What do you get when you cross a longtime cook (formerly at Salsa's) with the assembly-line quickness of Subway? A great meal — fast. Once you choose your own destiny from a spread of house-made salsas and tortilla-stuffers like chef James Hurt's (aka Jimmy Magic) slap-your-mom-good slow-roasted local pork, you're onto something special. For Xpress readers all of these ingredients add up to a recipe for the Best Burrito in WNC.
What sets Mamacita's apart from the rest is a serious attention to detail. Why stop at simple shrimp tacos, for example, when you can have ancho-lime-scented camerones with baja sauce and red-cabbage slaw? Though vegetarians can certainly have their basic beans, rice and cheese all wrapped up in a pretty package, we'd bet our burritos that the meat-free among us are pretty keen on the sautéed kale, local sweet potatoes and citrus-marinated tofu the staff whips up to keep veggie bellies happy.
Just ask Hurt — if you can get him to stop cooking for the masses for a minute. "The reason that we get voted Best Burrito is because it absolutely is the best burrito in town," he says.
— Mackensy Lunsford
