Berkeley brothers buzz New York City with their burritos

October 24, 2011 12:30 pm by Frances Dinkelspiel

When Leo and Oliver Kremer were growing up on Alvarado Road, their go-to place for teenage nourishment was Gordo’s, the burrito shop on College Avenue.

Both boys loved the down home nature of the store, with its wooden tables, leather stools, and simple, yet satisfying food. Leo was particularly fond of the chile verde burrito.

While they were in high school at Head-Royce, the Kremer brothers explored the Bay Area for other good burrito places and soon were making regular visits to Picante, Cactus Taqueria, and Cancun in Berkeley, and La Taqueria and La Cumbre in San Francisco’s Mission District.

“I remember the first burrito I ever ate,” said Leo. “My parents weren’t really burrito eaters, but my music friends were really into burritos. I had one, and thought it was good. But then I found I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It is such a subtle cuisine. As you eat it more you learn to appreciate its simplicity.”

The brothers were so enamored of burritos that they decided to turn them into a business. They set out to conquer a place that was in desperate need of burritos, but didn’t know it: New York City.

It’s not hard to find good tacos in New York, which is home to many Mexican immigrants. But burritos, or at least the ones loaded up with cheese, rice, guacamole, and sour cream in addition to beans and meat, are really a California invention, said Leo. They really didn’t exist in New York.

In 2009, the Kremer brothers and Tyler Lohman, a Berkeley friend, opened Dos Toros on Fourth Avenue, right near Union Square. From the start, Dos Toros, modeled on Gordo’s, was a big hit. The brothers and the restaurant were featured in the New York Times, the Village Voice, NY Eater, Food and Wine magazine, and the Daily News. A blogger on Huffington Post declared Dos Toros burritos the best in New York. Before long the store was serving 600 people a day. It was so popular that the brothers opened two more stores, one in Greenwich Village and one on the Upper East Side. They are now the undisputed burrito kings of New York.

“It’s hugely gratifying,” said Leo, 31. His brother and Lohman are both 25. “The first people to respond were the Californians. A lot of West Coasters live in New York. And they were ones really seeking this out because they were really missing it. Now New Yorkers have really gotten into it. I think we have really grown on New Yorkers.”

Sam Baker, who grew up in Berkeley but who has lived in New York for eight years, used to visit Dos Toros every week when he lived nearby. Now he and his wife only visit two to three times a month, and wish they could get there more often.

“It’s been amazing to see how popular they’ve gotten,” said Baker. “I think they are actually better than Gordo’s. They have done a better job of seasoning the meat. It’s not quite as large as Gordo’s, so it’s an optimal size.”

The menu, like the one at Gordo’s is not large. There are burritos, tacos, and quesadillas. (There is no chile verde filling.) The Kremers make everything fresh, source locally, and are generous with the guacamole. The burrito recipe took some time to perfect, said Leo. At first the brothers tried to make each ingredient sing, and made very flavorful beans, complex guacamole, and spicy meats. Put together, the taste was “chaotic,” he said. So they scaled back and simplified the taste in each ingredient, which made the end-product taste better.

“One schism in the burrito world is whether you steam tortillas or you grill the tortillas,” said Kremer. “Gordo’s steams. We’re steamers. We think steaming really brings the tortilla to life and melts the cheese in a good way. Melting cheese is a big deal as opposed to putting shredded cheese on at the end and having it never really melt.”

Gordo’s played a huge role in Leo’s life. He ate there about four times a week. He likes the idea of Dos Toros playing a similar role in the life of a New York kid.

“Invariably, the place that you grow up with is the one you always think is the best, no matter what. Some New York kid is going to grow up eating Dos Toros and is going to think that we are the best burrito in the world because that’s what they imprinted on. That’s kind of a cool thing.”

Dos Toros just released a new video about their food, featured above. See if you can hear the line: “East Coast Gordo’s in Dos Toros.”

16 Comments

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  • Chris

    The video production on this is on point. Guac it out Babeh!

  • Lhasa7

    So I guess Benny’s Burritos, which has had locations in the East and West Village for over 20 years, doesn’t “really” exist. Whatever that means.

  • http://berkeleyside.com Tracey Taylor

    Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island friends, also from Berkeley, are also big fans of Gordo’s. Wonder if they patronize Dos Toros now they’re in NYC: http://www.berkeleyside.com/2011/06/29/what-happened-when-the-lonely-island-trio-visited-amoeba/

  • 510

    Cool video… Cool concept to take on NYC… (minus a couple of point for sporting an A’s jersey with a Giant’s cap)… but this give s me an idea. So NYC is a burrito desert and they fall in love with a Gordo’s facsimile ? Hmm… maybe I should go and open up an East Oakland styled Las Palmas… Do ya thang though Dos Toros. Do ya thang !!

  • rando

    a tribute song to gordo’s, featuring the singer eating a whole gordo’s burrito in 3 minutes. thanks del toro, i may move to new york now! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCoXGWpTAkE

  • Whip2hoy

    The Gordo/ DosToros burritos are just too sloppy and the globs  of cheese, sour cream and guacamole only overpower the flavor of the other ingredients–especially the meat. South Cali style burritos are both more traditional and much better tasting without all that unnecessary glop.

