Burrito Beach Marks 30 Years With Limited Edition Burritos From a Power-Packed Chef Lineup

Eater

6 days ago

is the James Beard Award-winning regional editor for Eater's Midwest region, and in charge of coverage in Chicago, Detroit, and the Twin Cities. He's a native Chicagoan and has been with Eater since 2014.
Homegrown restaurant chains don't often last three decades in Chicago, but that's the milestone Burrito Beach will celebrate this summer. The quick-service chain — with seven locations in places like Lincoln Park and inside Northwestern Memorial Hospital's food court — has endured, giving Chicagoans options that cover a variety of dietary needs.
Over those 30 years, Burrito Beach CEO and founder Greg Schulson has seen Chicago's understanding of Mexican food grow as he witnessed the rise of local chefs who proved to Midwesterners that there was more to Mexican food than just burritos and tacos. Burrito Beach's first location opened in 1995 at Lake and Dearborn, and it started as an assembly-line wrap concept. Though Chicago has a large Mexican community, chains often defined what Mexican food was to many outsiders. Chicago knows names like Pepe's and Chi-Chi's, but more casual options, like Taco Bell and Chipotle, which was founded in 1993, cast long shadows.
Burrito Beach debuted with an emphasis on wraps, tiptoeing around using the word 'burrito,' a word with very specific connotation to locals in the '90s. Late-night lines routinely formed after the bars closed at places like Taco Burrito Palace No. 2, and recent college grads expected gut bombs with 'burritos as big as your head' from dives like La Bamba.
'I came up with this idea of, sort of this gourmet burrito concept that kind of took, like the spices and the flavors of Mexico and sort of the creativity of California, and we put them together,' Schulson says. 'And that was effectively what a wrap was back then.'
As Americans began folding Mexican cuisine into everyday life rather than treating burritos and tacos as specialty items, Schulson says Burrito Beach ditched the wraps and embraced being a 'Mexican grill,' which served affordable food with better ingredients: 'We really do cooking at our restaurants,' Schulson says. '...I don't think a lot of our competitors necessarily do.'
Affordability is especially important now, even as Trump's tariffs threaten to increase prices: 'No one wants to pay $17 for a burrito,' Schulson adds.
This 2002 photo featured an all-star lineup of chefs who collaborated with Burrito Beach.
Burrito Beach would also collaborate in 2002 with local chefs on limited-edition items. Chefs like Publican chef Paul Kahan and Spring chef Shawn McLain crafted their own burritos. To mark the 30th anniversary, Kahan is again teaming up with Burrito Beach, along with Thattu chef Margaret Pak and Parachute chef Beverly Kim (see below). Proceeds will benefit a charity of the chefs' choice, and the promotions go from August through January.
Burrito Beach's recipes come from David Schy, a former corporate chef with Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises who worked under legendary chef Jean Banchet as a cook at Le Francais in suburban Wheeling. He's come up with ideas like a current special, a fried fish taco inspired by a Chicago dog. Somedays they'll offer barbecue beef or Buffalo chicken. Schulson, a native of suburban Glencoe, is a past chairman of the Illinois Restaurant Association. He's aware of dining trends and news. He indirectly mentions a 2017 story out of Portland, Oregon, when a pair of white women closed their burrito shop after they bragged about stealing recipes from Mexican women. The story drew cries of cultural appropriation, and that's something Schulson is sensitive toward.
'We're not pretending to be something we're not,' Schulson says, noting items like a Buffalo chicken bowl are far from traditional. 'I grew up loving Mexican food… I could eat this food every day. I'm not Mexican, but it doesn't mean I don't love the food, it doesn't mean I don't care about doing it right.'
Chef Paul Kahan's spicy steak burrito with marinated sirloin steak, Guajillo chile sauce, white rice, black beans, pico de gallo, pickled red onions, and whole cilantro. Burrito Beach/Kristen Mendiola Media
Thattu chef Margaret Pak's burrito with masala Kashmiri chile char-grilled chicken, tamarind-date chutney, garlic confit raita, white rice, cilantro slaw, and pickled red onions.
Chef Beverly Kim's bibimbap steak burrito with thin-sliced bulgogi, kimchi fried rice, chipotle-gochujang, marinated cabbage, and pickled red onions. Burrito Beach/Kristen Mendiola Media
Burrito Beach 30th Anniversary Celebrity Chef Burritos
Starting in August, Burrito Beach will celebrate 30 years with special limited-time-only burritos from Paul Kahan, Margaret Pak, and Beverly Kim. For Kahan, the One Off Hospitality co-founder, it represents a return as he was a part of a collaboration back in 1993. Pak, chef and owner at Thattu in Avondale, will follow. Pak's connection comes through her love of Ketch On Fire, a spicy ketchup brand in which Greg Schulson and chef David Schy are partners. Pak's first food job was with the brand, and it grew out of passion; she caught the company's attention after maintaining an unauthorized fan page. Parachute HiFi's Beverly Kim rounds out the chef lineup. Kim lacks a direct connection to the brand, but Schulson and company have long been fans of Kim's Michelin-starred Korean American food. See details of the three burritos below. Proceeds will benefit a charity of the chef's choice
Paul Kahan's spicy steak burrito, available from Monday, August 4, through the end of September.
Margaret Pak's masala chicken burrito, available from October through November.
Beverly Kim's bibimbap steak burrito, available from December through January.