In January, 2011, we were saddened to learn that Broadway staple Gonzalez y Gonzalez, once home to the city's longest bar (or so they say) as well as a giant illuminated sombrero sign outside 625 Broadway, had closed to be replaced by a Chipotle. But then something funny happened. Turns out Chipotle only wanted the Broadway side of the block-long space, so Gonzalez y Gonzalez got a second lease on life. Yay! But there is a giant, burrito-and-taco-shaped catch. more ›

Tomorrow, members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) will protest Chipotle's labor practices as inconsistent with the corporation's marketing image as socially conscious and responsible. Protesters will gather at noon outside the Chipotle on Broadway and 17th Street. Last year, on the heels of a scandal that revealed Chipotle's hiring practices weren't exactly legal, Chipotle announced it would use over 10 million pounds of locally-sourced ingredients. However, no direct implications have been made against Chipotle that indicate their labor practices contradict their philosophy. "We can’t always purchase food from the little farmer down the road. In order to serve our customers, we sometimes work with larger farms and food distributors. But no matter how big or small the farms we work with, it’s important that every worker is treated with dignity and respect," says the company website. more ›

Normally, Chipotle celebrates Halloween by just inviting people to dress up in tinfoil like a burrito, but this year, as part of their big push to highlight locally-sourced ingredients, the chain is asking people to dress up like a farm instead. Your reward? A $2 "BOO-rito" and the chance to win $2,500. more ›

Over the years the fast-casual chain Chipotle has gained quite a following (1,131 stores and counting nationwide, 29 of them here in NYC) but it hasn't quite been able to replicate its "watch us prepare your food" style beyond burritos. An attempt this summer to turn America's Next Great Restaurant-winner Jamawn Woods' soul food concept into a hit failed miserably. But maybe their latest foray—ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen—will do better? They've just opened their very first outpost down in DC and our siblings at DCist went in for a taste test. It doesn't sound awful! more ›

And here we have a lovely music video produced by, uh, Chipotle, featuring Willie Nelson covering Coldplay's "The Scientist," which features the refrain, "I'm going back to the start." The video, created by the talented Johnny Kelly, tells the story of a farmer who has an epiphany and (sort of) liberates his imprisoned animals, letting them live free-range (until they're slaughtered to make delicious burrito bowls). more ›

Vegetarians, you might want to think twice about getting those pinto beans in your fajita burritos from Chipotle. Unless you are a self-loathing bacon fan, that is. Maxim's Seth Porges recently discovered that the fast casual giant cooks its pinto beans in bacon. Naturally, he Tweeted about it. And now, because Chipotle is that kinda chain, the company is promising to change its ways. Oh, and the company's CEO personally called Porges to apologize. more ›

For the first time in years, beloved Mexican-inspired chain Chipotle is raising prices on their delicious (if somewhat confusingly filled) burritos. more ›

Chipotle, the fast-casual burrito chain that is surprisingly hard to hate, keeps getting greener. Perhaps to take attention away from the whole illegal employees thing (or to keep us from focusing on the whole chorizo made with chicken thing) the chain has announced that this year their food is going to be way local. In 2010 they served five million pounds of tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and the like sourced from within 350 miles. So naturally this year they say they are on track to serve ten million pounds of local produce to go along with their relatively ethically-raised meat. more ›

Well, this is interesting. Chipotle, the "fast-casual" burrito chain we once said we "can't bring ourselves to hate," is expanding its menu to include chorizo, though it's not like any chorizo we've ever heard of. more ›

After 22 years Gonzalez y Gonzalez, the constantly happy hour-ing Mexican on Broadway with the giant sombrero, is shutting its doors after losing its lease, according to its website. The spot stretches from Broadway to Mercer and boasted the longest bar in the city. Nachos NY is reporting the space will soon become a Chipotle. Which raises the question, who has the city's longest bar now? more ›

The nutritional counselor Jared Koch has a few ideas about what makes for a good, nutritious restaurant meal, but the last thing he wants to do is get preachy about it. He wants you to enjoy your food. Together with food writer Alex Van Buren, he’s written a guidebook called Clean Plates NYC, which eschews numerical grading systems, star systems, and riffs on restaurant design in order to just focus on supper. Rather than cast a myopic eye toward the antioxidizing properties of plums, or romancing the red cabbage, Clean Plates aims to identify some of the more nutritious, decent meals to be had in the city for the vegan, locavore, and meat-eater alike. We spoke with Clean Plates NYC founder Jared Koch yesterday; the book is available in stores now. more ›

Tin foil-hat conspiracy theorists take note: this ravenous city will soon be flooded with a multitude of free (or cheaper-than-usual) tin foil wrapped burritos over the course of the next few weeks. These truly are the end of burrito days! Or at least the end of the year. Don't believe us? Here's proof that the burritopocalypse is fast approaching: more ›

A Times article on the popularity of “fast-casual” restaurants continues to cause some major head scratching. In straightforward expansionist news, the article reported that the Five Guys burger chain plan on opening 29 new local outlets in the next 8 years, and Hale and Hearty is busy putting the finishing touches on its 20,000 square foot Williamsburg production facility. more ›

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