Chipotle - Davis Wiki

Location

227 E Street, next to downtown Peet's Coffee and Tea

Hours

Daily 11:00AM - 10:00PM

Phone

(530)758-3599

Web site

http://www.chipotle.com (won a

Webby in 2005)

Chipotle (pronounced Chi-pote-lay, they tell me) is the quintessential white-rice corporate burrito joint of Davis. They offer burritos (with or without a tortilla — if you opt for a "burrito-bol), fajita-class burritos (with sauteed peppers and onions instead of beans), tacos (soft or hard) and salads. Part of their business culture is to be "cool". So they employ greeters to small talk with customers and allow for substitutions of ingredients.

Everything is made in front of you and allow the choice of the following ingredients:

With every burrito, you have the option of:

Black or Pinto Beans (pinto are not vegetarian)
White Rice (with lime, cilantro and salt)
Fajita veggies (grilled green bell peppers and red onions)
Meat (or free Guacamole if you go meatless - $5.20)

Barbacoa (shredded beef) - $5.70
Chicken - $5.35
Steak - $5.50
Carnitas (Pork) - $5.85

Salsa

Fresh Tomato
Tomatillo Green-Chili
Tomatillo Red-Chili
Roasted Chili-Corn

Sour Cream
Cheese
Guacamole (costs an additional $1.40 or free with a veggie item)
Romaine Lettuce
Chips also available ($.70, $1.25 with salsa, $2.10 with Guacamole)

A soft taco order consists of three soft tacos. Hard/crispy taco orders also give you three crispy tacos. A taco order plays by the above rules, except that you don't get rice or beans. The salads are basically tacos minus the shell plus more lettuce. You can also order some items from their "childrens" menu such as half-orders and quesadillas. If you prefer the rice over their (sometimes watery) beans, just ask for more rice and less beans.

A lesser known fact is that with all of Chipotle's "hip" substitution allowing policies you can get a burrito and ask for it to be just filled with rice. And for this large rice burrito I was charged $0.59. However they do not have set prices for rice burritoes and the second time I got one I was charged $1.29.

Prior to September 2006, showing your Reg Card would get you a free soda. This promotion has apparently been discontinued during the school year. At some Chipotles you can get free burritos

On tax day by filling out a burrito E-Z
By dressing up as a burrito for halloween
If you are a woman and you come to Chipotle on prom night in your prom dress

The margaritas are a good value and quite strong.

If you fax in your order using this orderform (PDF) you can cut to the front of the line and pick up your food.

McDonald's has no ownership in Chipotle anymore, but was once (starting in 1997) a shareholder of Chipotle. The McDonald's investment in Chipotle grew with time, peaking at 90%. Chipotle's IPO raised an estimated $1 billion for McDonald's¹.

Drinks

Soda - $1.25-$1.50
Bottled Drinks - $1.50
Domestic Beer - $2.75
Specialty Beer - $3.25
Magarita - $3.50

Nutrition Information

Chipotle has several healthy choices, but by and large, many orders have too much saturated fat, sodium and calories for a healthy diet. (Sources: Google Answers, Center for Science in the Public Interest). It should be noted that the ingredients used in a burrito at other local taquerias are just as unhealthy if not worse.

"Using Chipotle's burrito calorie estimator:

Chipotle's Chicken Burrito: (with black beans, rice, cheese, and salsa) is 905 calories and 10 grams of saturated fat.
Chipotle's Vegetarian Burrito: (with grilled veggies, black beans, rice, corn, lettuce, guacamole, and salsa) is 955 calories and 5 grams of saturated fat.
Chipotle's Barbacoa Burrito: (with shredded beef, pinto beans, rice, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, and salsa) is 1,335 calories and three-quarters of a day's worth of saturated fat. That's the equivalent in calories and fat to a Quarter Pounder, a large order of fries, and a large Coke (But the burrito is considerably healthier because it has 0 trans fats, 3 times as much fiber, and 8 times less sugar according to MacDonald's calorie calculator).
Chipotle's Chicken Burrito Bols—burritos without the 340-calorie flour tortillas—are CSPI's only recommended "Better Bites" at Chipotle. A Bol with chicken, black beans, lettuce, and salsa, has just 430 calories and four grams of saturated fat. Rice instead of lettuce adds about 200 calories."

