The merging of two beautiful things is taking longer than expected - so I guess we can’t be all that upset that Chipotle is a number of months behind on opening their main street location in downtown Blacksburg. No one asked God to speed things up when he created man in His own image, right?

Over a year after news broke of the big C coming to Bburg the interior work now begins on the site that once held Joe’s Barber shop. Delays brought on by a harsh winter and unexpected building modifications and flooring problems appear to be over as workers are ready to assemble the familiar steel and wood eating spaces where eventually up to 42 hokies will be able to enjoy their burritos. There is also going to be a back patio with additional seating.

As for now the target open date is August, before students pour back on to campus with fully charged Hokie Passports, tons of food swiped from their parents pantry, and bitchin’ new flavors of ice tea vodka.

And Chipotle better get things wrapped up in time for the football season. That cock of a burrito joint, Qdoba Mexican Grill said its heading in to Blacksburg soon as well. I need Chipotle to get in there and crank out the bliss, the campus has suffered long enough with the likes of Extreme Pita, A&W, Philly City and Moe’s.

After waiting an unacceptably long time I finally managed to get a taste of the Dulles Airport Chipotle Breakfast menu.

I arrived at Dulles Airport over 90 minutes before my flight departed (which is a massive diversion from my usual 30 minute race to the gate) but since I knew Chiptotle Breakfast was on the line I treated it as if I had a flight to a foreign nation with heightened security screenings.

I made it through security and walked underground to the B terminal (my flight was in C) to reach the Chipotle storefront. As I came closer my pace quickened. Once I was upon the front door I was likely somewhere between a full-stride run and an all out sprint. The entire restaurant was empty except for two smiling employees welcoming me in to the gates of Oz. They were the gatekeepers of my breakfast burrito bliss standing from behind a glass, stone and sheetmetal counter.

I looked over the long counter and down at the meats, salsas and toppings. I normally would be looking for which meat looked the tastiest that day but I knew for sure that I would be getting the breakfast-exclusive menu items. I went for the new meat, Chorizo- a peppered sausage meat offering, on this first breakfast trial. I also made sure to order a burrito to get the full effect - though I’m sure a bowl would have gone over just as well. In addition to the Chorizo I piled on ALL of the available breakfast ingredients (scrambled eggs, potatoes, onion-jalapeno salsa) and added my traditional toppings (black beans, pico, corn, sour cream, etc).

As you can see it is otherwise business as usual down the burrito making production line. Once you pass the initial breakfast offerings all of the same Chipotle toppings and salsas are available - further compounding the number of potential combinations you can create for your foil wrapped masterpieces.

I watched and drooled a bit as my burrito was wrapped in foil and was then plopped in to a red basket. I ordered a soda cup, later to be filled with iced tea and lemonade, and grabbed a bottle of Chipotle Tabasco. The cost was no higher for the breakfast offering than a lunch counterpart (and surprisingly there wasn’t an expensive airport premium) and so less than 9 dollars later I was sitting down ready to take my first bite. The first bite seemed strange at first… out of place with the new flavors… but after a few chews the new taste began to settle in as a perfect Chipotle melting pot of hearty spice and sweet.

And before I knew it the burrito was gone… and it was damn tasty. I mean it was warm, fluffy, spicy, and huge. How this hasn’t happened sooner and at more Chipotle locations is beyond me. I’d rank it as one of the best Chipotle burritos I’ve ever had… and that’s in the company of 1000+.

Understandably I had high expectations for the breakfast burrito, and my own personal stock in Chipotle was on the line, but I can say the experience exceeded my lofty target and I plan to make the C.B. stop a mandatory inclusion on every trip I make out of Dulles Airport. Bravo A.M. Chipotle, bravo.

More drastic than expected building renovations, town permit delays, and cold weather has slowed the opening of Virginia Tech’s new Chipotle location. With paper covered windows it is hard to tell exactly what is going on within the 308 to 316 North Main Street structure, but it sounds as though there will be little similarity to the old layout used by Joe’s Barber shop (though we can still hope that young single mothers will be there to rub their breasts against our ears) once the doors open and welcome students to Blacksburg’s second chain burrito establishment.

What was once a potential New Year opening has turned in to a mid-Spring opening for the soon-to-be best restaurant in town. Still, with all the renovations I was hoping it would be open for the spring game and now it looks like that may not be the case.

Its surprising too, when you consider that after an extensive upscale building project fell through at the new Penn State location (another college I called home), Chipotle simply improvised by buying up an old 5 screen movie theater in the heart of  downtown State College and converted it to a mega-Potle. However, if standing in a 30+ minute wait during a particularly bad lunch rush at Chipotle has taught us anything - its that those burritos are worth the wait.

Biff’s picture has spread far and wide on food blogs as the first “in the wild” proof that Chipotle was serving breakfast burritos. I’m pleased to share that the breakfast experiment continues here months later.

