Inside the nacho burrito

SFist saw our report yesterday and couldn’t wait to get down to La Cumbre and try it:

We sampled the texturally-enhanced savory roll to see for ourselves if—at last—the chippy addition made San Francisco’s gloppy and oversteamed burrito (unfathomably preferred by many) more palatable. It did. Texture can do wonders. While the chips did get a bit soggy, they provided a necessary buffer to the burrito’s inherent one-dimensional flavor and greasiness factors. We ordered ours with grilled chicken, regular salsa, and no beans. (Unless they’re of the cannellini variety and tinged with rosemary and olive oil, we don’t care for beans.) It came to us wrapped nicely in a perfect size portion. Mmm, good.

Read on for more analysis and lots more pictures.

43 Responses to “Inside the nacho burrito”

  1. Manny says:

    You are either not eating the right burritos or you have no taste.

  2. GG says:

    The judgment of someone who doesn’t like BEANS or thinks a burrito is acceptable without them cannot possibly be trusted.

    • kiya says:

      I agree with this, but they ARE talking about La Cumbre here. The food there is dreadful.

      • Manny says:

        I’m sorry, I thought he was talking about Mission Burritos in general. I’m always having this argument with people from God Damned San Diego.

        The only reason to go to La Cumbre is when you are drunk and even then you might be better off at taco bell

      • EH says:

        Oh please. La Cumbre has good carnitas.

    • Herr Doktor Professor Deth Vegetable says:

      Emphatically seconded.

  3. Ben S says:

    I don’t understand all the La Cumbre hate. I’ve had many a burrito in this town and haven’t found a pollo asada that beats theirs. Granted, their other meat offerings are kind of meh. If you stick to the grilled chicken you can’t go wrong.

    • thanks says:

      hipsters and foodies have finicky palates; it’s not currently a cool place.

      • Manny says:

        Cool has nothing to do with it, they don’t currently serve good food.

        • LurkerSpaz says:

          suck it.

        • Jack Walker says:

          Le Cumbre used to have the best burritos but something sad happened. A few years back it closed for about 6 months. When it re-opened everything was wrong. Starting with the line cooks. The new crop didn’t get the proportions right, and couldn’t roll a tight burrito, the rice was over salted. Old Le Cumbre used to grill the meat at nearly the same time it was served. The place would be filled with grilling smoke. Now the meat sits in the steam table for hours. They used to use round slices of Mexican cheese placed on the tortilla and melted in the steamer. The result was sort of like a cheese steak. Now they use some grated shite and rarely steam it so it melts. The old Le Cumbre had red salsa on the table in a squirter. This was great ’cause you could spice it up as you went. Now the red sauce is at the salsa bar (god I hate those.) You have to fill a little tub and try to pour on your burrito without spilling it all over. Lastly they used to have rustic leather and pine stools exclusively. It added charm and guess what the stools were comfortable. They replaced most of them with the most god awful dreadful discount retro diner red vinyl chairs. I wish they would return to making great burritos like they used to back when Calvin Trillen gave them a shout out in the New Yorker

    • yourmomasado says:

      if you’re getting pollo asado, you’re clearly doing it wrong to begin with

  4. Rafael says:

    Rafael loves all food. NYC Rafael of course

  5. The Goat says:

    the goat like this….and likes to see inside things…

  6. LurkerSpaz says:

    I HATE FOODIE SNOBS. If you knew a damn thing, you’d know that La Cumbre was the last holdout from the old days of NO RICE INNA BURRITO S.F. Burrito and for that they will always have a place in my heart. There’s nothing wrong with their carne asada burrito. Quit looking for a special little experience everytime you shove something in your puckered, entitled, little pie-holes. Nothing wrong with the Summit…certainly not ‘DREADFUL’. Wankers.

  7. LurkerSpaz says:

    OK – last holdout in the North Mission.

  8. Sitch says:

    Now if El Metate did this, THAT would be something.

    • yourmomasado says:

      …would be something totally expected. A gringo concept for the most gringo of mission taquerias.

  9. Philip says:

    I had this yesterday. It was good, but super small. I was hungry a few hours later.

  10. GrizzledMission says:

    I’ll always be grateful to La Cumbre for the $1.25 rice and beans burrito I ate there every day for a year in 93-94. They kept me alive. These days, I’m much happier at Cancun or Farolito. As someone else mentioned, something changed, and not for the better. I like the idea of the nacho burrito, though, and hope to give it a try.

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