 Today's debate is much like the dish we're discussing. They seem so simple on the outside, but once you dig in, things get messy. Join us as we debate which region makes the world's best burrito. My name's Trey Crowder. As a stand up, I spend most of my weekends on the road, and I spend most of that time listening to folks tell me that their regional cuisine is the best in the world. The objective of this show is to settle these debates once and for all. Welcome to Grubbin. Today we're welcoming James Beard, award-winning food writer, Bill Esparza. Who'll be advocating on behalf of the traditional northern Mexican-style burritos. Almost everything in Mexico comes in a taco, and burritos are tacos. And on the other side, we've got Carlos Stone, the owner of Los Angeles Institution, El Tepayeque. He makes the supersized Hollambeck burrito. The more stuff, the better, I always say. Before the food fight commences, let's dive into some history. There are two donkey-based claims to the burrito's origin, which makes sense because burrito means little donkey in Spanish. One story has it that during the Mexican Revolution, a food vendor from Juarez named Juan Mendes became famous for wrapping his food in a flour tortilla and selling it from the back of a donkey. Another claims that burritos were invented by Mexican miners in Arizona who would travel by donkey deep into the mines, carrying a day's worth of meat, beans, and cheese inside a flour tortilla. To this day, burritos are a small and simple snack consisting of a flour tortilla, beans, and a regional stew. By the way, did the history sounds is that close as far as you know better than I do? Well, it's coming from a burro, so I don't know. But once the burrito reached LA, it grew and changed. Emphasis on grew. One of the innovators behind that growth was Manny Rojas. The owner and chef of LA Institution, El Tepayeque, who created the Hollambeck burrito. A monster of a meal packed with pork, chili verde, guacamole, beans, and rice. Oh, and it's got a layer of pork on top too. We've been doing our burritos the same way since 1956, and it hasn't been a problem since, so I mean, we keep doing it the same way. Whether it's traditional or not is up for debate, but its fans love it. So it seems like one of the main differences between traditional Mexican burritos and their Mexican-American counterparts is size. So, simply put, does size matter? My grandfather made the burrito really big, I guess, to deal with the Hollambeck Police Department. They asked for something really huge. Okay. They wanted something to throw everything in there. It's not a snack, it's a 2.5 pound burrito. So, you're looking at dinner for two probably. You know, this idea of burritos for dinner is very Mexican-American, you know, eating a big burrito. You don't, they don't do that in Mexico. It's a snack in between meals. You don't sit down and have a two and a half pound burrito for dinner. That's very Mexican-American, and of course, now American. Clearly, y'all have different ideas as to what belongs in a burrito. So, I'm gonna toss out some ingredients and I want you to tell me if I should wrap it or scrap it. How do you feel about rice as an ingredient? Again, our food has been working for so long and the rice is one of the ingredients and I think it works as far as like, I mean, because our burritos are so massive, so I would say the rice helps with the stew and all the meat. So, we're in Boyle Heights and I don't know if anybody knows Little History, but it used to be a lot of Japanese that live there and a lot of our customers that still live in the area that are Japanese, they don't like beans at all. So, I mean, the rice works for them in there and they love our burritos, no beans. Right. But rice is like kind of a controversial ingredient, isn't it? Burrito, it's more about the guisado, so the rice tends to kind of mute the flavors of that stew. What about the beans? What kind of beans? Only pinto beans, that's it. When I think pinto beans, I think Mexican food. Is that like the standard pinto? No, I mean, in Mexico, you know, it is, again, when we're talking about Mexican-American culture, things have been reduced down. There are few stews. We don't use a lot of different beans, but in Mexico, they're gonna use a lot of different beans when they're cooking. Avocado. Cornesada burrito, guacamole. Right, specifically in the form of guacamole. All our burritos, yes. Yeah, okay. I like it, I think it's good. Got the guacamole in there, all the flavors dancing around in there. French fries. Mm, no. No, not at all. I don't think French fries belong in a burrito. I'm with you. I feel the same way. This is the point where you gotta stop, you know, that you're just making a mutant food. Sour crane, nope. We like crema, but that's for the enchiladas. That's for the antujitos, you know. Hot sauce. This is a funny question. Okay. Mexican food is not spicy. Okay. So this is like, we don't cook like Asians. So in India and China, they'll put a lot of spice in the food, but we don't do that. We cook with mild chiles, mild flavors, and then you add salsa or you chase it with a chile. So I'm gonna have to disagree. The hotter the better, yeah. As far as restaurant wise, I mean, do you have anything hotter? Can we have something hotter? Sure, yeah. Like I said, all the workers, I made this salsa trade out, it's really hot. I truly cannot believe this has happened again, but even after my probing investigation, we remain deadlocked. Looks like we gotta give our guests one more chance to state their case. So I think there's nothing like a really handmade, artisanal flour tortilla filled with a regional stew with all the spices and chiles and flavors of that place. Really has a sense of place. Wrapped in a skinny snack that you can enjoy in between meals in the morning or on the go. I think burritos are the best travel food ever invented. And so that's what I would look for in a burrito is that local flavor. Okay, what about you, Carlos? I learned a lot of stuff from Bill and I found out like, you know, traditionally how stuff probably should be made. I mean, as far as we go, we kind of please the masses and if it's not broke, don't fix it. So I mean, our burritos come with rice, beans, guacamole, people are happy, so that's what we sell. We still Mexican food or Mexican inspired. We still has all the staples. Mexican American is Mexican. So thank you to our guests for sharing your expertise with us. Hopefully we inspired folks to try some new grub and taught them a thing or two in the process. Y'all keep the conversation going in the comments and keep it spicy, but you know, respectful. If you like what you sawed, subscribe to the attention YouTube channel. Continue your culinary education and check out dish history. Get your mind right with free therapy or hey, spend some more time with you boy and watch my show, South and Off.