Here I am in Seoul, South Korea and what do I miss most about the States? My mom? Of course I miss my mom. Don’t be silly. My friends? Absolutely. Salt in my food? Actually, yes, but that’s another ‘e’. But what can my husband and I be found lamenting the loss of most often? Mexican food. Koreans love spicy food, but their love doesn’t encompass Mexican for reasons we can’t fathom. When they try to make Mexican, it comes out very wrong. Therefore one of my first meals in the US will no doubt be at a Chipoltle.

Now, I’m not a big fan of corporate food and I managed to avoid this one for some time before a friend, who wanted to take me out to lunch proposed Chipoltle. We were on our way home from a riding lesson and we both reeked of horses, we strolled up to the counter to order.

Pick one from menu A: First you decide what form you want your food to appear in. Burrito, burrito with sauce, fajita, tacos, something else I think. I always got a burrito. The woman behind the counter puts your tortilla in a press to make it pliable as she asks you "Pinto or Black?" Beans, you know. I preferred black beans. The woman behind the counter pulls your tortilla out of the press, lays it on a square of foil, and ladles on your choice of beans, adds a about a cup of rice and slides you down to menu B.

Menu B: Choose your meat. Chicken, beef, pork, pulled pork and vegetarian. Ok, so what if vegetarian isn’t a meat, that's the menu it’s on and much thanks to them for offering it. The next person dumps on your choice of meat. I generally chose chicken, all white meat and marinated beautifully. Occasionally I got beef with was of pretty good quality and not loaded with gristle or fat. My husband mostly chose vegetarian and they would give him a helping a fajita veggies which tended to be a little overdone. The woman then slides your burrito down the line to the next menu.

Menu C: Salsas and miscellaneous other stuffings. The salsas range from mild to hot (I would have referred to it as scorch your eyebrows hot before I came to Seoul and tasted real kimchi. Unless you grew up on authentic Korean food, it’ll be hot enough for you.) I preferred the corn salsa. I can get tomato salsa anywhere, but the corn salsa with the lime dressing I only had there. You can also choose to get lettuce, sour cream, I believe there were some additional vegetables there also. Then she would slide it along to the next person who would wrap it up and put it in a red plastic basket on a tray. That person would make a quick note on the foil and shove it along to the register.

Register: Here you got your drink and paid for your meal. For chicken, my meal generally ran around $7, for steak $8. Husband usually fell in the $6 range with his veggie burrito. Everything was quick, efficient and almost mechanical. One minute you were walking through the door and the next you had a tray in your hands as you turned away from the counter.

Dining room: The particular restaurant I visited sat at the corner of a 5 lane intersection and yet, as often as the weather allowed, we sat outside in the din of traffic. Why did we do that? Well, the ambiance is, shall we say, lacking in Chipoltle. The walls are decorated with sheet metal and wood sculptures, which recall Mayan reliefs. They’re very well done and very interesting, but they don’t appeal to me. Especially since the restaurant is ‘decorated’ with concrete floors, unpainted metal tables, dark walls and exposed struts in the ceiling. This is completely my personal taste here, but I don’t like it. I think a slightly less heavy hand with the metal would help. The other thing that bothers me about the dining room is the music. Chipoltle is very choosy about the music played in their dinning rooms and it does tend to be interesting. I’ve heard several songs I quite enjoyed that I wouldn’t otherwise have ever heard, but the volume is too high. With all the hard surfaces, the sound just bounces around making me feel like I’m in a particularly brightly-lit club. Not what I really want out of a meal.

I still miss it. We have mentioned on several occasions that Chipoltle would make a killing if they opened one right in the middle of Itaewon. The line would be out the door from the moment they opened until sometime after they closed. The food is consistently good and that’s what’s really important in a restaurant.


Recommended: Yes