The Ultimate Burrito Guide to Taos, New Mexico
27 Jun 2014
There are many, many reasons to visit Taos, New Mexico. Mountains, for example, and the chance of spotting a big-horned sheep on your daily commute. Pink adobe and sweet-smelling desert dirt. Hippies and earthships. Positive energy and fancy ceramics. Art galleries. The list goes on and on.
I could wax poetic about this beautiful little mountain town, or I could just talk about what you actually care about:
Where to get a goddamn burrito.
Because, if you’re like me, you don’t go to New Mexico for the art galleries. You go there to eat. And if, like me, you have a limited time in New Mexico, you have a limited time in which to consume a year’s worth of green chile. So you want every meal to be smothered, covered like your Waffle House hashbrowns. Only in this case it’s smothered-covered like your green chile burrito.
So here are four Taos burrito joints and what you should eat there.
Toribio’s
I’m not going to lie…When it comes to burritos, I pick favorites. And Toribio’s is a clear favorite. There are two venues, one on the northside of town and a recently-opened southside version. I’ve never actually eaten in at Toribio’s — we usually just order to go. If you call ahead, your burritos will be ready by the time you get there. One burrito per person is probably enough for a normal person, although Macky and I usually order three or four so we can sample all our favorites at once. (And we eat more than normal people, so it works out.)
What to order: Pork adobada burrito (pork cooked in red chile, with potatoes and beans) or chicken mole
Guadalajara Grill
A Taos classic. If you want to act like you know what you’re doing, you have to call it “The Guad.” Like Toribio’s, there are two Guads, a northside and a southside. This is your standard New Mexican burrito. Expect to eat it with a fork as it will be sopping with green chile and gooey cheese.
What to order: Burrito supremo with carne asada and green chile
Abe’s Cantina
Abe’s is part convenience store, part liquor store, part bar. And they also make burritos, because this is New Mexico after all. Abe’s breakfast burritos are our staple food for mornings when we have to be somewhere early (i.e. before 9am). They are the ideal munch-in-the-car food, as demonstrated by the photo above.
What to order: Breakfast burrito with green chile and sausage. If you’re throwing a party, pre-order their tamales.
Elma’s
Elma’s, a tiny little shed with a walk-up window, is easy to miss, but it squarely follows the “divier it looks, the better the food” rule. I can’t help but love these sort of drive-in mexican places. I’ve only been to Elma’s once, but it lived up to all my expectations and the pico de gallo was delicious.
What to order: Chicharrón (deep fat fried pork belly) burrito
What’s your favorite burrito ever? Please describe in excruciating detail so I salivate all over my keyboard.
I left Chicagoland in 1990 but the next time I am anywhere close to there I’ll go out of my way to stop at El Famous Burrito in Wheeling, IL.
1990 was some time back but I have GREAT memories of that huge burrito, green sauce & red sauce & an RC cola in the bottle at the counter.
One of the best burritos I’ve ever had was in richmond, Indiana in a little mexican grocery store. So as much as I love new mexico burritos, definitely not writing off Midwest burritos. Thanks for sharing!
BRB, wiping drool off computer and finding a not-as-satisfying burrito.
heh heh sorry!
I adore Mexican food and burritos! There’s a great place in my hometown of Dundas, Ontario (Canada) called the Thirsty Cactus where you can find fantastic Mexican cuisine. I love Mexican food too because there’s a good chance you can make it vegan pretty much anywhere – just order a bean burrito and you’ve got it made! :)
Thirsty Cactus, love it!
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This has inspired me to cook Mexican tonight, since I can’t exactly hop a plane to NM today to try all these places (yet). Because, really, is there any better food than Mexican? No. No there isn’t.
Personally I think New Mexican food > Mexican food. But it’s pretty similar ;)
As a Rocky Mountain native and Green Chili Snob, or at least Dilettante, I am on a never ending quest to judge and enjoy the sacred Chili competition between Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico. Although neighboring their styles are distinct and unique. The championship of the world would come down to Pueblo Colorado vs Taos New Mexico. Since I own properties in both places I’m constantly comparing the two styles of green chili. Sort of a “which twin is hotter” competition. Speaking of “hot” Pueblo wins in that category because peppers from the Mesa are hotter than Hatch and Colorado style mixes more types of peppers than New Mexico style. But let’s focus on Taos. You can’t find a bad burrito in Taos as long as you let Taos be Taos and don’t try to get a Local to build you some bland Texas or Midwest version of a regional masterpiece. I’m not debating the list because it truly comes down to which gives you mouthgasms. That said, I probably wouldn’t have put Guadalajara (a bit mild for my taste) quite as high and I definitely would have included Jalapeños for take out, Rickys and Michael’s for breakfast burritos and simple can’t believe Orlando’s didn’t make, if not top the list. Whole heartedly concur that no trip to Taos Ski Valley is complete without stopping in Arroyo Seco to grab a breakfast burrito from Abe’s. The ladies who cook there are literally as if your mom was a super charming master chef cooking for you and your buddies on the way to go ski. You can taste the love. In any case fun article about one of America’s best keep secrets for gourmet food and gangster steep skiing and snowboarding.