Today at 9:30 a.m., the moment all of us here at Toad HQ have been waiting for finally arrived: The Great Breakfast Burrito Taste Off!
For a long time now there has been an inner-office debate as to which of Santa Barbara’s finest morning Mexi-shacks offers up the best breakfast burrito.
Burritos were judged in two categories: meat & no meat (or as they say at the order counter: ‘NO MEAT??!?!?’)
Special guest judge Kate was provided an eggless tasting, despite contention from other judges that it no longer qualifies as breakfast.
The thing about a breakfast burrito is that, since it’s likely the first thing you’re ingesting that day, it can’t be a gut bomb. There can’t be too many onions or an overload of salsa. The flavors must be subtle enough to whet your appetite without overloading your palate, and it must be balanced enough in its proportions to stoke the digestive fires. Like everything, there’s a fine yin/yang to the whole endeavor.
The clear winner in both categories (good to note for those of you who live in Santa Barbara or plan to visit one day), is Taqueria El Refugio. Known in the office as “the pink taco stand” because it’s, well, pink, El Refugio knocked it out of the park with its well-rounded spices and perfect ratio of potatoes/eggs and either meat or avocado. The eggless option also included rajas, whose pungency, according to Kate, was the perfect foil to the cooling avo and unctuous, earthy potato.
These would have gone great with an avocado margarita.
