Nothing beats convenience store burritos

As you’re zipping around Clovis today on this the biggest shopping weekend of the year, and you get the munchies, may I suggest one of my favorites: the convenience store burrito.

Recently my friend Lizzie and I were pondering what to have for supper. I mentioned convenience store burritos and her eyes lit up.

“I’m in the mood for something deep fried,” she said.

We went to one of Clovis’ Mexican eateries for chips and salsa to go then got a bag of convenience store burritos.

“You sure know how to show a girl a good time,” said Lizzie as we settled in over our repast.

I’m sure health-care professionals are shaking their heads at the prospect of people chowing down on convenience store burritos — a big dollop of high-sodium canned chili wrapped in a tortilla probably made with lard then cooked in oil in a deep fryer. I don’t eat them every day, I just get in the mood for them every now and then.

Once after being away from our state for a couple of years, I pulled into an Alamogordo convenience store specifically to enjoy a New Mexico convenience store burrito again.

Deep fried convenience store burritos seem to be few and far between in other regions of the country. It seems they’re just not as common as they are here in New Mexico and west Texas.

Outside the region it seems the big thing is microwave burritos and stuff, not the same as our ubiquitous deep fried convenience store burritos. In other parts of the country it seems they’re more into fried bird bits, chicken wings and such. Those folks don’t know what they’re missing. I will say Louisiana convenience store boudin gives our burritos a run for their money.

My buddy Kent, Bard of the Pecos, expressed dismay that he hadn’t come up with the idea of mass marketing the deep fried bean and beef burrito.

“That’s just some Wolf chili wrapped in a tortilla,” Kent said. “I can make that.” Kent grew up in Elida. He knows his chili.

Here’s a quick flashback for you long-time residents of the High Plains: Kent remembers that guy on black and white television asking 1950s Southwesterners, “Neighbor, how long has it been since you’ve had a big, thick, steamin’ bowl of Wolf brand chili?”

How I treasure my convenience store burritos was demonstrated one time when I stopped for one on my way back from a party in Roswell. I was trying to negotiate North Main with my bicycle and burrito.

I dropped my burrito.

I remembered “the five-second rule:” If you drop food on the ground and pick it up within five seconds, germs don’t have time to hop on it. You may have to wipe it off, though (health-care professionals are really perturbed now).

I quickly grabbed my burrito.

The thing about deep fried convenience store burritos, they’re generally dry, so dirt and stuff doesn’t readily stick to them. I brushed off my burrito and chowed down. There were a few bits of grit, but it was OK.

There won’t be a gold star on my headstone for healthy eating, so I’ll have those convenience store burritos from time to time. Besides, I recall that bumper sticker I saw a long time ago:

“EAT RIGHT, EXERCISE, DIE ANYWAY.”

Grant McGee hosts the weekday morning show on KTQM-FM in Clovis. Contact him at:

[email protected]