Green Cheese on South State

Chipotle adds third location

by Tony McReynolds

posted 12/27/2008

It took the Chipotle Mexican Grill chain fifteen years to come to Ann Arbor. But once it got here, it went viral in just eighteen months. The third Ann Arbor Chipotle opened in October on South State, bringing monster-size “gourmet” burritos, tacos, salads, and Tex-Mex “bowls” to campus. The new location sports the chain’s trademark clean, urban aesthetic, achieved by a combination of steel, concrete, unfinished metals, birch-veneered plywood, high-tech light fixtures, and bouncy acoustics.

Chipotle’s biggest claim to fast-food fame is its commitment to serving naturally raised meats and a sizable percentage of organically grown beans. And because all the dairy products come from cows that haven’t been treated with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), the cheese is green, too.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, 235 South State, 794–0800. Daily 11 a.m.–10 p.m. chipotle.com   

[Originally published in December, 2008.]