Qdoba is Experimenting with Smothered Burritos
Qdoba just posted this startling image on its Instagram page:
Will this change the burrito game?
For some people, yes.
Not for me, though.
If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s eating a burrito with a fork and knife. It just feels too proper. Burritos are meant to be DEVOURED.
Smothered burritos inevitably end up taking the form of a burrito bowl. The tortilla is IMPOSSIBLE to deal with in this circumstance; the bottom half stubbornly REFUSES to cut neatly on the first attempt, especially if you’re using a plastic knife. You have to REALLY put some elbow grease into it.
Ready to finally take a bite?
Not so fast.
The tortilla, which was a massive endeavor just to cut, is even harder to pick up with a fork. You gotta take a few stabs at it before you realize that the dominant strategy is to fold the tortilla piece in half with your fork so that it will actually stick. With the tortilla finally safely on the fork, you gotta make a play at the burrito fillings and toppings, deftly aiming to pick up as much as you can without losing the tortilla you worked so hard to tame.
The benefit to the smothered burrito and the mess it causes is that it gives you the option to choose your flavor combination in every bite; Chipotle and Qdoba usually assemble their burritos such that each bite will be dominated by one or two of the burrito’s ingredients as opposed to an even distribution where you get a little bit of everything.
Savvy eaters, though, can accomplish this even distribution in their burrito by politely asking the final assembly line employee to mix everything together. You might get a weird look but this is 8737279 times better than having to eat your burrito with a fork and knife.
If you ARE the type of person who enjoys eating Mexican food all primly and properly, there’s a better way: order a burrito bowl and ask for the tortilla on the side. Then, rip the tortilla apart with your hands, drop the cut pieces into your burrito bowl, and stir. This method saves you the undue frustration of using a knife. The tortilla will still be a little difficult to handle with the fork but some obstacles are unavoidable.