NOTE: This is a followup to my earlier post about a personal tour of destination evans. The tour happened back in early October of 2007.

The Chief and the Photo

On the wall of the original chipotle (and many, if not all the other restaurants) is "The Chief". You could make up all sorts of ideas about how he guards over the quality of the food, or the Food with Integrity program or what have you. The bottom line is, that it's more of the cool maya-industrial art and now, much like the store is "Destination Evans" the chief gets to have his own name - at least as far as my tour guide Dave Hawkins is concerned.

Most Chipotle's have a photo of "Chipotle #1" on the wall. At Destination Evans itself they have photos on the walls, but the photo of their own location is from when it was a Dolly Madison restaurant. I need to double check the situation, but while I've heard that this is the only location that doesn't have a photo of "Destination Evans" on the wall I think there are others.

You can see the chief on the wall in the somerville chipotle which I visited recently.

Guacamole seasons

This is the basis of all art in chipotle stores. From left to right it’s “the chief”, a glyph, and then a photo of “Destination Evans”.

Yeah, I've been to evans a lot (photos even). But this time I got in the door at 10:30 and got to stand behind the line and taste each burrito ingredient on its own. First things first, while some people call this the "original" or the "first" those are just adjectives - and as far as store manager Dave Hawkins is concerned, it should just be called "Destination Evans".

There's a lot of stuff to write about, so here's the first installment.

Original Chipotle is Small

That original store is small. I thought the dining area was small, but the kitchen is tiny. They've really set things up efficiently in there, though I guess that makes sense after 15 years in that location. They have a fridge (NOT a freezer) on the back of the building that used to be in the basement and the basement is, in general, less than 6 feet tall.

Surprisingly Mild Flavors - Balanced Heat and Spice

The back of the chipotle menu - prices change at different locations and in different times, but this is a snapshot from September of 2007 when I did my tasting.

The text at the bottom reads:

We believe in treating all with respect:
the farmers and ranchers, the animals and the land,
and our suppliers who bring it all together for us.

We take pride in knowing where our food comes from. We look back
along the supply chain and spend time on the farms and ranches, and at
the facilities where our food is grown, raised and prepared.

We believe in using meats from animals that are raised naturally,
without hormones or antibiotics and are fed a vegetarian diet.
Naturally raised meats are in some of our restaurants. We’re working
hard to find more suppliers so we can expand to many more locations.

Our food is the best we can find — for now.
We are constantly searching to make it even better.

Speak your mind:
CHIPOTLE.COM

Cool stuff.

The front of the chipotle menu - prices change at different locations and in different times, but this is a snapshot from September of 2007 when I did my tasting.

This is Dave Hawkins, manager at “Destination Evans” (aka the original store) during my tasting.

Great times. Greg times.