VIVA!JAPAN - GLOBAL AUCTION

...IS HAPPENING NOW!!!!

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There are a ton of great art by a lot of great artists up for auction, so BID BID BID!!!

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LIBRE Burrito - Tokyo

Great Mexican food is something that all Californians take for granted because you can find it almost anywhere, and because it's so damn cheap. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that major Californian cities (eg San Francisco, San Diego & Los Angeles) have better Mexican food than even Mexico itself, just because you can find a lot of variety as well as originality in such high concentrations (or maybe I'm just boasting). And because of the close proximity to the Mexican border, all of the flavors remain authentic. Growing up in California, Mexican food naturally just infuses into your blood, your taste buds and nose hairs. How I miss the Pollo Borracho burrito by La Costeña from back home.

So one of the biggest transitions I had to deal with, when I moved out here to Tokyo, was simply getting used to the fact that I didn't have access to quality Mexican food anymore. You can find decent "Mexican" restaurants here and there, but are quite expensive and the flavors are adapted to suit the Japanese palate, which are just too whimpy. Japanese people usually don't like cilantro and overly spicy things. And burrito specialty shops are pretty much non-existant. So I've had a burrito craving building up for about a year since I moved out here.

Just when I thought that I might not be able to survive another day without a burrito, a friend informs me that her friend is opening up a new burrito joint called Libre in Aoyama. We immediately went to go check out Libre, and only needed one bite to convince us this place is legit. Alex, the burrito guru at Libre, hails from the Bay Area and cooks with the San Francisco style, but is good enough to make any native Californian want to claim this as their own. Alex throws in a little originality by adding raw purple cabbage into the mix, which adds a great texture and flavor that compliments the seasoning of the meats perfectly. The red sauce was the perfect amount of heat for me, and was nice to see that they deep fry their tortilla chips on site. Basically this burrito hit the spot and satisfied my year long craving for some awesome Mexican food.














I will be visiting my new amigos at Libre quite often, that's for sure.

Libre Burrito
東京都港区南青山3-8-34
TEL: 03-6459-2272
http://www.libre-burrito.com/

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