¡Burritos! Hot on the Trail of the Little Burro

About the Book | About the Authors

¡Burritos! Hot on the Trail of the Little Burro is the world's first book devoted entirely to America's favorite overstuffed tortilla wrapped packages. The colorful book traces the burrito's history, divulges kitchen secrets, describes for novices the required decor of an authentic taqueria, and explores the vibrant culture surrounding today's most entertaining food.

¡Burritos! is bulging with clever insight and engaging information, including burrito ingredient analyses, burrito philosophies, and burrito-lovers' resources -- even burrito haiku. The book answers all those burning questions about salsa and gives carnivores the beef on meat. For adventurous would-be burrito chefs, the book is bursting with recipes for all kinds of burritos, including carne asada (grilled beef steak), al pastor (spit-roasted marinated pork), and pollo (chicken). It also includes recipes for tortillas, beans, rice, guacamole -- even authentic Mexican-style drinks -- ensuring a completely authentic burrito dining experience.

For those who would rather leave burrito-making to the pros, the book highlights great taquerias throughout the country, including El Farolito Taqueria in San Francisco, El Tepeyac Café in Los Angeles, and Burritoville in New York City.

For a capable writer, a book like ¡Burritos! Hot on the Trail of the Little Burro practically writes itself. Although we could hardly spell when we started working on this project, you'd be surprised what a closet full of Dos Equis and twenty-three quarts of tequila can do. Just ask Hemmingway.

In all seriousness, our book was born out of an unrelenting and undeniable love for burritos and the joyous experience that surrounds eating one. We are burrito addicts, and, as we admit in the introduction to our book, "If Betty Ford opened a burrito clinic, we wouldn't check in unless there was a decent taqueria nearby."

After a year or so of commuting, cubicles, and computer monitor tans, we realized that we enjoyed lunchtime burrito adventures much more than any other part of the day. And then, like a mouthful of pickled jalapenos or a left hook from José "Macho" Camacho, the idea for a book about burritos hit us squarely on our guacamole-stained jaws. If things hadn't moved quickly from there, the project would've remained a joke. But finding an agent and then a publisher happened almost as fast as they can roll a burrito at El Farolito Taqueria in San Francisco. And the rest is, as Michael Jackson would say, history. Shut-in nine to fivers one minute and international burrito stars meeting with heads of state and partying with the illegitimate children of Omani oil sheiks the next.

Derek Wilson grew up in Lake Placid, New York -- a tragically burrito-free environment. Following college and corporate indoctrination, he decided his life lacked spiritual meaning. After a lengthy quest, he discovered burritos. Truth, enlightenment, wisdom, and a slew of international speaking engagements were soon to follow. An alumnus of American University and Stanford, he learned belatedly that failing all of your classes does not wipe out your student loans. He lives in "the Lake Tahoe area," where he supports his ski habit by working as an economist, and thrives on his life-long dream to "eat the first burrito on the summit of Mt Everest."

Born in Palo Alto, California, author David Thomsen knew by the time he reached kindergarten that he wanted to write a book about burritos. After graduating from Northwestern University, he traveled in Spain, Europe, and Mexico, and lived for a brief stint in Los Angeles before returning, quite happily he might add, to the burrito-rich Bay Area. Between trips to the taqueria, he finds time to pull weeds in the front yard and, occasionally, fold his laundry. He estimates that he has eaten 1021 burritos in his lifetime and hopes to parlay his burrito writing experience into a lucrative career as an internationally renown mariachi bandleader. He lives in San Francisco.