Restaurante Los Pinos

2019 North Pacific Ave.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

I had never heard of Restaurante Los Pinos until I mentioned that the last burrito I reviewed was near the bell tower in downtown Santa Cruz to a friend.  They asked if I had gone to Los Pinos,  and thus I discovered another taqueria in town.  Coming into this place, I knew next to nothing about what to expect except that they use whole avocado in place of guacamole in their burritos.

A quick aside about avocado vs guacamole:  If you think guac is better than whole avo in a burrito, you may have a brain tumor affecting your cognitive function because that is the thought of an insane person.  Let me explain.  Guacamole is the standard in burritos around the US because of the fact that it is much cheaper than using whole avocado.  Guac allows a taqueria to not only extend the life of the avocado, but also to use much less of it.  Since avocado is a very expensive ingredient we end up with chunks of onion, tomato, garlic, etc. mixed in with our green wonder fruit, and in the end we end up with much less of the good stuff than if they just put whole chunks in the burrito.  The extras in avocado are superfluous due to the fact that any good burrito should already have those items taken care of in the pico de gallo.  So when you see a burrito that uses whole avo instead of guac, know that they are looking out for you and giving you an extra treat.

Enough about avocado, lets get on to the review.

The Confounding Variables

Confounding variables are things that can affect the results outside of my control.  The variables that I measured prior for this are my hunger level, my mood, the time of eating, and how long my burrito sat before eating it or the “brew” time.

Hunger Level – I had a lot to eat the day before, so regardless of eating nothing in the day my hunger stood at a 7 of 10.

Mood – I had an excellent weekend in Portland right before visiting this Taqueria, so I was still feeling great from that.

Time of Consumption – 12:30pm

Brew Time – ~3 minutes

The Burrito Specs

The specifications of the burrito are its total cost including tax, its weight, and the ingredients.

Cost – $7.60

Weight – 1 lb 5.4 oz

Ingredients – Tortilla, rice, refried beans, avocado, tomato, jack cheese, sour cream, and lettuce

The Review

I will be reviewing every burrito under the same criteria each time.  The weight of each criteria element will be different and effect the overall score at my own discretion.

First Bite

62

The first bite of this burrito was fresh with a lot of rice, beans, and lettuce.  The low score was due to the shock of having the beans be refried when I expected whole pintos.  The flavor tasted different than most burritos due to the beans, and I couldn’t decide if I liked it.

Beans Alone

22

Once I tried the refried beans on their own, I realized what the problem was.  Not only were they dry, but they had relatively no flavor.  It tasted nearly identical to the refried beans you would get at taco bell, but more dry.

Rice Alone

99

If rice perfection exists in Santa Cruz, it is probably at Restaurante Los Pinos.  The only reason it sits at a 99 instead of 100 is that I prefer the flavor of the rice I had at Los Pericos, although it was still good flavor.  The rice was cooked amazingly being fluffy with absolutely no oil in sight, but still having a good flavor.  If I ever have better rice than this, I expect to need to change my pants afterward.

Pico de Gallo Alone

N/A

NO PICO!!!  Los Pinos decided to just put tomatoes in their burrito instead of a delicious pico de gallo.  This was a major misstep.

Tortilla Alone

60

This was the definition of mediocre.  Very little flavor, barely toasted.  Meh.

Burrito Moisture

39

This was the most dry burrito I’ve eaten to date.  This was obviously due to the refried beans instead of stewed pintos.  It was hard to forgive the beans throughout this entire experience and the dryness was a big part of it.

Ingredient Dispersal

65

The dispersal was pretty weak in this burrito with only rice, beans, and lettuce showing up in every bite.  There were sour cream pockets throughout, and although I was bummed about the tomatoes over pico, I still didn’t get enough tomato.

Overall Satisfaction

60

After the burrito was done I had a taste in my mouth that reminded me of Taco Bell.  The beans were so disappointing that they overshadowed everything else in the burrito.  If this was all there was to the experience we would be looking at the first single digit score.  Fortunately for Los Pinos they do 2 things very right.  Perfect rice and whole avocado.  The chunks of avocado throughout were so delicious that for a split second I was able to forget about the terrible beans.  Not only this, but as I was eating my burrito, someone working behind the counter came out and put down a glass of water on my table.  Definitely the best service I’ve ever received at a taqueria.  In fact, even though I did not like this burrito, I would come back to Los Pinos for this fact.  I’ll just be sure to order something without beans.