Authenticity Discussion

Back when MacDonald's invested heavily in Chipotle, this added to the view that their food is less authentic than other taquerias. To view these comments click here. Note that Chipotle no longer has any affiliation with MacDonald's.

They do help out KDVS every year with their fundraiser. And the food is okay. But if you use the word "Mexican" to describe it then you are in error. Chipotle is only half a shade browner than Taco Bell. - RobRoy

Chipotle appears to use a great deal of free range and organic products. And while it's not Baja California-style, the inclusion of Carnitas and their selection of salsas convince me that it's significantly more authentic than drive-thru "Mexican." To be sure, it's no Mexican taco shop. (Not that any taco shops in Davis compare with those in Southern California and Baja California. Certain Taco trucks found in Woodland and Winters are the closest thing around.) -jr

Two notes: 1) A friend had a relative visiting from Mexico (I think it was their mom, but I can't remember for sure), and after eating at Chipotle, they commented that the flavor of their carnitas was the closest they had tasted in the US to what they were used to at home. This isn't to say that Chipotle is really authentic food, but I think that they do get some of the details right. 2) The people who run the taco truck in Winters also own and run Chuy's in Winters, which probably has the best Mexican food I've had in the area. They are at least as good as most places I've been to in southern California. - EricKlein
The question "What is authentic?" comes to mind - Mexican food in Mexico is not only a synthesis of various cultures throughout time (various cultures rising, spreading their tastes and then falling, with Spanish being the most recent) but also a regional and even individual tradition. Walk into any town famous for a particular type of cuisine, and you can likely find two kitchens located on the same street, each claiming to make that type of cuisine "the right way". In the end, it is not about "how brown" the company is (a distasteful and racist rule of thumb), but what they choose to call it. If you think an ethnic food has to conform to some sort of rule, you're either European (who do have tasting and labeling laws) or have a very generic view of what a given ethnic food is. I'd also like to see you sit down in a Barbeque joint in South Carolina along the Georgia border and complain that the Barbeque isn't authentic because the sauce is mustard based... or complain in Santa Maria that the tangy-sweet salsa based Barbeque (dating to the mid-1800s) isn't authentic. — JabberWokky
The quest for authentic ethnic food is a noble one in this day and age of capitalistic homogenation. Once the corporations get ahold of a a food category, they subvert it to be as palletable ("bland") as possible so people in the midwest will eat it. It's not so much what IS authentic Mexican— reasonable minds can differ as to what be representative cuisine for a particular region in, say, Mexico given the ingredients available here. However, what is worthwhile is to point out that certain restaurants masquerade as being "authentic" when they in fact are not. Taco Bell—not that anyone believes them—is quite guilty of this. Chipotle is an interesting hybrid. On some signage they claim to be Mexican, and on others they claim "Mexican influenced," which is fare more true. Despite their McDonalds association, they seem to have some surprisingly good and authentic food in some categories. -jr

"Authentic" ethnic food is an historical laugh-factory. It only takes a few decades or so for authentic to change altogether as new foods are introduced from one place to another. Do you like the taste of authentic Thai food with papaya? The papaya came from the Americas, along with potatoes, corn, and a whole host of other foods, and foods from around the world were brought here and cuisines were combined. (Where did bell peppers come from, eh?) The only thing that seems to make Thai food Thai, and Mexican food Mexican are the local herbs that are mixed into the food. Basically, if you grab whatever plants are growing in your back yard and throw them into your food, its authentic food for your locality. "Authentic" is nostalgia for specific cooking styles that were not culturally universal in space or time, and amounts to more a marketing gimmick than an actual description. "I'll have an authentic pre-1800s Hawaiian dish with the pineapple that the Europeans introduced since 1492, but without the Papaya that was introduced later, please. That's the real authentic!" - KJM

Word to this! - KenjiYamada
It may also be worth noting that the tomato is a New World plant as well, which means that any European dishes containing it probably aren't authentic, for a given value of authentic. This is particularly evident in Italian food. Pizza, spaghetti, lasagne, and many other dishes are very much enhanced by this 'nonauthentic' ingredient.—JoePomidor

