“This looks delicious,” the young man holding the clear to-go box said as he looked at his smothered green chili burrito. His lunch companion likely didn’t hear him, as he was busy ordering one of his own at the window of the food truck parked in the empty lot on Market Street.
The food visible through the transparent packaging was a masterwork of ocular stimulation. Wrapped within a tomato basil tortilla were heaping spoonfuls of seasoned ground beef, black beans, lettuce, tomatoes, raw onions, and salsa. On top, a layer of truck-made green chili had been poured over a generous mound of mozzarella cheese. Sour cream, truck-made guacamole, pickled jalapeños, black olives, and a side of salty tortilla chips completed the dish.
I agreed: it looked delicious.
I discovered California Smothered Burritos while looking on Urban Spoon for new restaurants. The site said the new food truck had not yet opened, so I was pleased when I called owner Jim Masiella and he said he’d be on Market Street the following day.
“There won’t be anyone else there,” he said. “But I’m trying to build a business.”
Masiella is a lifelong restaurateur. He once owned a Mexican restaurant in Lakewood, Colo. People came from miles around to eat his green chili smothered burrito. He said people in Tennessee have the wrong idea about green chili.
“It’s not spicy. It’s a lime-based chili with a mild but incredible taste,” he said. I worked at a Mexican restaurant in Denver for several years that had a green chili burrito I miss to this day, so I couldn’t wait to try his.
When I arrived around noon, there was just one person at the order window and one person inside the truck: Masiella. I asked the guy at the window if he’d been there before.
“I have. I tried the green chili burrito my first time, and now I’m getting the taco salad. I’m addicted,” he said.
That was a good omen. He ordered his salad minus this, minus that, with extra this, and extra that. When my turn came, I stepped up to the window and ordered the green chili burrito as it comes.
Masiella turned his back and went to work, and within a brief period of time, turned back around presented me with a replica of what the young man had ordered. My first impression when I picked it up was, “Wow, this is heavy!” I grabbed one of the homemade brownies and a soda for good measure, paid with my debit card, and returned to my car.
The young man’s supposition was correct: It was delicious. Masiella has chosen and combined his ingredients well, and fashioned a burrito that’s as good as, if not better than, anything I’ve had at a sit down Mexican restaurant in the Chattanooga area. His green chili truly is a special sauce that will bring you back again.
And man, was I full when I was done. I took a bite of the chewy, chocolaty brownie as a formality for this write-up, although most of it is still in my car.
For you first timers, you can’t miss California Smothered Burrito. Painted red, yellow, and green with a surfboard and the establishment’s name on top, the truck stands out among the growing selection of mobile restaurants in Chattanooga.
But what will really have people talking is the burrito. It’s tasty, satisfying, and very filling. It’s also unlike any other burrito you can get in town. Who needs tables and chairs when the food is this good?