Extras

Chips

92

The chips that came with my burrito were actually excellent.  A nice crispy thin chip with a healthy dose of salt.  Turns out, I like salt.

Salsa

91

They only had one kind of salsa available, but it was damn delicious.  For those familiar with Casa Sanchez, the flavor was very similar with a slightly chunkier texture.  It had a spice between medium and hot and at first bite I was in love.

The Final Verdict

This was a burrito was a roller coaster of emotions.  Tears were shed both of pain and joy due to the terrible beans and incredible rice.  The overall feeling at the end of the burrito was the lows were just way too low to justify eating this burrito again.  I’m not sure if they have another bean to choose from, but if they do I strongly suggest you try that instead.  The whole avocado probably brought this score up an entire point.

Restaurante Los Pinos’ Vegetarian Burrito final score is…

6 of 10

Taqueria Los Pericos

139 Water St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

I know very little about Taqueria Los Pericos except that it is a fairly new taqueria to the area compared to others that have been around for decades.  It is in a highly trafficked area being right at the start of downtown, but most of the traffic coming through is cars and not foot traffic, so I doubt they do as well as Taqueria Vallarta located in the heart of downtown.  Regardless, when I walked in at around noon today, the place was packed and I was excited to try a new taqueria I’ve never been to.

The Confounding Variables

Confounding variables are things that can affect the results outside of my control.  The variables that I measured prior for this are my hunger level, my mood, the time of eating, and how long my burrito sat before eating it or the “brew” time.

Hunger Level – I ate nothing at all up to this point, so my hunger stood at a decent 8 of 10.

Mood – I was definitely feeling a little more stressed than normal accented by the cold sore that appeared on my lip the day before.  On the other hand I had a definite feeling of excitement due to the busy crowd in the restaurant.

Time of Consumption – 12:30pm

Brew Time – ~2 minutes

The Burrito Specs

The specifications of the burrito are its total cost including tax, its weight, and the ingredients.

Cost – $6.20

Weight – 1 lb 5 oz

Ingredients – Tortilla, rice, pinto beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, jack cheese, sour cream, and lettuce

The Review

I will be reviewing every burrito under the same criteria each time.  The weight of each criteria element will be different and effect the overall score at my own discretion.

First Bite

66

This burrito’s first bite may have been the worst bite of the entire burrito.  First impressions being what they are, I expected to be in for a somewhat adequate, but not great, experience.  The flavors were somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of beans.  The bite also had no sour cream or guacamole which led to a fairly dry experience, and the pico de gallo was barely present and not nearly as spicy as I would want it.

Beans Alone

84

Although the first bite wasn’t excellent, it was packed full of pintos and these beans are pretty damn good.  They have the right amount of salt and have the pinto flavor in tact.  The bean also stayed together well inside the burrito.  The place where it starts to lose point is that it was just very slightly too dry.  The texture wasn’t crumbly like a poorly cooked bean, but it wasn’t as creamy as it should be.

Rice Alone

95

Whoever cooks this rice needs to start a seminar for all the taquerias to attend and take lessons.  The flavor is amazing being salty and savory but not too powerful.  The texture is amazingly fluffy and although there is still oil residue left on the rice, compared to most other places they are a step above.

Pico de Gallo Alone

61

After my first bite detecting no spicy element whatsoever I figured I may have just not gotten the pico in that mouthful.  Unfortunately I was wrong because the pico in this burrito seems to have forgotten to put any peppers in it whatsoever.  The tomato flavor is fresh and juicy, but pico must have peppers or I’m not sure it should be called pico at all.

Tortilla Alone

89

When I first looked at the burrito, I thought that Los Pericos didn’t toast their tortilla at all.  After I took a bite and looked inside, I realized that it was toasted very well, but on the inside.  When eating the tortilla alone I found the flavor to be excellent, and while eating the entire burrito the bites with a lot of bunched up tortilla were maybe some of the best of the entire thing.  Toasting the inside of the burrito seems to be genius in keeping that toasty flavor in tact.  The reason we are sitting at the top of the 80s and not in the 90s is the structural integrity of this thing did not hold up.  After unraveling the burrito a little ways I found a rupture down almost half the entire burrito.  Unfortunately, as tasty as it was, I had to dock it down for the infraction.