I stopped by the IAD location (unfortunately during dinner hours) and found out a bit more about the newest breakfast delicatessen in the B Terminal and closest restaurant to the soon-to-be-opened Dulles AeroTrain stop.

The staff led on that starting in January the breakfast menu will be expanded to include Chicken along with the current breakfast meat options and an additional rice-based ingredient unique to breakfast will also be added. For now it seems like the response has been positive especially if they are thinking of expanding the menu further.

And no worries if you don’t plan to make it to Dulles anytime soon - the inclusion of the breakfast-specific menu is actually written in to the lease at the Dulles location. We knew Dulles required all restaurants to operate breakfast hours but now it sounds like they require breakfast items during those early morning hours (6AM to 10AM), even if Five Guys just cheats by throwing an egg on a double stack.

The next time I make a comment on the breakfast burrito I promise it will be after actually eating one…

Chipotle has been busy this week.

Hello World.

This morning Chipotle reposted added an ordering application to the Apple iTunes App store. The app is free and allows “iPhone and iPod touch users the ability to create their favorite Chipotle order, place it at the Chipotle location of their choice, and also pay for their food direct from their device.”

The app serves a useful purpose without even considering the ordering aspect - it helps locate nearby Chipotle locations and provides hours and maps to assist you in shoving 3 pounds of bliss in to your stomach.

Dulles Airport should read 6:00 AM to 9:00PM

If you do decide to place an order the App knows to let you do all the things to your burrito you may wish to do when ordering in the line. In particular, you can order extra meat, combo meats, and add both beans and fajitas to your masterpiece. One problem with this process however is that it completely removes the chance of a magical Chipotle hook-up…. you know what I mean too, like when you order in Spanglish and wink at the burrito wrapper and they smile and somehow neglect to place the $1.85 surcharge ”G” on your foil or when double meat comes at single meat prices…

Sorry, no triple meats however…

Fear not, there is still a chance to tell them to do some kind of crazy bullshit to your meal if you like it that way (to this point the day laborer in Kingstowne who poured a full Budweiser in to his burrito bol before eating it takes the cake). On the last page you can name your order something absurd and place any special instructions such as “Guac on the side, yo” or “set on fire”…

I can only imagine how many PEN 15 orders are made a day

Last but not least, now Chipotle fans can broadcast from their iPhone/iTouch main operating screen that they enjoy burritos enough to necessitate a button that is always within a seconds reach should they need to immediately place an order.

45 minutes from placing my “SYSTEM TEST: Code 002″ order…  maybe it will end up being free. 

Ever wonder if you can get to the gated terminal area of an airport without a boarding pass?

The head of security at Dulles Airport (IAD) told me “no freaking way” when I asked if I could get in to Terminal B for nothing more than a Chipotle burrito breakfast.

He didn’t seem interested that I HAD to follow-up on my last visit to Dulles and at least SEE what was on the breakfast menu - it was really tormenting me and the Internets failed me in producing an answer.

All of that didn’t stop me from enlisting a friend from getting the job done and I can say I am not disappointed in what my flying detective found out.

You are seeing it right, there are three breakfast options. The new Chipotle breakfast unveiled new burrito ingredients previously unheard of in the history of the restaurant: herbed potatoes, scrambled egs, a new sausage meat option UPDATE 9/24: and a new Onion-Jalapeno spicy salsa. I am still not sure why Chicken didn’t make the AM cut.

The inside of the Dulles Chipotle is also a new take on the traditional Chipotle formula. The location encourages eaters to sit (briefly) at highly lit stool seating. This is probably to help move traffic along and fit as many people and their luggage in to the restaurant as possible. Also, new sheet metal artwork adorns the walls and a wood grain ceiling contains noise while it accents and contrasts with the unusual slate colored entrance.

Given this news, the next time you plan to fly out of Dulles make sure you book a morning flight and arrive early (breakfast is served 6am-10am) - and perhaps most importantly - come to the airport on an empty stomach. The “breakfast burrito coma” is sure to make any flight, even on Continental, a relaxing experience.

Our next target: Blacksburg Chipotle.

I suppose its only fair to post the FXCO reply video to my earlier posting of “Arlington: The Rap” - unfortunately Fairfax sucks so much worse than A-Town that its more depressing than funny to watch. They did at least visit a Chipotle …

Unfortunately the Dulles Airport Chipotle didn’t open as planned. Originally set to open 8/7/09 the first airport location won’t open for almost another two weeks. I was disappointed when I approached the storefront, located near gate 58 in the B Terminal, on what was supposed to be their grand opening day and found coming soon signage. Upon finding what you see above I tried to get a glimpse through the cracks of the front doors and someone on the other side spotted my snooping and opened the door smiling.

