Sweeto Burrito, eh?

burnettd Jan 06, 2015 25 Comments

Something curious popped up in the last couple months, via Facebook.

Screen Shot 2015-01-06 at 1.12.15 PM

Finally, a burrito joint in the Twin Ports. I’ve been waiting so long … hopefully Chipotle catches the hint?

If this is actually real, it’s interesting how the Duluth burrito market went from 0 to saturated in a matter of months. Sure, we had/still have Burrito Union, but I haven’t ever exactly heard rave reviews for the place, nor have I ever generated rave reviews myself after going there. The two new burrito establishments are handy to have around for decent food in a quick pinch, but nothing earth-shattering. I frequent one or the other a couple times per month. I haven’t bothered to set foot in Burrito Union in at least two or three years.

After creeping the corporate website for this new Sweeto Burrito, it appears that its food differs vastly from the current three options, but perhaps not in a good way. The tacos look OK, but the ambitious burrito combinations don’t exactly seem to be my cup of tea. If this new restaurant comes to fruition, will it hold its own against the other players? How many burritos can a smallish city consume? Apparently a lot, judging by the line that forms outside the Chipotle almost every time I drive by.

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25 Comments

Niff Bimrod

about 10 years ago 

When will the whole bacon infestation go away? Never mind, its rhetorical. Their menu blows in my opinion. Just for the record: Chipotle is good, but not worth waiting in line for. Burrito Union is mediocre, at best.

Chris Eidson

about 10 years ago 

Burrito Union has its haters, and I've never really understood why. That place is solid. It is a step above the others because it has a great bar atmosphere with home town brews and kick ass bartenders. You aren't going to find that... or even close to that with the others.

Niff Bimrod

about 10 years ago 

I'm guessin' it's cuz your buds are workin there...I meant the food was mediocre...the service was horrible, and the overall vibe chilly...

Chris Eidson

about 10 years ago 

Na, I just moved here a year ago. I do think they are far beyond the rest. Just my humble opinion. I used to live in Mpls and always loved the Duluth beer scene. Glad to be able to live here now and enjoy it. Cheers man.

grizzly

about 10 years ago 

Maybe it depends on whether you go to a burrito place for a burrito or a beer.

Niff Bimrod

about 10 years ago 

It's cool, I just expect a lot from my food/entertainment dollar, and they failed to deliver. I do know this:
I will not be breaking down the door to Sweeto Burrito!

By the way, at what point does it cease being a burrito, and become allkindsa shit stuffed in a tortilla? That, too, is rhetorical.

Dorkus

about 10 years ago 

I have to agree about Burrito Union's food. 

For a beer, it is fine. I do enjoy their pint and taco specials, but mostly because I don't expect awesome tacos for the price.

But the meat could be hot. Which it rarely is in my tacos.

Their burritos are 90 percent rice and beans, 10 percent meat. Just raise the price and add more meat and I will be far more interested in eating there.

Special K

about 10 years ago 

Ugh, I like a burrito as much as the next guy, but come on! Soon we'll be as saturated with burrito joints as we are with sub joints. Seriously, within about a mile of my house by Denfeld there are no fewer than four sub shops.

mdy

about 10 years ago 

I've been to Burrito Union many, many times. Unfortunately the food is sub par. The service is sketchy and the drinks are good. If you want to overpay for okay food then yeah go there. If you want good drinks and don't care if they take forever to get to you then that is the place for you.

Camila Ramos

about 10 years ago 

Well, I'm happy to hear that these guys are coming to town. I could live without cilantro-anything, but the lime rice sounds great. I would be thrilled if they also offered brown rice options, like a Brown Chick Salad for instance, as their menu currently offers White Chick Salad.

You know what I want? A burrito joint that allows you to build your own burritos in real, fresh-off-the-comal tortillas -- both white and whole wheat. They could call it the Tortilla Bar. And I would wait in line for that.

