Bad Boy Burrito

I have lamented previously the absence of California-Mexican food in Key West, and my wife and I tend to have rather tedious conversations from time to time, as old married couples do, about what we miss from our previous life in Santa Cruz, California."Taqueria Vallarta!" she shouts, as predictable as the sunrise in the east. Burritos were a staple of my impecunious youth in California, a flour wrap for gringos containing all the important food groups, beans, rice, lettuce and meat, sour cream and some form of tingling spice. A burrito is comfort food for my wife and I, a memory of our youth. So when Bad Boy Burrito opened it's hole-in-the-wall operation on Simonton Street I needed to go check it out.
It is a totally tubular operation (man), a narrow cave, which is apparently all the space you need to create a burrito. I should point out burritos are a totally gringo invention. If you dare go south of the border to the land that reputedly brought us swine flu, street food consists only of tacos, corn meal discs laid flat and covered with the ingredients selected. The notion that one might take a huge flap of flour tortilla and roll everything inside is purely North American, and what a beautiful invention it is! In Ciudad Juarez where they were invented, apparently, they were just single ingredient tacos rolled up for convenience. To have a babe serving behind the counter is just an added convenience, as it were and it was kind of her to smile for the camera after she got tired of making goofy poses.Bad Boy Burrito to me is an interesting mix of California style in presentation, and Key West Cuban ingredients rather than what one expects in a California burrito. The use of basmati rice is interesting, especially combined with black beans in the classic Cuban moros y cristianos, and because burritos can be anything you want them to be, I'm not saying this is in any way wrong or unappealing. It was entirely new and delicious in a familiar wrap.
Alongside the burritos you get smoothies and salads on offer and everything looks magnificent. Even the art:Everything is made to order as it has to be when you are encouraged to mix and match whatever you want, and hands were flying to fill the order of a Buell rider I met outside the restaurant:
Steve wanted shrimp but the young owner came up and said he didn't yet have any shrimp fresh today, he only had left overs from yesterday and he "wasn't going to put them in a burrito today." Which was a principled stand that impressed me. I ordered with confidence.
The only seating arrangements in Bad Boy Burrito are these stools which overlook the street and First State Bank across the way. Motorcycle parking is out front as there is a conveniently painted yellow curb so one could eat a fresh burrito, read the paper while perched on a stool while still keeping an eye out for passing parking control officers. Multi-tasking at it's most useful.

I secured two steak and sour cream burritos at eight dollars apiece and lofted them back to the dispatch center at the police department. It was my day off but Rachel and I had some catching up to do and we dispatched our food at her work station. Noel, seen in the background fiddling with something, said he wasn't hungry: his loss. This is not a burrito of fond memory that my Radio Station Manager used to bring back from Tacos Moreno when I worked at KUSP-FM in Santa Cruz.

Lance Linares loved those things, al pastor (shepherd's style), dripping grease from the barbecued meat, much more in the Northern Mexican single ingredient style writ large. We the radio staff sat around in silence dripping oil from our chins, imprinting greasy fingerprints on the radio equipment. These burritos are pure 21st century, fresh, bright and perfectly suited to my middle aged revolutionary self. A side of crisp salsa was lurking in the bottom of the bag so I ate it as a relish on it's own, it was too good to pass up:
Our meal totaled out at $16, cash only and I can't wait to get back and try something else. I hope Bad Boy Burrito survives to become a Key West gold plated standard. They have suddenly and single handedly raised the quality of life in a town that still needs a true California-Mexican restaurant. Bad Boy Burrito at 1220 Simonton Street isn't that, but is something all it's own and quite delightful.

Their menu is on-line for all to see:
http://www.badboyburrito.com/

They have a moped and will deliver.