Eat | Burrito Ultimo

I heart Baja Fresh.

It's my favorite fast-casual Mexican by far (well, I heart Speedy Gonzales too). Mira, el Burrito Ultimo es el jefe grande:

1. Baja Fresh. Salsa Baja rulez.




2. Rubio's [Rubio's, by virtue of its highly-addictive secret chipotle sauce, edges out Chipotle for the #2 spot. The irony.]




3. Chipotle. I like my meat hot & spicy. And the whole edgy vibe is kinda cool.




4. Wahoo's Fish Taco. Beer, beer, beer beer...




5. La Salsa. By default. I don't really like anything there. Well, maybe the guac.

What makes Baja Fresh the big cheese in this rat race? Porque the Burrito Ultimo is the big boss:

Burrito Ultimo®
Your choice of charbroiled chicken, pork carnitas or charbroiled steak, grilled peppers, chilies, onions, melted jack and cheddar cheese, roasted Salsa Baja,™
rice and sour cream.

Mmmmmm. The secret to the ultimate Ultimo? "Mixed meat," mmm-hmm, that's steak and chicken. Best of both worlds -- it doesn't get better than this. How I order (off-the-menu, as usual): "Burrito Ultimo mixed meat, no veggie mix, extra Salsa Baja."

And what truly crowns Baja Fresh the winner is its namesake Salsa Baja™. The spicy -- but not *too* spicy -- and smoky salsa truly sets Baja Fresh ahead of the pack. First of all, Salsa Baja's not red. Or green. It's brown. I ask you, have you ever seen a brown salsa??? I think not. I rest my case.

Seriously though, I'm no chef (I grill exclusively) but what do they put in this stuff? Consistency semi-thick, "roasted," looks peppery, not totally opaque, the occasional renegade tomato a la pico de gallo. Yum.

The tortilla chips were awesome too. Light, flaky, crispy -- damn those were good chips, just like the homemade ones in Cabo. Those chips put Baja Fresh in a separate class. But sometime last year the chips changed and now they're thicker and more like typical supermarket corn tortilla chips. Maybe ever since Wendy's sold the chain due to unprofitability last November, or shortly beforehand?

You could definitely tell it was rough times last year. The burritos shrank by half, although at over 1000 calories each, that's probably a good thing. And the quality of the chips went down. A Mexican restaurant is only as good as its chips and salsa -- man, messing with your bread-and-butter?

But I digress. The Burrito Ultimo may not be as grande as it once was, and the chips not as out-of-this-world/country, but everything tastes a-ma-zing. I'll pick Baja Fresh any day over the competition (p.s., the tortillas are grilled -- Chipotle, eat your heart out). So go grab el jefe. And don't hold back with the chips 'n salsa.

Venue * / Vittles *** / Value ***
[* to *** scale]

Baja Fresh / www.bajafresh.com

^Wendy's Announces Completion of Baja Fresh Sale / Reuters

[Yeah, that's a Baja Burrito. It was more photogenic.]