Chipotle, the popular restaurant chain that arrived in the Capital Region in 2009, will be opening its latest local outlet next Tuesday, November 29 in Niskayuna, in the new Mansion Square shopping center on Balltown Road (at the State Street intersection).
What’s great about Chipotle, if you aren’t aware of it, is their focus on fresh, sustainable, responsible, high-quality food – a concept they call Food with Integrity (FWI). Some interesting facts (from their press release):
- Chipotle expects to use over 10 million pounds of produce from local family farms in 2011, up from 5 million pounds in 2010
- The local produce will be grown on farms within 350 miles of the restaurants where it will be served
- All the pork, beef and chicken they serve is naturally and humanely raised (an all vegetarian diet, no added hormones or antibiotics and responsible animal husbandry)
- In 2011, Chipotle will purchase over 100 million pounds of naturally raised meats and sell more naturally raised meat than any other restaurant company
- Its sour cream and cheeses are made from milk that is rBGH-free (recombinant bovine growth hormone); 35% of it is from pasture-raised cows
- 40 percent of the black and pinto beans used are organically grown with about 5 percent using water-saving conservation tilling methods
This is all pretty great, considering the sorry state of the rest of the fast-food industry.
For my part, I’m excited to have another lunch option close by my office. I love Chipotle’s rice (the cilantro really makes it for me), and I think it’s time I tried some other things on their menu besides a chicken burrito bowl with pinto beans, corn salsa and cheese. Seriously, that’s all I’ve ever ordered.
The Schenectady Chipotle will be open from 11am – 10pm daily, and will offer fax and on-line order pick up.
Life at Goal 
I’ll never be able to eat there without hearing Joni Mitchell in my head.
Huh? I don’t get it.
There was a lot of controversy over the building of “Mansion Square.” A perfectly nice plot of land — all that was left of a piece property that dated back to before the Revolution — was plowed over to make room for an unnecessary shopping plaza. It’s a travesty.
Oh, right – “They Paved Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot”. I *thought* you meant that controversy but I didn’t connect the song. Sorry.
You’re right – it is a travesty, and the shopping center shouldn’t have happened. And you can’t complain to anyone, because it was the previous administration that allowed it to happen. But, there’s nothing that can be done at this point – the trees can’t be put back.
The same thing is happening all over the place – look at 440 State Street, and how they’re demolishing history there. I suppose it’s progress, but it’s a shame to see history go by the wayside.
A friend of mine saw a photo collage hanging the in the new ShopRite – which included a photo of the BOARDED UP Stanford Mansion. Have you been in there? I haven’t gone there yet.
I went in just to walk around the first weekend it opened. It was a mob scene! We haven’t actually done any grocery shopping there yet. Kris does the shopping and every weekend she’s said it looks too crowded.