100 Favorite Dishes: Chile relleno burrito from El Taco de Mexico

By Lori Midson Wed., Dec. 16 2009 at 11:11 AM

Categories: 100 Favorite Dishes, 100 Favorite Dishes of 2010, Good Food, Good Cause

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Lori Midson

As a countdown to the Best of Denver 2010, coming April 1, Cafe Society is serving up a hundred of our favorite dishes in Denver. Send your own nominations to cafe@westword.com.

Number 76: Chile relleno burrito from El Taco de Mexico

Ask any Denverite where to go to get a bona fide chile relleno burrito fix, and if they don't immediately point you directly toward El Taco de Mexico, then they're from Texas. Or California. Or Oklahoma. Maybe Seattle (cough). Whatever.

Anyway, El Taco's chile relleno burrito is in a class by itself, an irreproachable food high that's been one of the city's most identifiable gut bombs for as long as the don't-fuck-with-me women behind the El Taco counter have been lobbing refritos, rice, whacked meats and cleavered chiles oozing with cheese into oversize flour tortillas smothered with more cheese and their crazy good green chile and spicy salsa.

Those burritos have swelled the bellies of everyone from pimps and grave diggers to choir boys and cat walkers. And they've been my blanket, my must-have obsession, my enslavement for nearly as long as I've had my mouth open.

Hungry for more? The dishes in our countdown thus far are linked below:

No. 100 Chicken-fried steak from Lola
No. 99 Alaskan reindeer sausage from Biker Jim's Gourmet Dogs
No. 98 Mac-and-cheese fries from Jonesy's EatBar
No. 97 Soft egg ravioli from Prima
No. 96 Pho - any pho -- from Pho 95
No. 95 Assiette de charcuterie maison from Z Cuisine À Côté
No. 94: Cheeseburger from Larkburger
No. 93: BBQ Masher from Cabin Creek Smokehouse
No. 92: Apple pancake from the Original Pancake House
No. 91: Burrata from Osteria Marco
No. 90: Eggs Benedict from Devil's Food Bakery
No. 89: Chile Relleno from La Fiesta
No. 88: Deviled eggs from Steuben's
No. 87: Corn-in-a-cup from Jack-n- Grill
No. 86: Enchiladas from Taco House
No. 85: Pupusas from Pupusas Sabor Hispano
No. 84: Baklava from Ali Baba Grill
No. 83: Masa-fried oyster shooters from Deluxe
No. 82: Tacos al pastor from Los Carboncitos
No. 81: Salsa bar from Tacos Y Salsas
No. 80: Dim Sum from Star Kitchen
No. 79: Green chile cheeseburger from Cherry Cricket
No. 78: Fries from Encore
No. 77: Shanghai-style dumplings from Chopsticks China Bistro

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