Liv Cafe & Bistro (River and Campbell)

How about a nice little Sunday planned by the wife? That is how this burrito adventure started out. St. Philip's Plaza is host to some finer casual dining experiences and a weekly Sunday farmer's market. The farmer's market starts at 8am and features some great produce, fresh eggs, meat, baked goods, hot sauces, salsas, and some great jam. Coincidentally it also has a cafe that may or may not serve up a tasty breakfast burrito. Let's check it out!

Liv Cafe & Bistro is definitely not my normal "get it to-go" breakfast burrito stop. We sat outside on the patio with the dog and ordered the Arizona Burrito. Like all fancy places, we were given silverware, a side of salsa (it comes standard, no hassling for it), and the burrito was cut in half on a bias^[1]. Enough atmosphere set-up Bill Shakespeare, let's get to the goods!, says You.

The menu lets you know exactly what you are getting, so no worries about the potato situation. The Arizona Burrito comes standard with chorizo, eggs, potatoes (more on these in a second), cheese, and roasted chilies. All ingredients come wrapped in a wheat tortilla that is grilled and toasty when served. The featured flavors of this burrito would be the chorizo and the potatoes. The chorizo is semi-spicy and not dry, just the right amount to go with the non-dominant cheese and egg. The potatoes, however, shine above all. I think they are a grilled potato like hashbrowns, giving a good crunch with each bite. More amazingly is that the potatoes line around the inside of the burrito, so no "last bite potato bite" experience.

Final verdict: The Arizona Burrito stands out as a good slow weekend morning burrito. Grab a coffee and enjoy the burrito on the patio instead of jamming it in your face while you drive home.

Haiku!
Fancy burrito
dining al fresco (outside)
The wife wants more jam.

Burrito Thoughts and Other Comments

• Cost: $6.50 - most expensive yet!
• Weight: I'm already crazy enough - not bringing the scale to a restaurant...yet.
• I added guac, I'm unsure if it's worth it. You will want to taste the chorizo so I say "skip the guac, America."
• Non-burrito-but-taco-related news: On a scale of Nerds Cereal to KFC Double Down, how worth it is Taco Bell Doritos Locos Taco?

Know Your Burrito Vocab
^[1]On a bias - fancy talk for "diagonal" this actually serves a useful purpose. Usually each burrito bite pushes the remaining filling ingredients deeper into the tortilla, setting up your breakfast experience for a burrito blowout. The diagonal cut reduces the amount of filling that shifts down, possibly averting disaster.

Nico's Mexican Food (Broadway and Kolb)

This is my second Nico's review, but a review of a Nico's that I have frequented many times. I usually end up ordering a breakfast burrito, but when dinner needs to be quick I grab one of their other burrito offerings. Which leads me to my first discussion item: Nico's menu.

Their menu is devoid of ingredient breakdown. If I order the green chili burrito, what am I getting? Will there be cheese in the burrito? Some other veggie? These things matter! My wife took a chance once and ordered the California burrito, so like the coward I am I just swallow my pride and sheepishly order "one California please" if it's after 3pm.

However(!), their breakfast burrito menu tells you exactly what you're getting. There are no "are there potatoes?" concerns or any other ingredient ambiguities. Why did they choose to do this? Is it because people are passionate about their breakfast burrito contents? Or are people too cranky in the morning and Nico's headquarters ordered the menu change after too many complaints? I applaud the ingredient listing because I don't have to worry about the potato situation^[1].

For this burrito, I changed it up a bit. I understand it will be more difficult to compare Nico's around town by ordering different burritos. Oh well. I felt like something new and different, and Mexican Omelet was the best choice. Full disclosure: the menu says Mexican Omelet does NOT contain potatoes.

Burrito size and tortilla doneness were about the same as the ham burrito I previously reviewed. However, the egg is a little different. Instead of scrambled, it's kept together and flat, like an omelet. A light pico de gallo and cheese is added to the omelet. Interestingly, when the egg is rolled into the tortilla to make the burrito, it's almost like having an omelet within the tortilla, which is probably their intention. It's like a double-decker taco from Taco Bell, but without the refried beans, hard taco shell, and other Taco Bell grossness. OK, it's a pretty far cry from a Taco Bell double-decker taco. It's probably more like a turducken.

I do enjoy the egg and omelet fillings that make up this burrito. There was a slight problem with the pico de gallo mixing with the cheese to create a yellowish liquid that started to threaten a tortilla blowout, but I was able to avoid that catastrophe. The pico de gallo had a noticeable cilantro content. I like cilantro but I know many people who think it's gross, giving off some kind of a B.O. flavoring. I'm glad I'm not one of those people, but I always find it interesting when sneaky cilantro shows up, ready to polarize the eating populace.

Last time, the red salsa water left me wanting so I opted for two green salsa tubs. The green salsa is a little more like a traditional salsa verde, but it doesn't really add too much to the burrito or flavor of its own. I would rather have the uninspiring red salsa or no salsa at all.