Chipotle Sucks - TheRadish
I think its always important to criticize people's individual tastes, especially when it comes to the wholly objective arena of food. - jonathannasca
It makes me laugh how people choose to focus on the impossible "what is autentic" question and the McDonalds connection rather than discuss the food. So much of our lives is corporate outside of food sales, it is curious to think how people can bash some corporate chains but then don't think twice about going to a corporate supermarket, a corporate bookstore, a chain coffeeshop, a corporate bank... the list goes on and on. As an employee at Chipotle, I know some of you self-righteous ideologues sneakingly visit Chipotle with some bad excuses, so quit with the double standard. Nevertheless, I commend everybody in this discussion and I challenge everybody to scrutinize all business with the same critical eye they use to examine Chipotle. Challenges to corporate America are long overdue. - ErnBro

Well, since you asked, here's my 2 cents. Everything is relative and needs to be taken in context. I'm from the east coast where the mexican food flat out sucks. If a Chipotle were there, I'd be a regular given the large size of the burritos, the taste, and the price. I welcome Chipotle's to raise the par of east coast Mexican food. However, I live in Davis, where there are numerous Mexican restaurants that have burritos for the same price, more variety of fillings, and that are larger and tastier. To boot, they also have full salsa bars and copious amounts of chips. Given that, I don't understand why anyone goes to Chipotle. Its a step down from other Mexican places with no extras to make it appealing. I'm not trying to be insulting, I honestly don't see what it offers that other places don't. Places like Taco Bell and McDonalds aren't good because they're authentic, but because they offer products you can't find at more authentic places (e.g., Nacho Cheese Chalupas and Chicken Nuggets). -CraigBrozinsky

Well I know there has developed practically a church around Guad, and while I do like them, I think their quality (especially in terms of meat) is very uneven. Chipotle's ingredients are just better overall, and this is reflect by their use of certain free-range and organic ingredients. Now I think the overlooked place in Davis is El Mariachi, which is quite fantastic. But if I want a healthy meal, a Burrito bowl with lettuce on the bottom is a good way to go at Chipotle. However, the best Burrito in Sacramento is the Regular (not super) Carne Asada Burrito at the Florin Road Adalbertacos (formerly Adalbertos). This burrito contains only Guacamole, Salsa and Meat. Of course, there are plenty of other places to go if you like "toppings". (Also recommended: California Burrito).

*It may be appropriate to warn that Florin road isn't really a place for people to just WANDER. It's one of the ummm... SKETCHIER areas of Sac.

Comments:

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Hey! That guy is my psc professor! Anyway...I have to say that I have been dissapointed by the food at chipotle both times I have gone there, but then again i'm from a farm town north of Daviswith alarge hispanic population and I have been dissapointed by a lot of the "mexican" places in Davis. I haven't gone to any of the Woodland places yet but Ithink I will try them. The last Time I went to Chipotle the employees were all in bad moods, and they were out of chips and took a long time to make more...there didn't seem to e anyone in charge so one person would say something and another person would say the opposite. The burritos seem to have gotten smaller too for the same price as what I paid last year for a larger burrito. I do like the fact that you can choose your salsaand your beans though.

2006-12-13 21:14:17 If you want consistent Mexican food this is the place. They will not wow you with their culinary creations, but if you want a big burrito for a reasonable price this is where its at. The key to supersizing a burrito I have found is to ask for more than one kind or salsa. Other tricks are coming in when certain workers are on the line because they will load you up! When I'm not in the mood to be adventurous I usually end up here knowing I can get good food everytime. —JohnHumperdinkle

2007-03-17 20:38:30 i ended up here today for no reason other than i had a coupon for a free salad/burrito/tacos/bowls. I was absolutely shocked that the food here was really no worse than any of the other places in Davis. Yes the places in woodland are way better, especially El Paisano Taco Truck, but the food here is decent as compared to the places in davis. Maybe its just because i had such low expectations, but i actually enjoyed this food, partially because it makes no claim to be authentic. —MattHh

2007-03-22 13:41:36 tastes good, but whitewashed, even the burritos are strangely white cause of the jasmine rice —TheStomach

2007-04-05 23:17:39 jasmine rice? not even close. cilantro rice. —CorinneEpley

LOL!!! - joeistheish

2007-05-20 16:08:16 You know, I'm originally from Elk Grove, and I must say that in the realm of yuppy Mexican food - Chipotle is the best. Get medium salsa, barbacoa beef, and extra sour cream if you like spicy stuff. —joeistheish

