The Legend of Breakfast Beeritos, Part 2

… in 2005, a young Midwesterner named Joseph Opperman made a visit to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, while on Spring Break from college.  In many respects it was a typical spring break trip: dinner at La Cueva del Chango, drinks at Media Luna, days spent around the pool working on a sunburn, recovering from the revelry.

After one particularly decadent night spent at CoCo Bongo and Blue Parrot, Joe woke up at around 11 a.m., a scuba diving pamphlet stuck to his face, cotton in his mouth. Gatorade and pretzels would not cut it on this particular morning -- he needed something more substantial. Joe pulled on a Billabong tank top and ambled next door to Las Mananitas, which his friends had told him had quesadillas to die for. Where were they now? Probably playing cards over at Los Carboncitos. Probably losing money -- morons, he thought to himself.

Alone, Joe asked the waitress for a coffee, a menu, and an aspirin if she had one. (She did! When you work Spring Break for tips, you tend to pick up some tricks.)  What looked good? Tacos? Not substantial enough. Chimichangas? That might push his stomach over th edge. Burritos? Refried beans were definitely NOT what the doctor ordered.

WAIT -- What's this? Joe said to himself. "Breakfast Beeritos, Carmelita?" he asked the waitress when she returned with the aspirin.

"Buena elección - se trata de la major comida!" Carmelita replied. Joe searched the six pockets in his shorts and realized he had left his Spanish-English dictionary back in his hotel room.

"Eso suena delicious - que es lo que va a teenier," Joe told the waitress, or "Sounds delicious, that's what I will have." (Who needs a dictionary -- I'm fluent baby! he thought to himself.)

Five minutes later the Beeritos arrived at his table, and not a minute too soon -- aspirin on an empty stomach can mess you up. He took his first bite … culinary ecstasy! This was like nothing else Joe had ever eaten. Hearty, spicy, a little bit naughty ("Was it the beer?" he thought. "Also, don't they call beer cerveza in Mexico? Why aren't these called Desayuno Cervezitos? Shut up and eat, idiot …")

"Esta comida es maravillosa. ¿Me puede dar la receta?" Joe asked Carmelita when she stopped back, sweetly asking for the recipe. The beautiful young lady thought for a few seconds, furrowing her brow and playing with her oversized hoop earrings. It wasn't the first time she had heard this question, and she usually dismissed such requests out of hand. But Joe was clearly a different customer. She liked him. She knew that if she told him the ingredients and cooking process, he would treat it with respect.

So she leaned in and whispered. "En primer lugar, se toma doce huevos …"

To learn more about how you can make Senor Joe's Breakfast Beeritos (in English), click here.

The Legend of Breakfast Beeritos, Part 1

Legend has it ...

... in 1912, a band of rebels fighting in the Mexican Revolution under the leadership of Pascual Orozco advanced pushed forward and prepared for a key battle on the outskirts of Mexicali. The troops were in good spirits, but exhausted, and running out of rations. The Treaty of Ciudad Juarez was fresh in everyone's minds, and they knew that the next day's conflict will be decisive.

Spent from a day of travel and evening of battle planning, the platoon was sloppy packing their supplies, and failed to store them in a secure location in the camp. A humble 17-year-old, Jose Roberto Oppermanza, made the fatal mistake of storing tortilla shells, eggs, potatoes, onions, shredded cheese, and four half-consumed bottles of cerveza in what could have been the worst possible spot in camp -- directly behind Patriciarita, a beautiful but dull burro.

The next morning, mayhem! Patriciarita had knocked over the rations!

"Mal burro! Mal burro! No me gusta!" shouted Victoriano Huerta, the burro's master. The raw ingredients lay in a mess on the ground, ants and raccoons frolicking in the unexpected feast. The men were frantic. Where would they get the strength for the push on Mexicali?

"Pero espara!" cried Jose Roberto, who noticed that some of the food had spilled into a skillet and was simmering over a dying fire. Famished, the young solider reached in, pushed the good together in the tortilla with his dirty, gunpowder-stained fingers, and wrapped it up.

Placing it in his mouth ... magic! Taste overwhelmed young Jose. He had left his home in Orizaba 95 days ago, and dearly missed his mother's cooking. But this happy accident was a gift from heaven. He shared his happy accident with his platoonmates, with Huerta, and finally Orozco. (Not with Patriciarita, though; the true catalyst for this culinary breakthrough was left with her usual breakfast of oats and warm water.)

Oppermanza's platoon won the battle of Mexicali, which proved to be a turning point in the Revolution. The morning's meal, later dubbed the Beerito, was given full credit. Oppermanza was awarded the Mexican equivalent of the Medal of Honor for his discovery.

As he lived out his days as a celebrity solider, Oppermanza toured the country, making Breakfast Beeritos for his fellow citizens. Yet he never revealed the full recipe. …

Coming tomorrow: Part 2

Pizza!

We love pizza.

Well, duh, right? Who doesn't love pizza?

How much do we love pizza? Our production guy got our marketing guy and designer chick a dedicated pizza oven for Christmas. Was it to save electricity when cooking frozen pizzas? Was it so we wouldn't have to go upstairs to make pizza? Or was it to make pizzas quicker?

Our money's on the third.

So Friday night, while we were eating pizza, one of our boys said "Why don't you just make a shirt that just says 'Pizza'?"

So here we are.

Pizza

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Worst Call Ever Braves Shirt