Final Verdict: The Mexican Omelet surprises and is quite tasty! My full stomach feeling may not have lasted as long due to no breakfast meat or potato, but I did enjoy the whole experience. Save the environment and opt for no salsa.

Haiku!
Another Nico's
helps out late at night. Fourth meal.
Go to sleep with smiles.

Burrito Thoughts and Other Comments

• Cost: $4.54 ($4.91 with tax)
• Weight: Nuts! I forgot to weigh it.
• Would horchata go with a breakfast burrito? I'm always tempted but I feel like the cinnamon sweetness would not go with egg and cheese.

Know Your Burrito Vocab
^[1]Potato situation - feeling of concern or dread while anticipating whether or not the breakfast burrito you just ordered will contain potatoes.

Nico's Mexican Food (Broadway and Park Place Mall-ish)

There are quite a few "Nico's" around Tucson. Some are "Nico's Mexican Food" and others are "Nico's Taco Shop." Is there a difference? I honestly have no idea, but I guess I will try to figure out this age-old mystery through my burrito travels. Or if you're one of my millions of readers and you know this information, please leave your wisdom in the comments section. For now, until I see a difference I will assume they are the same place but I'll put the actual store name in the title of my review.

I'm having an embarrassingly difficult time getting a decent burrito picture on each review. I'll keep trying but this blogging technology is confusing. I enjoy the olden days when I just had a directory full of pictures and dumped them in there.

Nico's is a staple around Tucson, be it from the quantity of locations or their late-night availability of green chili burritos. I'm trying to judge breakfast burritos, so let's see how they did. How about my usual ham?

The burrito is a great size - just a bit too much but the correct size if you're starving. To me, that's the perfect burrito size. Ingredients are good, not great, and the overall burrito falls on the dry side. That's not bad, as long as the joint offers good salsa. Unfortunately that's where Nico's lacks. The red salsa is vinegary and not chunky. A small amount of spice is added but also a bit of oiliness. I call this salsa, salsa water^[1].

I was offered one tub of salsa for my burrito. My wife had a sausage burrito and enjoyed it. She has also had a chorizo burrito at one point in the past and didn't care for it. The chorizo completely dominates the burrito experience. We ended up putting our own salsa on the burrito and enjoyed it much more.

Final Verdict: A good but not great burrito. Good because of its size, not great because it needs salsa from an outside source.

Haiku!
Red salsa or green,
doesn't matter, it's water.
Vinegar is strong.

Burrito Thoughts and Other Comments

• Cost: $4.53? I think that is the price. A little expensive.
• Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Ham, egg, potato, cheese. At least I didn't have to add this place to the potato mystery.
• Monsoon in Tucson! However, I haven't decided if I like low-humidity mornings or cooler evenings due to rain.

Know Your Burrito Vocab
^[1]Salsa water - an offering of salsa that contains no chunks.

The Taco Shop (Broadway and N Highland)

Friends have told me, "The Taco Shop has great Mexican food!" I don't know if that says anything good or bad about my friends, but if I'm doing to do this burrito thing right I might as well take ANY recommendation as a good recommendation.

The Taco Shop has a handful of locations around Tucson. Situated on the South side of Broadway, The Taco Shop is a bright green and white building set aside from the road. I was driving my car with the non-working driver's window, so I stopped inside for my order. Here's a pleasant note: SALSA BAR!

Enough chit-chat, let's get to the burrito specifics! If you haven't noticed, I like ham breakfast burritos. The egg and cheese combination was gooey, something I haven't yet experienced whilst reviewing previous burrito joints. The tortilla was soft and flavorful but I'm not sure if I prefer a drier (flakier?) tortilla. In all, the tortilla doneness^[1] didn't add or subtract from the burrito as a whole, so I'm rating it a moot point.

While I'm on the subject, let's talk about tortillas. First off, forget about the corn variety since they have no place in the breakfast burrito world. As I see it, there are two options: crap-major-brand-grocery-store "feel like a pita" and awesome-flavorful made in Tucson/Southwest/Mexico. I'm sure there are good major brand tortillas, I just haven't found them. For those who haven't used the awesome kind, you definitely need to heat them up (microwave or griddle) before wrapping them in gooey egg and cheese goodness. This is where tortilla doneness comes into play. The time spent cooking on the griddle determines if the tortilla is more raw or flaky. My guess is that tortilla doneness is a personal preference, so I'll note what I encounter in my reviews and let the reader (you) decide.

No potatoes in this burrito but they may be added for an extra 50 cents.

Final verdict: A solid burrito with a good gooey egg and cheese combination. This is a great stop for a quick breakfast.

Haiku!
Gooey cheese and egg.
Po-tay-to, po-tah-to...cost?
We will never know.