Burrito Moisture

80

This burrito was definitely on the wetter end of the scale, but I wouldn’t say too wet.  Unfortunately for the burrito, the tortilla had ruptured and created a fairly obnoxious mess due to the wetness of this burrito.  I think if the tortilla had stayed together this score might be higher, but the messiness was a problem.  I did appreciate that the moisture in this burrito came mostly from the beans than from sour cream and guacamole.

Ingredient Dispersal

70

The first bite didn’t contain any sour cream or guacamole, and that would be indicative to the rest of the burrito.  Those two ingredients were sparse throughout the entire thing.  Combine this with the fact that they put the cheese next to the rice instead of the hot beans meant that the dispersal was a little bit lacking.

Overall Satisfaction

95

Despite a somewhat messy experience with little guac or sour cream to speak of, I was extremely content by the end of this meal.  It probably had a lot to do with the fact that I expected very little from the burrito before stepping into Los Pericos.  I think they do a pretty good job at a standard veggie burrito, and if I’m in the mood for some excellent rice I’ll be sure to pop in there again.

Extras

Chips

82

The chips at Los Pericos may really deserve a higher score than this, but I ended up getting the dregs of the batch.  For dregs these were actually excellent chips.  Not too oily and some good flavor, but overall it could have used some salt and to be a little more fresh.

Salsa Fresca

61

This was the exact same salsa I found in my burrito, and it was lacking here maybe even more than when I tried it in the burrito.  This is the mildest of all mild things.

Salsa Verde

63

The tomatillo flavor in this was actually very good, but again, where is the spiciness?  Was there a shortage of peppers in Santa Cruz today?

Red Salsa

58

Finally, a salsa with a bit of kick.  Unfortunately, this kick comes with an overpowering vinegar flavor.  I’m calling this 0-3 in the salsa department.

The Final Verdict

Taqueria Los Pericos is a place I have driven by countless times.  I have never heard anyone speak of this place to say how good or even how bad they think it is.  It has been a taqueria untouched by the large group of people I know, but I may be trying to convince people otherwise in the near future.  The burrito had some problems, and their chips and salsa is definitely not worth the trip, but the highs in this burrito were very high indeed.  Not to mention the Torta I saw someone eating when I got there looked god damn amazing.

Taqueria Los Pericos’ Vegetarian Burrito final score is…

8 of 10

Taqueria Santa Cruz

2215 Mission Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Taking a very short trip down Mission street from La Cabaña you will reach the original location of Taqueria Santa Cruz.  This is one of the older Taquerias in the area, although their reputation is not great.  I hear bad things about their meat sometimes, and just a general dislike of the place.  Growing up in the area I avoided this establishment because of these bad reviews, but now that I’m eating every burrito in Santa Cruz, I am trying it out.  Truthfully, right when you get to the place it looks pretty junky from the outside, but in my experience that often means the food will be the reverse.  Regardless, I was pretty excited to eat a burrito I have never had before in Santa Cruz.

The Confounding Variables

Confounding variables are things that can affect the results outside of my control. The variables that I measured prior for this are my hunger level, my mood, the time of eating, and how long my burrito sat before eating it or the “brew” time.

Hunger Level – I would give my hunger an 8.5 of 10 when I began this meal.  It was a little later in the day than normal and I started hearing a voice in my head saying “yellow wizard needs food badly”.  Don’t ask.

Mood – I did this review even though I was running a little behind in some schoolwork with other plans later in the day, so my mood was somewhat stressed.  I was also feeling excited and anxious for an upcoming weekend of camping.

Time of Consumption – 1:00pm

Brew Time – ~4 minutes

The Burrito Specs

The specifications of the burrito are its total cost including tax, its weight, and the ingredients.

Cost – $6.53 (Actually cost $7.03 due to a 50 cent charge for using credit)

Weight – 1 lb 8.7 oz

Ingredients – Tortilla, rice, pinto beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, jack cheese, sour cream, and lettuce

The Review

I will be reviewing every burrito under the same criteria each time. The weight of each criteria element will be different and effect the overall score at my own discretion.

