rev:text
| - I grew up in California loving Taco Bell. Sure I knew it wasn't real Mexican food, but I loved my steak supreme chalupas nonetheless. Fast forward 15 years or so to Champaign. College student me, with no car, had hankerings for Mexican food during the day or late night. Options? La Bamba's "burritos as big as your head and later on Chipotle (yea I know, another bastardization, but still crazy delicious).
Oh, let me just make a point of it to say, I don't care how drunk you are, La Bamba's is one of those terrible life choices you can ACTUALLY regret -- my friend ate an entire burrito, walked outside, and threw up a burrito as big as his head.
On to Burrito King. As the name implies, the ethnic owners clearly were not wearing their creativity caps, and were also misinformed on the lameness of copying the name of some big American fast food chain like so many other restaurants have done, e.g. Pho King, Egg Roll King, Gyro King, etc. etc.
But the food? Absolutely fan-fcking-tastic.
To start off with, I came in around 4 p.m. on a weekend so nobody was dining. The wait staff promptly set me up with a heaping pile of homemade nachos and salsa
I had the pork tamales covered in a creamy white cheese sauce and chorizo all over. They came with a side of rice and beans, delicious. Please PLEASE try the homemade habanero hot sauce. I only wish they would sell me some, although they did get a to-go sauce cup for me to sip on later ;]
The menu has scores of authentic Mexican dishes, including some run-of-the-mill options, but you'll find it all incredibly fresh and well made.
Prices are cheap enough to make any future stop in La Bamba seem like heresy now.
I wish Burrito King had come sooner when I was actually at UIUC, but learn from my mistakes and go check it out!
|