Within the past couple of years, The Fighting Burrito has taken off and landed in the Des Moines food scene.
What is a hot, late night, feast for college students at Iowa State is now an afternoon lunch break and a chill evening dinner joint for people of Downtown Des Moines.
The Fighting Burrito is located at 309 13th Street in Des Moines, right next to the Sculpture Garden.
I went on a Wednesday night shortly after work and it was really, really quiet. There was myself and then one other couple in front of me which gave me time to read the menu. Coming from Ames, I had visited The Fighting Burrito a couple of times but I never remembered them having a menu of burritos (hm, I wonder why).
Before it was just like any other fast counter dinning establishment where you would walk up and order your meat and toppings. Fight Burrito in Des Moines now has a menu of 7 different “Favorite Fighters” and it was really exciting to read the descriptions.
There were two that I was really interested in trying.
That was the #4 Crazy Horse ($6.80) which has wild rice, white beans, their slow-cooked beef and Monterey jack cheese. They bring the heat with spicy corn salsa, jalapeños, and their own Mad Jackson’s Peach Punishment Hot Sauce all wrapped up in a local tomato tortilla.
Photo via dmjuice
The other option that I eyed was the #7. It was called the Jack Trice.
A local tomato tortilla was stuffed with white and wild rice, black beans, their homemade queso, ancho chicken, chipotle sour cream, spicy corn salsa and romaine lettuce.
I was told that the #4 and #7 were the 2 most popular items off the menu.
If you like really spicy you should have the Crazy Horse, or if you like getting extra queso – for no extra cost – you should get the Jack Trice.
Of course, go Cyclones, I went with the Jack Trice ($6.80). For an extra $3.25 you can add a side and a soda. You can choose from chips, chips and queso, chips and salsa or chips and quac. I got the chips with queso. Is there such thing as too much queso?
Heck no.
The burrito was made super-fast, stuffed to the max and it tasted really fresh. The tortilla was warm, and done just right where it kind of stuck to the top of your mouth. I like that. Once I was about half way through I was ready to add more queso. It was clutch to dip the Jack Trice into a little extra queso. As I sat there when I was finished, I thought to myself if you come to The Fighting Burrito you better be ready to eat and walk out of there feeling stuffed. After all they are “champions of full”.
I really enjoyed the atmosphere of The Fighting Burrito. It was super clean, fresh and urban. Big glass windows lined the whole length of the restaurant and the music was pretty hip too. You could easily get carried away if you have too many burritos. The staff was really friendly too and they were willing to help you narrow down your choices based on what you liked.
Although there wasn’t a burrito Bob or a Bob working the night I visited Fighting Burrito, the burrito was actually amazing.
It’s a no brainer to visit The Fighting Burrito during downtown lunch or an evening after work. If you don’t your stomach will be fighting you all day – well, if you do or don’t eat a Fighting Burrito your stomach will be fighting you regardless.
