Chipotle - Mexican Food?

[julienc]

We just had one open up in our area. It's all fairly basic and fresh, and I ordered the chicken soft tacos with just lettuce and cheese. I did okay after the meal, though I think there may have been a tad of sugar in the tortillas. The chicken was yummy and spicy and didn't taste sweet at all. I'll probably try the hard-shells next rather than the soft tortillas.

Anyone have any experience with this restaurant? I like finding big chains that aren't "greasy" fast food. It makes traveling so much easier. Supposedly they are owned by McDonald's Corp.

[colormist]

I haven't tried Chipotle, but I think Moe's & Qdoba are similar. I usually get the chicken/beef burritos with black beans, cheese, and tomatillo (salsa verde) salsa. I never have any problems afterward.

[sarahk]

Hey,

We've been gone for a while-I was traveling for work, and got super busy.

Sarah and I love Chipotle-she has never gotten sick, though she finds the steak a bit spicy sometimes. The steak is WAY better than their chicken. I'm not sure if the carnitas has sugar-as pork is usually cured with sugar.

Sarah sometimes gets the burrito bowl-to save the 200ish calories from the tortilla, though it is her favorite part. She didn't get sick from the black beans, but never orders them-they do a number on her stomach--not sugar sick, but....I read that all humans have trouble digesting a sugar in beans, which is why they usually cause stomach problems-I'm betting HFIers might have more trouble than the average persons--garbonzo beans are fine though.

Chipotle IS owned by McDonalds-they bought it after the chain became very sucessful in AZ. But it is much better quality than the "McDonalds" brand. KFC owns Baja Fresh. I believe YUM, a giant company, owns KFC, Taco Bell, and several other brands.

Restaurant chains are like retail brands-they are all owned by a few company. ie: Jones NY or Claiborne bought Polo, Este Lauder owns several of the make-up brands....
When you walk into a store like Macy's and see several designers in one section, that is usually an indication that they are all owned by the same company.

[julienc]

sarahk said:

The steak is WAY better than their chicken.

Thanks for the review! I really liked the chicken, so now I'm excited to try the steak. Yummy!

Welcome back!

[julienc]

colormist said:

I usually get the chicken/beef burritos with black beans, cheese, and tomatillo (salsa verde) salsa. I never have any problems afterward.

So Laura, you can do the "green" sauce okay? I've wanted to try it, but I'm really leery.

[sarahk]

Sarah does the green sauce too-she also buy one from the store-she can tolerate pickled tomatoes

Colormist: how do you eat ice cream sandwiches?

[colormist]

Julie: I do the green sauce okay. I don't know exactly what's up with the green sauce, but I don't get sick from it. I also use hot sauce liberally. I don't know if Chipotle's sauce is the same as Moe's or Qdoba's, so I'd be careful. Moe's is definitely the bestest!

Sarah: Very sparingly. When I was a kid, I still ate ice cream. Loved chocolate and butter pecan. Of course, I didn't eat much of it. Butter pecan, I just at the pecans. LOL Inevitably I got sick afterwards, but I thought it was worth it. I also loved those drumsticks. I think the icecream in drumsticks and ice cream sandwiches are similar to whipped cream (which has a lower sugar content than regular ice cream.)

[julienc]

My brother and I were the same way. I usually just tried to eat vanilla ice cream. Chocolate has always been "gross" to me. It's funny you mentioned Drumsticks. I used to also try and eat those. I'd pick off the chocolate/nut shell and try and eat the ice cream inside. It did taste lighter and more "whipped". I would only be able to eat a few bits, though, and have to throw the rest away, or my Dad would finish it. I only did this through elementary school - I think it was more of an attempt to be like the other kids. Eventually I just gave up.

[julienc]

For what it's worth, I emailed Chipotle since they don't have the full ingredients list on their website. He seemed confused by what I was asking, so I'll post both responses below.

The first response, when I asked which of their foods had sugars (sucrose or fructose):

None of our foods have any of those things in them. It is true that some of our foods have natural sugars - like tomatoes, etc., but none of them have any artificial sugars. The only sweetener we use in our food is real honey in our Chipotle-Honey vinaigrette.

The second response, when I clarified that I was also asking about natural sugars:

Ah, for some reason, I thought you were only worried about artificial sugars. Sorry. As best I can tell, here’s the complete list of our foods that have sugars in them:

Black Beans & Pinto Beans

Fajita Vegetables

Tomato Salsa, Corn-Roasted Poblano Salsa, Green Chile-Tomatillo Salsa, & Red Chile-Tomatillo Salsa

Sour Cream

13" Flour Tortillas

6” Flour Tortillas

Corn Chips

Guacamole

Vinaigrette

So, it's still not completely clear - I think he's using the "carbs are sugar" reasoning-but thought I'd share. This is about as close an answer as I'm going to get.

[colormist]

Did some research on the nutrition facts website on Salsa Verde. Closest I could find was Green Salsa Jalapena www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20Id.html

Here's the breakdown:
Sugars 0.6 g
Sucrose 36.0 mg
Glucose 303 mg
Fructose 261 mg

And my (soon to be patented) handy-dandy HFI formula:
(Fructose + Sucrose) - Glucose = - 6

Negative numbers are good. I think someone here loosely figured that if the glucose outweighs the bad sugars, then you won't have an HFI reaction.

I think this salsa might be closer: LA VICTORIA Green Chile Salsa, Mild
www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20IZ.html

Sugars 0.5 g
Sucrose ~
Glucose 153 mg
Fructose 303 mg

Yesh, that one is bad-bad-bad. Maybe mix a pixie stix or two into it.

Bleah, I've looked at green salsas at Target before, and some have sugar as an ingredient. La Victoria Salsas might be one of those lines that add sugar.

Salsa verde usually includes:
A pound of tomatillos, husked and washed
two large cloves of garlic
a lime
a medium-sized onion, roughly chopped
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
two or three jalepenos/chiles (three makes it about a medium in heat)
handful of cilantro, chopped
olive oil

I don't think I've seen it with onions.