38821 Wed Aug 17 09:49:10 -0700 2005 17 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 183454 Im in SF next week and I want to have a mission style burrito, but my gf is vegetarian. Do most places have a vegetarian burrito? Are the beans usually fried in lard? Also, where would you reccomend? La Taqueria? Thanks, David Wed Aug 17 09:49:10 -0700 2005 0 Shorts 1 183463 Pancho Villa (16th between Valencia and Mission) makes a fantastic tofu burrito, and their beans are not fried in lard. There is a newish place on Bryant St around 21st - I am blanking on the name but it has come up on this board before - that makes a great veggie burrito - they saute a beautiful mix of fresh veggies right in front of your eyes. Great veggie tacos too. Wed Aug 17 11:10:28 -0700 2005 183454 0 Bernal Farmer 2 183465 The place on Bryant--is it El Metate? Wed Aug 17 11:16:12 -0700 2005 183463 0 KathyR 3 183499 Yes! El Metate. 2406 Bryant, at 22nd st. Wed Aug 17 13:02:34 -0700 2005 183465 0 Bernal Farmer 4 183514 Does it also have non veggie options? Wed Aug 17 13:56:16 -0700 2005 183499 0 Shorts 5 183526 At what point after you have filled a whole wheat tortilla with tofu, non-lard beans, and a handful of veggies does it no longer qualify as a burrito? Wed Aug 17 14:34:01 -0700 2005 183514 0 grubber 6 183538 Still a burrito, but certainly not a classic Mission burrito, which is made with a lard tortilla and contains either refried beans or carne asada (which traditionally contains simmered whole beans instead). Wed Aug 17 14:50:51 -0700 2005 183526 0 Robert Lauriston 5 183553 El Metate has lots of non-veggie items... Wed Aug 17 15:38:32 -0700 2005 183514 0 susancinsf 1 183503 I like La Corneta's veggie burrito (tofu) and have several veggie friends who love it too. Wed Aug 17 13:19:39 -0700 2005 183454 0 jen maiser 1 183511 Im not a fan of La Taqueria and honestly think they're overrated. I prefer Taqueria Cancun or El Farolito. For Vegetarian, I would say Pancho Villa is very consistent and you have many options to choose from. Depending on how vegetarian your GF is, the beans, rice, and tortillas will most likely have lard or animal fat. For beans, go with plain pinto or black but ask if they cook them in chicken/beef broth. Same goes with rice, sometimes cooked in chicken broth. Tortillas are also notorious for having nice amounts of lard giving them that unsweetened pancake taste :) P.S. The name "Mission Style Burrito" doesnt exist, burritos in the bay are are just taqueria style burritos that you can get anywhere in Fresno, Los Angeles, etc... Wed Aug 17 13:43:51 -0700 2005 183454 0 hotdogsnap 2 183516 Nu-uh. There is TOO the official name of Mission style burrito. Just because others copy it doesn't matter. It means the rice and beans are inside the burrito rather than served on the side so you can take everthing with you in an easy to eat package. No less authority than the chain Taco Del Mar acknowleges this (see link). If I get less lazy I'll find the post where I tracked down which place in the Mission started this. I think it was El Faro, but I might be wrong. Don't like them, so sorry no info on where to get them. Dp a google and there are tons of references to the origin of Mission-style burritions Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/1996/11/25/story6.html Wed Aug 17 14:07:36 -0700 2005 183511 0 rworange 3 183537 You have got to be joking...just because some hombre named "Schmidt" is investing in some "Mission Style" burrito is the real deal just because he claims he got a burrito in the Mission District thats supposedly started back in the 60's? I dont know about you, Ive lived in all parts of California and gotten burritos with rice and beans on the inside just about everywhere. My grandmother who's mexican-american says neighbors in san diego were doing this so call mission style burrito back in the day....pleeeeaassee. I think people who refer to this Mission Style burrito are people from the midwest/east coast who have never seen a taqueria style burrito. But if you want to call it Mission Style burrito, thats cool too, I just call them burritos. Wed Aug 17 14:50:44 -0700 2005 183516 0 hotdogsnap 4 183559 Ok, you called my bluff, amigo. Here's the definative article on the burrito - Mission Style or not. El Faro was the first commercially sold burrito in the SF Mission. I love this article. It talks about how the flour tortilla evolved