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.