2 Burritos 1 Incident

I set out to talk about burritos here, in addition to other things, but I guess that mean I need to pick up the slack and talk burritos. I've had two burritos since I've started this blog. Unfortunately when I enjoy a delicious burrito it usually is at an ill-prepared moment. I am hungry, I want a burrito, I eat a burrito. I do not prepare myself with cameras to document the experience. Hopefully I can be better prepared in the future, but until then my words will have to suffice.

Last Thursday, with the original plan of going to The Cave that night, I headed over to Allison and Stacy's new place in Highland Park. I came with an arrived with an appetite, and although Allison's freshly baked cookies were exquisite, they could not stave off the beast that was Hunger in my belly. We took a walk to buy some beers at 7 Eleven and I was almost tempted to get horrible Mini-Mart food. Luckily we had passed enough proper establishments on the way that I fought off the beast of my belly. When I alerted Allison to the beast she mentioned there were some stands she had been to before that were good, I tried to be adventurous and suggested Tacos Ricos across the street from us. We went over, there was no line so I quickly ordered a safe selection: Chile Verde. About 5 mins later the man behind the counter brought some food out and thinking this establishment had food already prepared and merely wrapped it in a tortilla, I mistakenly thought that this was my order. I was pleased when he said it was not, the beast was forced to tear at the walls of my stomach a little longer. It took about 15 mins to prepare, fairly long in my experience, but this means that it was fresh, and oh yes, delicious. Under $4.50 and of a proper mass, I managed to silence the beast. All in a a great burrito that I would suggest to Allison and Stacy any day, but by no means the best, however, hands down it could beat one of those West Side burritos any day.


Yesterday I had plans to meet my friend Josephine from Walnut for a burrito. We worked out a day early in the weekend and Sunday was the day. Yesterday when we spoke about where she says "Chiptole," and a shudder fell down my spine. Chipotle is big, I'll give them that (I've seen bigger) and it will fill you up, but its overpriced and I feel like I'm in the Ikea of burrito joints when I walk in there. So I suggested and old friend Alberto's, I had just found a new location in Pomona that was actually very close to both Josephine's and my house on Holt and Union (Just opened, its not even on the website! http://www.albertosmexicanfoods.com/). I went with an old favorite the Machaca Burrito.



Here's a good idea of what Machaca looks like in dish form, though meat is not a garnish, its definitely a staple of the dish. Most people I run into are unfamiliar; its basically shredded beef with scrambled eggs, with red and green pepper, and onion. It's almost like an omlette, but more of a scramble, and its delicious at anytime of the day. It was about 5:30pm when we went. I loved this burrito, unfortunately I think its the only thing I've had at Alberto's. Places that say Chicken burrito, or Beef burrito, freak me out a little, I like to go with something that sounds a little authentic. But the Machaca burrito is extremely fairly priced at $2.90+tax, you can get it for $1.99+ if you go between 5am and 10am, but I've never made it that early. Its super cheap, and as good as any other Machaca I've had (except for Tepeyac, oh my! I hope I will have a post about one of those before I leave). All in all, it was a great burrito that I would recommend to anyone, especially for the price, come on people, its just as big and just as filling as any other burrito on that menu.

Now for the incident. When we ordered our respective burritos there were two women who had just arrived before us ordering middle aged, they arrived on bicycles and they were carrying grocery bag with items they looked like they had salvaged from dumpster diving. They also had one of the cutest little dogs I had seen with a black spots around his eyes, he was like a little bandit. They ordered ahead of us and sat across the patio from us while we ate. Josephine and I have only seen each other like 3 times since high school graduation, while working together for our english teacher, and then like 4 months ago when I found myself at UCSB for a diversity forum. We spent time catching up and didn't really pay attention to the other party until we heard a huge voice yell at the two women "Gimme my money." It was a large 6' 3" 300lb guy and he seemed angry. He wasn't their pimp, but he easily could have been a dissatisfied customer, and they all seemed a little drunk. There was another guy who showed up and he seemed like he was trying to calm everyone down. Josephine was freaking out, but I watched calmly and mapped out an escape if the situation called for it. We tried to keep talking but Josephine was clearly startled mentioning "I'm sweating R.J." The conversation seemed to just keep escalating with more "Gimme my money" and adding "Bitch," which one woman wisely cracked "I ain't a bitch, I'm THE BITCH." They left the patio area and headed back for their bikes. The guy who wanted his money was trying to take one of the woman's bikes and she was fighting him off then he cocked his fist back and Josephine really freaked and said we had to go. Our chairs dropped to the floor, which may have saved the woman from a punch because I think it startled all of them, but then the guy kicked their dog a couple of time, then he just took off mumbling. We took off, I felt bad so I took Jo to Claremont to Starbucks, somewhere where nothing like that would happen. Jo just said "That was intense, I can't believe we just witnessed a bum fight." Nothing too bad happened, but it made me love the reality that Pomona brings to life outside of the bubble of Claremont. You get to see the realities of this world that you hardly ever see in Claremont or Walnut, as ugly as they maybe, it always nice to be reminded of them.