Breakfast Burrito appears as a signature dish in 3 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Albuquerque breakfast burrito · Albuquerque
Eggs, hash browns, bacon or chorizo, cheese and green chile rolled in a flour tortilla. The Frontier across from UNM since 1971 set the standard for the city.
The breakfast burrito originated in 1970s New Mexico when home cooks combined Mexican burrito form with New Mexican green chile. The Frontier Restaurant opened in 1971 across from UNM and made the green chile breakfast burrito a daily 05:00 to midnight Albuquerque institution. The dish spread statewide and is now codified as the New Mexico breakfast.
Where to eat in Albuquerque:
- The Frontier Restaurant
- Garcia's Kitchen Fourth Street
- Cervantes Restaurant and Lounge
- Java Joe's
The LA breakfast burrito · Los Angeles
A foil-wrapped flour tortilla packed with eggs, hash browns, cheese, bacon or chorizo and salsa. The Eastside corner-shop morning meal of Los Angeles.
The breakfast burrito in its current LA form, scrambled eggs, hash browns or tater tots, cheese, bacon or chorizo, salsa, wrapped in a flour tortilla and foiled, took shape in the 1970s in East LA panaderias and corner shops. Al & Bea's on First Street has been making them since 1966; Cofax on Fairfax updated the format with chorizo verde in the 2010s. The defining feature is structural: every ingredient is hot and cooked separately, then layered hot so the tortilla never goes soggy. A real LA breakfast burrito is eaten foil-on, peeling back as you go, in the car on the way somewhere.
Where to eat in Los Angeles:
- Al & Bea's Mexican Food
- Cofax Coffee Shop
- Burritos La Palma
- Lucky Boy
Breakfast burrito · Santa Fe
A flour tortilla wrapped around scrambled egg, hash browns, bacon or chorizo, cheese and a pour of red or green chile. Santa Fe's coined term for it dates to Tia Sophia's 1975 menu.
The breakfast burrito existed informally across Hispano-Mexican households for decades, but Tia Sophia's downtown Santa Fe is credited with putting the term breakfast burrito on a restaurant menu in 1975. From there it spread across New Mexico, into national fast-food chains and back into Santa Fe at every casual spot from Palacio Cafe to El Chile Toreado.
Where to eat in Santa Fe:
- Tia Sophia's
- El Chile Toreado
- Palacio Cafe
- Tune-Up Cafe
- The Pantry Restaurant