My brother and I continued our survey of chimichangas available in the greater Salt Lake area. Today was stop number 2. See our first stop in the previous post on Su Casa.
Today was Bajio Mexican Grill. For those not close to a Bajio, it is a regional mexican chain that started here in Utah. From what I've heard, although it's unconfirmed, the guy who started it used to be one of the partners in another Mexican place in Provo called Rosa's which has since closed. After Rosa's he opened Bajio. Another unconfirmed piece of info that I've heard is that Bajio is at least partially owned by or has an investment from Subway. Bajio, which may have been local to Utah at one point, now has locations in several states and is actively franchising additional ones.
Enough of that though, back to the chimichangas. When we first made our list Bajio was on it. And like I mentioned, we had both been there in the past but neither of us had ever had the chimi there. The one we went to is on 2100 South in Salt Lake -- the part of the city known as Sugarhouse. Fortunately the lines during lunch are nothing like they are at the one in Provo which always has long lines. My brother went for the chimichanga with their spicy chicken filling (as opposed to the lime chicken filling). I myself got their new mexican pizza with their al pastor pork and sweet rice.
Let me get my impressions out the way first. This actually is the second time in a week that I have been to Bajio. And while the mexican pizza was good, it was not good enough to supplant my two favorite Bajio items - first and foremost, the honeybutter sauteed shrimp tacos and the chicken taquitos with the works on top of them. The pizza was good, but ohhhh... the shrimp tacos with their mango salsa and sweet rice on the side cannot be beat. The pizza was good, but I will once again be ordering the Shrimp Tacos on future visits, the pizza was not good enough to keep me away from them.
For the chimi, here are my brother's impressions:
- high marks for the fact that it was made and fried fresh right in front of you, a little extra wait but worth it, especially since Bajio is a semi-fast food place.
- you cannot beat the plate-bending heft of the finished product
- the quality of the accompaniments (salsa, rice on the side, guac, sour cream, etc) significantly add to the overall experience. In Bajio's case they do it right.
- not really food related, but this Bajio has the good ice. I can't really describe what the good ice is since it is a thing that was defined in our family long ago. But if you want to know what it is go to this Bajio, their drink machine dispenses the good ice.
- the quality of the tortilla used, which was cooked fresh after we ordered, adds to the overall quality of the chimi. Again, a big positive for Bajio.
On the negative side:
- Our opinion is that a critical factor in a good chimi is the variety of textures in the chimi. You need the soft, moist, seasoned filling contrasted with a crunchy exterior. Bajio could have cooked their chimi a bit longer to give it some added crunch.
- Another important factor, related to the variety of textures is the filling to tortilla ratio. In this case, if there is too much filling, it overwhelms the crunch of the tortilla on the exterior. It is important that the filling to tortilla ratio is balanced. We decided that Bajio erred a little on the too much filling side in relation to the amount of crunchy tortilla available.
But that is it on the negative, which is pretty minor. The consensus was that it is vastly superior to the Su Casa version, but might not quite measure up to the one they serve at Baja Cantina in Park City, although that is based on a 13 year old memory of the last time my brother had a chimi at Baja Cantina, so it may be a bit idealized. We hope to get an updated impression from there soon.
Bajio Mexican Grill
1010 East 2100 South
Salt Lake City, UT
www.bajiogrill.com
(many other locations listed on their web site)