You Decide: Blockheads Burritos
Got an email from Blockheads Burritos the other day, which has one location in the Midtown Lunch boundaries (3rd Ave. btw. 33+34th) and two locations just outside of the ML boundaries (one on 50th btw. 8+9th, and one on 2nd Ave. btw. 50+51st).
“I am the Administrative Assistant over at Blockheads Burritos and I’m very interested in getting our locations on your map. How can we go about this? Can you send me some literature or a link? Maybe even a call? Thank you in advance!”
I’ll tell you how you get on the map… serve good lunch food, for cheap- and if the Midtown Lunch readers deem you worthy, then you get added to the canon of official Midtown Lunches. I admit Blockheads is not completely off the radar… it’s been mentioned by a few commenters and Profiled Midtown Lunch’ers (most notably Kristy) and I have considered crossing 8th Ave. on many occasions to try one of their burritos. But part of the former L.A. resident in me feels a little bit of skepticism towards this after-work-party-spot. They do have a $9 lunch combo (which includes chips, salsa, and a soda) which is intriguing.
Anybody been? Thoughts? I’ll leave this one up to you guys…
Posted: 10:31 am, November 17th, 2008 under Mexican, Out of Bounds, You Decide.
52 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
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52 Comments
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I have walked past there a million times. The real draw is the outdoor seating. I guess I could take one for the team and try it. Not as enticing if you cant eat outside.
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I only go here during the warmer days to take advantage of the outdoor seating. The food is alright, but I’m not sure if it’s worth the price we pay for it. I definitely don’t trek over here during the colder seasons.
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Decent, but usually sort of far down on my list of Mexican lunch options.
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Zach, your answer is perfect. They have stepped into the ring …. release the lions
One meal on 3rd & 33rd years ago was unmemorable but maybe they’ve changed
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I used to order Blockheads when I worked late nights near the 50th St. location. The food is good. It’s probably over $10, but it’s a decent late night at work dinner spot.
I went there once on a Friday afternoon. The nachos were soggy and the service sucked. So it’s hit or miss.
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Adam,
A better option in that neighborhood, especially for delivery is Fresco Tortilla. They make good, tasty stuff. -
HELL NO WE WON’T GO!
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I’ve had it once. As has been said, not awful but not terrible.
I’ll take some dirty Mexican any day.
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Definitely not “real” mexican by any means, but good if you are craving somewhat healthy faux mexican that’s a bit fresher tasting than chipotle. They do a decently priced $8.95 lunch special that includes a choice of various (giant) burritos / quesadillas served with chips, salsa, and soda. The plus for blockheads is that for they allow you to customize your burrito pretty nicely at no extra charge for many items, e.g. whole wheat tortilla rather than regular, brown rice instead of spanish rice, etc. The fillings are fairly bland, so I’d recommend getting these with no rice at all since rice tends to mute the flavor even more.
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mediocre food for mediocre people
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We can cross 8th ave now? Really? Hmm… this opens up lots of options…
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bland, faux mexican … i’ve eaten there a few times and felt worse for having done so. it’s easy to get lured in by chips and cocktails, but overpriced, shitty service, and crap quality.
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i would have to agree w/ harry that fresco tortilla is better as well as baby bo’s cantina.
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If you are already that far out, just go a little farther to Tehuitzingo or Tulcingo del Valle.
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I order from Blockheads on Seamless all the time. They serve a mini burrito lunch special (their normal burritos are way too big for most people) that comes with a sexy little side salad. Def one of my favorite delivery lunches to the office.
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‘Sexy little side salad’
One shudders to thing what Dan uses as dressing.
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in case you kids haven’t seen it, our boy in the daily news:
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WHAT?? WHAT HAPPENED TO POPEYES???? Why did you say such nice things about KFC??? My feelings are a-twist.
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“It shouldn’t be a surprise that the best fast-food chicken I’ve tasted is at KFC” –Zach Brooks, NY Daily News 11/16/08.
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Alright… before you guys get all crazy- a ton of my quotes were totally out of context. They also left out the part where I said I would never eat at McDonald’s, Subway is horrible, and Popeye’s is better than KFC.
Most of what I said in that piece was very poorly quoted… for example, the KFC quote should have read “The best fried chicken I’ve tasted in the past two days…”
I was saying the fried chicken sandwiches and wraps at KFC were better than the fried chicken items they had me taste at the other four places we visited (the “obviously” was refering to the fact that KFC focuses on fried chicken.)
Maybe I’ll post a complete “clarification” this afternoon…
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too late Zach, the lynch mob already has the torches lit
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““If you want cheap and you want healthy, Subway is one of the best choices. The $5 foot-long is genius. ” -Zach
You’ve got admit, some of those quotes don’t sound like zach at all. Genius? And Subway? In the same sentence?
