Monday, January 26, 2009
Restaurants First Trader Joe's--Chipotle Next?
Posted by Nicki Wood on Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 10:31 AM
The 3,000 signatures on the "bring Trader Joe's to Nashville" petition probably weren't the sole deciding factor that management used in making its choice to put an outlet here, but they couldn't have hurt.
Now a group of people who just love the food at Chipotle have formed a Facebook-based effort to get a Chipotle in Nashville, and seemingly the effort is already having an effect.
In a Facebook post dated Jan. 23, "Bobby Shaw," identifies himself as a regional director for Chipotle. He says the company is looking to locate a single Chipotle here in the next few months.
The criteria for siting a Chipotle include urban setting, daytime traffic, 25-foot frontage, zoning to allow liquor license and adequate parking. Take a look at the photos of examples and consider that the effort has largely been conducted by people who prefer CoolSprings and Brentwood locations. To suggest another location, such as, oh, say, East Nashville or Donelson, click here.
Chipotle is the "gourmet burrito and taco" concept that went public in 2005 (ticker: CMG), and was once partly owned by McDonald's. It supports the use of small-farm pigs (and, in some places, chickens), has opened several "green" locations and taken other environmentally sustainable steps. The guacamole is real, is fresh, and is famously chunky. But is it true that, as one Facebook visitor wrote, it's better than Baja Fresh and better than Moe's? Come on--really?
Comments (36)
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Uh...do people actually consider Baja Fresh and Moe's to be good? Chipotle is definitely better than both.
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I should hope it's better than Baja Fresh!
Moe's is ok, but I'll take the local chain (Baja Burrito/Blue Coast) over the nationals any day, and the idea of another littering the landscape makes me sad. Please, PLEASE, leave it in the wasteland of blandness that is Brentwood/Coolsprings and leave room for the good stuff inside the Davidson County line.
Chipotle is excellent! And to make it even better, they make very smart decisions about the food they purchase and use, as well as how they build and run their restaurants. (check out the story on their website) I've been hoping we'd get one for a long time. Great food and a great company.
Really, I just don't get the Chipotle thing. It has always been bland to the nth degree on my visits. Saying it is better than Moe's(or Qdoba) is saying really nothing at all(forget about Baja Fresh). Agreed with loony that Baja/Blue Coast is far superior; I would say Chile Burrito is far better as well. I've just never understood the Chiptole raves esp. from folks folks with fantastic food reps (eg. Claudia), who seem to love it.
I grew up on Chipotle but prefer Qdoba and Baja Burrito. Though I love Chipotle's cilantro rice. Honestly, I don't think Nashville is missing that much by not having a Chipotle.
I agree with loony and Scottj. Baja Burrito/Blue Coast are definitely superior. By the way, has anyone tried the new Blue Coast in the Nashville West shopping center? I was excited to see it open. Hopefully it will have more regular hours than Baja.
I heard that Blue Coast is opening a location in Hendersonville - anybody know anything about this?
I hope they bring it INTO Davidson County. I usually frequent locally owned restaurants (and even work for one), but the local offerings of burritos are crap compared to Chipotle—regardless of the fact they are a chain.
Seems like quite a number of nay-sayers on the Chipotle thing, and while I am no fan of chains, I love Chipolte. In fact, I have been regularly complaining on their website that middle TN does not have one, and aren't we still one of the few growth markets in the country? I've also frequently suggested locations & suggest you do the same.
Meanwhile, I think the food is very, very good and like Sally said, they use sustainable meats & produce whenever they can, and they ACTUALLY TRY to do so.
OMG, Qdoba. I'd tried to forget that place even exists. Blech!
I have to admit, I've got a bias against national chains. I end up at them from time to time, of course, but I always walk away wondering why I didn't give my money to a local business instead. And nine times out of ten, the local place turns out a tastier product, imo. I'll also admit having never tried Chipoltle, since I'm even less likely to patronize a chain while I'm visiting another city than I am when I'm here.
I'm generally anti-chain, but I'm a fan of Baja Fresh. Note that I am a vegetarian, so my experience with the menus at any of these places is limited. I want to love Baja/Blue Coast, but I don't. I eat there during the weekdays occasionally because there's one nearby, but I'd much rather have Baja Fresh. Fresh, clean, cheap and good. That's about all I require from a burrito joint. Moe's...eh, it's okay. A little overdone in my opinion, though.
I'll try Chipotle if it's convenient. But really, I can make much better burritoes than any of these guys at home.
I tend to be disappointed whenever I venture beyond Baja Burrito. Baja Fresh is like Fiesta Day at a nursing-home cafeteria, and every time I've had Qdoba it's been unappealingly dry. Baja Burrito always tastes fresh, moist and well-seasoned, and I appreciate the variety that can be wrung from its limited ingredients.
Mr. Pink, as always, you said what I would have said had I been able to think of it. Fiesta Day, indeed.
Chipotle is f'n amazing. Well, as far as burrito chains go. Anyone get the petition tag for the East/Donnelson suggestion to work?
Jim, what you said. Good God, will Nashville ever move past the fawning over the arrival of another chain restaurant? I don't give a holy guacamole how good they are or what products they use. The 'concept' is still being planned around a board table hundreds of miles away by people we will never have the opportunity to meet in the dining room, or hold accountable at the cash register, and the menus are being 'crafted' in test kitchens, chosen via focus groups and designed to satisfy the least curious and adventurous palates. The decision by a chain restaurant corporation to open a location in our town is not an indicator of anything other than the fact that we have shown we will enthusiastically support more chains. Given the choice between Chipolte/Baja Fresh/Qdoba/Moe's giving away food right next door to Baja Burrito selling it, I've got my wallet out. And an offer to give the location scouts for Chipolte a ride to Williamson County.
