Tortillaphilia

Bite-sized Mexican food reviews in Seattle and beyond!

El Kiosko: Burritos

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Score

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Leave it to the Californians to properly ’mericanize the burrito, at least in spirit. Fries might be French or Belgian (depending on who you ask), but stuffing them into a burrito? That’s American ingenuity right there.

Burrito on a plate
An exercise in maximalism.

As for El Kiosko’s take on the California burrito, it is something that isn’t entirely a homerun but is serviceable enough to give a try.

Nobody can accuse this burrito of not being an ode to maximalism—it literally bursts open at arrival. Whether that’s a good thing or not is subjective, but it’s a bit too “extreme” for my liking. A little modesty never hurt anyone.

Inside, the fries are a step too far on the al dente side, a fairly common problem with the California burrito. You don’t want the fries to be mushy, and commonly, you’ll find them borderline frozen. That’s not the case at El Kiosko, but they could have stood to be a smidgen more tender.

The sour cream game, too, is somewhat overzealous. There’s a lot of it, enough to nearly overpower the carne asada, which is a little sad. The meat is tasty on its own.

And that is the issue with this burrito—a touch too much of everything. In all fairness, it never reaches the point of being completely ridiculous, but had the burrito maker been less enthusiastic—and more aware of the fries—we’d be talking about a great burrito as opposed to one that is just good.

— Remi A. Olsen