Anatomy of a Burrito(phile)

Then the history lesson: "The traditional way to do it is to slow barbeque it with pineapple on top; while this one doesn't have a whole lot of pineapple-y flavor, it's got that nice, sharp grilled flavor, and they've got onions . . ."

We cut him off to comment on the interesting texture of the onions and to agree with his assessment of the flavor.

"Al pastor can be about the greasiest thing you can get," Dan says. "A lot of times you'll end up with a little puddle at the bottom of your basket. But, on the other hand, it can be a good way to judge a good taqueria from bad. If they can do a good al pastor, the odds are they'll do at least one or two other things well."

He looks at his burrito. "Today, they've done an amazing job with integrating this all the way through," he mentions. "It's about the same proportion of ingredients at the bottom as it was in the beginning -- that's awesome."

He's particularly pleased today, as he says El Castillito has an occasional habit, as do other places, of putting in too much meat and not dispersing it well, to the point where he's experienced bites that are 80%-90% meat. He guesses that keeping the proportions good throughout must be very hard to do. "That's what kills a lot of burritos that I've had," he says.

"A good al pastor burrito is one of the rare pleasures in life," he adds, before correcting himself. "A good burrito is one of the rare pleasures in life."

Cate calls him on that though. "You're exaggerating now," she says. They both laugh; they put a lot of time into this and are dedicated, but they don't take their burritophiling efforts overly seriously. They tend to have fun with it.

No al pastor for Cate -- she's vegetarian, and when the conversation drifts to Papalote on 24th Street, she cites it as having "the best tofu burrito in the city," really emphasizing "tofu," as if sort of saying "whatever that's worth." While she hasn't gotten around to posting an official review of that up on Burritophile, she lauds that they actually marinate the tofu. While she enjoys that burrito, she's not always excited about vegetarian options. "Things like 'soyrizo' can be a little intense," she says.

We asked their preference--rice or no rice? After all, many of our past commenters on SFist have derided the use of rice in a burrito. But rice is okay with Dan and Cate, who say that it's beneficial for purposes of structural integrity and can also help with grease reduction (perhaps in the situation with al pastor mentioned above). So long as its something akin to a flavorful Spanish rice, and not some kind of bland white rice or "the cilantro-lime rice from Chipotle," they think a burrito can generally benefit from it. Though, Dan adds, lettuce in a burrito is criminal.

"Why would you put something in that's cold and makes things wetter?" he remarks.

While they aren't sure what direction Burritophile will go in as far as the revenue generation sense, Cate says providing the service is the main point.

"If we never made a dime off of it, it'd be fantastic--if it works," she says. There were 610 reviews on Burritophile (combined editorial and user) the day we met at El Castillito -- barely three weeks later, there are already far more. If the trend keeps going, they could be well on their way.

We asked what burrito places they'd consider "must eats"; those few places that it's a crime if you're a San Francisco resident and have not tried. Dan and Cate both mention Cuco's at 488 Haight St., which they consider to be their "home burrito base" (and both rated a "9"). As a vegetarian, Cate's particularly enamored of Cuco's plantain burrito, which Dan also lauds as "one of the great undiscovered things in San Francisco." He also enjoys the pollo asado, saying it's fantastic.

"The meat is sliced right off the bone into your burrito," he says.

Dan also mentions that, "You can't go wrong where you're sitting right now." Undoubtedly comforting to SFist Cedric, Dan and Cate agree that the Castillito at Church Street and Market is "amazing." Dan's favorite place is still down in Mountain View, near where he grew up--Taqueria Los Charros (naturally, a "10"!).

"Still the best carnitas I've ever had," he says, "bar none."

Dan enjoys Taqueria San Francisco; Cate differs with him on this one. "From the vegetarian point of view, it's not really worth it," she says.

It's no coincidence they haven't mentioned some of the better-known places.

"I'll go on record and say that the places everybody says are great kinda aren't that good," Dan says, specifically citing Pancho Villa, El Farolito, and Cancun as those that don't lived up to the hype.

Ultimately, the folks from Burritophile tell us that finding the "best burrito" comes down to what one is looking for--if you ask them for a place where the al pastor is great, they can tell you--however, "best burrito" is probably too open ended. And that, in essence, is why a site like Burritophile, with detailed editorial and reader reviews from all over the place, can prove to be very, very useful.