First visit: Sep 2013 (Redding)
Locations: 5. They're also in Chico, Anderson, Red Bluff, and Sparks, Nevada.
On this day, we were taking the drive on I-5 south from Medford, Oregon back to the San Francisco Bay Area. I had done this trip in reverse way back in 2002 - at that time I had a 2 week business trip from San Diego to Seattle, with one week at my satellite office in Pleasanton. But Mrs. RJG wasn't with me, so this would be her first time to experience. The trip from Medford to Redding, through the Mt. Shasta and Shasta Lake area, is beautiful. One of the more attractive Interstate highway routes you will ever encounter outside of I-70 in central Colorado. Redding is either the gateway to the beautiful Shasta area -or- boring agricultural land depending on which way you're going.
As you may have read here before, the RJG has been to all 50 state capitals at one point or another (having gathered Olympia, Washington last year to complete the task. Ah yes, good observation by you - why didn't I get it in 2002? Because dummy here didn't stop. That doesn't count). However, while watching the show "How the States Got Their Shapes" on the History Channel a couple of years back, I learned that we were supposed to have a 51st state (or 49th at the time). The state was to be called Jefferson, made up of about 5 counties in northern California and southern Oregon. And the capital was to be Yreka. But something called Pearl Harbor got in the way, and it all fell through the cracks from there. I never knew that! Since I only drove through back in 2002, I ensured we stopped and got the proverbial T-shirt. Might as well cover that base while we're here - it may surface again! But the timing wasn't right to eat in Yreka, and off to Redding we headed for lunch.
Burrito Bandito is just the kind of dumb name that is a magnet for the RJG. Urbanspoon had the chain rated very highly so we decided to stop at one of the two Redding locations (Placer) for a big ol' fat burrito. I went for "Juan's favorite" Pollo while Mrs. RJG had the carne asada Burrito Bowl. The burrito is GIANT, which was fine by me as I was starving. The chicken was delicious as was the rice, cheese, and everything else. I even went for the refried beans instead of black beans, which gave the flavor a whole new texture. Mrs. RJG's carne asada tasted truly like a charbroiled steak, rather than the steamed meat we've come to expect. She loved it. And each table had their own bottle of "Burrito Bandito Habanero Sauce". Ah - load me up with that! Overall, Burrito Bandito makes a fantastic burrito. After our wonderful meal, we walked next door to the grocery store and picked out a couple of local to northern California craft brew micro bombers (that we can't get at home of course) and we were set for the patio seating in the Bay Area later that night :-)
8/28/13 (new entry)
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