I don’t mean the run-of-the-mill, daily kind of craving where you’re just sort of in the mood for some chips or you think that some cheese would taste good right about now.

Rather, I mean the completely out of the blue, laser-focused urge that hits you like a slap from Goliath leaving you panting and gasping for sustenance.  The kind of craving that usually originates from a systemic overload of output and imbalance of input – diet deprivation.  Not dieting per se, but just something that you do not eat often and could fill a nutritional need once in awhile.

So it was tonight in my yoga class that I was inspired by Federico’s.  Barely 10 minutes remained in class and I was more dehydrated and depleted than usual.  My feet were cramping and I wasn’t feeling particularly hungry, but WHAMMO and all I could think about was a big fat stuffed tortilla in my grubby paws.  The last time I have had a burrito – not just taking bites but really inhaling a burrito from start to finish – must have been at least 2 years.  But just the same I was struck by how good an idea it sounded. 

I decided that if I still felt that way as I approached the Juan Tabo exit, I’d go for it.  The next 30 minutes I started playing together the combinations in my head, trying to figure out which ingredients would hit the spot and put me in a happy zone.  Eggs?  Hell yeah.  Something rich?  Mmm, yes.  And something fresh…. I have it!

Ultimately, I invented a breakfast burrito and damn if it isn’t amazing.  This is it:  eggs, guacamole, pico de gallo.  All swaddled in that ginormous indescructable yet still tender tortilla, I did yet another completely bizarre thing for me – I ate IN THE CAR.

This is what food can be.  Sustaining, timely, happy-making.  If its another few years before I have the same craving, fine.  Maybe next time it will be something different.  But tonight it had to be that glorious burrito and it HAD to be eaten immediately, fear of drippage tossed aside into the night air.

Federico’s Mexican (open 24 hours – a rarity around here!)

“The Tenacious Burrito”, as listed on the receipt: 

1 Bean burrito, minus beans, plus huevos, plus guac, plus pico.  $4.19 and well worth it.

How many times have I eaten at La Nortenita?  In short, a lot.  Maybe more than most restaurants in Albuquerque, with the exception of my routine lunch spot which right now shall go unnamed.

In the cool of autumn, the dead of winter, the chill of spring, or, hell, ANY old time, I just love La Nortenita’s menudo.  Breaking from appropriate accoutrements, I get corn tortillas instead of bolillo bread and just let all the masa-rich aroma penetrate the lime-spiked zing of the red chile broth.

You could eat this even if you weren’t a fan of tripe if you only could ignore the various bits floating in the bowl.  But typically they are front and center and make no mistake about it, they used to be part of an animal.  Thank you, steer.  You are most delicious when stewed in red chile.

Believe it or not, my most favorite thing at Porky’s Pride BBQ was the little cup of “Three Beans” that came with my enormous platter of meat.  An incongruous mixture of red, pink and LIMA beans well-seasoned and studded with rich ground beef, they teetered on the edge of being chili, save for some tomato.  They know their beef, from putting it in the beans, to some fantastic brisket.

Despite that, I still had to take a snapshot of the little mascot on the counter between the drink station and the dining room – is its name “bacon bits”, or is it meant to indicate the availability of additional toppings to accompany those beans?  I might not find out unless I go back for another visit, and that certainly could happen….