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my god, i’ve created a monster…
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I too hail from the original Mexico, specifically the San Francisco Bay Area, where refried beans are a delicacy and made without animal lard. So, I do consider myself something of an authority on California-style Mexican food.
Blockheads is aptly named for something trying to pass off as Mexican. That said, years ago, when I first arrived in NYC, I was able to reconcile my anger and frustration out of pure desperation for something even hinting at a burrito (they do use real tortillas afterall).
I found that if I ordered the sweet potato “burrito”, but insisted on calling it a “wrap” (sometimes I even argued with the wait staff), I was able to get a cheap and delicious meal. Although, I was still left pining for El Faralito (http://www.yelp.com/biz/el-farolito-san-francisco-2).
Now, at some point, they removed the only thing redeeming them. I’ve never been back. I hate them and everything they don’t stand for.
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I’m usually in it for the drinks but their hard shell tacos are amazing and the ingredients are always fresh. Their salsa tends to be sweeter than most, but I like it a lot!
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Overall Blockheads food is average to below average…and for Mexican food its awful.
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Zach,
please do write up a clarification post…an avid fast-food nut, i want to know what you REALLY said.
thanks in advance.
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WAIT! If your going to cross 8th avenue for a burrito you need to go to the burrito box. It’s been a tradition of mine for a few months to eat the chicken ranchero burrito at least once a week. You really cannot beat it.
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I thought the food at blockheads was terrible AND overpriced…Haven’t been back since.
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Is Jan and Dan the same IP?
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Burrito Box is pretty good, despite the fly infestation they had last month.
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@Mamacita: Surely you don’t mean to imply there might be shilling and sock-puppetry in the ML comments. I’ve never heard of such a ridiculous thing!
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i know a handful of people who got really sick from eating the blockheads in northern NJ. other than that, they have good smoked salsa
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I guess the real question is if Blockheads is better or worse that those places in it’s same category, which would be Chipotle and Qdoba?
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I bet the owners of Blockheads, who put the “administrative assistant” on this marketing project didn’t think it would backfire this badly (and this quickly).
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Zach, for the Subway meatball marinara footlong, you’re quoted as saying: ““What’s bad about bread with cheese and garlic on top? I like my bread soft, so this is good — it’s definitely better than the Taco Bell bread.”
What kinfd of bread do you get at Taco Bell? They seriously f’d up this article. We know that you’re all over the midtown food scene, but the casual Daily “News” reader might wonder about your qualifications.
Set ‘em straight Zach!
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their all you can drink champagne/mimosas brunch for about $10 per person is a pretty sick deal…and the omelettes are huge and the mexican ranch chicken wrap is a good option, too.
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Wow a 37 comments and almost all negative (except for the few off topic). Not looking good for Blockheads… I have never had it, but I won’t be in a hurry anytime soon… Fresco Tortilla IS good though.
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Here’s some “sexy little side salad,” my wife, Doc E.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/MemberPhotos-a_uid.5406690-w4#1523241
Methinks our Zach needs a better publicist.
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DocChuck! You’ve found, and apparently married, the missing link between whale’s and water buffalo! Outstanding zoological work, really.
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Dear Ben:
People who use an APOSTROPHE to signify a PLURAL have no business even mentioning a “MISSING LINK.”
Cheers,
Chuck, PhD -
Pity Chucky can’t tell the difference between salad bar and all u can eat BBQ fuckwit.
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CockChug obviously also cannot tell the difference between a supermodel and Shamu.
I still think it’s his sister
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@wayne - you say that as if wife and sister are mutually exclusive in doc’s world.
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The location on the UES used to be good, now it sucks. Their burritos are pretty good size for the money, but when I used to get delivery it ALWAYS arrived ice cold - colder than any other delivery Mexican. At the end of the day, they aren’t bad for the price.
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Dear Chuckles:
My TYPO didn’t add the extra 100 pounds or so to your WIFE.
Truly,
Ben, NMtaB (Not Married to a Beast)
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I’m going to proclaim Blockheads okay. I had a burrito yesterday, the steak burrito (with the super option, guac and other stuff.) It is certainly better than Chipotle. It doesn’t however meet the MTL max of $10.
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I visited the 2 ave location between 51st and 50th strs.
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I used to get one of their lunch specials until I noticed how the burrito shrunk yet the price went up. I go to La Paloma now, even though it’s further away from where I work.
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Ummm I hate to be Captain Obvious, but I havent seen any comments about Maut Taco. granted they may not compare to ‘authentic’ mexican food, but seeing as they’re a California based chain, I think they’re decent. They have the coveted free chips and salsa bar, no pesky cilantro and lime rice, and make a nice no-fuss burrito. they do have a bunch of hawaiin inspired specialties that im a little wary of, but overall i like them and they’re also pretty cheap. A regualar chicken maui taco is about $2.69 with free chips
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correction to my typo it’s *MAUI Taco
The food is nothing special, it’s all about the cheap ‘ritas here…