2.12.07

two minds beaten as one.






















It's pretty difficult to keep your vacation with you after you're done with the physically being there part, isn't it. I'm trying quasi-desperately to maintain my zen Phoenix mindset here in Amsterdam but it's proving more arduous than I expected. What I want to have happen is that I can project myself right into my seat at the Huge Marble Square in the Phoenix kitchen, where I am at rest, my mind is calm, the world is my oyster, the TV is large, the refrigerator is full of lemon Propel, etc.

I'm obviously doing something wrong (other than not quite being on the correct sleeping/waking schedule for this time zone), 'cause it ain't quite working: our TV is still small. Maybe a picture of the last burrito I tasted in Phoenix will help. This is a Burrito Mexicano from Baja Fresh, a chain of California-style healthy Mexican fast food-ish joints. They used to be owned by Wendy's, but I guess that didn't work out, b/c they're independent again.

My parents like Baja Fresh because it's close-by, fresh-seeming (imagine that), and healthy-seeming. I found it to be not especially healthy (though it's true there wasn't much cheese, ground beef, or sour cream involved), and eh, ok in the taste department. My burrito was pretty much chicken, black beans, and rice. There were three salsas, and the more of them I applied, the better the burrito got, no surprises there. I guess I'm saying: I didn't understand what all the fuss was about, this was pretty average food, fresh for sure, but it contained approximately 1/20th the taste of Richardson's New Mexican Platter.

Maybe the best thing about Baja Fresh was that they provide nutritional info, not so common for Mexican places. The burrito pictured above? 790 calories, but almost no fat. I only ate half.

2 comments:

Randi said...

Whenever we go to Florida, We go to Baja Fresh and get the burrito ultimo. Of course, the restaurant is not as good as an "authentic" mexican restaurant, but its better than anything I could get in small-town Ontario.

MEM said...

I should've ordered something a little more ultimo...as you can see, this one was pretty stripped-down.

But I enjoyed Filiberto's green chile burrito quite a bit more and that was very stripped-down as well. Plus I'm not sure that it was significantly more caloric or unhealthy. So I don't know...I guess Baja Fresh just wasn't my thing that night.