burrito adventure

There's a taqueria near the Dongdaemun Design Plaza; I'd been wanting to try it for some time, and tonight, Monday night, I seized my chance (it was closed on Sunday). The only other Mexican I've had since returning to Seoul has been Vatos Urban Tacos, which isn't really the best reflection of true tacos. Tonight's place was called, goofily, Taco Chili Chili. I had to wonder how Koreanized the tacos, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, and nachos would be. Not that I planned to hold any Koreanization against the establishment: Americans Americanized Mexican food when it came across the border, after all; food evolves through appropriation, a concept I've discussed in relation to the Christmas tree.

The menu items all looked appetizing to me (you'll see them in the images below; click the first two images to see them full-size); I decided to go for the "C" burrito set, given how expensive the burritos would have been to buy individually. This set came with two large burritos and two sodas; I chose Coke, of course.

The burritos themselves left me fairly impressed. I ordered one chicken and one beef burrito. The only evidence of Koreanization was the presence of cabbage mixed in with the lettuce, and that was a completely harmless substitution, in my opinion. Otherwise, everything looked, smelled, and tasted like American-style Tex-Mex: the burritos had plenty of rice, beans, and cilantro in them; the meat was tastily grilled and spiced in a recognizable way (the restaurant smelled familiar when I first entered it).

A good burrito leaves you with pleasant belches that remind you of what you've just eaten. (This is true for curry dishes, too: the spirit of your slaughtered meal haunts you for a couple hours afterward.) As I walked my 21,000 steps tonight, I definitely relived my dinner, even after having stopped by the crêpe stall again (I have pictures of that, too; hang on).

Enjoy the following images.

The following pics are already full size:




I liked how the beef was rough-chopped in carne asada style. It would have been nice to have had some more sour cream, and maybe some guacamole, but I didn't miss either condiment all that much. Everything was quite delicious.





_