Michael Chrichton once said, “You can’t get decent Mexican food in Washington D.C.” Whether or not that sentiment applied to every state around or above the Mason Dixon Line, it was apparent he’d never been to West Chester, Pa. in search of quality “south-of-the-border” style delicacies.
The story of Burrito Loco started way back in 1999 with a couple of lacrosse players who had a hankering for Mexican food served with California stylings. It’s since embedded itself in the community as the prominent Spanish establishment in the West Chester area.
Let that timeframe set in for a minute folks; that’s 16 years in the same spot serving the students, faculty and communtity of West Chester. Burrito Loco opened its doors before I could legally drive and before many of you had even entered primary school. That’s a business model that works, and that’s how Nancy, Mike, Jake and their long time associate Armando plan on running things for the forseeable future.
Nancy herself made it quite clear that half of the fun of the job is getting to know the students, watching them progress and then watching the next batch of freshmen come in as she ships the outgoing graduates out with fond memories, a few good laughs and tacos…lots and lots of tacos.
Burrito Loco has changed a lot over the years. Early on, they were open until 3 a.m. and even had a bar in the bottom floor of the building they continue to operate out of. Oh, how I rue not coming to the university just a bit sooner as I can just imagine how the food must have tasted after a night of entertainment and beer.
One thing that hasn’t changed is the infamous Gordo and Double-Gordo challenge, which has become a popular activity among male students of the university and is even used for group fundraisers.
Think you can shovel a foot of beefy, beanie burrito down your gullet? If you can manage to get it all down, you’ll be immortalised forever (or at least until some natural catastrophe dooms all of mankind) on the Gordo Challenge wall. It’s often been said that the biggest challenge after success is shutting up about it. This is not one of those cases. Brag all you’d like my friend.
Although the bar and the super late hours have disappeared (they’re still open until 8:00 p.m. if you’ve got a late evening craving) they’ve now linked up with the school Resident Life section so that students can use the schools “Flex” system to buy food. I can’t think of a better way to settle into the school year.
Ryan Wasser is a third year student majoring in English with minor in creative writing and media criticism. He can be reached at RW851045@wcupa.edu.
Love the article, always happy to see some Burrito Loco love going around. I do want to point out though, that there are plenty of women on the wall for crushing the Gordo challenge. Gotta give credit where credit is due, and I’m willing to bet our female Gordo champs want to be recognized for their efforts I know my GF would. Just something to keep in mind.