Eating Taqueria La Cumbre's Nacho Burrito

More taquerias should be inspired by Taco Bell. No, not by the fast-food chain's suspect ingredients or testosterone-fueled ad campaigns, but for the unique gastronomic constructs that Taco Bell uses to produce their food-like menu items. Take, for example, this (delicious) monstrosity filled with Fritos. Taqueria La Cumbre on Valencia Street recently started making something sorta, kinda, barely similar: Nachos in a Roll (i.e., a tortilla chip-stuffed burrito), a treat brought to our attention by noted neighborhood blog, Mission Mission. See, for only $5, you can get nachos stuffed inside a flour tortilla with either grilled chicken, steak or vegetarian along with beans, cheese guacamole, sour cream, and salsa. So basically a burrito with chips inside. And yet? Much more.

We sampled the texturally-enhanced savory roll to see for ourselves if—at last—the chippy addition made San Francisco's gloppy and oversteamed burrito (unfathomably preferred by many) more palatable. It did. Texture can do wonders. While the chips did get a bit soggy, they provided a necessary buffer to the burrito's inherent one-dimensional flavor and greasiness factors. We ordered ours with grilled chicken, regular salsa, and no beans. (Unless they're of the cannellini variety and tinged with rosemary and olive oil, we don't care for beans.) It came to us wrapped nicely in a perfect size portion. Mmm, good.

Our only complaint is that we wanted more chips in our nacho burrito. No wait, we wanted more nacho-flavored chips in our nacho burrito. Rainbow Grocery or Bi-Rite must have some sort of organic, non-Tom's brand of flavored chips that won't sear the roof of one's mouth, yes? That salty kick could have made the nacho burrito the post-binge drinking meal in the Mission. At least for us, anyway.

You can get this filling and carb-loaded treat until the end of January at Taqueria La Cumbre, 515 Valencia (at 16h Street), S.F. Hours: Mon-Sun 11 am - 2 am.

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By Brock Keeling in Food on January 20, 2012 11:30 AM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

StevelImages

I've been going to Farolito at 24th & Mish since the 80's. Year in and year out they are the best burrito in SF. And their salsa bar is the best.

Another place I Iike is Guerrero's way down on MIssion a few blocks north of Geneva. It's right across the street from another Farolito's. Also with a great salsa bar.

UrbanUndead

Yep yep. I remember going into Farolito as an underage, hinterlands-dwelling young pup while visiting SF friends and seeing the salsa bar... *clouds part* *beams of heavenly light shine down*

Stephan Zielinski

Credit where credit is due; I demand Ron Stoppable be recognized for his culinary genius.

49_Giants

A few months, before a free Thee Oh Sees show at the Brick and Mortar, I got a burrito at La Cumbre. I ate it, walking to the show. I could not believe how amazingly lacking it was. It was among the worst I ever had. And I don't know if my memory is failing me, but I believe it was in the $7-$8 range. Obscene. Oh, and it had lettuce.

Taqueria Can-Cun, man. The best. And their salsa and green stuff ain't no joke.

Although the idea of nacho chips in a burrito is intriguing, it's gimmicky. I like crunch, too, so I just take a bite of the burrito and then stuff a chip into my mouth. You get to control the level of crunch in each bite, you can forgo the crunch if you like every now and then, and the chips won't get soggy as I imagine they if they would when rolled in.

I think a better improvement for nachos would be to serve the nacho chips and the nacho toppings separately. The nacho toppings as a dip, if you will. Because nachos are delicious, but the method of delivery to the mouth is faulty. Inevitably, the chips will become soggy and can no longer support the toppings. As it is, I am forced to use my complimentary (or 50 cent chips *ahem, El Farolito, ahem*), unadorned chips to provide back up support for their soggy brethren, and I'll even resort to a fork near the end. There has to be a better way.

zippy_monster

You had me until Cancun.

49_Giants

Where do you get your burritos? I'm genuinely interested.

I have to admit that I'm a creature of habit and because my dad used to bring home El Farolito burritos since I was 6, I've always treated El Farolito as my go-to place. Over the past two years, a girl has gotten me to switch over to Cancun, which I'm not sad about. It's a damn good burrito. I'm on 22nd, so access to either joint is pretty easy. La Altena, right across the street from my place, will do in a pinch but I'll almost always made the 2 block walk instead.

zippy_monster

Taqueria El Castillo 'B', Mason @ Market. But... they keep bankers hours.

El Farolito near BART ranks as a close second (except for that period when the place smelled foul and they got a couple really bad safety inspections).

Cancun is... great if you're drunk. The one @ 6th smells vile, the one @ Valencia is not so bad (but that's not a real high bar to meet). Neither can do a veggie burrito without using a whole onion. Both have mediocre chorizo and gross, stale chips (fifty cents well spent at Farolito IMO).

El Faro on 1st and El Burrito Express on Taraval deserve a shout out for consistently bad food.

wassaFOAMfinger

did you say veggie burrito? dammit i was totally paying attention to your post like i was going to learn something!

SFist

"I think a better improvement for nachos would be to serve the nacho chips and the nacho toppings separately. The nacho toppings as a dip, if you will."
I want to embroider this on a large satin pillow because... that is all I ever want, but cannot find! Seriously. Making a dip cannot be that hard, can it?