El Burro

Today I went out to lunch with our IT guy and the rest of the nerd herd that went to Nicky's Thai Kitchen last year.  There was a new nerd-in-training in our midst, a nascent member of our tribe, in the form of their new intern.

They've been telling me about this great Mexican place called El Burro on the North Side, right on Federal Street around the block from the closed down art-nouveau film house known as the Garden Theater.  With the Garden finally acquired by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, it should only be a matter of time until this sector is turned around and maybe into a mini East Liberty.

The interior of El Burro is simple -- yellow walls with sparse wall hangings -- in a narrow space.  The menu is prominently displayed on the back wall and there is just counter style seating.  On the way down, one of the IT guys was hyping up the "rolled tacos".  I was very intrigued by them, but wanted to see all the other options.

There were "street tacos" (a standard style taco) with six different options -- shredded beef, shredded chicken, chorizo, carnitas, carne asada, and potato.  But I wanted something different.  The burritos sure looked tasty (same fillings as above) and they even had a breakfast burrito and something called a California burrito.

But in the end, the rolled tacos were calling my name because I've never had one.  You can get them with chicken, beef, or potato.  I went with chicken.  They are kinda sorta like taquitos, in the fact that they are small rolled up shells that are quickly deep fried.  They're then topped with an avocado salsa and cheese, with a pico de gallo mix on the side.

You get four of them and it was a nice lunch portion.  We were all kind of separated because of the counter seating, but if I would have shared the 2 person portion-sized order of chips and salsa, that would have been the right amount of food.

El Burro had Mexican coke, but I was really hoping for some Horchata like at Smoke in Homestead.  Maybe they'll add it at a later date.  El Burro is definitely a place I'll be taking DB~ to try in the near future.