Endion

about 10 years ago 

Agreed that Burrito Union is a disappointment. Overpriced, horrible service, and poor quality food. When I went there last (about 2 years ago) there were all these rules on ordering and eating there. Love Brewhouse's beer, but after that I decided not to return. Every time Chipotle sent me an email over the years I replied begging them to come here.  I would like to see them add a few more locations like East Duluth near the fast food corridor on London Road, Canal Park, West Duluth, and Superior. Chipotle is the best burrito maker, but I do like fajitas at Azteca and Lil' Angie's too. Love the deck at Lindo, but the food is too Minnesota/cheese on everything for me.

The lines are gone from Chipotle now. I go there at least 2-3 times a month and have only had one or two people in front of me in the line. They had their own staffing issues (never enough people making the burritos), but they get better. Things have kind of calmed down now.

As far as the new place it doesn't sound like something that will last... Like the place that popped up downtown a few years ago and then closed.

Herzog

about 10 years ago 

You'd think that five years of a steady stream of Burrito Union complaints on PDD would get them to examine their program and perhaps exercise some improvements, like offering lettuce or cilantro in their burritos. Alas, as there are surely more prescient issues available than burritos, I've also wished PDD would exercise more actual journalism as it pertains to Duluth and focus less on music videos, Parr, Low, etc... yet five years of protests toward those ends have also amounted to wishing in one hand and pissing in the other. 

 BU's lazy hippy program is beyond old/reproachable.  Its like burritos from a can. I'm glad they're finally getting the competition they deserve,  but regardless what Biff said is true and Sweeto'll be out of biz in no time. Its almost as though in a strange twist of fate, businesses read the cry-out for Burritos on PDD and everyone is flocking to town to fill the orders with some random garbage wrap.  WTF?   

And seriously PDD, maybe think about exploring exciting, relevant, actual Duluth issues.  Perhaps you feel MPR/DNT has the market cornered on traditional reportage, but it would be nice to see some new angle rather than being merely an outlet for every teen's music video in town. Perhaps an article on the progress of the Norshore?  Polls on best burritos and bands are spreadin'  thin.  Just sayin'...

Paul Lundgren

about 10 years ago 

On behalf of Perfect Duluth Day, I will simply state that we will take note of Herzog's criticism and perhaps explore it further in a thread that isn't about burritos.

Herzog

about 10 years ago 

Thank you. Big points for effort.  We/BU can choose not to suck. And it's never too late. What would happen if they actually started throwing cilantro in as an option that didn't send their shit-wraps into the $15 range?  It would be revelatory. Folks might start to line up like Chipotle.  Ruts kill though, and they're not easy to avoid because as humans, our default is greed and laze. Just look at Vice's season premier in Kabul to illustrate. Its a full time job avoiding the downward slide toward mediocrity and gluttony, the local burrito as prime symbological example. 
 Aside, change of subject and giving credit where due,  enjoyed the owl post and your other nature/oddity threads. I mean, PDD's obviously had 100's of good topics, but to me, finding the weird shit is what's fun. And there's a lot of weird shit around here. You guys have talent, and local knowledge.  PDD is a tool you oughtn't be afraid to use. 
Tomorrow I'll be walking to the end of park point because of the minus 30 wind chill. This will keep stragglers away and allow for special time between me, a few weasels, and maybe a pigeon while enjoying the rainbows coming over the breakwater.
Btw the longboarding clip won PDD video 2014.  File under shit-that-can-kill-you.

Sandbird

about 10 years ago 

Per the "about" section under "info": 

"Content on the website is created by over 2,000 registered users, who author the posts that appear each day. Hundreds more contribute through comments to the posts. Google Analytics estimates about 25,000 unique visitors read PDD's content each month."

I think we can all use PDD for "exploring exciting, relevant, actual Duluth issues,"  right? 

I personally love reading about burritos and watching videos, but I don't contribute content either, so I really can't complain.

