Restaurant referral from the Burrito Blog, when I read the blurb about this sauce called “estupido” at San Loco, I had to give it a whirl, after all it did sound kinda hot.

Turns out, San Loco has 3 locations. Bad news is that all the locations are on the lower east side. By staying open until 5am they’ve corned the college age/drunken hipster munchies market.

We skipped the drunken munchies and went straight to the hangover grub, so off to the Union Square Farmers Market we went, braving the crisp air and intermittent flurries. There’s nothing like a Saturday morning in New York, all the Monday through Friday suits are wearing jeans and the cabbies take a break from all the horn honking it’s quite peaceful (for NYC).

The threat of the Nor’easter kept a large portion of the vendors from displaying, but there was an inordinate amount of apple booths. After picking out a handful of Fuji Apples, we crawled back under ground and headed east on the L train.

The San Loco at 151 Avenue A required getting off at the 1^st street stop and walking a few blocks, so we took a tour around the neighborhood & the second my feet landed on the corner of 10^th & Ave A the smell of Mexican food goodness hit the air.

Inside was small, 4-5 tables at most, all crammed into what looked to be a 500 sq foot location. After placing our order we took a seat at one of their rather sturdy tables. Extra duty for the late crowd I would guess.

At this point I was still skeptical that this was a trendy wolf in cheap Mexican covering, but once the two Chipotle Chicken Burrito Locos were called out my worries went aside. Yes, this was indeed the type of cheap Mexican grub I fondly recall from locations such as Burrito Amigos, Burrito Boy and that unnamed taco cart that I will always crave.

The Burrito Loco is served with guac, sour cream, rice & beans, pico and pickled jalapenos - fairly standard accompaniments. While the chipotle chicken inside was quite tender and much better then most, my taste buds failed to find any major chipotle flavor. I was impressed by the slightly nutmeg overtone in the white cream sauce that covered my chipotle gut bomb; it added just a touch of the lower east side the party in my mouth.

It wasn’t until we were ready to leave when I ordered a Beef Burrito Grande (essentially the same burrito without all the tasty flare). This is where things got a little stupid. I ordered it “estupido” - which is the “hottest” sauce they have. Same burrito as the Loco with just a little extra ammo on the side.

After taking a few hours off to digest, I finally uncovered my dinner and let the fun begin. I first took a bite of the burrito, allowing my taste buds to acclimate to the flavor of the burrito sans stupid sauce, but then I let it all hang out. The first bite of stupid sauce did catch me a little off guard, but the burn was no worse then El Yucateco Green Habanero. Make no mistake, it is definitely hotter then anything you can find at Chipotle or Taco Bell. It reminds me of a JC Penny’s model, hot but not that hot. Next time I’ll be sure to order my burrito with two or three sides of stupid.

San Loco
151 Avenue A
btwn 9th & 10th St
Open: Sun-Wed 11AM-4AM
Thur-Sat 11AM-5AM