I have invented the word to describe American burritos

[pseydtonne]

"Rito."

A coworker and I were trying to explain Boloco to Stabby. This is a local burrito chain which doesn't quite fathom Mexican food. It has a honky's concept of what goes on flour flatbread: a prominent entry on the menu is a peanut butter and jelly burrito. It's listed as a snack on their menu, which is on their web site but I'm not giving them the additional advertisement of a hyperlink.

Stabby is Colombian, so I knew he would never want to go to Boloco unless he needed to pick a fight. I tried to explain that it's almost as bad as Qdoba but he had never heard of that either. He's pretty hard core about his Latin American food because he's used to the good stuff. This is why he doesn't even bother looking for it here in Boston and instead focuses on cheeseburgers.

The coworker and I decided we needed a name to describe the honky version of a burrito. It needed to be a short name so that people would be likely to say it.

"Well, we shorten everything," he summarized. We then looked at the ground for a moment.

"Rito!" I said as I smacked a cabinet. "That's it. We're done here."

Tell your friends, spread the word: Tacos Lupita has burritos, Anna's has burritos, but anything below that level is a rito.

-please comment below, Ps/d

Comments

That's a wrap

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

It's just semantics. While I find it odd myself, the fact remains that for many, a "burrito" is food served in a tortilla, that's all. Personally, I think of burritos as Mexican food and use the existing word "wraps" for the other kind. Boloco used to be "The Wrap", in fact, but apparently people thought a wrap meant cold food, not hot, so they changed it. I find the whole thing sort of odd.

Half-assed web "research" confirmed that the basic definition of burrito as "food wrapped in a tortilla" is reasonably valid, though.

Re: That's a wrap

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

That explains why that one Boloco in Harvard Square used to be The Wrap. Whenever I see that name I think of moloko from A Clockwork Orange without the classiness of drugs.

In contrast, I was thinking of 'rito' as an American trying to be tortilla-riffic but failing. Also, I think of wraps as handling cold food while ritos are hot food. That would put the PB&J back on the wrap stack, too.

Oh yeah, and I need to call you about house stuff.

Re: That's a wrap

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Heheh. It stands for BOston LOcal COmpany.

I wonder if the definition of a "wrap" is a regional thing.

Re: That's a wrap

[gravitrue.livejournal.com]

And most Americans probably think Iranians are Arabs.

[fangirl715.livejournal.com]

What about Picante in Central Square (and formerly Davis Sq. as well)? I like their burritos a lot better than Anna's, plus they have chipotle salsa, which is really just a sauce and is very yummy...also, Herrera's (off carts downtown & in a small restaurant on weekdays on Temple Place) is pretty good, too.

Before I forget--I keep meaning to give you a call about various shows, a possible dinner party, etc. etc. etc., so give me a holler, OK?

[gravitrue.livejournal.com]

Picante is my bench-mark for simply not a burrito.
I've found cauliflower and potatoes in their "burritos".
Boloco sounds even less authentic.

[adaptively.livejournal.com]

I'm probably going to be lynched for this, but...Anna's burritos are fucking gross.

The beans are all soggy and suspended in a questionable oily liquid, which is then transferred to the burrito, leaks out the bottom, and gets all over you, the chicken always has gristle and fat hanging out inside to surprise you when you choke, and they never put enough bloody cheese on my quesadillas.

Oh no, it's not just the Davis one, either. I puked up burrito all over the doorstep of the Porter Square one in front of a bunch of SKUL kids. They gave me a refund for the sandwich, yes, but I'll never get my street cred back. :(

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

You're allowed to vomit Anna's burritos. I learned the best way to eat there is to order a quesadilla (because it gets some cooking), then toss in the beans (which they never cook enough because they hope they'll soften from sitting in a bucket of water all day), rice, hot sauce, salsa, and random meat. In other words, that's the burrito.

The longer I have diabetes, the pickier I get about food. I used to eat nearly anything. Now I look too much at food to find out what it will do to my body. Thus I have been a lot more meat salads for lunch and I try to keep the food craziness to myself because it's usually only interesting to me.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

San Fransisco has set my personal standard for burritoes (since that's the closest I've gotten to South America). Thankfully we've got a Guatemalian place on Moody that's very reminicient of SF burrito joints and inexpensive to boot.

[gravitrue.livejournal.com]

I don't think the word needs to be short to be used;
"honky burrito", or better yet, "gringo burrito" has the same sort of
whimsical yet informative quality as "yuppie food stamps".