Baja Burrito Kitchen in Orlando, FL

Baja Burrito Kitchen was once a local chain of fast food Mexican restaurants with several locations around Central Florida. I always enjoyed the food at the various Baja Kitchens, but for whatever reasons, all but one of the restaurants closed. The only remaining Baja Kitchen is in a shopping center on Colonial Drive in Orlando. It had been years since I had last dined at a Baja Kitchen, but I recently stopped in for dinner. The meal started with some tortilla chips and various salsas. Their salsa bar was always a highlight of a visit to Baja Kitchen. Their fire roasted chipotle, salsa verde, and habanero salsa were my favorites.

I had the Baja Enchiladas for my main course. This came with three cheese filled tortillas, topped with a red enchilada sauce, cheese, and chicken. Black beans, rice, and sour cream were served on the side. There was probably far too much cheese on my plate than I should have eaten in once sitting, but the meal did give me a warm, fuzzy feeling from food memories associated with this dish. This plate of Baja Enchiladas brought back memories attached to when I used to frequent the Baja Kitchens that were once located closer to where I live. It was definitely strange having many memories of various meals with various people from years ago come rushing back, just because I had a particular version of a particular food.

The enchiladas were good, but the rice and beans could have used some improvement. Both were relatively cold and seemed like they were the bottom of the barrel as far as sides go. It was pretty close to Baja Kitchen's closing time when I ate there, but that's no excuse for crunchy rice. Putting aside the mediocre rice and beans, I did enjoy my meal at Baja Kitchen. The meal was somewhat of an unexpected and unscientific exploration into the power of food memories and the result was me being glad that there is still one last Baja Kitchen left in Orlando...