Brighton’s Tortilla restaurant have bought the taste of California to the city centre and Anya Zervudachi finds out their top ten truths to burrito making and more.
What is a Burrito?
A burrito is a Northern Mexican / Southwest American creation that includes a large flour Tortilla wrapped around a range of tasty fillings. Our California-style burritos are inspired by the authentic taquerías in California that Brandon (founder and burrito chief) grew up on. You can choose from burritos and tacos made from a choice of toppings including barn-reared grilled chicken, barbacoa (shredded beef) and carnitas (pulled pork), freshly made salsas, hand-mashed guacamole, pinto and black beans, and a range of other delicious toppings. All wrapped up in a flour Tortilla which we call a cylinder of deliciousness
Rumour has it Tortilla is a healthy alternative to fast food and supermarket sandwiches – Fill us in on the facts?
We’re not your local tequila – drinking Mexican joint with refried beans and heated up prepared burritos. We believe in high-provenance ingredients, authentic recipes, food made from scratch and a focus on wholesomeness. People see having a burrito as a treat, but you’d be surprised to know that most of our burritos have less fat and calories than most high street sandwiches as you can see in the graph.
You can choose how healthy you want your burrito to be, and if you really want to go the extra mile then try a naked burrito which is all the lovely toppings in a bowl without the Tortilla. We have also added a burrito calculator on our website, so people can input all their chosen ingredients and see their stats.
So how much are we talking for this quick, delicious, nutritious and filling meal?
Our medium burrito is £5 and large is £6. It’s ideal for busy business people at lunch, with a broad appeal in the evening. Perfect place to hang out and have a beer and burrito, or margarita if that’s your tipple.
Ten Top Truths about Tortilla?
One of our mottos to our staff is ‘we never serve bad food’. Our friends are eating this food, our staff are eating this food. We want to be proud of what we serve and we are obsessed with sourcing top quality ingredients and the highest provenance meats. To reinforce this to our team and our customers we have come up with our ‘Top Ten Tortilla Truths’.
Rule 1: All toppings and fillings made from scratch
Rule 2: Source only the highest-provenance meats.
Rule 3: Fresh, never frozen.
Rule 4: No outsourcing (unlike most burrito chains).
Rule 5: No lard, ever.
Rule 6: Meats cooked throughout the day to ensure freshness.
Rule 7: Fresh produce delivered 6 days a week
Rule 8: Monterey Jack cheese, only (cheddar’s cheating).
Rule 9: Guacamole made fresh daily from really Hass avocados.
Rule 10: Only serve what we want to eat ourselves!
It’s paramount to us to have the best ingredients and to prepare and sell the finest and freshest burritos.
What work have you done around provenance and sustainability? It would be great to get a feel for your ethos and practices.
We don’t take short cuts when it comes to the provenance of our food. But it’s not just about the quality of the food that matters, it’s about having people who work with us that care. So our team get free burritos and tacos every day. We provide recycling in all our restaurants, we minimize “food miles” – the number of miles that our supplies travel to get to our stores and source organic products wherever possible to minimise pesticides. We share nutritional information so you can watch your calories and we work with local schools to teach kids how to make Mexican cuisine. Part of these efforts stem from our roots in California but mainly we just do these things because they’re the right thing to do! These beliefs build the foundation of how we view sustainability and we’ve have just been awarded 2 stars from the Sustainable Restaurant Association. This is a massive achievement for us as no other fast casual Mexican restaurant in the UK has a higher rating. We are keen to show diners our values and that we are committed to making a difference.
Anything else we should know?
Yes, we LOVE burritos. Follow us on twitter @tortillauk if you do too.
Interesting fact: There are more burrito joints in London than in Mexico City. But then, the burrito isn’t really Mexican. It was created in the border area around the south west of the US. Anyway, forget London – San Francisco has over 150 temples of Burritoliciousness. Making it the Burrito Capital of the World.
Tortilla, 37 West Street, Brighton, BN1 2RE
W: www.tortilla.co.uk
T: @tortillauk
F: tortillauk