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?

the chipotle nutrition information pdf from chipotle.com went away a little while ago. i asked about this and was told to get a handout from the store, so i did. here are the chipotle nutrition facts for anyone else who is interested.

You can also use the handy calculators at chipotlefan.com or the fancy javascript calculator at chipotlelovers.com.