Look at all the burritos

There are a zillion reasons to eat a burrito in my world, and being hungry isn’t necessarily in the top 10.

Having your plane delayed by 2.5 hours leaving Indianapolis for a layover in Houston that then puts you back another three hours until you can catch the next plane to Seattle, which means you won’t check into your hotel room until 1 a.m. when you need to be up, dressed (with make-up on, thank you) and on the road by 5 a.m. — that makes the list. And being a predictable soul, I checked in for my seat assignment at the IAH gate, then immediately hot-footed it over to the La Salsa counter in the food court.  I had a whole 20 minutes before boarding.

It looked crowded at first glance, but it turned out most of those poor travelers were waiting on a burger from Wendy’s. I was person number 5 in the La Salsa que, and the second I lined up, a gal two spots in front of me turned and said, “You won’t regret it. It’s worth the wait.” Since this restaurant just opened in February, I’d say word gets around pretty fast.

What wait? The kid behind the counter was grinning and asking for my order before I’d completely settled on a dinner decision, so I compromised with a build-your-own option.

Damn good airport food

And then I proceeded to lose my mind. I asked for chicken instead of steak, perhaps influence by the gal in front of me who switched her order to chicken tacos at the last second “because the chicken looks so fresh.” In my dictionary, fresh chicken still has feathers on it, but I also don’t know much about chicken. Instead of mixing black and pinto beans, I just went with pinto. I never leave out the cheese, of course, but when they said it would take about 3 minutes to get more sour cream, I really veered off the beaten path. I glanced at a clock, calculated how much time it would take to walk back to that gate on the other end of the concourse, and decided sour cream isn’t worth running with two suitcases hanging off your hands. So I had him stick it together with guacamole instead, and threw in some lettuce and tomatoes for the color.

As I handed the cashier my Discover card, all I could think was “what have I done?” My brain remained stuck on that question during the walk back to my boarding area, pondering it with every slurp of Coke from my drink cup. Guacamole is a highly personal condiment. If they spice it up too much, it will ruin the burrito, as I learned with repeated experiments at Taco Bell, Moe’s and Qdoba.

I left the burrito in its foil down inside that bag until I was settled on the plane, my bag tucked under the seat, the lights turned off and we were pulling out of the gate. There, in the semi-darkness while my seatmate began snoring, I took a bite. And another. And another. No, I wasn’t especially hungry, but that La Salsa order made my personal top 10 list of “best burritos I ever ate.” The guacamole was the crowning touch.

I only wish I hadn’t finished my Coke.

La Salsa

George Bush Intercontinental Airport

Terminal C

Photography: La Salsa