chipotle is from Colorado so so technically it is what a superior cultured east coast gentleman such as yourself would call a flyover state

..and they've been around on the east coast for ages

That's interesting. I always thought they were McDonalds' corporate answer to Qdoba, which is also from Colorado. To come full circle, Qdoba is owned by the same company that owns Jack in the Box!

But the nice thing about an e. coli outbreak or any sort of food poisoning is that Qdoba and Jack in the Box are probably the two most sanitary places out there. I remember my ex coming home from the 'Doba with scabs on her hands because you have to wash with scalding hot water for a minute after touching EVERY. FUCKING. THING, and this included transactions. She lasted a whole two weeks there which is two weeks longer than I would've.

I live on the East Coast, and I've only recently seen any Chipotles here. There are two in my area - one next to Yale, one a couple towns over. I find that the food is adequate, but the price, a little high for what you get. The dining areas are the worst I've ever sen in a fast food restaurant. Both locations are cramped, poorly lit, and absolutely FILTHY - I cannot say I'm surprised by this e.coli story.

The worst part about Chipotle is the layout of the dining area; everyone is seated at communal tables with their backs towards the center of the room and/or a line of people. This is incredibly triggering for my stress issues, and I suspect it's done on purpose. Taco Bell serves pretty low-grade food, but generally I'd take the Bell's dollar tacos and uncomfortable booths over Chipotle's nine dollar tacos and panic-attack inducing tables.

THAT SAID, Chipotle sells beer and margaritas, which considering they are a fast food place, is rather kind of them.

I didn't know they served alcohol now. Still not enough incentive for me to go to one, since I can drink across the street and I know the code to their bathroom. But to be fair, when I was living in Madison I worked in the middle of Burrito Triangle, which was really more of a Rectangle, with Chipotle, Qdoba, Taco Bell and Mo's Southwest Grill within rock throwing distance. My friend, who up and quit Qdoba went to Mo's, and they were super cool. They'd just give me a big free Mo-garita to take back to work, but honestly I liked Chipotle's Guacamole so much that I'd just order a side of it and sort of sneak across the street whenever I got a craving for fast Tex/Mexican Cuisine, which was a lot.

Ho yeah, Taco Bell is experimenting with selling beer and margaritas too now. I think it's just at one place in California for now but that'd be interesting because I usually only make Run For The Border when I'm too drunk to remember eating in the first place.

It might just be a location thing, like maybe Chipotle wants to impress potential investors stopping by campus.

Honestly though. the place is pretty redundant, thanks in no small part to Tikkaway, located just a couple blocks down the street. Tikkaway's got a similar setup to Chipotle (build-your-own-meal) and it costs the same per plate, only Tikkaway sells curry and roti wraps, and their food tastes sooooo much better. Also, cozy seating and an "art wall" on which the management lets you write swear-words!

And yeah communal dining is weird. My favorite restaurant to go to, La Merde is like that, but you're still waiting to be seated, and maybe you strike up a conversation with someone the way you would if you went to a bar by yourself and sat at the bar. I don't think I'd want to talk to anybody at Chipotle who sat next to me, even if they were interesting Philosophers and such. I'm probably there because I'm on my lunch break.

If I got a lunch break :(

Ha Tikkaway! Yeah that place is awesome.

Fuck yeah! Imma eat there once, twice a week on average. Great food, cool staff, and they don't mind me drawing pictures of ancient 4chan memes on their precious wall. They've got a lot of quality vegan/ vegetarian options too, so it's pretty much the perfect fast food place, regardless of who you are! I really hope the owner guy gets a chance to expand out of state. Then the quality can drop, and the floors can stop getting cleaned, and a hundred stores will need to be closed due to an outbreak of lamb-borne e. coli.

One day, God willing, West Coast poesters will be complaining about how overrated Tikkaway is.

Yeah there's nothing I can think of out here that compares; Rice Junkies used to have a few Indian Bowls and wraps but now they've gone mostly Korean, which is fine, but it's hard to find good cheap and portable Indian food that's not in a food cat, because you know it rains a lot.

But the original Rice Junkies used to be the same way. It was called that because it's across the street from the junkie park, otherwise known as Paranoid Park. It used to be super punk rock and awesome, but now it just seems like another small chain.

Whatever. Alls I'm saying is they're no Home Country Buffet, but then again what is.

Just like Fat Tire beer. For years and years I listened to friends returning from ski trips telling me about the "greatest beer ever!" It finally made its way east and I found it to be terribly overrated. Of course my friends let me know, "Nah man, it tastes much better in Colorado!"

It's a matter of taste really.. I can't remember if it was New Belgium Fat Tire or Sierra Nevada PA which I had first, distinguishing it from the cheap keg stuff I was drinking in high school, but I hated them both and wondered why they were more expensive. Years and years later I had IPAs from both and they were delicious! But I still stick to the cheap keg stuff. What's weird is we get Dogfish out on the west coast and it's always as good as the Dogfish I had when I lived on the east coast. Fat Tire just always sucked. Now excuse me while I drink my Steel Reserve 22 :)

I live like 3 blocks from there. So, in a block radius there's like 50 food carts, a few of which are Mexican, a conveyor belt Sushi place, a Hot Pot place, Chinese and Thai, and many more. When I lived around the campus in Madison, the Chipotle made its business because they were open until after the bars closed, so it was sort of that or taco bell. This one closes at 9PM, before any of those places do! And I looked at the prices when I walked by yesterday; they're more expensive than the above as well.

(except for the sushi place.. it's a 1.50 a small plate but it adds up quickly if you don't understand moderation, which sometimes I do not.)

This thread is the first thing I've ever heard about Chipolte being cnsidered anything other than the Quizno's to Qdoba's Subway. It's definitely fast food.

Still not as bad as Subway promoting the Special Olympics right before Jared got caught :(

Yeah, this is hilarious after their whole "we don't use GMOs!!!!" routine. No GMOs, but they can't keep their fucking overrated restaurants clean.

E. coli is all natural.