First Bite

51

For the first bite I was easily able to fit the circumference of the burrito in my mouth due to a very long more tightly packed burrito which was appreciated.  Unfortunately, once I bit down I found a mouthful off beans and cheese with a little rice and lettuce.  I was missing 3 entire ingredients, and the stuff I was chewing on pretty much just tasted like pintos.  This bite would have given me the impression I accidentally ordered a bean and cheese burrito.

Beans Alone

72

The beans at Taqueria Santa Cruz have a very strong pinto flavor.  It is a pretty good flavor, but totally dominated by the natural bean taste.  I definitely prefer to taste some other savory spices in my beans, so this was a little lacking.  The beans were also slightly too mushy and possibly stewed for too long.

Rice Alone

71

The rice scores this high on flavor alone because truthfully it was quite good.  Unfortunately the texture was pretty bad lacking the nice fluffiness of excellently cooked rice.  It wasn’t greasy, but instead was very wet, probably due to lots of stewed bean juice.

Pico de Gallo Alone

83

The pico at Taqueria SC did two things right: finely chopped onions and tomatoes and a perfect medium spiciness.  The flavor was pretty good too, although I could have had a little more savor to it.

Tortilla Alone

55

This tortilla is the quintessential forgotten ingredient.  It is obvious they care very little about it because it lacks any and all flavor and they don’t spend very much time at all toasting it to bring out any extra flavor in the gluten.  It stays together well, but that is all there is to say about it.

Burrito Moisture

65

This burrito was too moist.  This is a great example of a burrito reaching for that moist perfection, but going over the top.  Parts of the burrito were nicely done in this category due to the bit of extra bean juice, but when the burrito leaks like a sieve, that is no good.  I wasn’t drinking the juice as I ate, so it isn’t the worst offender, but it certainly was a mess to eat due to the extra moisture.

Ingredient Dispersal

22

And now we reach the section where this burrito turns from something OK to something that I am not thrilled to have spent my dollars on.  As said earlier in the first bite, we didn’t start off well.  As I got to the middle of the burrito I started finding the salsa and sour cream that was missing at the top end.  By the end of the burrito all I was eating was cold sour cream and cold cheese.  And guess what.  NO GUACAMOLE.  Not a spec to be found in the entire burrito, although it is definitely listed as an ingredient.  I’m assuming the person preparing just forgot to add it, but this is a catastrophe in the burrito world.  Avocado is so essential to the overall experience that I had to score this nearly as bad as it gets.

Overall Satisfaction

43

At the end of my meal, I was indeed very full, so in that respect I was satisfied.  Of course, the lack of guacamole the poor dispersal, the  drippy mess, and the tasteless tortilla really got to me.  But it was not only these things that were my problem.  When I got my burrito, I was given nor offered any chips.  Everyone else in the place had a small bowl of chips brought to them with their meal.  It is possible I have to specifically ask for them as I order, but really, they should be asking me if I want them.  Or just give them to me.  Anyway, I got no chips and I was bitter.

Extras

I did not review the extras due to my lack of chips and just lack of caring about their salsa bar at that point.  They at least offer a bunch of salsas, but if they give me no chips I have no way of enjoying them once my burrito is gone.  Can you tell I’m bitter about the chip thing?

The Final Verdict

As much as I wasn’t thrilled with La Cabaña’s burrito, this once left me feeling much more cheated.  They gouged me for using a credit card, didn’t give me chips, and left off the guacamole on my burrito.  I wish I went into this review having gotten a better more fair experience, but I’m only doing one trip to each taqueria, and this was what happened during my trip.  The beans, rice, and pico were on the cusp of being good, but everything else about this burrito made me angry.  Truthfully the more I write the angrier I become and the lower their score keeps dropping.  I should probably stop now before they reach the bottom.

Taqueria Santa Cruz’s Vegetarian Burrito final score is…

4 of 10

My 1-10 Rating Scale

Now that I’ve done a couple reviews and gotten some angry feedback about my final scores, I’m realizing I need to post what the number at the end of the review really means.  1-10 scales are interesting because they tend to mean different things to different people, so here is what each number means for the scale I am using for my reviews:

1 – Utter Garbage

For a burrito to score a 1 it would have to be so bad that I couldn’t finish it.  This would probably mean it would need to be made of literal feces.

2 – Terrible

Now terrible and utter garbage may sound similar to you, but it is the difference between throwing out most of the burrito and actually getting through the entire thing even though my gag reflex is telling me to stop.