  • Jolien

    I also really like Gordos and La Taqueria-Valencia Street, SF. I remember like it was yesterday…beautiful San Francisco weather, cutting school and hungry as heck. Not experienced with burritos as I only had Tamales and Spanish rice. Well, my first steak burrito there was fantastic!. Simple Steak, beans…high quality ingredients very tasty. That was years ago. Well, now I am a vegetarian, so it is a challenge. Another good place in Berkeley is called Rosans near UC Berkeley. They are into healthy food with a capital H. The style is definitely Berkeley and they also serve great Middle Eastern food. It is a perfect place for a Vegetarian, although, they also serve beef and chicken dishes. I also like Gordos because they are inexpensive and filling! Yum, I miss the great food of the great Bay Area. I left my appetite in San Francisco..

    This is not a joke, or indirect Innuendo, I mean it, the food is GOOD!-in all those familiar places.

  • Alla

    Congratulations to the proud Berkeley parents Naomie and Charles!

  • http://www.facebook.com/jasonbmckinnon Jason McKinnon

    This article is about “Mission” Burritos, not wraps.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jasonbmckinnon Jason McKinnon

    Locally sourced Avocados?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_V6KQTJGAQAZXMNEIKG5LM2IHZU Tizzielish

    In 1993 and 1994, I was in a masters program based in NYC. The program met for three week sessions three times throughout the year and met for six weeks each of those summers.  I have been to NYC many times since then but those years and that experience were long visits and my first chance to feel like I was getting to know NYC.

    A local NYC gal in our program introduced us to lots of cool food secrets.  I ate my first California burrito in Manhattan in 1993. That is literally what the restaurant called its burritos: California style burritos.

    Oh, I had lived in Mexico for a year in 1972-73 so I actually knew something about Mexican burritos. The California ones I met in NYC in 1993 were quite different from burritos I had known and loved in Mexico. Primarily they were gigantic.  Everyone in my crowd would buy a burrito when we were out and about exploring the city midday, eat half and bring half home for our dorm dinners. 

    My point is that these Berkeley brothers did not introduce NYC to California burritos. And, Jason Mackinnon, the burritos I ate in NYC in 1993 and 1994 were not wraps. I ate them in dinky Mexican burrito joints that are virtually identical to dinky Mexican burrito joints you can find all over the Mission District in San Francisco. As I relive the memory, I can hear the mariachi music blaring in New York City and see paintings of burros on the wall.

    Kudos to these local Berkeley boys doing good, making it in the Big Apple. If they can make it there, they can make it anywhere. And I am hankering to try one of their burritos, you betcha.

    But it chuffs me a bit to read that they brought burritos to NYC.  It’s just not true. And what kind of cultural bias is inherent in claiming that some white boys from Berkeley ‘introduced’ California burritos to NYC. It is kinda insulting to the Latino culture that has thrived in NYC since, like, forever.

    And, fyi, the California burritos I ate, in several different joints, in NYC in 1993 came with rice, guacamole, cheese and sour cream.  I remember resenting the vast amounts of rice. It was the first time I had ever seen rice in a burrito. I don’t get putting rice in a burrito:  the tortilla is already a ton of carbs. I always ordered my burritos without rice, in CA, NYC, etc.

    Next thing I expect to read is that Ray Kroc introduced America to the hamburger because his first hamburger stand was in CA. Gosh golly, growing up in Chicago in the sixties, we Midwest hicks ate at hamburger drive-ins long before the first McDonald franchise invaded our city.

    I quite enjoyed reading about these local boys and their success in the Big Apple. The world will never have too many good burritos. But, come folks, crediting them with clueing in NYC to good burritos? Give me a break.  It might be hard for Berkeley denizens to believe this but there are foodies who care about interesting food experiences everywhere. I guess businesses become successful by puffing up their bragging rights, it’s publicity, right? But geez, these guys did not introduce NYC to California burritos.

    I lived in Minneapolis for twenty years.  On Lake Street in South Minneapolis, there is a retail district devoted almost entirely to the Hispanic market, with a primary focus on Mexican food. In white bread Minnesota, you can get a great California burrito too.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_V6KQTJGAQAZXMNEIKG5LM2IHZU Tizzielish

    I know that many Mexican restaurants in SF Mission District have similar sounding names but there is only one burrito joint in SF called “La Taqueria”. It is on Mission, two or three doors north of 25th Street. Not, as you say, Jolien, on Valencia. Maybe you are referring to another great burrito joint?  If so, please tell us.  I personally think La Taqueria makes the best burritos ever.

    Say, Berkeleyside, if you want to do a poll on food again, why not invite a debate about burritos?

    Addendum: La Taqueria, of course, is renown for its tacos. I always get a burrito but they have awesome tacos and everything else.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_V6KQTJGAQAZXMNEIKG5LM2IHZU Tizzielish

    Nice catch on the avocados.

    Nowadays, it seems to me, most restauranteurs proclaim they locally source. I think what is usually meant with such a claim is that they buy as much local as possible.  I wonder how far the nearest avocado farm is to NYC?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_V6KQTJGAQAZXMNEIKG5LM2IHZU Tizzielish

    I love the video.  Looks like everyone is having a great time!

  • deirdre

    I went to a Mexican restaurant in Staten Island in the 1980′s.  When you were seated, they brought you a basket of tortilla chips and a bowl of ‘hot sauce’, which was literally plain tomato sauce warmed up on the stove.

  • Lhasa7

    Benny’s claimed to sell “Mission Burritos.”