HENRY GALE: ADVENTURES BETWEEN THE TORTILLA

Boston’s instrumental juggernauts, Henry Gale talk about their unhealthy obsession/love of those tasty burrito concoctions! Check out SAL’s review of the band’s highly recommended debut EP, Other Voices. And the band is on tour RIGHT NOW so go see them if you get the chance. Congrats to the band for mentioning the Macho Man for the first time in SAL’s history…hard to believe it took so long!

Alex (guitar):

I can’t go too long without a burrito, which is difficult living so inconveniently removed from the city. When my obsession for burritos was in bloom, Matt was making his own at home. I took his idea and we started making burritos all the time in my kitchen to make up for the distance between me and the nearest burrito-serving restaurant. At first we put in black beans, white rice, and guacamole, but soon I upgraded to cheese and sour cream. For some reason, Matt noticed some bread & butter pickles in my fridge, and he suggested we put them into the burritos. Our new creations were scrumptious, and I haven’t made a burrito without a pickle since. When I go to my favorite taquerias, I love to get super burritos (extra-large) with no meat, but part of me wishes that they could somehow work pickles into their recipe.

Dave (guitar):

I wanna take this time to talk about a love once lost. Something which has just now re-entered my life, and has made me feel whole again. Clearly, I’m talking about refried beans. Every few weeks or so, my family would have burrito night. We would steam the tortillas, cook up some refried beans and some ground beef, and have a hell of a time. I continued to have refried beans in high school in the form of Taco Bell’s Burrito Supreme, but once I moved into Boston that all changed. All the burrito places around here would always offer you the same thing: black beans or pinto beans. At first, I didn’t think anything of it. I’m not partial to either, so I would change it up often. Although, over time, I started to grow sick of the beans. I started ordering my burritos without beans, as I thought they began to overpower the flavor of the other ingredients. That is, until my most recent trip to Anna’s Taquiera, a famed Boston burrito-stop. I was about to say “no beans”, when I saw that oh so familiar paste-like sauce sitting adjacent to the bean containers. I declared my love again for refried beans on the spot, and haven’t looked back since.

Jonathan (bass):

I was recently eating a burrito, just sitting around and enjoying the day. I was minding my own business when some dude wearing a Benjamin Franklin costume started to come at me. Not really knowing what do, my first reaction is to yell ” The Redcoats are coming! The Redcoats are coming!” It didn’t work. I finally realize that my only option is to chuck my burrito at his face in hopes that the rice would get lodged in his eyes. My arm draws back and just before I can throw it, someone’s hand stops me. I turn around and it’s fucking Macho Man Randy Savage. The Slim Jim man, himself. He looks at me through the slits of his sunglasses and said “Don’t waste that burrito. I got this. HOOYEEEAH!” He starts to run towards Ben Franklin. He took 3 or 4 long strides before he jumps onto a bench and launches himself off of it. I knew what he was going for. Ben got a flying elbow to the face. I was so grateful that I split my burrito with Macho Man. We are still friends to this day.

Matt (drums):

When I first started loving burritos, I was vegan. That meant that I only ate the basics: beans, rice, salsa and guacamole. When I made the choice to eat dairy again, getting my favorite mexican treat was my number one priority. I vividly remember the first time I ate one with cheese, sour cream and queso sauce on top of the original ingredients that I had previously loved. It was from Qdoba, and the fact that I was able to eat it while drinking a beer just knocked the whole thing out of the park. Since then I have never looked back. Out of convenice, I tend to eat at Chipotle more than Qdoba but there will always be a special place in my heart for the restaurant that reminded me of my undying love for mexican food. For a more authentic burrito experience, I strongly recommend La Paloma in Quincy, Massachusetts.