3 – Bad

This is truthfully the first low score I could imagine a burrito may actually receive.  It would require a burrito to have pretty much bad tasting everything, but still seem edible.

4 – Poor

Poor would mean that the burrito is on the cusp of just tasting bad, but more likely, it lacks any and all flavor.

5 – Mediocre

For a burrito to be mediocre we are talking about lack of good ingredients coupled with a lack of good price.

6 – Fair

I would equate a rating of 6 for a burrito to be similar to getting the perfect attendance award in school.  Sure, you got an award, but really we’re all still making fun of you.

7 – Good

Ah, the first rating I would be happy to put my money down for.  This means the burrito is tasty enough that I’m happy to come back multiple times.

8 – Great

A great burrito is truly great.  This is when the ingredients are bursting with flavor and as I take my first massive bite everything seems right with the world.

9 – Amazing/Superb/Stupendous

This is reserved for the burritos that are not only insanely delicious, but have something extra you didn’t think you wanted, but now that you’ve had it you wont want anything less.

10 – Masterpiece

This is the Sasquatch of the burrito world.  If I find it, I expect my brain will melt out of my ears and I will spend the rest of my life in a cloud of burrito bliss.  I will refuse to eat at any other taqueria, and force everyone I know to try it, at gunpoint if necessary.

Taqueria La Cabaña

2332 Mission Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

After having reviewed the biggest Taqueria in Santa Cruz, I was then scratching my head as to where I would go next.  I could then go to all the other Taquerias with many locations, but I figured from here on, I would go by geographic location.  So to begin, I’m starting on the West Side of Santa Cruz.  If there is a bright center to the city, this is the Taqueria that is furthest from.

DISCLAIMER: Now it was bound to happen that I would go to a Taqueria that has multiple options for vegetarians.  La Cabaña offers not just one, but five different vegetarian burrito options:  regular veggie, mixed vegetables, spinach & mushroom, nopales (cactus), and the dreaded California burrito.  You don’t know what a California burrito is?  Well, picture a mission burrito, then remove the beans, and add french fries.  Yeah.  Fuck you So Cal.  But not to digress, the reason I mention these options is because people don’t come to La Cabaña for their standard veggie burrito.  Pretty much every vegetarian (or veggie burrito minded person) I know will order the nopales burrito here.  But I’m doing reviews of the standard veggie, so just remember after reading this, La Cabaña has more to offer than what you are about to read.  Also, sorry about the lack of pictures.  I’ve got no excuse, I just forgot.

The Confounding Variables

Confounding variables are things that can affect the results outside of my control.  The variables that I measured prior for this are my hunger level, my mood, the time of eating, and how long my burrito sat before eating it or the “brew” time.

Hunger Level – I would give my hunger an 8.5 of 10 when I began this meal.  I was starting to get into the must-find-food-or-stomach-acid-may-eat-through-the-lining-in-my-empty-stomach phase.

Mood – It was a beautiful overcast day in Santa Cruz with some excellent light sweatshirt weather.  I’ve been feeling a little more stressed lately, so that carried over, but on the whole I was feeling pretty good.  I sat outside which I generally enjoy.

Time of Consumption – 12:30pm

Brew Time – ~3 minutes

The Burrito Specs

The specifications of the burrito are its total cost including tax, its weight, and the ingredients.

Cost – $5.44

Weight – 1 lb 4.2 oz

Ingredients – Tortilla, rice, pinto beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, mixed cheese, sour cream, and lettuce

The Review

I will be reviewing every burrito under the same criteria each time.  The weight of each criteria element will be different and effect the overall score at my own discretion.

First Bite

73

The very first bite of this burrito was what i would call slightly above average.  The spice of the pico came through well and the bite was crisp and fresh.  I enjoyed the texture the burrito due to a slightly crispy tortilla, but in truth there was a bit too much tortilla in the bite.  But most importantly, there were absolutely no beans to be found in the bite which caused a big loss in points.  Truthfully, it may have been a saving grace that the beans were a no show because…

Beans Alone

47

These beans are truly mediocre.  From what I could tell, someone cracked open a can of pintos, sloughed off the bean juice and dumped a few of them into my burrito.  There weren’t many beans in this burrito, but truthfully that was fine by me because they had little flavor, were slightly dry, and were lukewarm or even cold.  Unfortunately for La Cabaña, beans are essentially the “meat” of a veggie burrito, and this was easily the worst part of the entire thing.

