The best burrito in Toronto

Tim from BlogTo has been posting reviews in his “search” for the best burrito place in town. He has posted reviews for Mexitaco, Burro Burrito (formerly bar burrito) and Burrito Fresh. I just left a comment on his Burrito Fresh Review, but the comment did not publish. It says it needs approval from the author. This is not the first time something like this happens with BlogTo comments, so I decided I’ll just post my comment here:

You know what, you should just ask me about the best burrito place in town.
I made a review of this place back in February: New burrito place in town
I also made a review of Big Fat Burrito a year ago: Big Fat Burrito
And I have been talking about Burrito Boyz for ages:
Burrito Boyz continues to be amazing
The Burrito Boyz
News from Burrito Boyz
Burrito Boyz Alert
Vegetarian Burritos
Also, Burrito Boyz do not charge extra for the guacamole anymore. And since I started having the dairy restriction, they’ve been really accommodating and actually given me “vegan” guacamole, which does not include sour cream, as it should be, actually.
A short review of La Mexicana
Plus being Mexican doesn’t hurt either.
I have lots of food reviews and recipes. And, of course, the world famous chicken wing reviews.

So what do you think, my dear readers?

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New burrito place in town

Today we checked out Burrito Fresh, a relatively new place on Bloor and Avenue Rd (208 Bloor Street W).
The burritos are decent but more expensive than Big Fat Burrito or Burrito Boyz (caution, annoying website full of Macromedia Flash). And it is annoying that they charge you extra if you want guacamole. Burrito Boyz learned their lesson and now includes it in the price.
Unfortunately the place was crowded (lunch-time rush) and was lacking employees, only one guy and one girl working the assembly line, while a line of 12 people was getting longer and longer. The guy kept cursing that they were so “screwed” with so many people arriving. Apparently another employee was a no-show.
The system is similar to Quesada, they have the meat already cooked, they place it with the rice and refried beans on the tortilla and then you ask for the “toppings” you want (also similar to Subway). The main difference with Quesada is that they use refried beans, while at Quesada they use whole beans, and you can choose between black or pinto.
The taste is good but their customer service leaves much to be desired, Wendy was given a plastic bag to bag her own burritos, what the heck is that? you should bag the customer’s burritos yourself and not just give them a bag. Also, we didn’t need to hear 8 times that they were so “screwed”, every time someone arrived to the place he repeated it. OK, we got it, we’re waiting, we’re not gonna be mad, but stop saying it.

Here’s an abridged copy of the menu:
Chicken, steak or soy meat burrito small $5.60, large $6.60. Grilled veg burrito small $5.40, large $6.40. “Toppings” include lettuce, green peppers, pico de gallo salsa, green onions, shredded cheese, sour cream, “burrito sauce” (a weird sauce made of mayonnaise that they loooove adding to burritos in Toronto), hot sauce, guacamole ($0.75 extra). All prices are excluding taxes.

It is so close to work that I will probably go back again, but thankfully (for my waistline), not as often as I would if it was any of the other 3 places (Burrito Boyz, Big Fat Burrito or Quesada).

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I finally got to cook at home

After the half a pizza that I ate for breakfast yesterday, I knew I would get hungry while volunteering at the hospital. So I stopped at McDonald’s and got a baked cherry pie. Later I ate a pack of Melba toast and a piece of cheese.For dinner I had cheese tortellini with a pepper, mushrooms and tomato sauce, and loooots of garlic, of course. I made it myself. I put the onion, pepper and garlic in the food processor and chopped it finely. I used some olive oil to sautee and later I added a can of mushrooms and a can of tomatoes.
I cooked the tortellini as indicated and poured the sauce over it, finally I sprinkled it with real parmiggiano from Alex Farm Products at St. Lawrence Market.
It turned out fine but the sauce was a little bit sweet, I guess all those sweet peppers combined with the tomato did it. It was yummy, though.
This morning I had breakfast burritos! Yeah, I know, I can’t stop eating burritos, I looooove them. I made them myself. I put scrambled egg with veggies (veggie combination from Dominion, with zucchini, onion, red pepper, broccoli) and cheese. I added whole black beans and made the burritos. I put some sour cream and salsa on top and added a bit more cheese. I couldn’t eat both burritos, though. It was too much. But they were really good.

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Burritos!

I hope my readers aren’t tired of reading about all I eat. It’s only going to be for this week, I promise. And tomorrow I’ll have a good recipe to publish. It’s just that I haven’t had much time to actually cook.
Today I had my flamenco class at 7:30, I don’t like having dinner before my class because I would have to eat and run. Also, I don’t want my stomach to hurt during class. So on Thursdays I have dinner at 9 or so, when I get back from flamenco.
But today I was really hungry and realized that I needed a snack. I had 3 jalapeno poppers before my class, and of course the fire alarm went off while I was heating them up!

