Chipotle… Again!

LET’S CHAT ABOUT IT

One of my first posts ever on this blog was about Chipotle, so I figured it was only right to return to it again after a whole semester of learning about authentic Mexican food. In that post, I spoke about how passionate I am regarding my love for Chipotle, I recognized that it isn’t truly authentic and “Mexican-adjacent at best,” and I admitted that I would still be ordering it my regular once a week while trying new mom-and-pop Mexican restaurants for this class.

Three months later, here’s what I’ll say: I still am, it definitely is not, and I sure did.

Now that I have been introduced to and subsequently have fallen in love with authentic Mexican food — trying birria de res and tamales changed my life most of all — I feel like a cheat and a fraud for still loving Chipotle as much as I do. I know it’s not real Mexican… but it is just so freaking good.

Here’s what has changed: when I want Mexican food, Chipotle no longer crosses my mind as an option. Chipotle is Chipotle, it’s in a league of its own in my opinion (because I refuse to even recognize its mediocre counterparts like Qdoba). When I want Mexican food, I’ll order take out from Fidela’s or, when the world is open again, venture to Jackson Heights for Taqueria Coatzingo (oh, I miss you, baby).

But I still crave my Chipotle once a week. I’ve taken full advantage of free delivery and guac mode during this quarantine, and I’m not about to stop any time soon.

As a taco scholar (HAHAHA yeah right, not even close!), I still feel like a poser. But a happy, satisfied poser — with a belly full of Chipotle one night a week and a belly full of tamales de rajas con queso and a chorizo torta the next.