Full Value Review | Chipotle Grill Review, Temecula Ca

CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL – FOOD REVIEW

MR. PETE

From the song, ‘Mr. Pete’, you know I take my ‘munchies’ seriously, and from some of my columns, you know I look for the ‘quirky’, the interesting, the trendy. Here in Temecula, trendy is all around, but good trendy, that’s the deal. My latest discovery came about one day as I was cruising around town with a friend who informed me that he had eaten at a CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL up in Orange County. Now I have an observation about things and people from Orange County. In a lot of ways it’s like a little New York City with its boroughs, a lot of people compressed into a small space, a distillation process so to speak. What comes from there always bears a closer look and can never be taken as typical. The same is true of this restaurant. Let me read you the enticing restaurant description from their take out menu titled,

SAVOR THE CONTRADITIONS

The ingredients are the finest available.

The price is affordable.

The preparation takes hours.

The service is instant.

The focus is burritos and tacos.

The choice is endless.

You move through a quick line to order.

You sit and relax as long as you like.

The food is fresh and hot.

The atmosphere is cool.

Gourmet food

you eat with your hands.

And so that’s how it is. You have burritos and tacos that you can receive in a number of different combinations. You get the feel from the simple menu and stainless steel décor and seating that you might well be in a juice bar, especially being right across the walkway from the Starbuck’s along Margarita Road outside the Promenade Mall just south of the Krispy Kreme drive-in donut shop. Whether fitting into a historic urban setting or adding life into a trendy spot like the Mall, each CHIPOTLE, like the meal you order, is designed to suit its locale. Credit this to Brand Gould (no kin to Bill, so no bro hookups) who is Director of Design and Development. His motto is ‘blend in to stand out’. The service is So Cali friendly, the prices are reasonable, and the food is very good. I’ve been there twice and had the fajita burrito with chicken, which is bigger than a broomball and twice as heavy, for all you Minnesotans out there, including Jesse Ventura, though he’d probably eat two. Prepared just the way you like it is a treat because the preparation is done well and in plain sight, like at Subway. Your choice of salsa, added as they build your CHIPOTLE feast, insures that you taste all the mouthwatering flavors in the best epicurean fashion. I’m not, however, the only person who knows this place is worth the walk from the other side of the Mall. Though only recently opened there was a constant causal flow of customers both eating there and take-out, each time I was there. No sandwiches, no fries, just burritos, fajita burritos, burrito bols (bowl replacing the tortilla wrap), and tacos, to which you can add carnitas (seasoned free-range pork), barbacoa (spicy shredded beef), grilled marinated chicken, grilled marinated steak, and the vegetarian, done with fresh made guac and black beans. Or to put it in CHIPOTLE logic: 2 things, thousands of ways. – PT ROTHSCHILD, Full Value Review (.com), www.chipotle.com