Adam & Eats: Blaze’n Burrito Mexican Grill

Editor’s note: Adam Brandt is a graduate from the Cobra Kai School of Culinary Callousness, where he received their highest award, the Red Apron of Merciless Eating. Aside from eating and talking about eating, he makes pots, paintings, prints, books, photographs, and generally, a big mess. He has been the studio assistant at Mudpuppy Pottery for almost nine years and is attending a local university in a desperate attempt to earn a biology degree.

I don’t normally assign meaning to coincidence, but when I was about to take my first bite of my Lil’ B at Blaze’n Burrito, “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor started playing on their Sirius radio. I’m not gonna lie, it freaked me out a little.

Located behind Champion Cycle at the eastern end of Rogers Avenue, is the first location of Blaze’n Burrito. I say first location, because the second location is set to be opening, anytime now, in the former Alpha Books location (insert image of me making the sad face while shedding a single tear over losing Alpha Books) on Garrison Avenue. Since there is only one, for the time being, let’s talk about them. We’ll discuss the new one after they open.

Blaze’n Burrito has a sports bar vibe to it. Not your typical Mexican Restaurant decorations by any means. There are no parrots, or plants with dollars in them, or paintings on the tabletops, or sombreros. It is relatively low lighting and big televisions at Blaze’n Burrito.

When asked about the ordering protocol, my very friendly and helpful “burrito specialist” informed me that it was just like ordering at Subway. I like to think of it as more like Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory rather than a deli, because in reality you are about to create a monster of a meal.

You pick an entrée, either the Big B, the Lil’ B, a quesadilla, a Blaze’n salad, nachos or tacos, and then you pick a meat (or lack of meat) to top the monstrous thing that you have now set in motion. If you chose the Big B, you then get to pick from a variety of tortillas for to wrap this thing in. Blaze’n Burrito offers you six different flavors of tortilla, including flour, wheat, garlic/herb, tomato/basil, jalapeno cheddar, and spinach. Once you’ve picked a tortilla your personal Igor fills it with ground beef, shredded beef, chicken, pork, steak, or veggies based on your previous decision.

This is where it starts to get interesting.

There are a ton of different add-ons that you can choose from to get your heartburn a rollin’. They have potatoes, fajita veggies, refried beans, Mexican rice, black beans, both regular and spicy queso, shredded cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, hot salsa, mild salsa, onions, tomatoes, pico de gallo, lettuce, black olives, and ranch dressing. They also have fresh made guacamole available for a small extra charge.

Holy cow! These things are huge. I got the Lil’ B and it filled me to the brim. I can’t even imagine trying to scarf down an entire Big B. In the long standing tradition of Mexican restaurants they offer bottomless chips and salsa with the purchase of an entrée. They offer different deals every day of the week. Saturday’s deal is my favorite because you get a small cheese dip with your order.

Overall, the food is good. It is not the best Mexican food around, but for the amount of food you get, it beats going to Taco Bell. Plus, their queso is top notch. I typically like things to be spicy, but their mild queso is so friggin’ tasty that I end up licking the bowl to get the last few drops. If you have a hankering for a big-ass burrito, you should head on over to Blaze’n Burrito and don’t forget to pack a few Rolaids when you do.

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Adam also has this thing called Sandwich Control.