The location has a much more modern feel to it than most Chipotle locations. Less than the usual industrial facade, the tables are well lit and bright. The stools have cream leather and the kitchen is brighter, spacious and opened up like a cooking show.

The man who opened the door was pleased to hear that I was a fan of the C and told me the new location would open on August 19th and in response to my question of if they would be serving breakfast he said it was a definite and they were still working out the breakfast-burrito combination.

Now I have to figure out where to fly next Wednesday.

UPDATE: The Chipotle breakfast menu unveiled

On August 7th the Dulles Airport Chipotle location opens. This is great news to all of the passengers who will be flying on one of the airport’s 1,200 daily flights. However, there is a much more interesting aspect of this particular Chipotle thanks to its airport real estate - it has to serve breakfast.

Other staple franchises have found ways to accommodate this… For instance Quizno’s makes sub length toasted breakfast sandwiches for morning travelers. Five Guys lets you top one of their delicious burgers with fluffy scrambled eggs. Even Auntie Anne’s makes Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Pretzel Pockets.

We might be able to predict what Chipotle will do based upon what another burrito business has done to address the hunger pains of morning flyers. California Tortilla, located in concourse C, offers a variety of breakfast burritos, pop tarts,  yogurt, and even beer in the morning. This is not quite as revolutionary considering the variety of CT’s ever-changing menu compared to the staple and very few offerings made by its competitor Chipotle, a restaurant that prides itself on having a menu that hasn’t changed substantially in its 15+ years. Even later this summer when Chipotle unveils its “new” menu, the only major change is the addition of soup offerings.

Now, Chipotle is free to simply offer its tasty menu all-day and label it “breakfast” before 10:30 AM but something tells me that they will take a chance on placing an asterisk on the Dulles location and try using the grill for more than just Chicken and Steak. I know how a breakfast version of the overstuffed Chipotle burrito tastes and it’s heaven. One morning a few years back I brought with me a bag of scrambled eggs to the Tyson’s Corner location and they happily spooned them on to my steak burrito. The combination, paired with maple syrup and original Tabasco sauce, lived up to the wet dream of how I had imagined it would taste.

I have actually booked a flight leaving Dulles on August 7th (no not just because of this, but buying a 200-mile roundtrip ticket to Harrisburg just to find out what the menu board will reveal doesn’t seem crazy to me) and so I’ll find out opening day if “Breakfast Bacon and Sausage Burrito, Blackbeans” will be fair game when ordering Chipotle at 8:00AM.

So there is this book that says you should not eat “THAT!” and it shows you a steaming hot pile of gooey cheese fries covered in ranch sauce weighing in at 2900 calories and next to that it will say instead eat “THIS!” and it shows a steaming hot plate of sweet and breaded Bloomin’ Onion weighing in at 2893 calories. (You may have seen this in Men’s Health magazine actually.)

Well, today while awaiting an install of new tires on my car (I failed state inspection 7 different ways) I walked in to the local Barnes and Nobel and began flipping through this “No-Diet Weight Loss Solution” book. I flipped to the Chipotle page and took note. They labeled the Chicken Burrito (THAT) as “Worst Mexican Entre” and instead recommend (THIS) a Chicken Burrito Salad (skipping out on the buttery rice and calorie loaded tortilla but strangely it didn’t say anything about the fatback dressing).

I also was unaware that book stores do not take fondly of people taking pictures of their products.

So I figured what the Hell… hundreds and hundreds of Chipotle burritos in my life and I have never once tried 1/5 of the menu possibilities represented by the Salad. I walked down a few doors to where the Chipotle was and stood in line. I actually felt a little bad when I walked up and faced the counter to order - like I was turning my back on beloved Chipotle or eating a Q-Doba lime chicken burrito as I stood there. I quietly spoke out “Chicken Bur- er… salad… black beans” and continued down the line. The guy in front of me, seemingly taunting my EAT THIS decision ordered a double meat and guacamole behemoth which pushed his burrito’s tortilla to an A-Rod forearm sized bulge. I paid and sat down and sighed at the step I was about to take. It felt like the whole restaurant was staring at me, calling me a “burrito pussy” under their breath. “No… you’re the pussies” I thought as I dumped half a bottle of Tabasco in to the mountain of food in front of me, attempting to restore some manhood to my meal.

I took a bite. Then another. Man THIS is pretty good! I devoured the entire bowl of greens and spicy toppings in record time and felt satisfied at both the flavor and saving 700 calories. I don’t know if I would follow the logic and instructions of the book for a complete diet (after all if a Triple Whopper with Cheese already crosses your mind during lunch time decisions, chances are you are going to die of a heart attack within the next 40 seconds) but I can say this book showed me an amazing meal in my own wheelhouse, and I am both astonished and humbled.

Then I went and ate some fucking Cold Stone Creamery. THAT shit is good.