Baja Tavern in Port Canaveral, FL

I was in Port Canaveral looking for lunch. The person who I ate with had some sort of inside information that the best restaurant in the port was supposedly called Baja Tavern.

 We ate on the patio overlooking the water. For some reason this entire restaurant, inside and out, stunk like old lady perfume. Restaurants shouldn't have overpowering smells of anything.

I had the Big Bang Burrito. This was filled with fried shrimp, lettuce, tomato, cabbage, carrots, and a bang bang sauce. The shrimp had some nice flavor on the batter, but otherwise the burrito was boring and dry. The bang bang sauce seemed non-existent. Tortilla chips and salsa were served on the side.

Before I left the restaurant, I used the restroom. I noticed they had racist email jokes hanging on the bathroom walls. Is it wise to potentially offend some of your customers? The food here was forgettable and the stinky perfume smell was overpowering. I don't think I'll be back any time soon...

Lime Fresh Mexican Grill in Orlando, FL

I had lunch at Lime Fresh Mexican Grill in the Dr. Phillips/Restaurant Row neighborhood of Orlando. This Mexican chain has been in the area for a couple of years now, but I had not visited any of their locations until now. Unlike the other big burrito places, Lime had a set menu instead of the assembly line style of fast-food Mexican food that is done by Chipotle/Qdoba/Moe's.

I ordered the Lime Burrito. This consisted of a tortilla filled with chicken, refried beans, cheese, sour cream, and lettuce. The burrito was alright, although a bit forgettable. Nothing really stood out and for some reason the refried beans reminded me of a Taco Bell burrito. Other burritos on the menu did have black beans, but not this particular one. Nothing is wrong with refried beans, but it did have the Taco Bell connotation. The chips served on the side seemed a bit too hard and somewhat stale. Overall, the food burrito I tried at Lime Fresh Mexican Grill was alright for what it was, but I don't think I'll go rushing back to try them again anytime soon.

California Tortilla in Washington DC

Another Washington DC restaurant. I ended up at a Mexican chain called California Tortilla for this meal. I ordered the Havana Chicken Burrito. As described by their menu, this was flame-grilled mesquite chicken, black beans, our spicy low-fat Havana sauce (with a touch of lime), Mexican rice, romaine lettuce, and fresh salsa. As far as fast food burritos go, this was tasty but nothing exceptional. I enjoyed the burrito but it was forgettable as to it wasn't anything I couldn't get at countless other burrito places. I ordered the combo, meaning the burrito came with tortilla chips and queso. 

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...

Ancho Burrito Company in Altamonte Springs, FL

I tried Ancho Burrito Company in the Altamonte Mall food court. This place followed the Chipotle's model where you tell the person behind the counter how you want your burrito filled. I went with a chicken burrito, filled with rice, black beans, lettuce, onions, jalapenos, sauce, and other fillings. The burrito was pretty tasty, although it was really moist. So much so that all the liquid in the burrito soaked through the tortilla and started to fall apart. I think they needed to drain their beans a bit more before putting them in the burrito. Chips and salsa were served on the side.

Da Kine Diego's Insane Burritos in Satellite Beach, FL

Da Kine Diego's Insane Burritos is a fun little burrito place in Satellite Beach. The restaurant was listed as the #1 place for cheap eats on Urbanspoon in the Melbourne area, so I figured it was worth a try!

 

Da Kine Diego's had a really cool eating area with giant palm umbrellas over their outdoor seating. It also looked like they had a screen set up behind the restaurants to potentially show movies. 

 

The line winding out the door when I arrived was a good sign that this place was worth a visit. 

I had one of the Insane Burritos filled with chicken, beans, rice, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and salsa. The burrito was quite large, equivalent to what the chains like Chipotle give if they're generous. It was also served with a nice little instructional card about how to properly eat the burrito for the uninformed.

The burrito was good, especially with the addition of the hot sauces that were kept up front by the kitchen. My only complaint was with the cheese, which had somewhat of a slight metallic taste. I've been told this is the taste of the anti-caking agents in pre-shredded cheeses. The cheese at Moe's has the same flavor, and here it took a few points away from an otherwise excellent burrito. The cheese didn't detract enough from keeping me from returning either, because this place was pretty nifty otherwise!

Habaneros Mexican Grill in Winter Park, FL

My dinner goal was to get some chicken from La Granja, but they had closed for the night. That meant my hunger drifted next door to the Habaneros Mexican Grill near the intersection of Semoran and Aloma in Winter Park. This restaurant was an Amigos the last time I was here, but I had been to some of Habaneros other locations and liked them. Turned out this place was better when it was Amigos and the food was subpar compared to the other Habaneros a few miles up the road in Casselberry.

I had one of their dinner combinations which came with a chicken burrito, a chicken enchilada, and a chili relleno. It should have been good, but everything on the plate was flavorless. The burrito and enchilada were both filled with dry, bland chicken. The sauces on top tasted like tomato paste and not much else. The chili (which the waitress warned was really spicy) was like a soggy cheese covered bell pepper.

The other two people that I ate here with both had similar sentiments about their food as well. I don't think I'd go back to this Habaneros when the one in Casselberry serves food that actually has some flavor to it...

Grass Root in Lakeland, FL

I had lunch at an organic vegan restaurant called Grass Root in Lakeland. Located in a little house off Florida Ave, I was interested to see how Lakeland did vegan food...

I ordered their burrito off the raw section of the menu. This burrito was filled with avocado, tomato, onions, and something that resembled a meat-free version of ground beef. It was all wrapped in a romaine lettuce leaf and topped with a vegan creamy sauce and fake parmesan cheese.

