Denver Burrito #5: Socorro's
19 E Bayaud
This is a one-man operation where everything is made in sight. Just sitting there and watching him make the burrito before mine, and then mine, made me like this place.
According to Yelp, his name is Carlos. I'm honestly not sure if his last name is Socorro or if it was named after anybody at all. Google's translation of Socorro is relief, so it could be a metaphor of an oasis compared to all the other restaurant options. Perhaps he just liked the sound of it.
There's a total of six seats, three facing the counter, three facing the window. When I entered there were four people. The guy in front of me got a burrito to go and I believe it was the al pastor. That's what I was planning on ordering, but when I saw his, the pork seemed mushy. So I opted for the carne asada.
I took note that when finished, the burrito before mine was wrapped in foil and then grilled for 5-10 seconds. This was something that I had read on yelp and was excited, because I like the idea of a slight crunch on the exterior, though seeing that it was grilled with foil would lessen the impact.
All the burritos come with beans, rice and cheese inside. From there you have the option of chile inside, smothered, or deluxe which is smothered with cheese, tomato. Chile inside is a dollar extra, smothered two, and deluxe even more.
Interestingly, the al pastor plain was 3.99, the carne asada 5.99. A 50% markup for beef instead of pork? So with the chili inside mine was 6.99, which is totally fair. Yet I could see ordering a plain al pastor for 4 bucks as a great value.
It was fun to see my burrito made. First he microwaved the rice and steamed the tortilla. A good amount of green chile was the first layer. Then the carne asada. That was pre-cut and sitting in a container full of some sort of marinade. Then some shredded white cheese. Then the spanish rice. Carlos asked if it was for here or to go. I said here. That's when he placed my burrito on a plate and put it in the microwave before serving it to me. No grilling? So that's what I get for saying here, huh. Mistake on my part, but if I'm not getting it smothered, why not grill it and then put it on a plate?
This was a large tortilla rolled simply. It seemed perhaps a bit smaller than some of the others I've had, but not dramatically.
My first reaction was hot, in both senses of the word. It took me a little while to figure out what kind of hot we were really talking about. It was spicy but not unnecessarily so. Temperature-wise, it was hotter than it needed to be. The upside to the time in the microwave is that the cheese completely melted on the inside. Combined with the ultra-warm green chile, the insides were a melty, delicious mess that more resembled the inside of an enchilada.
The meat was once again fantastic and seems to be the most common differentiator between an authentic place and national chains. The rice was full of flavor and is a great addition. The green chile was spicy good and the cheese melted everything together. Each component delivered nicely.
The tortilla was solid but not remarkable. The simple roll with open ends meant no thick wads of tortilla at the edges, which is again appreciated. One drawback was that it felt a little skimpy on the meat.
I would happily go back and try the al pastor plain burrito to go for four bucks and see if the time on the grill makes a difference. For now, while I liked it quite a bit, I think this burrito is closer to the whole of the competition than the leader.
El Taco De Mexico 9.5
Socorro's 8
Chipotle 8
Bocaza 7.5
El Tepehaun 7.5
Tacos Rapidos 7
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