There’s been a bit of a kerfuffle about “fan sites” on the Chipotle Wikipedia page. Some people think they don’t belong there, some do. Well, here’s an alternate solution. Forget wikipedia. Let’s have an alternate list of all the great fan sites and tools that exist for people.

General Chipotle Fan Sites

The first Chipotle Fan Site I know of was Chipotle Lovers.com. This was a project by a few college fans who loved Chipotle. Sadly, it appears that when they left college their interest in the site waned. The forum has returned errors for a few years now. It does have a great Potle Pics section and List of locations.

The ChipotleFan.com site is another great resource. I really like their burrito generator and their blog is getting off the ground with some great posts.

And, of course, this site

Chipotle Diet Blogs

The original Chipotle Dieter (as far as I know) was Justin Hall who has expanded beyond just dieting into cost and environment saving ideas. He’s also a Master Burrito Ambassador

I got an email a while ago asking if Chipotle had changed their rice recipe from white rice (rumored to be basmati rice) to a brown rice. Brown rice is basically a less processed form of the grain which is higher in fiber, is a little chewier, and has a toasted flavor to it. When given the choice, I tend to go for brown rice even though it’s a little less enjoyable in the mouth - my colon always thanks me.

Chipotle Serving Brown Rice

Anyway, the word is out: Chipotle is serving brown rice. Or, more specifically was serving brown rice. At least that was the case in a short trial that they ran in Denver. According to this Westwork article.

…long time Chipotle devotees questioned “why we would tinker with our formula.” Brown rice also turned out to be a bit of a nuisance, taking about twice as long to cook as white. Last week, Chipotle cut off the test run, allowing the restaurants to use up their brown stock before transitioning back to white. But that doesn’t mean that brown rice is off the table, so to speak. The company plans to test the rice in other markets before making a final decision.

Personally, I don’t mind improvements like this even if they mean deviating from what has worked so well over the years - especially if they could give the option between white and brown (I imagine they won’t).

All you Chipotle diet folks out there - what are your thoughts?

Justin Hall hit a milestone in his Chipotle Diet - 50 pounds of weight loss. Wow. That’s really amazing both in terms of the number and that he gets to eat food that he likes.

The most interesting part of his chipotle diet FAQ as far as I’m concerned:

Common Question #10: So why don’t you try to get Chipotle corporate to sponsor you?
Answer: You think I haven’t tried? Like a billion times. They say that they do not want to follow the same marketing concepts put forth by Jared and Subway. Therefore, I need help differentiating myself in hopes that one day I can be paid to eat burritos.

Frankly, I think that’s a good call on Chipotle’s part even though I obviously wish that they would sponsor a few of their super fans (like me!). Everybody wants to be the “Jared of ChainX” now that Jared made his money. I don’t think it makes sense for other chains to follow suit with that. In Chipotle’s case they don’t even do do traditional human based advertising anyway.

You knew it had to come eventually…

This Kansas man has created a chipotle diet:

“…you can eat a Chipotle burrito everyday, but you also have only eat fruits and salads for the rest of the day,” Hall said.

Hall said the Chipotle Diet delivers results. The burrito keeps him satisfied for nearly 24 hours, before he needs another.

That seems kind of reasonable…if it were up to me to follow this scheme I’d probably eat half of a burrito for lunch, half for dinner, and fruits/veggies as supplements.

Personally, I don’t have a problem with my weight and eating a lot of Chipotle. I do tend to split the burritos or orders the tacos or a bol if I’m by myself. And you, fair reader, any tips on how you get enough Chipotle and not too many calories?