LYT's Fast Food Review: Baja Fresh Burritos
Jul 7 2010, 4:07 PM
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I am convinced that there are three reasons, and three
alone, for the success of Baja Fresh as a chain.
Location, location, location.
I mean, it could be just a fluke of the areas I inhabit, but
most every time I encounter a Baja Fresh, it is the only cheap/fast-food place
along some sort of corporate corridor. If you have a job in that area, and
don’t want to drive to lunch or eat at some place where you’re morally obliged
to tip the waiter, Baja is your only choice. I’ve been one of those workers. I
know others. Almost nobody would eat at Baja Fresh if there were a La Salsa, El
Pollo Loco, or even a Del Taco nearby. The deep, dark secret of Baja Fresh is
that it’s pretty much crap, but their presentation keeps people from admitting
it.
I do not say this lightly. I recently had occasion to cover
the Los Angeles Film Festival (if you didn’t already know this, Geekweek
readers, please type “LYT at LAFF” into our search engine, and read every
article you find. I’d appreciate it.). Prior to the festival, a handful of its
movies were screened at the SAG theater on Wilshire, opposite the corporate
offices of Variety and E! on Wilshire
Blvd. Guess what the only fast food chain in
walkable distance was. Yeah, I know there are food trucks, but most of them
were usually gone by the time I emerged, bleary-eyed, into the light at around
3 p.m.
So I tried a different Baja burrito every day, for three
days, just to be fair. I won’t make that mistake again.
They lured me in with their presentation, like they always
do. Something called the “BFF Burrito,” which varies wildly depending upon
which kind of dead animal you’d like inside of it, is the current promotion,
and when you say langostino lobster, well...I think of Rubio’s, and their
langostino burrito, which in my book is the Dom Perignon of fast food burritos.
Rubio’s made their langostino burrito seasonal, so as to
keep their supply of the good stuff affordable. That season when it’s
available, BTW, is winter. Baja Fresh has them right now, and boy, do they
taste frozen-for-fortnights. Watery and flavorless, these langostino just get
in the way, and their pale color, as opposed to the vibrant red striping they
oughta have, is a big clue that this ain’t right. Baja Frozen.
But with that said, this burrito at least features some
avocado to make the food a li’l slippery and soft. It’s no Rubio’s guacamole,
but it’s a good ingredient. As far as the alleged “lime rice,” it was white and
soft, but of citrus flavor, I detected none.
The “lime rice” in the fire-grilled chicken BFF was totally
different, but not so much lime-y as black bean-y. The chicken itself was the
usual overly dry, sometimes underly cooked Baja bland blend, and as for
6-chiles salsa, I can say only that it neither moistened nor kicked my
tastebuds six ways. Still, at least the meat wasn’t watery from freezing.
On my final day, I went for the nacho burrito. Surely this
could not be screwed up, because nachos rule. Oh, how wrong I was.
See, when you make a burrito and call it “nacho,” you do
have some obligation to include cheese. And indeed, the tiny handful within
felt obligatory. Baja’s website sez this contains: “Chicken, Jack & Cheddar
cheese, black or pinto beans, rice, smoky Queso Fundido, jalapenos, and Salsa
Crema.”
I did detect the jalapenos and the chicken. A vague stretch
of cheese at the very bottom of the burrito. But no salsa crema nor queso
fundido. This so-called nacho burrito was DRY. The only thing remotely “nacho”
about it was the little corn tortilla strips in there. If Taco Bell did a nacho
burrito, you know this would not happen (although I’m starting to wonder about
the Bell, with their new Doritos combos – selling fake nacho-flavored chips at
a joint that’s supposed to make actual nachos has a queasy feeling to it).
Normally, if I ordered something called a nacho burrito and
got something this dry and annoying, I’d imagine I just caught an employee on a
bad day. But three bad burritos in three days, y’know...there’s probably some
kind of appropriate metaphor to be had in a sport, like maybe baseball; I just
can’t quite think of what it might be.
