BURRITO BELT CHAMPIONSHIP – ENTRY 15
El Fuego Mexican Grill
28301 Newhall Ranch Rd, Valencia CA 91355
El Fuego Brings the Fire, but Can It Beat Its Neighbour?
El Fuego Mexican Grill has a problem.
Its neighbour currently sits at the top of the Burrito Belt leaderboard.
Patrons Mexican Bar & Grill recently scored 39/50.
And it happens to be located in the same plaza.
Two Mexican restaurants.
Practically competing for the same customers.
And now, both have entered the Belt.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I visited El Fuego on Sunday afternoon.
The restaurant was completely empty.
Not quiet.
Not nearly empty.
Completely empty.
There wasn’t a single other customer inside.
One quiet Sunday afternoon doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story.
But with the current Burrito Belt leader only a short walk away, it was difficult not to notice.
I ordered the usual carne asada burrito.
Then it was time to see whether El Fuego could challenge its neighbour.
THE FIRST CUT
This was a big burrito.
And El Fuego had packed almost everything it could find inside it.
Carne asada.
Rice.
Beans.
Fries.
Sweet corn.
Pico de gallo.
And plenty of other ingredients.
Patrons kept its burrito simple, filling the tortilla almost entirely with carne asada and serving the rice and beans on the side.
El Fuego went in the opposite direction.
Everything went inside.
That made this a substantial burrito with plenty of different flavours and textures.
But it also gave the tortilla a serious job.
THE TORTILLA TRIAL — 6/10
The tortilla struggled early.
When I opened the burrito to inspect it, it started to unwrap.
Fortunately, I managed to put everything back together.
But once a burrito starts falling apart before the judging properly begins, points have to come off.
There was plenty for the tortilla to hold.
It just didn’t hold it quite as securely as I would have liked.
6/10.
THE CARNE QUESTION — 7/10
The carne asada tasted good.
Even with fries, corn, rice, beans and everything else competing for attention, the meat remained part of the burrito.
That deserves some credit.
The fillings were proportioned better than in some of the other Burrito Belt entries we’ve tried, so the carne asada wasn’t completely buried.
You could still taste it.
It just wasn’t quite the star of the show.
7/10.
THE RICE CRIME — 6/10
There was a lot happening inside this burrito.
But the rice didn’t completely take over.
It shared the tortilla with the beans, fries, corn, pico de gallo and carne asada without dominating every bite.
No major Rice Crime.
But with this many ingredients packed together, the meat still had to work harder than it should have to get noticed.
6/10.
THE SECRET SAUCE — 6/10
The Secret Sauce added another 6 points to the scorecard.
A middle-of-the-road result.
Enough to keep El Fuego moving.
But not enough to close the gap on the strongest Burrito Belt contenders.
6/10.
THE LAST BURRITO — 7/10
The following day, the leftovers entered our usual five-minute reheat challenge.
The flavour held up well.
The problem was the size.
This burrito was so large and packed with so many ingredients that five minutes wasn’t enough to heat it all the way through.
The middle was still a little cold.
A little longer in the microwave would probably have finished the job.
But the five-minute challenge has rules.
7/10.
THE SCORECARD
THE VERDICT
El Fuego delivered a big, generously filled burrito with good carne asada and plenty going on inside.
Despite the number of ingredients, the filling was reasonably well proportioned.
The meat didn’t disappear completely.
But it also didn’t get the chance to lead.
The tortilla started coming apart, the burrito needed longer than five minutes to reheat properly and the sheer number of ingredients made this feel busier than the strongest entries in the competition.
El Fuego scored 32/50.
A respectable result.
But not enough to trouble its neighbour.
Patrons kept things simple and let the carne asada take centre stage.
El Fuego threw almost everything inside the tortilla.
Two restaurants.
Two completely different approaches.
And a seven-point gap between them.
When your biggest Burrito Belt rival is in the same plaza, there’s nowhere for the scorecard to hide.
BURRITO BELT LEADERBOARD
El Fuego brought plenty to the competition.
But its 32/50 wasn’t enough to disturb the leading pack.
No movement.
No change at the top.
The Burrito Belt leaderboard remains exactly as it was.
