New Burrito Place

[Ulysses G.]

I was innocently walking by the original Mike's Burgers on Kotchasan road last night when I spotted a nice looking, new Mexican restaurant called Diablos Burritos. I was already full from the 75 baht spaggetti place, so I did not try it.

By the way, The Barby's Roast Beef sandwich place right across the street, looks to open soon.

Edited October 10, 2008 by Ulysses G.

[Carib]

I was innocently walking by the original Mike's Burgers on Kotchasan road last night when I spotted a nice looking, new Mexican restaurant called Diablos Burritos. I was already full from the 75 baht spaggetti place, so I did not try it.

By the way, The Barby's Roast Beef sandwich place right across the street, looks to open soon.

You were not innocently walking ..you were desperately looking for that place so you could start another food topic >>

[Krupnik]

I noticed here the other night too whilst driving past! Anyone been there yet?!

[PeaceBlondie]

I like to eat a little refried beans as a side dish, or as an ingredient. But here and in Texas, some of the burritos weigh half a kilo.

[Ulysses G.]

in Texas, some of the burritos weigh half a kilo.

I thought that was just a West Coast thing.

[Ulysses G.]

I had a chicken super-burrito at Diablos with cheese, sour cream and guacamole as some of the standard ingredients. Nice people and pretty good burritos for Thailand.

They seem to specialize in really hot salsa if that is your thing. They make their own corn chips, but admit that they are using to wrong kind of corn and are looking for a better supply for "softer" chips. Homemade corn chips in Thailand almost always have an unpleasant consistency.

I would compare them to Sunrise Tacos in Bangkok in terms of quality.

Edited October 10, 2008 by Ulysses G.

[PeaceBlondie]

I had a chicken super-burrito at Diablos with cheese, sour cream and guacamole

So, not on a strict diet nowadays?

[Ulysses G.]

I insisted on no butter!

[adjan jb]

innocently

What a joke!

[Oneman]

I had a chicken super-burrito at Diablos ... [snip] ... I would compare them to Sunrise Tacos in Bangkok in terms of quality.

Thanks, UG; Sunrise in Bangkok is a good recommendation in my book.

At Sunrise, I've usually had tasty food and good value for the money.

So, by comparison, this new Diablo would certainly be worth a try.

And home-made corn tortillas, even if not perfect, would be a nice treat after so many out of a box.

However ...

I was innocently walking by the original Mike's Burgers on Kotchasan road last night when I spotted a nice looking, new Mexican restaurant called Diablos Burritos.

...need better directions, please, for all of us who enjoy Mexican food.

Mike's Burgers is at corner of Changmoi Road and Chiapoom Road; North of Thapae Gate.

However, Kotchasan Road only runs South of Thapae Gate.

Same track along the East side of the moat, but different street names.

So, to find Diablo, do we start at Mike's on Chiapoom, or is Diablo's really somewhere on Kotchasan, South of TP gate?

- Oneman

Chiangmai

Edited October 10, 2008 by Oneman

[dotcom]

I had a chicken super-burrito at Diablos with cheese, sour cream and guacamole as some of the standard ingredients. Nice people and pretty good burritos for Thailand.

They seem to specialize in really hot salsa if that is your thing.

I can guarantee you J Chandler will be up there to try it out. He loves HOT salsa. The hotter the better.

[Maccheroncini]

Good news

[calibanjr.]

Well, I'm in LA for the next three months, so I'll try to fill up for everybody while I'm here. I'll try Diablo a couple months after I get back on Xmas day.

[Ulysses G.]

...need better directions, please, for all of us who enjoy Mexican food. So, to find Diablo, do we start at Mike's on Chiapoom?

Yes, Diablo's Burritos is directly beside the original Mike's Burgers on Chiapoom Road near Chang Moi Road.

[SBACM]

Here you Go U.G. Pick one out-

Could be quite a hard choice??

http://www.burritoeater.com/

...need better directions, please, for all of us who enjoy Mexican food. So, to find Diablo, do we start at Mike's on Chiapoom?

Yes, Diablo's Burritos is directly beside the original Mike's Burgers on Chiapoom Road near Chang Moi Road.

[Oneman]

.

Today I went for lunch at Diablo.

If you want to sample their burrito, do so before this year's high season ends.

This restaurant won't last much beyond that.

The location is right next to Mike's Hamburgers on Chaiyapoom Road.

Indeed, the two restaurants share a common wall.

And share the traffic noise and pollution, too.

Like Mike's, Diablo is open-air, so every burrito comes with a side of tuk-tuk fumes.

Plus, noise from constant traffic within a few meters of your table makes conversation strained.

A nice thing at Diablo is chips and salsa appeared on the table within moments of arriving.

And it was excellent salsa, really excellent.

Delightfully fresh flavour, based on roasted peppers -- not the more common tomato salsa.

A light "bite" at first taste, but it endures.

I was highly impressed with that salsa.