which led to the burrito as we know them today. It's why burritos are different in Mexico because of the corn tortilla. I challenge you to find a matching expert on the subget to Professor José Cuellar, chair of San Francisco State's La Raza Studies department. Or at least he was at the time the article was written. In a sense, you and your abuela are correct as the article says "The gigantic flour tortilla proved ideal as a leakproof wrapper-- a veritable suitcase-- for hungry Sonoran miners to carry their rice and beans to the mineral finds in the Southern California desert ... For the next hundred years, however, this brave new food languished in the wilderness where it was considered strictly a Chicano convenience item, handy for rough on-the-go field workers but hardly fit for citified menus." However, the burrito's introduction into more main stream acceptance happened in SF's Mission. Warning. The link is on sexuality.org and the first few paragraphs are a little racy. However, skip to the fourth paragraph if you are easily offended. It is a serious, well-researched article on the burrito. Mission-style burrito, is a valid term, if you choose not to recognize it that's cool. Link: http://www.sexuality.org/l/sex/burrito.html Wed Aug 17 15:50:52 -0700 2005 183537 0 rworange 5 183565 Fascinating! I will have to read the whole article when I am on a non-work computer, given the web address. I *do* know that the chimichanga (deep-fried burrito) originated in Tucson, which is also near Sonora. But I had no idea that the burrito originated in SF. Thanks for sharing this! Wed Aug 17 16:10:08 -0700 2005 183559 0 Leaseachef 6 183568 Actually, that article says the burrito originated around the Arizona-Sonora border, which is what I've always heard. It's the huge fat kitchen-sink super burrito we know today that evolved in the Mission. Wed Aug 17 16:16:23 -0700 2005 183565 0 Robert Lauriston 5 183585 Cant wait to read the article, Im at work. I cant challenge Prof Jose but maybe I can ask my grandma to. As I recall, she told me when she was a little girl back in 20's, they used to make burritos for lunch when they worked the farms. Corn tortillas were too small and broke apart too easily. Flour held better and was able to hold rice and beans. They also did this so they wouldnt have to rely on utensils. As for burritos going mainstream, its debatable where, I was just reading a link of wikipedia, who knows if its true but quite interesting to see "The word burrito first saw print in America in 1934. It was sold at Los Angeles's famed El Cholo Spanish Cafe during the 1930s. Burritos entered Mexican-American cuisine in other parts of the Southwest around the 1950s and went nationwide a decade later." Im not sure if I'll ever call them Mission Burritos, the day a Taqueria shop has Mission Style Burrito and Regular Burrito separately on the menu is the day I call them Mission Style :) 1 more plug for another burrito choice, Taqueria La Cumbre. Wed Aug 17 17:41:49 -0700 2005 183559 0 hotdogsnap 2 183529 "Mission burrito" means a fat burrito stuffed with rice and beans (and perhaps other things) in addition to meat. "('Out to Eat,' the Lonely Planet guide to San Francisco restaurants, describes the Mission burrito as 'a perfect rolled-up meal,' and I would differ only in describing it as 'two or three perfect rolled-up meals.') It is also so good that at times I've been tempted to put it on my list of favorite dishes that rarely seem to be served outside their place of origin."--Calvin Trillin, "Local Bounty," The New Yorker, Jan. 20, 2003 The canonical Mission burrito place was La Cumbre, which may not have originated the style but was the first place most people encountered them when they first caught on 30+ years ago. Link: http://www.newyorker.com/printables/fact/030120fa_fact Wed Aug 17 14:42:54 -0700 2005 183511 0 Robert Lauriston 1 183744 paplote on 24th street has veggie chorizo! very veggie friendly. aside from that you can always get a beans rice sourcream avocado cheese lettuce burrito bomb at any taqueria but be sure to order the whole beans (refried sometimes have lard in them) and ask about the rice (chicken stock sometimes). and sometimes they throw the burrito on the grill where they fried up some meat. Link: http://sanfrancisco.citysearch.com/profile/889491/san_francisco_ca/papalote_mexican_grill.html Thu Aug 18 12:44:17 -0700 2005 183454 0 rae