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A Letter to Qdoba
Jun. 4th, 2004 05:03 pmI have just sent the following letter to Qdoba:
We love Qdoba. We eat at Qdoba very frequently... at least twice a week, sometimes more. We've even managed to get several (three) of our friends to love Qdoba as much as we do, and we meet there quite often. I have only one suggestion for Qdoba -- plates.
Yes, plates. Like the kind you put food directly on and then put in the dishwasher, or the kind made of disposable plastic. The problem is that those burritos are awfully large to pick up (indeed, my wife and I often split one and consider it enough food for two), so we tend to eat them with fork and knife. They're invariably served on either paper (atop a metal tray) or aluminum foil (on paper, on a metal tray).
Unfortunately, the delicious steamed tortillas stick to paper. So if you leave them on paper and eat with a knife and fork, it's difficult to get them off the paper. They don't stick to foil, but foil is fragile... so when you cut the burrito, you also cut the foil, and have to be careful to avoid ingesting it. Neither of these is optimal.
These problems would be solved by... plates. Even disposable plastic plates. The important part is merely that the burrito be served on a clean, hard, not-destroyed-by-fork-and-knife surface. Now, it's possible the metal tray (which is quite plate-like) under the paper is actually clean and sterile, and I could just drop the burrito on it directly and solve my own problem. But considering as that's basically used as a tray, not a plate, and is invariably presented covered by paper or foil, I'm gathering that I cannot actually guarantee that it's been thoroughly washed, since it's not meant to come in contact with food at all.
Of course, the current Qdoba serving implements are ideal for takeout. However, for those customers eating in the restaurant, a stoneware or plastic (if you don't have the necessary infrastructure to wash dishes) plate would improve the experience.
All this talk of burritos is making me hungry, so I shall submit this message and go eat a taco now.
We love Qdoba. We eat at Qdoba very frequently... at least twice a week, sometimes more. We've even managed to get several (three) of our friends to love Qdoba as much as we do, and we meet there quite often. I have only one suggestion for Qdoba -- plates.
Yes, plates. Like the kind you put food directly on and then put in the dishwasher, or the kind made of disposable plastic. The problem is that those burritos are awfully large to pick up (indeed, my wife and I often split one and consider it enough food for two), so we tend to eat them with fork and knife. They're invariably served on either paper (atop a metal tray) or aluminum foil (on paper, on a metal tray).
Unfortunately, the delicious steamed tortillas stick to paper. So if you leave them on paper and eat with a knife and fork, it's difficult to get them off the paper. They don't stick to foil, but foil is fragile... so when you cut the burrito, you also cut the foil, and have to be careful to avoid ingesting it. Neither of these is optimal.
These problems would be solved by... plates. Even disposable plastic plates. The important part is merely that the burrito be served on a clean, hard, not-destroyed-by-fork-and-knife surface. Now, it's possible the metal tray (which is quite plate-like) under the paper is actually clean and sterile, and I could just drop the burrito on it directly and solve my own problem. But considering as that's basically used as a tray, not a plate, and is invariably presented covered by paper or foil, I'm gathering that I cannot actually guarantee that it's been thoroughly washed, since it's not meant to come in contact with food at all.
Of course, the current Qdoba serving implements are ideal for takeout. However, for those customers eating in the restaurant, a stoneware or plastic (if you don't have the necessary infrastructure to wash dishes) plate would improve the experience.
All this talk of burritos is making me hungry, so I shall submit this message and go eat a taco now.
