A Tale of Two Burritos

I've been a fiercely loyal fan of Anna's Taqueria for as long as I can remember. My first taste was many years ago at the Harvard Street location in Brookline, long before they expanded not only the size of that location but their footprint in the city. Super chicken with black beans, sour cream and jalapenos was my go to burrito. I'd mix it up occasionally with a super steak, but that was rare. Going to Anna's has always been about the experience, at peak periods it's akin to Seinfeld's Soup Nazi. From the tortilla steamer on down the line, your burrito, taco or quesadilla is built right in front of you. Watch your burrito built up and expertly rolled before taking a seat to eat.

I've never lived very close to any of the Anna's locations so stopping in was always a treat. It was almost always on a weekend, until I started working in Cambridge, a mere ten minute walk from the MGH/Beacon Hill location. Anna's is now an almost weekly staple in my lunch diet, and I am fiercely loyal. I've been vocal about my lack of love for Boloco, Qdoba will do when there is no Anna's around, and Chipotle, well, they are a former McDonald's start up, don't get me going on how I feel about McDonalds. I've also moved on from chicken and almost exclusively order the carnitas, its the best I've had, anywhere, until recently.

There are many other independently owned and operated taquerias in Boston. La Verdad turns out some of the best, no, the best tacos in the city and incredibly reasonable prices, $1 a piece on Tuesday's when the Red Sox are out of town during the baseball season. There is also El Pelon, an institution with a following as fiercely loyal as those that love Anna's. Unfortunately their Fens location suffered a great fire shutting it down some time ago. I hear they are about to open back up in the very near future but they also opened a new location on Comm Ave across from Boston College. I never visited El Pelon in the city before the fire, and never visited the Boston College location, until last night.

On my way home from the city, having forgone dinner for a couple after work cocktails at Eastern Standard, I decided to detour onto Comm Ave and stop in for a burrito at El Pelon. Let me first by stating that there is no experience at El Pelon, I don't know what it was like at the Fens spot pre-fire, but at the Boston College location, the burritos are rolled behind a high counter top. There is no watching the assembly of your burrito, there is no experience. However, the carnitas burrito, with hot sauce, no sour cream, was great. Seriously. I felt like I was cheating on Anna's because I enjoyed it so much. The carnitas was tender, not a dry piece to be found. It was big, spicy, and delicious. But again, no burrito experience.

In this tale of two burritos, Anna's wins. I have only this one El Pelon experience so I can't speak to the consistency of their flavors, texture and rolling, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that since they too have very loyal followers, they're doing something right. The edge goes to Anna's though, for the great burritos AND the great burrito experience.

Stop in to any one of Anna's locations and see for yourself. You won't be disappointed. For comparisons sake, head over to El Pelon too. When you've tried both, let's talk.

Better than a Fast Food Burger

Two of my favorite burger joints are out west in California - The Counter and In-N-Out Burger. I'm waiting for the day that one of them opens an outpost in Boston but I'm not holding my breath. There are plenty of good burger joints in Boston though, and UBurger is one of them. Opened in 2006 to much fanfare and billed as the closest thing to In-N-Out Burger on the east coast, it took me two and a half years to finally walk through their doors. The date was April 19th, 2009 and I was on my way to an early season Red Sox game against the Baltimore Orioles. Looking for something quick in Kenmore Square, I ended up at UBurger with my friend Mike.

With an assortment of burgers, chicken, hot dogs and salads on their everyday menu, there is plenty to choose from. They also have a specials board with a nod to the local boys of summer. There is the Big Papi burger with cheddar cheese, guacamole, jalapenos and chipotle sauce - I wonder if the beef comes from cattle injected with steroids? There is also the All-Star burger with cheddar, swiss, grilled mushrooms, jalapenos and BBQ sauce. But I went for the UBecket, a 1/4 pound patty with pepper jack, grilled onions and mushrooms, and BBQ sauce. Mmm mmm good.

The bun on my UBecket was nice and soft and slightly grilled and the burger was nice and juicy. The grilled onions and mushrooms were cooked well and the pepperjack while peppery was not hot. The BBQ sauce was good, but nothing I would want to slather on a rack of ribs. I also split an order of french fries and onion rings with Mike. Both the fries and rings were crispy, salty, and cooked perfectly; UBurger knows how to make a great onion ring!

Although not quite In-N-Out Burger, UBurger did crank out some good burgers, fries, onion rings, and shakes. I ordered a mocha shake to wash everything down and it was thick and rich just like a good shake should be. The next time you find yourself in Kenmore Square and you're craving a burger, or onions rings, or a good shake, check out UBurger, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

UBurger
636 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 536-0448

Tacos Schmacos

So Taco Bell got their money's worth in advertising with their Steal a Base. Steal a Taco promotion. They gave away their free tacos, people waited in line for almost an hour in some places I hear. People, it was a 77¢ taco!

Anyway, I said I was going to go but I never did. There is a lot of controversy over all of the essentially free advertising that Taco Bell got with the announcers and players talking about the promotion throughout the World Series. So with that, I'm done. Taco Bell you can give away your free tacos but I will no longer be your messenger.

Red Sox World Champs!!

Free Taco Update

So Game 1 of the World Series is over and the Red Sox take a COMMANDING 1-0 lead in the series by winning 13-1. Fantastic.

No stolen bases though so no free taco. During the FOX broadcast, the Sounds of the Game caught Coco Crisp and Royce Clayton discussing the MLB/Taco Bell promotion, check this out: