Info: 723 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19106 – www.elfuegophilly.com

After a busy morning of watching people and dogs in Washington Square Park, Wawa beckoned me for lunch. As I exited the park and made my way westbound on Walnut St, I called an audible and entered El Fuego, an establishment I had walked past dozens of times but had never entered. If I’m going to commit to my food reviews, I need to keep trying new things. I shed a quick tear for the Spicy Turkey hoagie that could have been and made my way to the counter. When I had passed El Fuego the previous afternoon, the line was nearly out the door with corporate underlings on their lunch breaks, so my hopes were high. The appearance was promising with the items written in chalk on a slate menu and an assembly line setup. It seemed to strike the perfect balance of being a legitimate, modern establishment without seeming overly corporate, so I was excited to see if lived up to my imaginary hype.

Call me boring, but I ordered a chicken burrito. You can deduce a lot about a restaurant by seeing how they handle the basics. So let’s see how they did. As always, I will be giving the good shit, the nit pick, and a verdict with a 1-5 Plop rating.

The Food:

Chicken Burrito [w/ rice, black beans, peppers + onions, salse, sour cream, lettuce, sauteed mushrooms (add-on)]

• The Good Shit: The chicken was cooked and seasoned well, and the beans and vegetables added plenty of extra flavor. The sauteed mushrooms, added at Danny’s request, were a nice addition not often seen or eaten in burritos. The sour cream helped round everything out.
• The Nit Pick: Unfortunately, the negatives outweighed the positives here. When I asked to add the peppers and onions to my burrito, I thought I was being pranked. This dude made the tongs as narrow as he possibly could and proceded to play Operation with what seemed to be a single sliver of green pepper and two slivers of red onion. Then he did the same with a few mushroom slices. I can understand skimping on steak to a certain extent, but stiffing me on vegetables that I paid extra for was absolutely comical. But the lack of the flavorful vegetables was made up for by the heaping portion of bland rice. The rice’s blandness could have been masked by mixing the ingredients better, which brings me to my next point. I don’t need the burrito fillings to be thoroughly mixed before wrapping, although I don’t mind it either (shout out Panchero’s, sponsor me). With that said, the burrito should be wrapped such that each cross section should have all or most of the ingredient layers. My particular burrito was wrapped 90° off, so my first few bites were exclusively sour cream and tortilla. As I worked my way down, I got to the rice, beans, lettuce, and lone pepper sliver. I eventually ate my way to the chicken, which as I mentioned was quite good.

The Verdict:

I was duped by my own curiosity. While certainly not the worst burrito I’ve had – that title is held solely by Da Kine Diego’s Insane Burritos in Satellite Beach, FL, and it’s not close – you can find a better burrito at a large chain or smaller hole in the wall. If you’re just looking for a quick lunch, the Wawa a few blocks down would probably be the better choice. Now if you’re looking for a lunch that will knock your socks off, get the Blackened Catfish Po’boy from Beck’s at the Reading Terminal Market (Beck’s, sponsor me). I had higher hopes for El Fuego, which gets 2 Plops.