Try it with Mr. Lee's sauce.

Tex Mex as a whole is a mutation of Mexican food. Some of it's pretty good even if it tends to come in Texas sized quantities.

For those in the Southern California area, the choice to me is obvious ... Poquito Mas. Way better food, more choices and materials appear to be much fresher.

Short of that, I'd take Chipotle over Baja Fresh. I think the ingredients are better and more flavorful. Plus if you do a "burrito bol" with no rice, can avoid all the tortilla/rice calories.

La Salsa > Baja Fresh > Rubio's > Chipotle > Taco Hell

I am of Mexican descent, and my mother NEVER ever put rice into a burrito in all the years I have eaten her cooking (the best in the world, BTW) ;)

Add my vote to yours.

My fave is chicken fajita - just rice + onions/peppers + chicken + salsa.

I like Qdoba as well. Rubios and Baja Fresh are OK, but neither do the kind of plain simple burrito with no beans that I like.

So we shouldn't eat "asian fusion" because it isn't "what asian food should be" or isn't "authentic" Chinese/Thai/Indian/etc ?

Give me a break. Eat the food that tastes good to you, not what some cuisine snob tells you is "real" or "should be". "Authenticity" is an absurd reason to eat any kind of food unless you are dining as part of an anthropology project.

Amen! ^

Seconded. I hate food snobs.

In fairness, "fusion" or "pan-Asian" isn't pretending to be something specific... it's borrowing from other things to create it's own genre.

That said, in general I have some sympathy for complaints about authenticity when it comes to "truth in advertising" - as an expatriate NYer, while I like quite a variety of styles of pizza, it always bugs me to see people claim that pizzas are "NY style" or "NY pizza" when they're about as much NY style as Pizza Hut's pan pizza is "Chicago Style."

As for Mexican, while local places are often much better than chains, what you're likely to find around here in California Mexican which is pretty much a distinct style in itself rather than being an authentic match for any particular regional Mexican cuisine.

I heart Asian fusion.
I also heart Chipotle.

I'm wicked sad now that I am craving a Chipotle and the nearest one is an $1100 plane ride away from me (assuming I slum it in Y) :(

Seriously? I never liked Baja Fresh that much. Seemed like a lot more like Taco Bell than Chipotle ever did... .

I had Chipotle 3 times this week. It's really good.

Baja is crap.

This thread really got me craving Chipotle so I just went and got a giant burrito and some chips and salsa. Now I feel like a bloated cow....:(