The "heat" of the salsa was on the mild side of average.

That's my personal preference, but if you like it hot, or really hot, this won't be do it for you.

As for the chips, I was not impressed.

Home made, yes, however, loaded with fry oil.

Really soaked with oil.

That fits the common Thai cooking method of frying in oil that is not hot enough.

The grease soaks in before the food is cooked.

Sad waste of good corn meal.

The guacamole was not a success.

There are several reasons for that.

Avocados in Thailand have very little flavour.

If they are grown locally, they look just right, and the texture is just right, but there isn't much avocado taste.

If the avocados are imported -- most frequently from Australia -- they must be picked too early, and don't get a chance to develop their flavour.

Might try to make it up by adding some lime juice and garlic.

A dash of Tabasco® couldn't hurt.

Even a little salt.

But the guacamole at Diablo didn't get any of that.

Oily chips and tasteless guacamole.

I ordered grilled chicken burritos: #1 on the menu.

The grilled chicken was superb: excellent taste and texture, and grilled to juicy tenderness.

So often in foods where the chicken is hidden inside, we get a hormone-induced glump of something that looks and acts like textured vegetable protein.

None of that at Diablo.

This was premium chicken and it was delicious.

Maybe Diablo would have more success if it specialized in grilled chicken with salsa.

The beans inside were black beans, rather than the more common re-fried red beans.

Black beans are not my favourite.

If there had been a choice I would have selected re-fried beans, but there was no choice.

However, I must say these black beans were tasty.

The flour tortilla, however, left a lot to be desired.

It wasn't cooked, so it had the texture of raw dough.

Normally tortillas are placed on a hot grill for a few moments -- to cook the bread and give a hint of browning.

These tortillas were still pure, white, dough.

Someone forgot to put them on the grill.

Or didn't know they were supposed to do that.

Thinking about my recent comments about Salsa Kitchen (on another thread here):

At Diablo, the salsa is excellent, but the flour tortillas failed miserably.

At SK the flour tortillas are superb, but the salsa is tasteless.

There's a potential "marriage", but I doubt they'll ever get together.

Diablo won't survive for several reasons:

The open-air location is just one disadvantage.

They could solve that problem by enclosing the front, but not likely that will happen.

Another reason is the very limited menu -- basically just burritos.

To keep locals coming back often, requires more variety.

And Diablo is along the same street as Miquel's, which has a much larger menu.

Plus there are many other restaurants in Chiangmai serving Mexican food.

If Diablo manages to get into the Looney Planet guide book, it might hang on from tourists who don't know any better.

Or, if the farang owner is willing to pour a lot of money into it, it could last until his funds drain down to an unacceptable level.

But, based on the food I tasted today, it is going to be another Chiangmai restaurant that lasts one season.

So, if you do want to sample Diablo's version of Mexican burritos, get there in the next few months; before this year's high season ends.

-- Oneman

Chiangmai

Edited October 12, 2008 by Oneman

[Ulysses G.]

If you go again. Ask for the extra hot salsa. They gave me some to try after some spicy, pickled vegetables that burned my mouth out, so I did not try it. I have a feeling that it is quite HOT though.

[DustyRhodes]

Many thanks to everyone for your interest and support at El Diablo’s.

This business is new to us and after our first week we’re naturally overwhelmed by the amount of work involved and very happy by the response and kind compliments. Some hours in the week the quality may have suffered slightly by our having to run around like proverbial headless chickens and produce our food at a faster-than-comfortable pace, but we’ve mostly managed and hardly skipped a beat so far. Please forgive any short-comings.

Please know that your comments and suggestions are humbly welcome and taken seriously.

We aim to serve a quality fully-stuffed burrito at a decent price, -and to throw in the water, chips and salsa for free. That’s all. The main criticism thus far is that the things are so damned big. This is due to the fact that we are big boys with big appetites and that our role model is San Francisco’s Mission District where for a couple of bucks one can, or at least could back in the day, get a delicious entire meal wrapped in a steamed tortilla for a pittance.

While it’s true that a Thai chile, avocado, bean or tomato may not have exactly the same flavor as the ones from California or New Mexico, it strikes us as silly to not use these great and delicious products—Taco Bell we aint. Call it epicurean diversity. Burritos are, after all, a regional and different animal. We use all fresh local ingredients and we make everything by hand and from scratch—except for the dairy products and olive oil, that is.

Thanks again. Nice to serve.

[bungalowbill]

I was innocently walking by the original Mike's Burgers on Kotchasan road last night when I spotted a nice looking, new Mexican restaurant called Diablos Burritos. I was already full from the 75 baht spaggetti place, so I did not try it.

By the way, The Barby's Roast Beef sandwich place right across the street, looks to open soon.

Ulysses,

Can you tell us where the 75 baht spaggetti place is? and is it any good?

[Ulysses G.]

