A New Victory Burrito?

Along with the opening of Spartan Stadium for the year came the opening of it's new concessions, and TOSSS asked frequent reader Tom Edwards to try out a burrito from Maria's Tacos. We're looking for a contender for the "Victory Burrito", a pretty high standard currently held by Pancheros. Here are his thoughts:

It was a beautiful day for football at Spartan Stadium. The sun was shining, the air was warm, and the Spartans were up 28 points at halftime. So it was time to try out the new Mexican option at the stadium. First off, the option resides behind the south endzone, so I had to make the long journey from section six. This takes a while during the halftime rush. When I reached the stand I saw that I could immediately place my order. I should have taken this as a bad sign as everywhere else had long lines. However I took my beef burrito and drink and booked back to my seat only to emerge into the stands right as kick off occurred.

I sit down ready to enjoy my meal and the rest of the game. I then opened up the foil wrapping and was confronted with a yellow mass of food. It was not a trick of the bright sunlight overheard, nor was it even a yellow corn tortilla, it was a burrito positively bathing in grease. To add insult to injury, the burrito was obviously not loaded evenly consisting of a very skinny end and a very fat end. This forced me to take several bites of tortilla before even getting to the main part of the burrito. When I actually I found that the burrito consisted of five ingredients: a flour tortilla, ground beef, shredded taco cheese, red beans that appeared to have disintegrated to a paste, and copious amounts of grease. Before I comment further it is useful to look at the origins of Maria's Tacos. Going to the Maria's Tacos website yielded this interesting paragraph on its founding:

"In 1997 on the campus of Michigan State University, two friends Ruben De Los Rios and James Espinoza, began selling burritos every Sunday to the poor and hungry students of Rather Hall Dormitory. What began as a hobby and service to fellow students soon turned into an expanding business as customers lined up in Rather hall, establishing Maria's Tacos. When Michigan State University student organizations caught word of Maria's Tacos, the duo began catering for ethnic events and the operation was then in full swing!"

Yes, it was founded in a dorm room in the Brody Complex, and it tastes like it too. The cheese is of low quality, the beef is of low quality and obviously the only seasoning used are those packets of taco mix that you buy at the store. So basically this was a meal that could have been cooked up in any dorm room on a hot plate. The only difference is that I know that in the directions of those little packets of taco mix they instruct you to drain the grease before serving the meat.

Zero out of five stars
--

So, it looks like the search for a Victory Burrito in Spartan Stadium may be continuing. Our suggestion for now may be to visit Pancheros on Grand River before the game, and bring a burrito with you over to the game. Perhaps though, Maria's Tacos suffered some first game jitters, and they will be putting out a better product in future weeks.

If you are still brave enough for a try next weekend, Mr. Edwards took note of some options:

• Beef or Chicken Taco - $2.50
• Meal Deal of 3 Tacos - $6.00
• Beef or Chicken Burrito Grande - $5.00
• Beef or Chicken Taco Salad - $6.00

If you try one of these out next weekend, or already have, please let us know what you think!