by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
21 East Adams Street
(904) 598-2922
Its past noon and the people I’m supposed to meet for lunch haven’t shown. Luckily, Burrito Gallery has plenty of art to look over, and they have a full bar. In my book, art and full bar are always a plus. While I’m waiting, I start on a rum and coke in their courtyard. My coat and their alcohol seems to hold back the cold brought by a grey day and bitter winds. There’s no color in the sky, but there’s color in the courtyard because of mactruQue’s multihued cityscape mural. I’m the only one out in the courtyard because of the cold. I chose it because it’s full service and has plenty of light for taking pictures of massive burritos.
In spite of the nasty weather, indoors the Gallery is a packed house. People have ventured out of their offices and into the cold to consume a soul-satisfying burrito. On the right wall as you enter, are the low-tone but soul capturing portraits by Sean Mehan. As a total contrast on the left, you can take a gander at Dan May’s crisply colored, boldly saturated, often cartoonistic, odd world of amoebas, monsters and sea things. Take a walk throughout the eatery, and it is like being in a gallery. The paper menus include website info on the artists currently on display.
Burrito Gallery was one of those businesses that used Jacksonville’s hosting of the Super Bowl in 2005 to launch their business to much success. Since that time they’ve become a much loved and talked about bastion of burritos and artwork. The huge mural by mactruQue and Shawn painted on the side of the building has helped change people’s perception of Downtown. Inside, the walls are a shifting gallery of artwork from local Jacksonville artists. It’s become a real hotspot during the monthly Art Walks. You’ll often see a crowd spilling out of the place on that first Wednesday of the month.
Great art might keep people interested, but it might not keep people coming back to a restaurant were it not for the great food they serve here. It’s fresh of course, and much, much better in quality than the majority of quickly prepared meals, deli-style and otherwise. Besides the sorts of items you’d expect from a place with burrito in the name, they also serve killer wraps and ginormous salads.
The Cobb salad is a most excellent choice. The spring mix is topped with bleu cheese, egg, grilled scallions, tomatoes and bacon with a tasty sherry tarragon vinaigrette served on the side. It comes with grilled chicken, but you can sub that with steak or shrimp. The waitress encouraged my tendency for indulgence by suggesting that I try the Cobb with both the steak and the shrimp. For this, she gets happy points.
Other salads at Burrito Gallery include a classic Caesar, a taco salad bowl, avocado-tuna salad and the lovely smokehouse turkey salad. I say lovely because it includes smoked bacon, and bacon just makes everything better, especially when it stars with tomatoes, jack cheese, salad greens and turkey.
Now, if you go to a place called Burrito Gallery, you might want to order a burrito. Go ahead. But be warned. Burritos come in two sizes here, ginormous and gargantuan. Bring your appetite and plan on a doggie bag. First timers should take it slow and order the smaller sized burrito. If you can handle that, move up to the larger, more gargantuan size on the next visit. I order the ginger teriyaki tofu, mostly because I wanted to see if they knew how to handle tofu. They do. Vegetarians who haven’t yet discovered this place should come in for the ginger teriyaki tofu burrito and the grilled veggie. The tacos are a smaller choice, but just as tasty. The fillings choices include many of the same options. Try the fresh mahi, carnitas (pork) or the shrimp.
As for the deli wraps, it’s a difficult choice. I sample the curry walnut chicken salad, an excellently balanced combo of green apples, white raisins, a curry chicken salad and greens.
The menu isn’t huge, but everything they serve is fresh and tasty. Their sauces and salads are particularly notable in this area. They make a fresh tomato, jalapeño cilantro sauce that’s hot but flavorful. Because they use fresh ingredients, the heat signature of this sauce might be different because different batches of jalapeños can be a little less or a little more mouth-searing. I’d say you should sample a little first to see if you can handle the current batch.
Most people simply order their meals from the counter and sit down to wait for the food to come out to them (which it does, pretty quickly) but you can opt to sit at the bar or in the courtyard (both towards the back of the establishment) for full service. Burrito Gallery is now open most of the week for dinner, from Tuesday through Saturday from 1PM-10PM and Fridays till midnight. Mondays they keep short hours, from 11AM-3PM and Sundays they’re closed.
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