If you walk from Thapae Gate and past AUA, you will see soi 5 on your right hand side, turn there and walk about 10 meters into the soi to the restaurant of the Rendevous Guest House. In my opinion, the 75 baht spaggetti bolganaise is excellent and you get a few pieces of pretty good toasted bread and grated cheese with it. The portion might be a little bit smaller than other places that charge 120-150 for spaggetti that is not as good, but I think that it is a good deal.

Let me warn you, some other foods there are great and others are not up to much, so I usually stick to spaggetti.

Edited October 14, 2008 by Ulysses G.

[Jingthing]

Good luck Dusty. Thanks for attempting to model yourselves on SF Mission District burritos, the best in the world. Oneman is correct, the burrito shells should indeed be warmed. He says on a grill. OK I guess. In the Mission District, they have specialized burrito shell machines that appear to maybe be steamers that they put the shell in when it is ready to be constructed, press it down for a moment and this instantly warms the flour shell. I think you really should look into a way to warm the flour shells. Best wishes for success.

Edited October 14, 2008 by Jingthing

[bungalowbill]

If you walk from Thapae Gate and past AUA, you will see soi 5 on your right hand side, turn there and walk about 10 meters into the soi to the restaurant of the Rendevous Guest House. In my opinion, the 75 baht spaggetti bolganaise is excellent and you get a few pieces of pretty good toasted bread and grated cheese with it. The portion might be a little bit smaller than other places that charge 120-150 for spaggetti that is not as good, but I think that it is a good deal.

Let me warn you, some other foods there are great and others are not up to much, so I usually stick to spaggetti.

Thanks...it's always good to know where to get a good meal for a decent price..

[PeaceBlondie]

There is a market for a half-kilo burrito. I suspect some of us would eat a mini-burrito and say im-laow or lahm-tete. In fact, I took a Tai-Yai/local boy to Miguel's the other day, and im-laow is what he said when he could not finish the fajitas.

[mcgriffith]

I ate there last night. At Diabolo Burrito, that is.

I had the #1 grilled chicken burrito, and 2 Heinekens. Free chips and salsa (I had the house salsa, very mild, made it seems from roasted mild red chilis).

A nice touch were the cruditos- al denote crisp pickled carrot, cucumber and jalapeños. Also a small serving of oven-roasted garlic cloves. Sweet and eminently edible.

The flour tortilla shell of my burrito was grill toasted to perfection. The interior ingredients were as OneMan described- very flavourful, and cooked fresh to order.

I met the young host and his lovely partner, and was impressed.

I wish them every success.

Disclaimer: never met the owner before last night's meal.....

[Ulysses G.]

I suspect some of us would eat a mini-burrito and say im-laow or lahm-tete.

The Tacos are pretty much small burritos with soft corn tortillas. Are they not?

[ricklev]

Ihope the owner decides to enclose and air condition the restaurant to save his obvious labor of love from a quick demise. Ít''s hopelessly loud and polluted and blasting the music to drown out the traffic noise just makes in more unpleasant. But that's just me, maybe others find it acceptable and I'm overly sensitive.

[alexisthetiny]

We had dinner there yesterday evening. I like that place, even the chips which yes, were oil soaked, but still good. The burritos were huge, there's no quibbling about that. As much of a carb lover as I am, there was no way I could finish the tortilla along with the meat, rice and beans so I just ate most of the filling. The pickled veggies were definitely something. They seem harmlessly crunchy and sour at the first bite then it builds up to a burning tongue. Definitely a good thing.

I do agree that the traffic noise makes it quite a pain to hold a conversation but I'm still going back there.

[tigerbeer]

had them burritos last night for dinner. loved the salsa. next time, i'll ask for the extra hot salsa as UG described. what i would have preferred is more cheese and less beans and rice in them burritos. maybe an additional menu item for meat lovers ?

otherwise a nice addition to the chiang mai dining experience about the traffic noise etc, its alright. don't mind it.

[DustyRhodes]

ALSO...there's parking in back for cars and motorbikes.

True, a burrito stand is not fine dining, never was nor will be. If it's ambience you're after just order it to go and eat it where you're comfy.

As we say in New Orleans -It's all about good-tasting food; the rest don't matter.

Thanks,

E.D.

[reginaldsnoo]

I have been to El Diablos several times since it opened, as I have been living here a couple of years, and havent found a Mexican I would go back to. I gotta say from the start, that I am not a specialist like Oneman, nor am I as offended by "inauthenticity" - I just like a good meal - and I gotta say they do a dam_n good Burrito here, and I think they have the price right. For a flat B100 you get a good burrito, chips with great salsa and plenty of water. Everywhere else is more expensive, with smaller portions .. and at Miguels they even make you pay up front - nice touch guys - really welcoming ;0)

Im not sure how the Holy Standard of burrito ingredients was established, because in my experience, most people who drone on about it have never had a Burrito in Mexico, or have any idea what they are like. Why not risk a trip down there and see if you come out with a smile?

and Oneman .. get a hobby