2007-06-09 22:07:29 Chipotle is pretty delicious. It's definitely american-ized mexican food. Its like the subway of mexican food. All of my roommates and I go there often. One even bought a $100 gift card there. The burritos definitely fill you up. Its fast too. —KyleScollin

"Subway of Mexican food." - Best Description Ever —Tushar

2007-07-24 18:25:12 good but to high of prices but i will be back very good tacos 4 of em for like 6 bucks that is the best deal burrito's are also good —dickjones

2007-09-06 21:15:03 The free drink with student ID promotion was going on during the last month, but has since been discontinued. I love Chipotle, but they have a weird fly infestation at this location. It seems that you can avoid the flies if you sit near the windows, or just not near the middle of the restaurant. Pretty gross . . you would think they would try to do something about that. —MissL

2007-10-19 21:32:37 there chips and salsa are very salty. overall good. —vanessa

2007-12-27 01:20:46 Nothing authentic about the food, but it's good regardless. —thelonepiper555

2008-02-05 00:58:18 Everyone gripes about how many calories are in Chipotle's food and how much fat... what do you expect when you get sour cream and cheese? They're some of the fattiest dairy products. If you get a bowl with everything except sour cream and cheese (no guac either) then it's only 620-650 calories and 4 or 5 grams of fat, which is kind of on the high side, but still not too bad for a whole meal. —HopeBravo

620 calories is not on the high side for a meal. 3 of those a day and most college students would loose weight. People seem to think that this food is really bad for you, but its not worse than most restaurants. They just publicize their nutrition information. -MattHh

2008-02-09 18:21:05 Super sodium. —StellaChiara

2008-02-20 12:49:17 Hot salsa is spicy. It's probably why I still eat there occasionally. It's awesome. I'm a big fan of spice. —CurlyGirl26

2008-02-20 14:27:12 I find their quac inconsistent. It's always good, but sometimes it's super spicy and sometimes it's mild. —ElleWeber

2008-03-28 10:25:43 The people working there seem to have a problem counting. They have given me one less taco in my order on multiple occasions. However, if you don't mind always monitoring your food as it is being made, this is the place to go. Burrito sizes have gotten smaller on average but are surprisingly still bigger than the super at Guadalajara's and the Chips are still over salted. They no longer offer free sodas at all to University students. Overall, the quality of the ingredients used is the best of all Mexican-style restaurants in town.

Still the best place for Burritos and Tacos in town. —senioritis

2008-04-02 21:05:03 I fell in love with this chain when I first tried their burrito in SF. I really love how the meat is soft, but the price is a bit too high for me. The place at my home is lower and gives you tortilla chips too. —Aarolye

2008-04-21 21:30:01 I'm just happy there is one here. Im from Pittsburgh and the closest one to me was in ohio until recently. But who gives a crap if something is "authentic". If its in Davis its obviously not "authentic"...because its in Davis. Do you really think alot of those poor communities in Mexico can afford that type of cheese and sour cream and rice? Just eat it. If its good its good, if its bad its bad, dont go back. If you really want Mexican food...then go to Mexico. If you want Davis food...eat in Davis. —patrick82

2008-05-13 23:42:40 I get the runs every time I eat here without fail. After, oh, I donno, ten times, I stopped eating here. It sucks cause I liked that they use Niman Ranch meat. —JamieParker

2008-07-06 02:37:54 This place is one my favorite spots in town to grab a quick and consisitantly good bite to eat. The corn salsa is sooo good. The food is read so quick I love it. —SeanMartir

2008-08-11 09:05:49 I wouldn't actually call this place "Mexican" cuisine, but they do have burritos, tacos, an d some neat off-menu items you can get if you ask about them. White rice?? Give me a break.

That aside though, this place gives you your money's worth. Huge Burritos, or bowls depending on your taste. About $6.00 gets you a compete meal and out the door in 5 minutes or less if you get the time to go.

3 of 5 stars. —kyle2008

2008-08-12 15:11:55 Anyone know if their rice burritos come with salsa or if its literally just rice? And what about the other things like cheese and sour cream? Let the penny pinching begin! —SunjeetBaadkar

2008-09-29 09:05:10 the rice burrito is just that- rice in a flour tortilla! Anything else you get on it adds to the price, unless the employees are in a gregarious mood. —Aggieanthony

1Source: Business Week, 2005-09-23