*The opinions expressed in this article represent my own and are based on my own personal experience.
I’m a Chipotle fanatic. I live, breathe and eat it constantly, so the news that queso was being added to the menu on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017 clearly brought excitement upon me…until I actually ate it.
(Photo courtesy of Tori)
After walking uptown, waiting 10 minutes in a line to get my pick-up order and patiently making it to my house, I was very disappointed when I peeled back the queso lid. In my mind, I was expecting good, gooey queso. To my dismay, I saw a mix that looked like a bag of shredded cheese was melted with a few pieces of chopped up pepper to add some spice. When I dipped my chip into the dip, there was no pull against the cheese, as seen in this video.
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Trying to stay positive, I dipped my chips into the concoction to realize there was no give to the cheese. Instead of scooping up melty, cheesy goodness I pulled out a chunk of dense melted cheese sitting upon my chip. Not impressive. I continued to eat it, only to receive a chalky texture mixed with unsalted chips.
Trying to get the best of my money – $3.45 for the chips and queso – I poured the queso into my bowl hoping it would add flavor and blend together. This was a better plan of action than eating the dip plain, but I was still not impressed.
I feel I was jipped from the legendary Chipotle queso experience. I clearly understand it was the first day of release, but I would expect the recipe to be best on the release date. Many of my friends had said theirs tasted great, although they were in different cities and even different states. My hometown friend, Adam Asadorian, interned in New York City this summer and had the opportunity to try the queso back in July at Chipotle’s test restaurant in NYC. Following his experience he tweeted “Just had Chipotle’s queso. Game over Moes. Game over Qdoba. Game over bank account. Wow”.
I also witnessed snapchats of my friends’ queso who attend different colleges and was shocked to see their queso looked creamier and lighter than the chalky, dark, yellow queso I was given in Athens, OH. They assured me theirs was delicious, only making it worse.
It’s understood that Chipotle queso recipe is all-natural, gluten-free and preservative-free to compliment their mission to serve “food with integrity,” but I didn’t expect a clump of dense, non-goopy cheese blend.
Did Chipotle jump the gun and miss out on a legendary moment or will customers adapt to the new trend? Even more important, is the queso going to make it for the long haul or become a short lived fad?