Friday, April 29, 2011
Food media USA Today loves Bell Street Burritos
Posted by Cliff Bostock @cliffbostock on Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 12:33 AM
For a memorable meal wrapped in a freshly steamed tortilla, head to the Sweet Auburn Curb Market near downtown. If it's a spiritual experience, there's a reason. Bell Street Burritos is run by a former professor of religion from Morehouse College. "The beans are tender, the red sauce is just spicy enough, the green sauce is full of tomatillos, cilantro and jalapenos," Baldwin [of Thrillist.com] says. 678-732-0488.
This of course will be controversial. Indeed, Besha herself yawned after sampling Bell Street's burritos, causing a flurry of controversy among commenters. So, let it be noted that USA Today didn't call Bell Street one of the "10 best." It called it a "great place," not a "best place." Got that? Good.
It doesn't help USA Today's credibility that they mislabeled the photo accompanying the story.
Comments (11)
Showing 1-11 of 11
I'd love to try them, as I really miss the burritos from Tortillas -- but Bell Street's hours are ridiculous: Monday to Friday, 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Even Woody's (before the recent change in management) was open longer -- and their lackadaisical opening times were a running joke.
Bell Street, how about some Saturday or evening hours? Most of the other Auburn Avenue Curb Market business are open at those times, so there's definitely an opportunity there.
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They were actually open this past Saturday, Joe. I hope that wasn't just a special occasion -- maybe they'll have permanent Saturday hours now.
That would be fantastic, but they haven't updated their Facebook page. Maybe I'll check in tomorrow, though.
Joe,
The hours are definitely inconvenient, but the food is so worth it. I've been to virtually every burrito place in The Mission. Bell St. stands up to any of them. I'm not sure what burrito Besha had, but the one I get rocks. I usually get the green chile burrito and it's packed with flavor.
If you're talking about the Mission in SF you are crazy. Bell st. isn't even in the same league. HOWEVER Bell st. delivers a solid caucasian burrito for a low price.
The Sweet Auburn Curb Market closes to the public at 6pm- an awkward time for an eatery inside to do any dinner business. In fact, when Bell Street initially opened, we tried staying open till 6, but it wasn't really worth it for the 6 or 7 burritos we sold from 4-6. So we now do what pretty much all vendors at the market do: we close at 4pm. We have been "testing the waters" on Saturdays, which is why it has not been added to our hours officially. I resisted opening on Saturdays for the first few months because my priority has been to spend time with my 3 & 6 year old kids on Saturdays. So, I'm currently training new staff to work on Saturdays in my stead. Come on out tomorrow!
The good news is that we will be opening a 2nd location of Bell Street Burritos soon, though not in East Atlanta, as has been reported elsewhere.
As they say, there is no accounting for taste, but we do have a very faithful base of customers, both among those who were attracted by the "Tortillas" angle, as well as folks who were unacquainted with those burritos. A lot of people go out of their way, despite the comparative inconvenience, to get ahold of these things.
Matt Hinton
Bell Street Burritos
Thanks for the update, Matt. I hear ya on the Saturdays thing. Mine are spoken for as well for spending with our kid. I'm looking forward to bringing the family by for lunch on a Saturday.
I had a nice chicken burrito there today for lunch, btw. I love the green salsa y'all have.
And I was there. It IS fantastic -- very reminiscent of the much-missed Tortillas. I was delighted to find that shrimp burritos have been added to the menu.
I hope the second location is near me (O4W) and that it has evening hours. In any event, I'll look forward to stopping by the Sweet Auburn Curb Market on Saturdays for a burrito fix.
clincher-
Long story- we worked hard on it in good faith for around 4 months, but about a few weeks ago my prospective partners decided that they didn't want to proceed with our partnership. Happily, I was able to find interested investors very quickly. I hope to be able to report something soon....
Matt
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