Our panelists looked past an underutilized veggie contingent, shrug-worthy whole pinto beans, and an OK-enough ingredient mix to celebrate this hefty monument to fundamentally sound flavor. The tortilla could not have been grilled any more brilliantly to the point of flakiness, and the ten-mustache sweep of hot bites made everything better. Taco Stop’s carnitas may have been occasionally fatty and not nearly crispy enough, but let’s just say it tasted a hell of a lot better than it looked. A heaping helping of melted cheese contributed in all the right ways, while spice experienced moments of fury but mostly hung back comfortably in the eight-mustache pocket. Everything seemed gracefully salsa’d, and the avocado slices raised the otherwise low produce profile to a level of respectability. Never mind the stooge-headed foil job — this was a mighty fine burrito. Eight-and-a-half mustaches says so.

It was a girthsome, stubby, and ill-foiled lunch on our first stop at Taco Stop, but to be fair, this burrito did have a few things going for it amidst its odd appearance. The punchy salsa roja raised the level of most everything it touched, and its high spice register didn’t make any enemies with our judges panel, either. But other than the extra onion content and fine guacamole, no other ingredients touched our slab-loving souls – the mega-diced chicken was nothing at all special, the tortilla was too damn chewy, and the whole pinto beans had blandness covered like a blanket. The salsa roja help boost the rice’s fortunes, but nothing could save the sorry cheese performance, which saw miniscule grates of jack remain in a pathetically unmelted state throughout. But despite the paltry foil-job, the burrito itself held together admirably well, and we’ve endured far worse ingredient mixes around town.