Burrito Thoughts and Other Comments

• Cost: $3.29
• Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Salsa: SALSA BAR! Although it was more of a HOT SAUCE BAR since there was no chunky salsa.
• Speediness: this was 7AM, so no line and delivery was fast.
• What's up with the potatoes? Viva charges extra to REMOVE potatoes and The Taco Shop charges extra to ADD potatoes. Why? Is it the implementation? Does Viva add more egg/cheese to fill the missing potato-space? I generally don't deviate from the normal order, so I don't know the answer.
• How many other pages on the Internet have the word "gooey" as many times as this one and are still safe for work?

Know Your Burrito Vocab
^[1]Tortilla doneness - degree to which a tortilla has been heated up. Doneness may range from soft and raw to flaky.

Viva Burrito (Broadway and Camino Seco)

Bean, bacon, ham, machaca, steak, sausage, Viva Burrito has a great variety of breakfast burritos for you. At $2.59 per burrito it's also a very good deal.

I pass by a couple of Viva Burritos on my way to work so I've been a patron for quite some time. I initially enjoyed the value but in mid-2009 I noticed a decline in size and then a sharp decline in quality of ingredients. I have occasionally revisited this location to investigate if it was just a fluke, but after a handful of visits with the same results, I decided it was time to give the review I dread giving.

Viva Burrito has the most disappointing breakfast burrito. I ordered the ham breakfast burrito. The ham seems fine and the tortilla isn't bad. Their wrapping style leaves a strong chance for a paper bite ^[1], so watch out. But my problem lies within the cheese, egg, and potato. The cheese is hardly noticeable, as is the egg. My thoughts (obtained through home experimentation) are that the ham and potatoes are added with the cheese and egg while the egg is still uncooked, causing the egg to "disappear" with the rest of the ingredients. This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the poor choice of using french fries as potatoes. While I'm not a potato elitist, frozen french fries are meant for the fryer, not the griddle. This leaves potatoes in the burrito that are mealy instead of crispy. For me, this is a deal breaker and until I hear otherwise no more Viva Burrito burritos.

Final verdict: Used to be good, now not so much. Still very cheap.

Haiku!
Potatoes are good,
french fries are not substitutes.
Try another place.

Burrito Thoughts and Other Comments 

• Cost: $2.59
• Weight: no scale, but definitely under a pound
• Salsa: a little chunky with strong tomato and a bit of onion.  Actually very good salsa considering the rest of the ingredients.
• Speediness: about 5 minutes on an early Friday morning with two cars in front of me at the drive through.

Know Your Burrito Vocab
^[1]Paper bite - when the burrito wrapper folds into the wrapped burrito, causing one of the bites to possibly contain paper.

Filiberto's Mexican Food (22nd and Kolb)

Believe it or not, I have never burritoed at Filiberto's. What better place to start a new burrito-blog than a place I have never visited!

After a long run in the early morning, my wife and I deemed ourselves worthy of a burrito. Me: "breakfast burrito". Wife: machaca.

One word describes the burrito: onions. The onion taste was not overpowering but definitely noticeable on each bite. The "breakfast burrito" (that's the name) contains ham, egg, cheese, and a pico de gallo that is a little watery and caused a burrito blowout^[1] for the last few bites. There was a decent amount of egg but the cheese was added in such a way that it did not contribute much to the experience. No potatoes. I'm unsure if potatoes would improve this burrito due to the lack of cheese excitement. Full disclosure: I'm a HUGE potato-in-the-burrito fan.

The machaca burrito had also visited onion-town. Unfortunately it did not stop at the egg station. The egg presence was so subdued that we had to double check the receipt to make sure it actually was a breakfast burrito. If you crave beef, order the machaca breakfast burrito. Update: I have since looked at the menu and noticed that the machaca breakfast burrito contains no egg whatsoever.

Final verdict: I would order this burrito again but I wouldn't go out of my way to get one.

Each review will end with a burrito inspired haiku. Enjoy!

With morning hunger,
burrito fills emptiness.
Watch out for onions.

Burrito Thoughts and Other Comments

• Cost: $3.83.
• Weight: (both) almost a pound.
• Salsa: red and watery with a little vinegar spiciness. I asked for two per burrito. I used one.
• Speediness: reasonable but this was on a Saturday morning.

Know Your Burrito Vocab
^[1]Blowout - tortilla failure due to overstuffing or watery ingredients.

What's all this about?

I was first exposed to breakfast burritos in Southern California. Eggs, cheese, potatoes (maybe), and some sort of meat wrapped in a tortilla sounded like heaven. Now I live in Tucson and my breakfast of choice is available on almost every corner. In 5 years I've discovered that not only is one take out joint different from another, but a chain with multiple locations will differ almost as much.

THE CHALLENGE: I will be spending this summer exploring the tastiness of the breakfast burritos Tucson has to offer. Each post will offer pictures, in-depth analysis, and hilarious commentary. In the end, I hope to have a good catalog of burrito qualities and values and I'll try not to gain much weight.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, TUCSON!