It was was 7:45 AM on a Friday.  I'd had three cups of coffee and no food at that point. The caffeine had reached the place in my bloodstream where it had begun to penetrate my brain.  I found myself entering the beginning stages of "coffee tweaker mode" desperately trying to regain control of my mind.  My thoughts were interrupting themselves, so I knew that I had to get some food quickly to absorb the caffeine and bring the coffee induced psychosis to a halt.

Anyway, I found myself in the middle of Santa Ana and called a friend who lived nearby.  I asked him to hook me up with a good local burrito connection.  He sent me to Pico de Gallo on 17th St.  I ordered the breakfast burrito with sausage and was extremely impressed that the restaurant had a full salsa bar at 7:50 AM.

The burrito had eggs, hash browns, sausage and cheese. To be honest, the hashbrowns were oily and there were way too many potatoes in the burrito.  The sausage wasn't special and there were no beans (which is important to me).  The size was pretty good, clocking in at 2 1/2 fists.  The biggest problem was that I couldn't finish the burrito as the bottom corner was soggy with oil.  I'd eat at this place again, but I'm not in any rush.

1/5/12- 1/2 lb red burrito from Del Taco (2)
1/5/12- Breakfast Burrito from Pico de Gallo, Santa Ana
1/4/12- Chicken Burrito from Las Brisas in Santa Ana.

Countdown

I'm trying to rectify my blogging failure from last year.  I'm reviving The Burrito Diaries on January 1st, 2012.  However, this time, I'm setting more realistic expectations.  I'm going to continue to add the total number of burritos eaten throughout the year.  However, I'm only going to blog about one "standout" burrito each week.

Hope you enjoy.

Introduction

     During my life, I've eaten thousands of burritos.  I don't discriminate among the masses of tortilla wrapped bliss and have eaten burritos in many different places.  Although its difficult to identify the best burrito that I've ever eaten, I can definitely remember the worst.  That burrito has lived in my nightmares since the day that it entered my life, my mouth and stomach.
     The worst burrito that I have ever eaten was in the year 2000 in Brooklyn New York.  I'd been in New York for two or three weeks and hadn't seen any decent Mexican food.  The closest thing that I'd found in New York at the time was Puerto Rican food.  Although great, it wasn't the same.  Anyway, one day I was walking from Crown Heights to the D train (at least I think it was the D train . . .it has been a while) when I passed a small restaurant appropriately called "Chinese and Mexican Food."  I stopped in to find that it was what it purported to be.  The place was essentially a Chinese takeout spot with a few Mexican looking items in stainless steel containers under heat lamps.
     I ordered a bean and cheese burrito which actually had only rice and black beans. It had neither cheese nor salsa.  Even so, its hard to imagine this concoction being so terrible that I would remember it today.  The beans tasted like they had been soaked in vinegar and soy sauce, which would've been fine if I was eating Filipino Chicken Adobo .   The rice was sour and the tortilla was wet.  The only saving grace was that it was pretty hefty.  Although looking back, I'm sure that they were just trying to get rid of the food since nobody was lining up to eat at this place.
     Although I hadn't eaten much food in the few days prior, I struggled to get this thing into my system.   I remember staring at the bottom third of this thing for several minutes as I held it in my hand thinking how much I missed California.  This incident has been forever burned in my mind as a testament to the fact that even something so seemingly perfect as a burrito can be destroyed if not given the proper care and attention that it deserves.
     I used to joke that I could eat a burrito every day of my life.  There have been several runs in which I have done just that.  This blog is a way to actually calculate the number of burritos that I eat throughout the year.  In a way I'm curious to see if my love for the burrito is as strong as I think it is.  I want to know if I am a real deal burrito connoisseur or if I'm just an underachieving hype man who talks more than he rocks.
     Time will tell.