Endion

about 10 years ago 

Herzog you continue to impress by stating what most who have visited here for many years are thinking. Maybe Burrito Union should become a sub shop - after all it isn't on the West Side of town where apparently the market is saturated. We have one Thai place left in town, but how about Indian food? Having over priced Burritos and snotty staff won't get you too far as those things together will kill a place. BU is a nice bar, but maybe take the TPB deep dish pizza idea and bring something like that over here. The chicken sitting in water and then slopped onto a $15 burrito is disgusting. 

PDD is kind of hit and miss. Lots of people post here when they are thinking of moving here or thinking of leaving here. Then we get the saturation of crappy local bands trying to sell their horrible CDs or have us sit through their videos. The DNT is not better as I think it is one of the worst local rags I have seen - even the Reader is more interesting more often than the DNT.

PDD could corner the market on local stories that allow people to comment. The DNT dropped their comment section, but lots of people like to comment on local happenings.

Sorry I got off track on PDD feedback in a burrito post. I also think Tycoons is a better bar than restaurant too because of portion size and selection. Brewhouse has the best fries in the area, but for music it is like being trapped in a coffin with ear piercing loudness - especially if you go upstairs near the PAs. 

Ok, I am done ranting... Just trying to keep it interesting.

bluenewt

about 10 years ago 

Brewhouse has good fries, but I think the ones at Zeitgeist are better.

Endion

about 10 years ago 

Thanks for the tip Bluenewt - I haven't tried their fries. Brewhouse is the best I have ever eaten, so I am excited to give them a try.

Herzog

about 10 years ago 

Adding insult to injury, didn't Tycoon's just have a food poisoning incident? Noro virus I believe. Brought on by improper food prep/unwashed hands. I don't know what the answer is but I agree the chicken soaking in water shit should be force fed to someone in charge of BU until they get the hint.  Sort of like the guy in Brewster's Millions made to smoke down a carton of cigs in a locked closet.

The Prize Is Lobster

about 10 years ago 

I'm gonna argue that if there is regularly a line out the door for Chipotle, you are most certainly not over-saturated with burrito places.

bluenewt

about 10 years ago 

I think you can make a good argument that the best fries in town are to be had at Big Daddy, but Zeitgeist would be a close second. They are completely different experiences, so I suppose it depends on what you want in a fry. The fries at Zeitgeist are more in the pommes frites category - made from skinned potatoes sliced thin, served with aioli or even, for extra $$, with truffle oil.  The fries from Big Daddy are hand-cut, skin-on affairs, in huge portions, served with catsup in a  squeeze bottle. Both are culinary delights no fry aficionado should miss.

[email protected]

about 10 years ago 

1.  You want to see something on PDD, Herzog, you post it.  I want to see lots of things.  So I post them.  

2.  You want a good burrito experience, you stay away from the Union.  And I say this as a friend of a former kitchen manager there, someone who wanted to like his friend's work but in the end, could not stand paying what I was paying for what I was getting, as food.  Chipotle is not a great burrito experience, but it is consistent and affordable, neither of which I can say about the Union.

3.  Caveat emptor, though.  I don't tend to frequent establishments owned by JTA.  

4.  There are dozens of Journalism students in Duluth.  Maybe PDD could put some of them to work, in a class assignmenty way.

Herzog

about 10 years ago 

Rhetoric guy, that's silly of you to say that because I've posted the shit out of topics on here. I'm pretty sure you can scroll through them. In fact Lundgren would be the first to tell I've had more topics denied/deleted than posted. I could sit here all day long and throw out mind benders but the powers that be prefer to focus on underwater shots of Jim Richardson floating about and close-ups of Charlie Parr's beard. Where have you been?

[email protected]

about 10 years ago 

So are you posting the topics you want  to see?  Can you fill the gap you are identifying?

Who can?  You know what I mean?

Herzog

about 10 years ago 

Not for free I can't RG.  Oh wait, I just did!?! God dammit. It's like I'm punching myself in the face, and then you come back and tell me I'm not punching myself in the face, but I should think about doing it more.
This is getting loopy.

Am I using my words here? Because I thought I was.

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