Third Annual Burrito Bowl at Poe's Kitchen

   I confess, I didn’t watch the super bowl this year. Not even a little bit. However, I did go to the burrito bowl at Poe’s that weekend, and tasted some amazing and creative burritos! The event was football themed; seven local chefs were assigned a team and prepared a dish fitting for that team’s city. The line up included:
   Poe’s Kitchen / Buffalo: Beef on wheck, a twist on a classic Buffalo sandwich, which included roast beef in a burrito wrapper with caraway seeds, horseradish, and au jus. I've never tried the origianl, but I loved Poe's version!

   Estelle’s / New Orleans: A crisp burrito with pork and a spicy salsa with corn and black-eyed peas. I really enjoyed the authentic southern flavor.
     Tremont 647 / Seattle: Fried guacamole with braised beef and salsa verde. This was one of my favorites, and won the people’s choice award. The fried guacamole was unlike anything I've ever tried.

   Church / Philadelphia: This was a take on a cheese steak, with braised beef cheek, cheese whizz, pickled jalepenos, and potato sticks.

   Lolita / Oakland: This was another of of my favorites, and definitely earned points for most creative. The pork wrapped pork was served over polenta and agave “pigs blood” with bugles for devil’s horns.

   Boloco / San Diego: This was the most traditional burrito, served in a corn tortilla with sweet corn cream, carnitas, pan fried queso blanco and chipotle sour cream. Boloco also served a smoothie with milk, avocado, agave, and pickled serrano peppers. This was the dish I ended up casting my vote for, and it won the judges award.

   Taranta / Miami: This was an authentic Peruvian style arroz con pollo topped with onions and yellow pepper aioli.

          The burrito bowl was a lot of fun; I enjoyed trying each restaurant's interpretation and was impressed by the variety and creativity. I definitely added a few places to my list to try!