feastro featured on the Food Network Canada TV show Eat St my mouth started to water-freshly prepared seafood and other delish meats served up by a classically trained chef Steve Myddleton and co-owner Paul Fenton is there to greet you and take your order.

Their location at W.Cordova and Thurlow street is perfect~your surrounded by the Vancouver Trade and Convention center and the Olympic torch and there is ample seating to enjoy your food which is kinda rare I’ve found with a lot of the food carts in Vancouver.

The menu here is one of the biggest I’ve seen on a food truck so far, consisting of a selection of grilled soft shell taco that are also available with a corn tortilla if you ask and full plate dishes along with a selection of sides if you are in the mood.

I went with the halibut taco~crispy chickpea battered fresh halibut, tomato/anise chutney with Henry Reed organic greens, tikka masala yogurt, hand cut salsa~$7

this was a winner for me even but the amount and type of greens on top made the taco a bit tricky to fold over and eat so I let my inner rabbit out and munched on a few to make things easier, the fish was cooked perfectly and the masala yoghurt sauce was unexpected and surprised me and chutney is delicious.  I would order the taco’s again but would get them on a corn tortilla~the flour version gets a bit dry and brittle with the grilling of it.

Next on the menu was the Crab and Shrimp Cake~cayenne, coriander, sweet bell peppers, on Henry Reed organic greens, with truck made smoked tomato cocktail sauce and topped with crispy tortilla strips~$13

I really liked this dish and it’s got to be one of the best crab cakes I’ve ever had and what crab cakes should be~made without filler, from what can’t be judged by the photo was the size of the cake~the plate its on is a full-sized paper plate and was about 3-4″ thick.  It’s filled with tender crab and shrimp and is super moist, there are finely diced red peppers inside that add a great flavor.  For me the real star of the plate was the crab cake and the homemade cocktail sauce, it was sweet and smokey unlike traditional cocktail sauce and complimented the crab and shrimp cake, the greens for me kinda didn’t work for me~I don’t know if it was the fact it was cold and wet out but I would have liked something else served with it instead of the greens~something like a rice dish but on a hot summer day I could see a salad served with it.

At the end of the day I had a great meal and would go back if I was in the area and if the weather is nice.  If you find yourself in the area of the Vancouver Trade and Convention Center or are visiting Vancouver check out Feastro and there take on West Coast seafood.

@coastfeastro
www.feastro.ca

Feastro the Rolling Bistro on Urbanspoon