Rice Alone

64

The rice wasn’t bad, although again lacked much of any flavor.  It wasn’t too greasy and had some fluff to it, so I couldn’t complain too much, although it was again lukewarm which did not help.

Pico de Gallo Alone

55

This pico has a great medium hotness, but we can stop there.  Eating it alone I found there to be almost no flavor with the tomatoes tasting under-ripe.  Also, there was very little of it throughout the burrito.

Tortilla Alone

92

Although the tortilla is the often forgot ingredient of a good burrito, La Cabaña at least understands that wrapping everything in a slightly toasted, flavorful, solid shell can go a long way.  A very major difference with this burrito is that it is unwrapped, meaning no foil surrounding it.  This will keep the nice crispy toasted tortilla intact, although you sacrifice a lot by doing this.  More on this later.

Burrito Moisture

60

This burrito had a little bit of moisture from the guac and sour cream, but there wasn’t a lot of it.  The real reason this lost big points is because not only was it a little dry for my taste, it was somehow very drippy from the bottom making a bit of a mess.

Ingredient Dispersal

79

Besides the fact that some ingredients were lacking representation in this burrito, the ingredients were dispersed throughout quite nicely.  I didn’t get a big mouthful of sour cream and guac at the end, although I feel it has more to do with their lack of presence rather than the fact that it was well packed.

Overall Satisfaction

55

I don’t have a category for cheese, mostly because no one really puts great cheese in their burrito, but this place is as good as any to complain about the fact that it was more mediocre than normal.  Probably mostly due to the fact that the ingredients were cold and there was no foil to keep the heat in, but the cheese was also cold and unmelted which means the flavor doesn’t meld well within the whole burrito.  Cheese aside, I probably don’t have to tell you I wasn’t satisfied with this burrito.  I was mostly full afterward, but as I drove away I was actually tempted to stop at Ferrell’s to get a donut.  Now that behavior isn’t unusual for me, but it is unusual after I have eaten something the size of a large human fetus.

Extras

Chips

92

Ok, so I have to give it to them, these chips are good.  They have excellent flavor, a nice crispness, and no grease to them whatsoever.  They are the thinner style chip, which I tend to not prefer, but these guys do it right.  They only lose points here because the chips really need a little more salt to be perfect.

Salsa

58

Not my favorite salsa.  The consistency was quite watery which made it hard to get enough of the chip so you could really taste it.  Or maybe I couldn’t taste it cause there was very little flavor to it in general.  I couldn’t even really detect any spiciness.  The only reason this doesn’t score lower is because the flavor it did have was something unique which piqued my interest.  I think it was some kind of underused pepper that you don’t get often in salsa, so I was pleasantly surprised by this.

The Final Verdict

I am not happy with this burrito.  I can guarantee that I will never be ordering this again, although I will say I may come back for the napoles because I hear good things and I really want this place to have some redemption because having so many veggie options is a pretty nice bonus.  Unfortunately the bland and lukewarm ingredients of this burrito is bringing it way down.  I did find it to be a little more fresh tasting than normal, with very crispy vegetable ingredients, so that helped.  The chips were nice, but there was no salsa bar to find a different salsa I liked more than the bland one they give you.  The burrito was even a little small only weighing in at 1.25 lbs.  The criteria I tend to care the most about are the beans, rice, and overall satisfaction, and La Cabaña scored quite poorly for all of these.  Luckily for them, they charge an entire dollar less than the competition, so because of this I feel comfortable rounding the score up.

Taqueria La Cabaña’s Vegetarian Burrito final score is…

6 of 10

Taqueria Vallarta

608 Soquel Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95062

Where else could I possibly start on my quest to find the best burrito in Santa Cruz?  Taqueria Vallarta is the burrito juggernaut of Santa Cruz county with a whopping 5 locations including 3 in Santa Cruz proper.  This place is an institution, and although very popular, many Santa Cruz natives have begun to view it as the Starbucks of taquerias.  The location I decided to visit was the very first location on Soquel Avenue.  Although not my most visited location in the past, I do believe if I am to judge their burrito, I should do so where it all began.

