I've eaten at the first Chipotle, have you? - Denver, CO

I've eaten at the first Chipotle, have you?

If you're a taco fanatic and find yourself in Denver, Colorado, a must see is the original Chipotle Mexican Grill, located near the University of Denver campus.  Address:  1644 E. Evans Ave, Denver, CO  80210

Everyone has their own Chipotle story.  You were skiing the Rockies and stopped on in for some grub, calling the place Chi-Pol-tay, (you now know the correct pronounciation thanks to Steve Ells being on some reality foodie show a few years back).  You grew up in Denver, and now live in a state that has only 2 Chipotle locations (both over 25 miles away) and it saddens you every Taco Tuesday.  Am I right?  Feel free to leave a comment on your Chipotle story below!


My story goes back to about 1994ish, I was doing a promotional event for the Honey Baked Ham Store and was hungry for lunch.  What was I going to do?  Devour a spiral ham and turtle cheesecake?  My co-worker Kim and I headed back to our office on the lookout for good tacos (most of my stories start with "we were just looking for tacos").  We stumbled on to Chipotle on E. Evans, and thought we would give it a try.  That day, walking in, I had no idea this concept would blow up into what it is today.  Shoot, Steve Ells probably was one of the 3 or 4 employees at the counter making our lunch that day!! I remember being confused by how to order, as the assembly line way of ordering tacos was fairly new in these parts.  That day, I'm sad to say, I even ordered the burrito instead of tacos.  Yes, shocker!  I think it was perhaps because tacos weren't even listed on their menu yet.  It was a burrito type place.  We received our lunch, and were smitten.  I think I personally told 75 people to immediately drop everything and go to "my new discovery."

You all know the rest of the story.  Chipotle conquers the country and a new one pops up on a corner each and every day.   They're giving the public some great and quick food for a very decent price. Today I went with the chicken, and you can't go wrong, their grilled chicken is amazeballs.  Added some brown rice, green tomatillo and pico de gallo.  Perfect food to give me some power for the gym in an hour.  I find myself here all the time and I'm always happy with my lunch or dinner choices.

Make a point of swinging by the original sometime.  The staff will even give you a nickel tour of the weird crawl space in the basement (see photo above).  You'll be amused at how tiny the first location is and of course take a pic outside the door to upload to your Facebook page if you're a true taco nut!

Stars for the Original:

Food - 4.5 stars

Atmosphere - 5.0 it's the original place people!

Employees at this location - 5.0 (they're happy to take your photo eating at the original!)

Parking - negative 4 (I've never seen a parking space available since 1996 in this neighborhood)