Last Bite

Pulled Pork Burrito at Burrito Loco

By / Photography By | April 21, 2017
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Julio Martinez takes your burrito order: he smiles warmly, picks up the necessary tortilla and leaves, which is weird because all of his ingredients are in tins right in front of you. You’re there, he was there, all the stuff to make your pulled pork burrito is...well... you’re looking right at it. So what’s with the stroll around the corner? Don’t fret, we’ll get to that. Just use the extra time to mentally configure your burrito, because if I’m behind you, I don’t want you taking all day. Need advice? Don’t skip the in-house pickled jalapeños, they’re right there next to the emerald-green molcajete sauce, which is also a must. This sauce of fire roasted tomatoes, garlic, onion and cilantro is as bright, clean and fresh as a Playa Norte breeze. Next door are the two other sauce options. The jalapeño sauce is similar in ingredients except it’s boiled rather than fire roasted and, with the addition of jalapeños, turns the topping into something I refer to as a “Hitchcock” sauce—you know there’s something lurking in the background (in this case, heat), you just have to wait for when and where it’s gonna pounce (spoiler alert: about seven seconds after swallow, in the back of your throat). Julio simply refers to option #3 as “hot sauce”, which is more hand grenade than Hitchcock, and packs a heck of a caliente kick, which I pass on for my creation, but if you don’t mind a mini-Mexican lava flow down your gullet, sample a sip. The hot sauce delivers as much flavor as it does heat, which derives from walnuts, peanuts, Ritz crackers, tortilla chips, jalapeños, habanero chili pepper and Chile de árbol—all fried in garlic and blended. If heat is your thing, you’ll love it, but you might want to mellow things out with a dollop of Julio’s mother’s cheese sauce, which is a creamy blend of American, queso fresco and Monterey Jack. But all heat aside, there are many fresh and authentic ingredients to chose among to make any burrito lover a happy amigo. Vegetarians can load up on chunks of fresh avocado, beans and rice, salsa fresca and pickled veggies, while meat lovers can also enjoy steak or chicken, which are marinated in a fresh salsa and garlic, keeping things tender and sweet. But if you want my two pesos, the oversized pulled pork burrito ($9.00) is the highlight of this hidden take-out place. The pork butt is marinated in jalapeños, garlic, onion, cinnamon, cumin and adobo powder, and then slow cooked for a couple of hours. “These kinds of things I never hurry,” Julio tells me. Speaking of no hurry, I ask Julio, a Veracruz native, why he takes each tortilla for a walk. “If you want it just right,” he explains, “you have to burn a bit of the tortilla on an open flame. You’ll taste the flavors more.” Indeed, not only does this tiny gesture add the perfect texture and smokiness to the burrito, it shows what kind of talent and passion can be hidden in the back of a little general store.

Burrito Loco (behind Marstons Mills Cash Market)
105 Route 149, Marstons Mills
11am-6pm, Monday-Saturday (until 8pm in the summer months)
For take-out or off-site catering call 508-360-1485

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