If you must eat at Baja Fresh, stick to the vegetarian
burrito. They’re generous with the cheese in that, and while they may screw up
most meat they touch, they have yet to find a way to ruin vegetables.
More LYT Fast Food Reviews may be found at
this link
I am convinced that there are three reasons, and three alone, for the success of Baja Fresh as a chain.
Location, location, location.
I mean, it could be just a fluke of the areas I inhabit, but most every time I encounter a Baja Fresh, it is the only cheap/fast-food place along some sort of corporate corridor. If you have a job in that area, and don’t want to drive to lunch or eat at some place where you’re morally obliged to tip the waiter, Baja is your only choice. I’ve been one of those workers. I know others. Almost nobody would eat at Baja Fresh if there were a La Salsa, El Pollo Loco, or even a Del Taco nearby. The deep, dark secret of Baja Fresh is that it’s pretty much crap, but their presentation keeps people from admitting it.
I do not say this lightly. I recently had occasion to cover
the Los Angeles Film Festival (if you didn’t already know this, Geekweek
readers, please type “LYT at LAFF” into our search engine, and read every
article you find. I’d appreciate it.). Prior to the festival, a handful of its
movies were screened at the SAG theater on Wilshire, opposite the corporate
offices of Variety and E! on
So I tried a different Baja burrito every day, for three days, just to be fair. I won’t make that mistake again.
They lured me in with their presentation, like they always do. Something called the “BFF Burrito,” which varies wildly depending upon which kind of dead animal you’d like inside of it, is the current promotion, and when you say langostino lobster, well...I think of Rubio’s, and their langostino burrito, which in my book is the Dom Perignon of fast food burritos.
Rubio’s made their langostino burrito seasonal, so as to keep their supply of the good stuff affordable. That season when it’s available, BTW, is winter. Baja Fresh has them right now, and boy, do they taste frozen-for-fortnights. Watery and flavorless, these langostino just get in the way, and their pale color, as opposed to the vibrant red striping they oughta have, is a big clue that this ain’t right. Baja Frozen.
But with that said, this burrito at least features some avocado to make the food a li’l slippery and soft. It’s no Rubio’s guacamole, but it’s a good ingredient. As far as the alleged “lime rice,” it was white and soft, but of citrus flavor, I detected none.
The “lime rice” in the fire-grilled chicken BFF was totally different, but not so much lime-y as black bean-y. The chicken itself was the usual overly dry, sometimes underly cooked Baja bland blend, and as for 6-chiles salsa, I can say only that it neither moistened nor kicked my tastebuds six ways. Still, at least the meat wasn’t watery from freezing.
On my final day, I went for the nacho burrito. Surely this could not be screwed up, because nachos rule. Oh, how wrong I was.
See, when you make a burrito and call it “nacho,” you do have some obligation to include cheese. And indeed, the tiny handful within felt obligatory. Baja’s website sez this contains: “Chicken, Jack & Cheddar cheese, black or pinto beans, rice, smoky Queso Fundido, jalapenos, and Salsa Crema.”
I did detect the jalapenos and the chicken. A vague stretch of cheese at the very bottom of the burrito. But no salsa crema nor queso fundido. This so-called nacho burrito was DRY. The only thing remotely “nacho” about it was the little corn tortilla strips in there. If Taco Bell did a nacho burrito, you know this would not happen (although I’m starting to wonder about the Bell, with their new Doritos combos – selling fake nacho-flavored chips at a joint that’s supposed to make actual nachos has a queasy feeling to it).
Normally, if I ordered something called a nacho burrito and got something this dry and annoying, I’d imagine I just caught an employee on a bad day. But three bad burritos in three days, y’know...there’s probably some kind of appropriate metaphor to be had in a sport, like maybe baseball; I just can’t quite think of what it might be.
If you must eat at Baja Fresh, stick to the vegetarian burrito. They’re generous with the cheese in that, and while they may screw up most meat they touch, they have yet to find a way to ruin vegetables.
More LYT Fast Food Reviews may be found at this link
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