denver: originial chipotle

We'd already decided that one of the things we wanted to do while we were in town was check out the original Chipotle which as it turned out wasn't that far from our hotel. Since it involved no decision making, we went there for dinner shortly after getting to Denver. As a testament to how crappy I felt - I didn't even get a burrito. I know, sacrilege.

After we sat down with our dinner, the couple next to us got t-shirts and the manager came over and offered them a tour of the place. So I decided to pull a mom and start talking to them. It turned out that they were from Ohio and on their honeymoon when friends told them they should check out the original. I told her that we were visiting from VA and had come to check out the original as well and she asked if we wanted to go on the tour as well. OF COURSE.

We finished our dinner as quickly as we could and the manager came back and took us all on the tour. As it turns out, the offices are down a trap door in the floor so we descended into the basement to begin. They apparently do on average about 10 tours a week and you get a free t-shirt that says "I made the pilgrimage to Evans" on the back. They wrap the shirts up like burritos. Tradition dictates that you get to sign one of the rafters while you're down there.

After coming back upstairs, we got a tour of the teeny tiny prep area. Seriously, the original Chipotle is so small compared to a new one. I felt a bit bad about being around the food with my cold so I tried to breathe as little as possible. He told us that they go through about 160lbs of chicken a day, so much guacamole that they make it 4 times a day (I guess that's why it tastes so good), and massive amounts of cheese and other food.