(This college football season, Arizona football beat reporter Justin Spears is trying out restaurants in towns the Wildcats are playing in. Up next: Arizona State)
Tempe — For the final installment of "This Isn't Tucson" for the regular season, I left Tucson nearly five hours ahead of No. 15 Arizona's 59-23 win over arch rival Arizona State on Saturday.
The decision to make the early-morning trek to the Phoenix area was mostly to avoid traffic on Interstate-10 (you just never know between car crashes and the occasional haboob), but also to try Burrito Express, one of the most popular burrito spots currently in "The Valley."
Restaurant: Burrito Express
Food: Burritos, tacos, breakfast burritos
The rundown: Burrito Express was founded in 1995 by Angel Marin Sr., who had "a vision of a family-run Mexican restaurant offering delivery, along with dine-in, take-out and catering," according to their website.
Burrito Express has six locations in Gilbert (2), Chandler, Mesa, Scottsdale and Tempe, including one less than three miles away from Mountain America Stadium.
One of Burrito Express' best-selling items on the menu is their breakfast box that has 12 breakfast burritos — four breakfast supreme burritos, four steak and egg burritos, and four potato and egg burritos. They also have a lunch box or an all day box with mixed burritos. All items can be made either enchilada-style (red or green chile sauce) or chimi-style (deep fried with sour cream and guacamole).
In the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) era of college athletics, Burrito Express is endorsed by Arizona State quarterback and Marana native Trenton Bourguet, along with his younger brother Coben Bourguet, a wide receiver for the Sun Devils, and sister Rylen Bourguet, a beach volleyball player at ASU.
Staffers at the Tempe location donned mustard-colored Bourguet "shirseys" on Saturday morning before the game. Bourguet family decals were also scattered across Burrito Express' register and order counter.
The order: Machaca hot breakfast burrito (shredded beef, potatoes, cheese, tomatoes and onions with green sauce).
The final verdict: Sun Devils super fan Colin Tetreault, who drives the ASU "fanbulance," a defunct and refurbished ambulance — with a "U of Eh" license plate — used for tailgating on game days, raved about this burrito and he wasn't kidding. Normally I'm a bacon, egg, potato and cheese burrito gentleman, but the recommendation hit the spot. The only knock on Burrito Express is they didn't have coffee options, but maybe that was a victory for my media counterparts in the press box at Mountain America Stadium. Burrito Express is worth a try if you're ever in Phoenix. 9.3/10
More food reviews from this football season:
Week 2 (Mississippi State): This Isn't Tucson: Tasting 'Little Dooey,' Bully's Ice Cream in Starkville, Miss.
Week 4 (Stanford): This Isn't Tucson: Pizza and wings at the first-ever 'Round Table' in Menlo Park
Week 6 (USC): This Isn't Tucson: Getting some R&R — Randy's and Roscoe's — in Los Angeles
Week 10 (Colorado): This Isn't Tucson: The Sink, Boulder's oldest restaurant, celebrates 100 years of serving CU
