Everyone knows Chipotle.

Whenever people want to go out for a group lunch or hangout while grabbing a bite to eat, someone will always say, “Hey, lets go to Chipotle.”

Chipotle restaurant’s all look pretty similar. Shiny steel and tan wood planks make up a lot of the inside, there’s black and white pictures, traditional looking Mexican sculptures upon the walls, and pop music coming from the speakers.

Food wise, Chipotle is a Mexican grill restaurant similar to Subway where customers ask for a choice of dishes like burritos, tacos, or plates, then choose what goes into it, like beans and rice.

One very unique aspect of Chipotle that a lot of people probably don’t even notice is the choices of meat.

More specifically, the sofritas. Sofritas is one of two vegan choices at Chipotle, the other being no meat at all.

Sofritas are pieces of shredded tofu covered in spices like chipotle chilies and poblanos. While that might not sound appetizing to the meat eaters, it is actually quite good in it’s unique taste, chewy texture, and kick from the spices.

While any Mexican restaurant, including Chipotle, always has the traditional ingredients like chicken and steak, sofritas are truly unique to Chipotle and won’t be found in any other restaurant and make Chipotle worth coming to on their own, for carnivores and vegetarians alike.

Burritos are the easiest and tastiest way to go at Chipotle. A combination of your choices of veggies, meat, rice, and maybe guacamole and salsa all wrapped up in a tortilla. It’s easy since you can just pick it up and dig in, and tasty becauce it most ensures that you get some of everything in each bite. On the downside, the tortilla is so packed that eventually it will fall apart, and beans will be lost.

The burrito bowl is exactly like a burrito, but without the tortilla. Take all the ingredients of the burrito and put it in a paper bowl, and there’s a burrito bowl. It is a lot easier and less messy to eat, but it just feels like something very important is missing.

Chipotle has salads as well. Salads at Chipotle are basically more layered and organized versions of burrito bowls. Also, they come with a little container of vinaigrette.

If none of those sounded good so far, there’s one more option at Chipotle. That option is tacos, soft or crispy tacos, but both of them will end up being soft tacos after a couple minutes. Choosing tacos is basically choosing three mini burritos that let the insides spill out the back side after a bite is taken. The hard shelled tacos are quite good for the first few bites, but eventually the shells soak up the juices from the ingredients inside them and they get soggy. So, if one taco per bite is manageable, go for it, otherwise, get something else.

Overall, Chipotle is a great casual place to go out with friends or family that can easily feed people of all different eating styles, and while native Mexicans might not approve of the food, its still worth a try or a revisit.

www.chipotle.com