The Confounding Variables

Confounding variables are things that can affect the results outside of my control.  The variables that I measured prior for this are my hunger level, my mood, the time of eating, and how long my burrito sat before eating it or the “brew” time.

Hunger Level – I would give my hunger a healthy 7.5 of 10 when I began this meal.  I had some white tea in the morning with sugar, but besides that had no other calories for the day so I was quite ready for food.

Mood – I was feeling good when I walked into Vallarta.  The sun was shining and there was a nice cool breeze in the air.  Overall I would give my mood an 8 of 10.

Time of Consumption – 12:40pm

Brew Time – ~5 minutes

The Burrito Specs

The specifications of the burrito are its total cost including tax, its weight, and the ingredients.

Cost – $6.51

Weight – 1 lb 8.1 oz

Ingredients – Tortilla, rice, pinto beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, jack cheese, sour cream, and lettuce

The Review

I will be reviewing every burrito under the same criteria each time.  The weight of each criteria element will be different and effect the overall score at my own discretion.

First Bite

83

Getting the entire circumference of the burrito in my mouth for a complete first bite is always quite a challenge, but I pride myself in being able to fit a whole lot of burrito in my gullet.  The very first bite of this burrito was excellent.  All the ingredients were represented with a nice hint of spice to it all.  The bite had just the right amount of moisture, although was slightly messy as the integrity of the tortilla was compromised.  Where the bite lost the most points were not having perfect flavor and the ingredients weren’t extremely fresh and crisp tasting.

Beans Alone

91

Vallarta knows how to make a pinto bean.  The whole pintos were completely intact with no smashing or falling apart to be found.  The moisture of the beans were perfect, giving the bean a slightly creamy texture without being mushy.  The flavor was excellent with the pinto flavor being the star although some more stronger flavors stewed into the bean could have improved it further.

Rice Alone

73

The rice was pretty good still having some fluff to it while inside the burrito.  The flavor was pretty good not really being a star of the burrito.  The biggest loss of points came from the rice being the slightest bit oily.

Pico de Gallo Alone

88

Although Vallarta calls this salsa, it is definitely more of a pico using big chunks of tomato with finely chopped onion, peppers, and cilantro.  With that said, that does not take away anything from the fact that this is some tasty-ass pico.  You can tell Vallarta has this stuff stewing in its own juices for a good amount of time due to the massive amount of flavor the chunks of tomato carry, not to mention the nice refreshing light spiciness.

Tortilla Alone

72

The outside had the look of being slightly toasted, but after a 5 minute brew in double layered foil, that toastiness was lost in the texture.  Instead the tortilla was chewy and moist, but not sticky.  The structural integrity of the tortilla was only compromised on the first bite, otherwise it held up the rest of the time.  The overall flavor was pretty standard giving me a feeling of adequacy but not jubilation.

Burrito Moisture

92

This is a hotly contested element of many burrito connoisseurs as the preference can vary wildly on how moist you want your burrito to be.  I lean towards a wetter burrito, one that makes it so I never feel the need to sip water in between bites to wash it down, but not so wet that I’m drinking the juice as I chew my food.  It is important that the lettuce stay crispy and not waterlogged either.  All of this was done nearly perfectly by Vallarta only missing points because not all bites were consistently moist with the end being just slightly too wet.

Ingredient Dispersal

77

The dispersal of a burrito is about making sure all bites have an equal amount of each ingredient.  A perfect score in this would require a perfect layering and rolling of the burrito, which I don’t expect to ever happen.  The ingredients in this burrito were very well dispersed throughout except for the guacamole which was mostly found on the two ends of the burrito.

Overall Satisfaction

90

After the burrito was finished, I felt quite content.  Very full and very happy with my experience overall.  Afterward I had the slight feeling of wanting more but knowing I shouldn’t.  It only lost points on the fact that the flavor didn’t keep me craving it after finishing.

Extras

Chips

61

The chips had a nice thickness to them and were not too oily, but lost all their points in being slightly stale.

Salsa Fresca

80

This salsa is the same as the pico they put in their burrito and only got a different amount of points from before because it doesn’t work as well when scooping onto a chip.

Fire Roasted Salsa

83

This salsa is slightly sweet with medium spice.  It has an excellent smokey flavor that almost tastes like a mole sauce.  Only loses points because it could be made better by adding something to make it more savory.

