Food for Thought

Buen provecho!

Edwardsville’s Chipotle Mexican Grill is a friendly feeling lunch or dinner establishment with a wide selection of Mexican fare in what is known as a “fast-casual” restaurant. What is fast-casual? You might ask. Chipotle literature states it was founded in Vicki Bennington 1993 to bridge the gap between fast-food chains and more casual sit-down restaurants, so the idea isn’t new – though the term was never exactly a household word.

But if you think about it, you know exactly what it means, and we all knew there was something different about it, even though we may not have known the term. It’s somewhere in-between a fast-food restaurant and say, a café; someplace you wouldn’t mind eating in, but yet it provides convenient “on-thego” food, as well.

One of the initiatives of the idea was to offer freshly prepared food with fresh quality ingredients, while keeping the turnaround “fast.” And of course, the resulting dishes should be delicious – they’ve got to be delicious.

In my book, Chipotle ticks off all the boxes.

My order was fast. It was definitely tasty. And by all accounts, the ingredients seemed to be quite fresh and of a high quality. So there you go.

I started out with the obligatory – at least, I think it is – chips and guacamole – and were they the whole enchilada!

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Chipotle guacamole and chips.

Photos by Vicki Bennington

Seriously, the guac was very creamy, with a great flavor; the chips warm with just the right amount of crispness.

Other dip choices to go with those scrumptious chips are fresh tomato salsa, tomatillo-red (or green) chili salsa, roasted chili-corn salsa or queso blanco (I don’t like this type of cheese dip myself, but I do like saying it), and for drinks, you can choose from several specialty soft drinks, like Mexican Coca-Cola or Sprite, Tractor organic black tea, San Pellegrino sparkling water or grapefruit izze juice, among others.

For my entrée, I ordered a chicken quesadilla, which was an eight-inch flour tortilla stuffed with shredded chicken (or you could choose steak, barbacoa or sofrias (plant-based protein), or cheese.

Then you can choose three sides - brown rice, white rice, black or pinto beans, and one of the aforementioned “dips” or sauces. It was a large amount of food, and I have to say, it was very good.

There are several other categories to choose from on the menu, and really, all sound good. The Lifestyle Bowl is one I’d like to try – some are labelled

Whole30 salad bowl choices, others Keto salad bowl, or Paleo salad bowl. The Whole30 is the one I want to try, particularly since I bought the “Whole 30” book, which I have been perusing, thinking “if other people can do it, so can I.”

We will see, but meanwhile, I can try the salad bowl at Chipotle, can’t I? Maybe it will be my first step in a journey to healthy eating. It certainly sounds good, with supergreens lettuce blend, chicken, fajita veggies, fresh tomato salsa and guacamole. It sounds like the perfect fusion.

And Mexican cuisine is overall a fusion of Mesoamerican and European or Spanish cooking, using primary ingredients like corn, beans, avocados, tomatoes, chili peppers and rice.

Chipotle is “known” for its burrito, which allows for the same type of protein choices as my quesadilla, wrapped in a warm flour tortilla with rice, beans, or fajita veggies, and topped with guac, salsa, queso blanco, sour cream or cheese. Or there’s the burrito bowl, various salads and we can’t forget tacos!

Chipotle is open seven-days-a-week, located at 2200 Troy Road in Edwardsville. There are multiple locations around the greater St. Louis area and the United States. For more information, visit chipotle.com.

In this column, Bennington shares her love of food and all that entails, from special dishes at local and regional restaurants to new trends and fads, and things to try at home. Contact her at vbennington@sbcglobal. net with comments, ideas or suggestions.

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