The Premise:
Grilling meat over an open flame morphs meat from being ordinary, into something extraordinary. As the flames lick the steak they infuse intense flavor, and leave a texture that broiling, baking or frying just can’t offer. For that reason alone, char grilled steak burritos are simply the best, period, with all other meats and variations in a burrito being clearly inferior no matter what anyone else may say.
Chicago has handful of Taquerias that have indoor char grills, where they flame broil fresh whole skirt steaks in front of your very eyes, and then chop the steaks into juicy flavorful morsels for either tacos or burritos. This is opposed to the more common way of seeing butcher bags of pre-chopped mystery steak meat being scooped out and then unceremoniously fried on a griddle like at most Taqueria’s around Chicago and the rest of country.
For this event, any Taqueria that prepared their steak on a griddle, was deemed to be unworthy, and they were immediately disqualified without further consideration. After several weeks of online chatting banter and debate on Chicagolands premier food forum; The LTH Forum, six worthy opponents rose to the top.
These six Taquerias are in fact, the best Taquerias in Chicagoland, and that is without doubt after completing this crawl. I can now honestly say that were all worthy opponents to pit against one and other, and great picks by all the LTH’rs that offered up suggestions. But now this crawl was about finding out who is the best of the best, in a head to head “taste off” or “throw down” but done in form a a crawl.
The Attendees:
| Burt | Laikom | jimswside |
| Andrew | Teresa | GAF |
| Bruce | geno55 | RAB |
| Panther in the Den | Stefan | REB |
| Linda | Al |
The crawl began on August 22nd at 1PM. Fourteen brave hungry people showing up for the 1st annual LTH Char-grilled steak burrito crawl. Over the next 6 hours these 14 folks would experience the best the city had to offer, and then judge which was their favorite.
This event was man and woman against human stomach capacity with burritos that reached lengths greater than some arms.
This was a six stop burrito eating marathon, and it was in the name of fun, science and pure gluttony that this undertaking was conceived, the three most noble causes in the food world.
13 participants filled out scorecards, 8 did all 6 of the 6 stops, 1 did 5 of the 6 stops, and 4 did 4 of the 6 stops. All had an opinion.
Regardless of how many stops anyone ended up doing, it was a great time and and everyone gave it 100% and displayed no shortage of enthusiasm (and stomach space) for the love of burritos.
The Burrito Contestants:
1) Carniceria Y Taqueria Tierra Caliente (Was Caniceria Leon)
2) Carniceria Guanajuato
3) Taqueria El Asadero
4) Palapita
5) Las Asadas
6) La Pasadita
The Score Card:
The criteria by which we rated them all:
How they fared:
Stop #1 - Carniceria Y Taqueria Tierra Caliente (Caniceria Leon) - 1400 N. Ashland
Arrived: 1:00 PM - Departed 1:50 PM
The judges scorecards:
Stop #2 - Carniceria Guanajuato - 3140 N. California Ave
Arrived: 2:05 PM - Departed 2:50 PM
The judges scorecards:
Stop #3 - Taqueria El Asadero - 2213 W. Montrose Ave
Arrived: 3:05 PM – Departed: 3:50 PM
The judges scorecards:
Stop #4 – El Palapita - 4263 N. Milwaukee Ave
Arrived: 4:05PM - Departed 4:50 PM
The judges scorecards:
Stop #5 - Las Asadas - 2072 N. Western Ave
Arrived: 5:05 PM - Departed 5:50 PM
The judges scorecards:
Stop #6 - La Pasadita - 1140 N. Ashland Ave
Arrive: 6:25 PM – Departed: 7:30
The judges scorecards:
And the final verdict??
LAS ASADAS was the clear winner!!
| 1st | 7.7 | Stop #5 Las Asadas |
| 2nd | 7.3 | Stop #2 Carniceria Guanajuato |
| 3rd | 6.8 | Stop #3 Taqueria El Asadero |
| 4th | 6.5 | Stop #6 La Pasadita |
| 5th | 5.9 | Stop #1 Carniceria Y Taqueria Tierra Caliente (Was Caniceria Leon) |
| 6th | 5.7 | Stop #4 Palapita |
A great time was had, and everyone participating made it a great experience. I went home and went into a food coma, but hey, it was worth it! After all it was in the name of fun, science and pure gluttony, the three most noble causes in the food world.
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