Salsa Verde

74

Like most tomatillo salsas, this one has a very fresh green taste and has a hotter spice than the others which is very welcome.  Overall it was very citrus-y and lacked any other flavors to make it nothing special.

Red Salsa

26

This salsa just tasted like tomato sauce with a tiny bit of spice to it.  More like something I would eat on pasta than on a tortilla chip.  I would rub this into my eyes before I would put it in my mouth again.

The Final Verdict

This is the burrito that all other taquerias have to beat to be considered in the elite Santa Cruz establishments.  This burrito actually scored better than I was expecting knowing many native’s disdain for the local chain.  We have all been eating this burrito for a very long time, and I feel that may be the only reason to ever speak bad about it, because the burrito itself has stood up to show it belongs in the upper echelon.

Taqueria Vallarta’s Vegetarian Burrito final score is…

8 of 10

The Quest

The mission-style vegetarian burrito is my favorite food on this planet.  If given a hypothetical situation where I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, there is no doubt in my mind this would be my choice.  The mixture of stewed pintos, fluffy mexican rice, cheese, pico de gallo, lettuce, sour cream, and guacamole all wrapped in a tortilla the size of a deflated beach ball is the pinnacle of human civilization.

Now that I’ve solved what is definitively the best food in the world, the question then becomes – Who makes the best one?  Which is exactly what I’m going to find out.

First I want to address the burrito purists out there.  Yes, the mission-style burrito was an invention of the mission district in San Francisco.  Yes, those burritos are still made in massive quantities all throughout the city.  No, I wont be going to San Francisco to find the best burrito (yet), and here is why:  I don’t live there.  Pretty simple, it takes me about 2ish hours to get to the city from where I’m living, so it would be a major pain in my ass to do so.  Of course, by the time I finish my first quest, I may move on to other pastures to truly find the best burrito, but for now, I will not be going more than 20 minutes out of my way to get a burrito.

With that out of the way, let me tell you why Santa Cruz is probably the second best place to search for the greatest veggie burrito.  Santa Cruz county is a major farming area that regularly employs many seasonal farm workers, the massive majority of them being Mexican.  For those that don’t know, the invention of the burrito was so Mexican men working in the Californian fields could have a massive high calorie meal to take with them and eat easily.  Due to the mix of this cultural group and Santa Cruzian’s insatiable hunger for taqueria food, we have a massive amount of taquerias in the area.  Using no real statistics and some very weak observation, I will say there are probably more taquerias per capita in Santa Cruz than any other city in Northern California.  Also, our burritos are damn good.

Now, there is another group of people I need to address that have probably stopped reading at this point because of the amount of times I’ve said vegetarian or veggie:  Meat eaters.  I know you love carne asada and think it is insane to order a burrito without the cow, pig, or poultry of your choice, but that meat you are in love with is overpowering the amazing delicate flavors of the rest of the burrito.  Plus, I’m a vegetarian, so I don’t eat that stuff.

The Criteria

On to how I am going to judge this thing.  I am married to a scientist, so I would possibly be divorced if I didn’t do this right and control as many variables as possible.  So the following things are going to stay exactly the same every time I eat a burrito:

• It will be the first meal of my day
• I will eat at 12:30pm every time
• I will always order the “vegetarian super burrito” or if not available “vegetarian burrito” adding nothing extra to it (this includes hot sauce or salsa)
• I will always eat the burrito first and anything that comes with it after (chips, etc.)

The following elements I can’t control for but will note prior to eating:

• Hunger level
• Overall mood

Now on to the elements of the burrito I will be judging:

• Burrito weight
• Burrito cost
• First bite
• Beans alone
• Rice alone
• Tortilla alone
• Salsa/Pico alone
• Burrito moisture level
• Ingredient dispersal
• Ingredient variation
• Extras
• Overall satisfaction

I will score each of these elements on a scale of 1-100, using them to find a final overall score from 1-10.  Each element will be weighed differently at my discretion in determining the final score.  I will take photographs to document my process.

All future posts for the Santa Cruz Burrito Quest will be reviews of veggie burritos from establishments across the city of Santa Cruz.  I will not be reviewing anything outside of city limits and will only be reviewing the original location of restaurants and not including their second or third locations.  So without further ado, the burrito quest begins…