When I think of Chipotle, all I can picture is Ray Kroc sitting in front of a giant McRib poster, and somewhere a voice asking, "Would you buy a burrito from this man?"
And am I the only person left completely underawed (and feeling wallet-pinched) by Baja Burrito? SATCO with fish, equally piss-poor in the parking and equally over-impressed with itself, with xian music has-beens substituting for Vandy students. pass.
oh - not that anyone cares - but the only petitions I'm sticking to right now are the ones that will let me buy cheese with my wine, beer with my whisky and tonic with my gin.
scottj - i like baja fresh as well as i'd like anything that serves me a fresh and healthy option. that's why i go there. big grilled hunks of mahi on a taco with a big slab of avocado and good looking salad- i always pass on the rice and beans. ad i DO like their salsas - and the heaping bin of fresh cilantro of which i use way too much.
so i don't consider them great mexican any more than i consider pf changs great chinese. but in this town it's where i go because i can get it very fresh and very healthy.
plus i'm not a mexican food maven by any means...
Wallet-pinched by Baja Burrito? That's one of the best lunch deals in town—something like seven bucks for a burrito, chips and fruit tea. I greatly prefer it to SATCO (which has some of my favorite wings in town, by the way). I don't know where "over-impressed with itself" comes from—Troy Smith is about as far from over-impressed with himself as you can get, and I've never seen the folks who work the line give anyone a speck of attitude.
Couple of things here. I've always enjoyed Chipotle and have always found their barbacoa to be the juiciest of the bunch. To me, shredded meat is the only option for a burrito.
Secondly, my wife and I had Blue Coast for the first time recently and found the burritos to be among the most bland we'd ever had. Does anyone have any suggestions to make the experience better?
I don't get all this discussion over which chain restaurant has the best burritos. Really people.
depends on what was in your burrito, I suppose, whether it was worth the 7 bucks. I'm a cheap bastard - any lunch over 5 is dinner. It's a burrito, for goodness sake, not a prime rib french dipped sandwich. As for impressed, yes, it reeked of pretense every time I was there. My experience, not yours, apparently. different strokes, no harm, no foul.
mmm, shredded beef - you hit something there, Adam. One of the great missing ingredients here in Nashville, except at the carts. why is that?? and who knows where to get the best tamales? Some young girl practically accosted us leaving the original K&S one day to buy tamals from her car trunk, where she had huge foil-covered pots with three different kinds inside. Oh, what I would give to know her name and her whereabouts! Still have not had a better one here.
I think that same tamale lady is the one who shows up once a week outside Main St Liquors over on the east side. Seems like it's Fridays. I bought one once that had, hmmm, chicken and raisins in it? I can't remember exactly other than that I was surprised.
I LOVE Chipotle! I have emailed them twice (in my 3 years living here) begging them to come. Baja Fresh is good for tacos, Moe's is okay, Qdoba not as good, and Chile Burrito was full of low-quality meat the one time I went.
Chipotle is always fresh, always quality meat. Love the cilantro rice, love the spicy barbacoa meat, LOVE the chunky guacamole and lime-salted chips! I'm from the DC/Maryland area and everytime I go home that is one of the places I have to go, since I can't get it here. When I heard the other day that they were finally even considering coming I got so excited! Hurry please!
Chipotle is good, but it's no Baja.
On a side note, stop courting the chains and go support one of the excellent local restaurants we have in this city. It seems like we are losing more and more of them in this economic downturn.
Chain, chain, chain...chain of fools. Sad. The appeal of having a Chipolte's in Nashville that is exactly the same as the Chipolte's in Baltimore is as exciting as having a Gap in Nashville exactly the same as a Gap in Baltimore. The chaining and malling of America is distressing, but not as distressing as people's embrace of it. Let's celebrate and support what is unique to our city.
moes and qdoba suck ass.
chipotle is hands down the greatest thing to ever happen to earth in the last century.
ladies and gentlemen, for your consideration and perspective, a few interesting events of note in the last 100 years, all apparently miniscule in comparison to the experience for jreamteam of eating at chipotle's:
Plastics were invented
Nylon was invented
Antibiotics were discovered
The Polio vaccine
Smallpox now lives only in a test tube
Human space flight was achieved
Jet aircraft
Airmail
Computers
Personal Computers
Internet connectivity
Email
Satellites
Satellite TV
the forward pass
NFL Ticket
Movies with sound
Animation in full color
Animation by hand
Animation by xerox
Animation by computer
the mouse interface for point & click
Cellular telephones
VOIP
MRI imaging
CRT imaging
laser surgery
laser surgery of the eye
chemotherapy
radiation therapy
hybrid vehicles
solar powered water heaters
solar powered batteries
Moonroofs as standard equipment
Vacuum tubes
Transistors
Marshall Amplifiers
The American Civil Rights Movement
America elected a black President
and then there was Chipotle's. who knew...
Not to get a dog in this fight, but I will take Chipotle's naturally-raised barbacoa over Baja Burrito's dyed-red meat sitting in salt brine.
But many of the places people are trying to compare don't really build the same kind of burritos, so it's a moot point.
The thing that gets me about our burrito joints around here, where's the pork!? Moe's so far is the ONLY place you can get pork. As for "barbacoa", NOBODY! I say again, NOBODY has barbacoa. That is a trditional dish involving a cows head. Which is amazing by the way. Chipotle is the best place by far. Everywhere else has a fear of salt! C-mon people!!! There is a reason wars have been fought and people have died for salt!
