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Business & Tech

Qdoba Brings Quasi-Mexican Flavor to Town

Grilled steak tacos, corn salsa winners at newly-opened chain.

While the name Qdoba and the saguaro logo should conjure images of authentic food from the interior of Mexico, I have instead associated the chain with the taste of meat that had been cooked in a packaged marinade.

Two visits six years ago were enough for me. When I saw that a Qdoba was opening at 40 Park in Morristown, I was curious to try it, but I fully expected to be critical–perhaps even nasty–as I wrote about it here. Either my taste buds have changed in the last six years or Qdoba has—and I suspect it's the latter.

Similar to its competitor Chipotle Mexican Grill, Qdoba Mexican Grill was founded in 1995 in Denver, Colo., as an attempt to bring San Francisco-style Mexican food to the Rocky Mountain state. Both chains took off (Chipotle having a two-year head start), and Qdoba, now owned by the San Diego-based Jack in the Box, has 450 "fast casual" restaurants across the United States.

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On its second day in business in Morristown, Qdoba ran a $5 entree + soft drink special, for those who had the proper coupon. I did not, but the deal attracted a good crowd Tuesday evening, including many families with middle and high school age children.

The dining space includes about a dozen tables, as well as a short counter with four stools that looks out onto the Green. The décor is earth tones with some black and stainless steel, and one wall is adorned with photographs of Mexico and its food–long strips of meat on a grill, a hand forming masa into a tortilla, a burro in a desert landscape.

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Though curious to try the “street tacos” promoted on Qdoba's website, I did not see them on the menu in Morristown. Small and simple, street tacos usually have little more than grilled meat, onions and cilantro, wrapped in a small corn tortilla–the way a taco was meant to be.

As an alternative, the “Craft 2” menu suited me well. From six selections—naked burrito, naked taco salad, two tacos, quesadilla, tortilla soup, Mexican gumbo and three-cheese nachos–I could choose any two for $6.19.

Like Chipotle all tacos, burritos and salads are made in an assembly line. On this, the second day the store was open, the people working the counter were still being trained and a little shaky, but all still went smoothly.

My first taco filled with adobo-marinated grilled steak–tiny tender chucks of meat–topped with pico de gallo, a mild mix of diced tomatoes, red onions, cilantro, lime juice and jalapenos. A light sprinkling of Monterey Jack cheese was the only other topping this small taco needed. Like a street taco, its simplicity made it all the better.

For my second taco, I chose Qdoba's roasted shredded beef, topped with corn salsa–a mix of corn, roasted poblano peppers, red peppers, red onions, jalapenos, cilantro and lime. The shredded beef was salty for my taste, but there was a healthy amount of it. The corn salsa stole this show, especially as spring gives way to summer. I like to make a similar salsa at home with grilled corn, so each taste of cilantro made me look forward to grilling and eating outside in warm weather.

The last part of my Craft 2 meal was a salad. A handful of chopped green Romaine in a small plastic bowl (“naked” salad means it comes in a plastic bowl rather than a tortilla bowl) was topped with a somewhat spicy, Thousand Island-colored dressing that came from a plastic squeeze bottle, and corn and black beans. As I made my way through the assembly line, I could have it topped with whatever I chose, and I went with more corn, pico de gallo and Monterey Jack cheese. I even could have had meat as well.

Chain stores are not my thing, especially those that claim to be Mexican. Tacos belong in a Mexican-owned shop, where telanovelas play on Univision and I'm forced to break out my Spanish to order. But this was pretty good. Also, a chain such as Qdoba offers one advantage for the health-conscious, besides convenience: Ingredients and calorie information are readily available.

I had to poke around the Qdoba website a while to find the ingredients list, but I was curious to know what my meat was marinated in. The 15-ingredient list for the Adobo seasonings is too long to post here, but I'll tell you that it starts with chili peppers and salt, and that farther down the list are a few items I don't have in my kitchen, such as corn syrup solids and grill flavor. I'm not crazy about this, and I think I tasted some of it in the salty shredded beef.

The calorie counter was just as revealing: My Craft 2 meal came to a modest 575 calories, with a shocking 18.5 g of fat and 1,490 mg of sodium. Yikes. Now I know why .

But even taking high sodium, grill flavor and the cookie-cutter assembly line into account, I'll still say I was impressed with this visit to Qdoba. It may not be the interior of Mexico portrayed on the wall photographs, but for "fast casual" on the Morristown Green, it was a satisfying meal.

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