"chipotlemexicangrill" news and stories

Despite Chipotle's admirable self-proclaimed "F.W.I. (Food With Integrity)" philosophy, which drives them to buy items only from environmentally-conscious farms, the end result still looks like plain ol' fast food. This is where Fancy Fast Food comes in!

Find the "recipe" for Chicken Chipotlioli after the jump.

U.S.-based, fast-casual* restaurant Chipotle Mexican Grill announced yesterday that they will be opening at least one store in London by the end of 2009. Opening a location abroad has more complications for Chipotle than it does for other dining brands, as they have a policy of working with local farmers and ranchers in order to source their food locally, humanely and sustainably.

They also announced yesterday that Bill Niman, founder of Niman Ranch, will be joining the management team as the Sustainable Agriculture Advisor. His job will be to will help Chipotle to expand on its efforts to support sustainable agriculture and bring food from sustainable sources to the masses.

It sounds like Chipotle is working hard to do everything right. Now, if only they could open a location in Center City Philadelphia!

*What happens to eating out when the quality of casual dining meets the speed and efficiency of fast food.

So often, it feels like in order to grab a quick meal you have to check your environmentally friendly ways at the door. However, for some lucky people in the town of Gurnee, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), they will soon have a far greener fast food option.

This fall the Chipotle Mexican Grill chain will be opening a location that will get a portion of its operating power from a six-kilowatt wind turbine that has been erected behind the restaurant. They've also used recycled drywall, recycled barn metal, LED lighting, high efficiency faucets and toilets, and Energy Star rated equipment in the store's construction. Check out more pictures of this store and its wind turbine in the gallery below.

This store (and we hope they mean to do more of this responsible construction), coupled with their commitment to buy locally and naturally raised meats means that there is finally a more sustainable choice when it comes to fast food. It also helps that their burritos are mighty fine eating.

Source

I'm a big fan of the new law requiring some NY restaurants to post calorie counts. However, posting calorie counts is only helpful if they are clear and accurate.

Midtown Lunch points out that Chipotle's implementation of the law is neither.

Chipotle uses calorie ranges so the consumer is left to guess what add-ons make the meal more or less caloric. Midtown Lunch does some math using calorie counts buried in Chipotle's website and determines that, "If you want a burrito on the low range of the calorie scale (420), you will be ordering a flour tortilla, filled with vegetarian black beans. No salsa. No sour cream. No rice. No cheese." That's one boring burrito. Midtown Lunch questions whether you could even call it a burrito.

What do you think? Are these calorie counts better than nothing or are they too confusing to be useful?