A Brief History of the (Perkolator) Breakfast Burrito

Just like the famous Jibarito, a Puerto Rican sandwich so incredibly decadent and steeped in culture that it couldn't possibly be an American invention (it actually hails from our great City of Chicago) surprisingly for most, so is the breakfast burrito. That's right...contrary to popular belief, the breakfast burrito wasn't Hecho en Mexico—it's a gringo! Flash back to the disco era in the American southwest, where the only two things that are certain about the genesis of the Breakfast Burrito are: it was invented in New Mexico and it was born in the 1970's. According to Mashed, while Tia Sophia's in Santa Fe doesn't claim to have invented the concept of the breakfast burrito, it does claim to be the first restaurant to use the term "breakfast burrito" on its menu.

Working on the burrito concept was more difficult than we initially anticipated. We enlisted the help of every single member of our team (at the time, I believe there was only 5 of us, total). Each person was responsible for a different ingredient or recipe. Even our pico de gallo has a spin in that we use red onions instead of the more traditional white onions you'd find in a typical Mexican pico. Taste test after blind taste test led us to unlock the best flavors in each ingredient, and like all good things, the sum is greater than its parts. There was strong debate surrounding one ingredient in particular: potatoes. Not quite the thing you'd think would be controversial, right? For some of us, potatoes symbolized a warm, comfortable and traditional aesthetic. For others, myself included, potatoes were the flavorless filler that got in the way of all the good stuff. Almost a decade later (and a couple of attempted mini-coups along the way) I am proud to say that our burrito continues to be potato-free, leaving more room for the actual stars of the show!

   Probably the ingredient that I feel is most unique to the Perkolator burrito is our homemade avocado salsa. We knew we wanted avocados on the burrito, but at the time, it was incredibly difficult for us to manage avocado inventory to ensure always ripe, perfectly fresh avocados for only one menu item. (Years later, we boast multiple items featuring fresh avocados, and go through cases a week...but I digress) A decade ago, we found that the best way to incorporate the flavors of fresh avocado was to blend them with tomatillos, jalapenos and spices to create a rich, creamy and decadent salsa verde that has become the literal glue that holds it all together.

   While having a breakfast burrito at an urban cafe is no longer such a unique idea, ten years later we still consider ourselves quite distinctive in that every single one of our burritos is assembled and cooked fresh to order (not frozen and rapid cooked in a Turbo-chef). Furthermore, while I find many cafe burritos to be nothing more than a ton of frozen hash browns mixed with a spoonful of eggs and bacon, you will find our breakfast burrito to be filled with fresh, fluffy scrambled eggs, complimented with our homemade avo salsa, pico de gallo, shredded cheddar cheese, and crumbled bacon all wrapped up inside a soft tomato tortilla and grilled to perfection. For vegetarians, we replace the bacon with our diced roasted red peppers. For the truly adventurous, try it “EXTREME! Style:” all of the above with the addition of diced jalapenos and homemade chorizo.

   Prior to the addition of our soon-to-be-world-famous breakfast burrito, our menu was a fairly balanced split of breakfast and lunch items. As a result of the pandemic and changing customer patterns, today's menu at Perkolator leans very heavily towards the breakfast side, though does have something for all pallets and dietary needs. We pride ourselves on offering a menu full of homemade, quality items, most of which can be made in a way that is in line with vegetarian or gluten free/dairy free diets, without sacrificing taste! It's always been important to us that our cafe directly reflects our community: diverse, interesting, unique, and fun. We have a myriad of flavors from all corners of the world, some of which change on a regular basis with our five seasonal menus each year (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall and Holiday). Most importantly, every single thing we make is made from scratch, with love. We exist all these years later because we love to serve our community, and our community loves us right back.

 The breakfast burrito: born in New Mexico, perfected in Chicago. And if you've been to Perkolator, you know it's just a fact that our burrito is the GOAT. Many “best of” lists in our fine city try and fail, which I surmise is more a function of most reviewers and critics forgetting that the entire Northwest Side of the city exists. If you're someone who typically doesn't get north of North Ave, or west of Western Ave, I assure you...there's a whole city out there waiting to be discovered! And while we don't have a drive-thru, you can always call in or use our handy app to order ahead. That way, all you need to do is park out front, run in, grab your food and drinks and go. If you haven't been to Perkolator yet, I can hardly wait to hear what you think when you finally get here. The good news is, you'll have discovered the greatest breakfast burrito of all time! And although the bad news is, while all other breakfast burritos from that point forward might not ever compare, you'll always have Perkolator.