Chipotle Opening in Newport Beach

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Chipotle Opens in Brea Today

But wait, there's more, and it's not just for Brea:

Chipotle Opening in Seal Beach

Click the 'chipotle' label below to view our complete Chipotle coverage:

Chipotle at the Bluffs

Click image for bigger version or here for our complete Chipotle coverage. I think this is the first time they've mentioned free t-shirts.

Chipotle Laguna Niguel

Chipotle Foothill Ranch

The new Chipotle opens on Friday, June 26. On that first day patrons will be able to get one free item. Maybe they'll have a huge burrito balloon like they did when the one in Lake Forest opened. And I don't know if it'll be the case this time but sometimes they have a soft opening that you can get into the day before the official opening.

More info at OC Weekly's Stick A Fork In It and OC Register's Fast Food Maven. Also, click the "chipotle" label below or the logo above for our complete Chipotle coverage.

Library Card + Chipotle = Free Burrito

Here's a note from Judy "the Foodie" who has written us a couple guest reviews.

So, after having nixed my cable and Internet service at home to make for recession-proof living (I'm fine), I've become quite the regular at quaint establishments such as the Orange County public libraries.

On a recent visit to one of these neighborhood research repositories, I learned of a special promotion Chipotle is doing this Saturday, March 28. If you have an Orange County Public Library card (not to be confused with a city library card), you can bring it to one of two Chipotle locations and pick up a free burrito, bowl order of tacos or salad.

Yup, I was excited when I heard about it too, and curious. No doubt, this is probably the fast-casual's way of staying competitive in this economy. Who can blame them? Even upscale establishments are offering ridiculous two-fers and happy-hour specials to keep lines spilling out their doors. Aren't we all looking for the relief to kick in?

Details you might ask:

What: Free burrito, bowl, order of tacos or salad
Where: Chipotle at either Northpark on Irvine & Culver or in Tustin on Newport & First
When: Saturday, March 28, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

DON'T FORGET: This special is only valid if you show your OCPL card

Maybe we'll all run into each other!

Happy eating.

Judy "the foodie"

I think I actually have an Orange County Public Library card so I'm going to try to make it there myself. Read out complete Chipotle in Orange County coverage by clicking here.

UPDATE

Judy and I just met at the Irvine location for lunch. There were a lot of people there showing their library card pride. Here's some pictures:

Chipotle Opening in East Santa Ana

If you're one of the people searching for info on when the new Chipotle is going to open the news is that it's going to open tomorrow, Friday, February 6, near the corner of 17th and Tustin Ave. from 11am to 10pm. Can't guarantee anything but I might go take pictures of it. While there you can register to win free burritos for a year. Then you can start a blog about how you lived on Chipotle burritos for a whole year. It can be like Groundhog Day or 50 First Dates.

Click the logo above for our complete Chipotle coverage.

Chipotle Opening in Huntington Beach

People have been searching for information on when the new Chipotle will open in Huntington Beach and I have just received word that it'll open this Friday, December 5th. I stopped by about ten days ago and even though it was only 5:15pm it was still so dark already that the picture turned out very poorly:

Trust me, it looks a lot better than that in person. I'll try to get some better pictures soon (unless an enterprising reader wants to beat me to it and submit some) and might even get there on opening day. The location is on Beach Blvd., I think between Heil and Edinger on the west side of the street. And do me a favor, when you go there and you want a Barbacoa Burrito please don't ask for a Barracuda Burrito.

UPDATE (Dec. 3): Here's a photo taken today and it shows a sign now with the opening date:

More information can be found at the Fast Food Maven blog.

Chipotle Opens in Lake Forest

Chipotle is having their grand opening today at The Arbor shopping center in Lake Forest on the southwest corner of El Toro & Rockfield.

I stopped by at lunch and got the carnitas burrito bowl:

Read more about Chipotle and this new location at the Fast Food Maven blog.

Image hosting courtesy of

Chipotle at the Irvine Spectrum Opening

Just a heads up that the official grand opening of the Chipotle at the Irvine Spectrum will be this Friday, October 12. If you go today, October 10, you may be able to get a free meal for yourself. I just went for a late lunch and they had a training day going on and were offering free meals for each person present (no, you can't load up on food to bring back to your family, college dormies, work buddies, rat pack, brat pack, or scat pack). Also, I believe they said they were only doing this for lunch so I can't make any guarantees about dinner time. Tomorrow, October 11, they will be having some kind of fundraiser. I don't know what it's for or who it's open to but I assume it's open to the public but that the food won't be free any longer.

UPDATE:

Before you go rushing over there I just found out their free lunch only went from 11am to 2pm but that they may do it again tomorrow, October 11, during the same time frame. I'm suspecting they aren't open for dinner but am not sure. The whole thing is a little bit of a gamble so the strategy I'd suggest is to go if you know you'll be fine with eating elsewhere in case things don't work out with Chipotle.

UPDATE (October 11 @ 12:22pm):

The lunch today is by invitation only. The fundraiser dinner tonight will be open to the general public.

Click on the "chipotle" label below to see our one prior review (there will eventually be more reviews) as well as for a link to their official site.

Chipotle - Review #1 (Mostly Photos)

Date of Visit: January 31, 2007

Chipotle Mexican Grill 3705 S Bristol St Santa Ana, CA 92704 (714) 754-7380 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch Official Site

Enter starting address: Address City, State and/or Zip

Chipotle, the chain owned by McDonalds, is the Mexican-ish version of Subway where you go through a line like you're a conveyor belt and tell the workers what you would like on your burrito. When I went on this visit with some co-workers it was very crowded but the line moved blindingly fast service, almost too fast. It sure made you feel like part of a rat race. Of course, if you go anywhere near South Coast Plaza for lunch during the week you can't help but feel that you are in a rat race. Some of the people appear to actually enjoy it.

Chipotle's signature item are their burritos but you can also get tacos . . . and chips that come in a brown paper lunch bag, and not much else. Their tomato salsa is pretty bland but their corn salsa is serviceable. Meat choices to fill your burrito, taco, or bowl with include chicken, steak, carnitas, barbacoa beef, and veggies. Their official site tells just about everything you could want to know about their filling and topping choices short of actually eating it. It even shows an aerial view of their topping containers.

Don't worry; he doesn't bite

My co-workers and I agreed that Chipotle earns a three and a half Speedy Gonzales rating: