Before Chipotle, San Francisco was the epicenter of American burrito obsession

San Francisco's Mission-style burritos were designed for firefighters

It first appeared in the Mission District in the 1960s. Mission burritos are often made in an assembly line so diners can choose their preferred fillings, then wrapped in foil for easy transportation. They’re also usually full to bursting––supposedly because they were originally intended to feed hungry firefighters.

Inspired by the burrito, wraps took over the food scene in the 1990s

Using the burrito as a model, World Wrapps in San Francisco pioneered the fast-casual concept with a menu of wraps filled with gourmet ingredients like sauteed salmon and saffron rice.

There are more than a dozen burrito types in the US

Different regions have different aspects, including Mission-style in San Francisco (and nationwide via Chipotle), the chile Colorado burrito, New Mexico’s breakfast burrito, and fusions like the Korean burrito.

LA's oldest Mexican restaurant pioneered the burrito in America

El Cholo Spanish Cafe opened in 1923. It was among the first to serve several now-common Mexican dishes, including burritos in the 1930s, guacamole in 1955, and nachos in 1959.

The California Burrito is a french-fry filled spin on the Mexican staple

A California Burrito features carne asada and a generous heap of french fries wrapped in a flour tortilla. Its exact origin is unclear, but it's believed to have been invented in the San Diego area sometime in the 1980s.

The sushi burrito hails from San Francisco

Inventor Peter Yen wanted to combine sushi-making techniques with Latin flavors, so he founded Sushirrito, which specializes in burrito-sized sushi rolls with Mexican-inspired fillings like ginger guacamole.

Chipotle was initially started to fund another restaurant

Founder Steve Ells was a chef at Stars, a tony restaurant in San Francisco. His original plan for Chipotle—which first opened in 1993 in Denver, Colorado—was to make enough money to open a separate, higher-end restaurant.

Are burritos sandwiches?

In this video, we trace the burrito's origins, explore the legal and culinary battles around its classification, and break down why this seemingly simple food raises such a complicated question.

Smothered (or wet) burritos are drenched with sauce

A bar in Grand Rapids, Michigan, first put smothered burritos on the menu in 1966. The dish is usually topped with enchilada sauce, though other options, like mole, can also be used.

New Mexico is home to a 'breakfast burrito byway'

Santa Fe's Tía Sophia's was the first restaurant to offer breakfast burritos in the 1970s, a heritage New Mexico has fully embraced. Look no further than its "breakfast burrito byway," a state-sanctioned trail that allows visitors to check out some of the best morning bites in the country.

Gen Z eats more Chipotle than other generations

The brand’s proficiency with social media and relatively low price point make Chipotle a favorite among younger diners. Individual assembly also makes it easy to cater to various diets.

Vintage 1980s photos of the streets of San Francisco

In the early 1980s, San Francisco was changing amid increased diversity and a nascent tech boom. This series of photos from 1981 and 1982 was found of the evolving city, depicting trolleys, doorsteps, storefronts, and more from a time very different from today. Explore the vintage shots here.

The Beat Generation inspired significant parts of 1960s counterculture

The Beat Generation championed the transformative power of psychedelics, rebelled against the post-war social order, and called for more radical politics. With a strong foothold in San Francisco, it's no surprise these themes were carried over to the city's 1960s counterculture, informing the larger national hippie movement.

Why TikTok loves fast-casual restaurant Chili's

The company noticed TikTokers posting enthusiastically about its food and began partnering with creators on the platform. The videos include mukbangs, a South Korean trend in which users eat a massive amount of food, and #cheesepulls, where Chili's mozzarella sticks are stretched to their limits.

How a crew of hippies and nerdy teens in 1970 launched the global phenomenon of Comic-Con

Brinke Stevens and nearly 50 early organizers recount assembling Comic‑Con in 1970s San Diego—starting with just 300 attendees in a hotel basement—and how that grassroots, inclusive mix of fans sparked an enduring and worldwide pop‑culture movement.

Some call Beard the original 'foodie'

James Beard came of age when home cooking revolved around canned and frozen ingredients. Likewise, West Coast cuisine wasn’t on anyone’s radar. Beard’s appreciation of fresh, seasonal ingredients and regional influences provided a foundation for today’s movement toward local, farm-to-table cooking and the foodies who seek it out.

The original McDonald's served barbecue

Barbecue was a popular roadside cuisine in the early days of the US highway system, and McDonald's, while it was still a small enterprise in San Bernardino, California, served it as a part of its fast food menu.

An interactive investigation into drugs and migration in San Francisco

This interactive article investigates the connection between the boom in US migration from Honduras and drug dealing in San Francisco. A high concentration of Hondurans are fleeing Siria Valley, where poverty and national murder rates run high...

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

The early Los Angeles punk scene found a home in Chinatown

Acts like Black Flag, X, and Circle Jerks performed in unconventional venues like Madame Wong’s and the Hong Kong Cafe—restaurants in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood that became an integral part of the nascent scene.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Edgier burlesque shows helped define the form

Stand-up came into its own at burlesque shows, thanks to audiences who sought humor that reflected the hectic, urban settings where they lived. According to historian Joseph Boskin, “The tempo of the comedy, like the movement of city streets, was swift and jolting and possessed highly recognizable parameters.”

Chicano artists shaped the celebration of Day of the Dead in the US

Beginning in the 1970s, Mexican-American artists have used Day of the Dead components like ofrendas and festivals to combine cultural identity with social justice movements, highlighting indigenous traditions to address issues like gang violence.

A Bay Area lab was supplying MLB players with steroids

The Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, also known as BALCO, began as a modest vitamin shop, but by the 1990s it was at the center of a doping scheme that rocked Major League Baseball and other professional sports.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Irish music became popular in the US during the 19th century

The influx of Irish immigrants in the mid-1800s, driven by starvation and abysmal employment opportunities, led to a significant Irish-American culture, especially in urban hubs such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco.

COVID-19 disruptions revived ancient chinampa farming in Mexico City

When the pandemic disrupted food supply chains, chinamperos—farmers who cultivate the Aztec-era “floating gardens” built atop shallow lakebeds—shifted to direct sales in the city, boosting their visibility and reconnecting residents with a longstanding local agricultural tradition.

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

Machu Picchu, sacred backdrop for your dating app pic

Anyone who’s been on Tinder or Hinge in the last decade has noticed it: the obligatory Machu Picchu selfie, almost as ubiquitous as those photos of men posing with a fresh-caught fish. How did Machu Picchu, of all places, become a dating-app cliche? This satirical essay from McSweeney’s doesn’t answer that question, but has a great time poking fun at it.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

One of the most famous portraits ever taken is 'Afghan Girl' (1984) by Steve McCurry, yet the subject Sharbat Gula went much of her life without being identified or benefitting from the image's success.

Graffiti dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, where citizens scrawled messages to one another on public walls

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

44% of Americans say they pray at least once a day—discover how your state's religiosity stacks up against the rest of the country.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'