The burrito was tasty enough, but it wasn't the best value in my opinion. Many cheaper sandwiches on the menu came with sides, but yet this burrito that cost almost $10 was served looking lonely on a big plate. Perhaps I would have loved this place if I was vegan, but as an omnivore, I wasn't too impressed. There was too much focus on the menu about making non-meat food taste like and resemble meat. I've been to vegan restaurants that don't try to make their food something it's not, and some of them have awesome food. Unfortunately, Grass Root wasn't one of these. Food was okay for what it was, but not worth going out of my way to return for...

Vámonos in Lake Mary, FL

I picked up some takeout from Vámonos in the Colonial Town Center in Heathrow. Vámonos is a new fast food Mexican restaurant that is attempting to follow the Chipotle/Qdoba/Moe's restaurant model. The menu initially looked good with nice selection of meats to choose from, but it turned out Vámonos only had three of the eight meats available. I know nothing about running a restaurant, but I imagine it's probably not a good sign if you don't have the majority of the menu at dinnertime.
I brought home a vegetarian platter for someone else, consisting of rice, beans, pico de gallo, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, lettuce, and a side of corn tortillas. I didn't taste it, but I didn't hear any complaints about it either.

I got a chicken burrito for myself. The tortilla was filled with shredded chicken, black beans, rice, guacamole, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, and a spicy salsa.

I also wanted the grilled fajita style peppers and onions on my burrito as well. Turned out Vámonos was out of these too. There was no offer to heat up some fresh veggies...

Vámonos had a tasty burrito, but as a whole, the restaurant was out of way too much food. Because of this, I don't know if I'll rush back any time soon. I could go to Chipotle or Qdoba for an equally tasty burrito and also expect these restaurants to have the food offered on their menus...

Qdoba at UCF

I had a pulled pork burrito from Qdoba in the UCF Student Union. I've had pork tacos before, but never a pork burrito, and never from a big chain. The burrito was stuffed with pulled pork, peppers, onions, black beans, rice, salsa, sour cream, and cheese. The pork did taste okay, but I don't think I would order it again. Too much meat in a restaurant where my favorite menu item is the vegetarian burrito. The lack of guacamole is what really killed the burrito for me, but it wasn't worth $1.50 in my opinion to have a little scoop of mashed avocado added.

Taco Mayo

In Oklahoma City and the surrounding areas, there seemed to be a chain of Mexican fast food restaurants that were all over the place called Taco Mayo. They were more prevalent than the bigger chains like Taco Bell and Qdoba, so I decided to give them a try one afternoon at a restaurant in Yukon, OK. I ordered a Verde Queso Double Smothered Burrito. It consisted of chicken, cheese, and rice wrapped in a tortilla. The burrito was then covered with a green sauce and more cheese. The cheese covered burrito was served with refried beans, pico de gallo, and sour cream.


As far as Mexican fast food goes, this was definitely a step above Taco Bell. It was a huge amount of food for $5.29, and it all tasted pretty good. I wonder how long before Taco Mayos start showing up in other parts of the country, specifically Florida?

Salsa2go at UCF

I was over at UCF and got hungry so I stopped by a relatively new restaurant that opened at the school called Salsa2go. It's an outdoor snack bar type restaurant that specializes in Mexican food. I ordered a chicken burrito on a chipotle flavored tortilla. The burrito was filled with chicken, lettuce, and jalapenos. I would have liked to try the homemade salsa that this place apparently makes but none was offered. Salsa2go should really have a list of the burrito toppings that are available on their menu.

The burrito itself was good but for some reason it reminded me of food served at sporting events. I couldn't quite place why this was, but the burrito had more of a high school concession stand feel than a Mexican restaurant feel. Not to say this was a bad thing though. Like I said, the burrito was tasty. The chicken had a nice flavor and the jalapenos added some spice. Besides from not trying the salsa, I had no complaints about this burrito.

Lake Mary Chipotle

I brought home takeout from the Chipotle in Lake Mary, FL. I had a vegetarian burrito, stuffed with rice, black beans, roasted peppers & onions, hot salsa, corn, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and lettuce, all wrapped in a tortilla. The burrito was huge, and I'm guessing there was probably a day's worth of calories in there, even though it's a healthy vegetarian burrito.


I really wouldn't mind getting meat in the burrito, but then it's a trade off with the guacamole. They charge over a dollar to put a little scoop of mashed avocado in a meat burrito, which really isn't worth it in my opinion. If given a choice between meat or guacamole, I would choose the guacamole over meat any day.

Chipotle Vegetarian Burrito

I had a vegetarian burrito from the Chipotle in Lake Mary, FL. Here are two fun Chipotle facts that most people don't realize.
1- They don't use real cheese. They instead use a soy-based tofu cheese so it's vegan friendly.
2- It started out as an independent restaurant. Then McDonalds bought Chipotle's and expanded it all over the country, and has since sold the company.

Taco Bell Chicken Jalapeno Melt

I had a Chicken Jalapeno Melt from Taco Bell in Lake Mary, FL. It tasted okay, but that meat really didn't look like chicken to me...

Qdoba Vegetarian Burrito

Had a coupon for buy a burrito, get one free from Qdoba. I used it at the Sanford, FL location and ate a vegetarian burrito.

Why no meat? Because the vegetarian burrito is the only one they have where guacamole is included rather than an additional $1.35 on top of the price of the burrito.

Maitland, Florida Qdoba...

I ate a burrito from the Qdoba in Maitland, Florida. The mall that the store was in was extremely tricky to get into, and we were the only people eating in the restaurant at dinner time. I don't see the store surviving because of this.

I had a chicken burrito. It was tasty enough...