Tortillaphilia #1: Sweeto Burrito’s Smokehouse

Sweeto Burrito can, by all accounts, be described as “maximalist” food. I don’t mean that in terms of size—the burritos are available in both regular and small sizes—but rather in flavor. The Smokehouse, for example, comes stuffed not only with smoked chicken but also onion rings. Hand to heart, I cannot remember ever having seen any type of food filled with breaded onion. And Sweeto isn’t one to hide the overload in their marketing material.

Cheese sauce. Cilantro ranch. Bacon. Subtleties out the window—The Smokehouse is a metric ton of pungency, and in this case, that is a good thing.

I say “in this case,” as flavor bombs rarely know what they want to be. For every spike in flavor, there is an inconsistent valley that creates disharmony, not balance. Sweeto overcomes that predicament by making everything big. To illustrate scientifically:

It’s a seemingly difficult balance to uphold, but consider the Smokehouse’s ingredients: Chicken and bacon? A standby combination since the inception of the Club Sandwich. The ranch is as common of a dressing for those meats as cilantro and cheese are for burritos. And the differentiator, the onion ring? It’s such a common accouterment to smoked meat, so why not just add it to the burrito? Each flavor exists harmoniously in a compact tortilla package. Who said American ingenuity was dead?

You can go down Sweeto’s menu and find all kinds of weird burritos. Even their vegetarian option, Veggie Avenger, comes stuffed with no less than nine ingredients. And, yes, onion rings are one of them.

As for the Smokehouse, it is deceivingly complex in all its grandiose simplicity. This type of balancing act is more than most are able to perform. I can’t think of many flavor bombs that are up there with the Smokehouse.

Sweeto Burrito has numerous locations in Washington, Idaho, and Utah. We visited their 1839 North Ruby restaurant in Spokane. We’d gladly see them open a spot in Seattle!