Another thing that I do on Thursdays, is stop at Burrito Boyz after flamenco. I only go there if I didn’t have a burrito the previous night during Stitch ‘n Bitch (I usually go to Big Fat Burrito, except if I miss knitting or, like last night, end up going somewhere that’s totally different).
So I stopped at Burrito Boyz (on Peter St., between Adelaide and Richmond) and ordered a bean and cheese burrito, extra spicy. It was really good and I really enjoyed my dinner. This is a place that I wanted to review for my great burrito hunt, but I never did any reviews except for Big Fat Burrito. I can say that I have also tried burritos from Quesada and from New York Subway. Quesada is very similar to Chipotle Mexican Grill in the States, you can choose between black or pinto beans, and they are not refried, they are just boiled. Burrito Boyz is different because it has the halibut burrito and a shrimp burrito. The only weird thing is that they add sour cream to their guacamole. What part of “guacamole does not have sour cream” don’t people in Toronto understand? Also, they used to charge 25 cents more if you wanted guacamole. Now it’s included in the price. I paid $6.41 for the bean and cheese burrito, that’s including tax.
I really recommend a visit to Burrito Boyz is you are around the entertainment district. They are open until 2 AM or so on Saturdays.

Other news from the Veggie Challenge:
Ice Queen prepared a song describing the challenge (here’s the link).
Mia added some vegetarian friendly links to her sidebar.
Karen had a veal incident while out for lunch with some coworkers (here’s the link).
I have been receiving the daily emails from the Veggie Challenge at the Toronto Vegetarian Association, I have to say that I’m not very happy with them, the content tends to be very political. It’s just something that I don’t appreciate. I’m doing this for the health benefits and not for the politics. This type of politics makes me sick. I’ll give an example of the emails on a future post.

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5 facts about me: fact #2

2. I love food: The chicken wings, the burritos, all the recipes, the garlic blog. I just love eating.
I love seafood, I love steak. I am always thinking about my next meal. It runs in the family: I have made at least two trips specifically for eating. When I was little that my grandparents took me and my sister in a special trip to Veracruz just to eat. We took a plane from Mexico City and stayed for one night, only activity we did was going out to eat (seafood, by the way). We once stopped over in Guadalajara just to eat tortas ahogadas, mmmh, so delicious and EXTRA SPICY!
When my grandfather died some years ago, it was a Monday, he had already planned all his meals for the week. He had planned where he was going to eat, with whom, and what he was eating. We had to cancel it because the man had died. So yep, I got the love for food in my blood.

The chicken wings: Originally I didn’t like chicken wings, I thought it was a piece of skin and bone. Oh, was I mistaken. The problem is that I hadn’t tried GOOD chicken wings. It all changed about 4 years ago. I could not get enough chicken wings. I would like any chicken wings, even the crappy ones from Pizza Pizza. Not anymore. After I did the search for the best chicken wings in town I started having extra delicious chicken wings. Now I don’t like them that much, except if they’re really good. I upped my standards. People often ask me where are the best chicken wings in town, I have a veredict that I published a few months ago:

• For the best Buffalo style wings in town, you should go to Duff’s Famous Wings. The problem with Duff’s is that it’s like a eat and run kind of place. The chicken wing experience is not only about the wings, it’s about sitting with friends, having a couple of pints or pitchers and relaxing. Duff’s doesn’t invite you to do that, but their wings are amazing.
• If you want to have a nice time, in a pub atmosphere, really good bar food (not only the wings, but the nachos are delicious), have several different beers on tap, you should go to Hemingway’s. I really really love their wings, and they have the best patio in town (all year long too!).
• If you want to have an original chicken wing experience go to Allen’s.

The burritos: I wanted to start making burrito reviews for the blog, but I went as far as reviewing only one place, Big Fat Burrito in Kensington Market. Some of the attendants at Stitch ‘n Bitch at Lettuce Knit on Wednesdays ask me what I’m going to have for dinner. Really, is this question necessary? I always have a burrito. They are really good, but recently the burritos have been less than stellar. Last week I stopped at Burrito Boyz for a steak burrito and it was so much more delicious than at Big Fat Burrito, this coming from someone who has a burrito every week. Some people have suggested New York Subway (yeah, they have burritos there) and Burrito Bar. I have to go take a look.

The recipes: I can cook almost anything from scratch, I guess the only thing I won’t make is paella, it’s too complicated. I enjoy sharing my recipes and taking pictures and explaining how to cook and make difficult/challenging recipes. I will keep posting recipes as they become available or when I make something different/interesting.

So yeah, I love food.

Previously: Fact #1: My blog’s name.

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