1628 South Grand
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Before the pandemic started a year ago, I pretty much stayed away from pop-ups, most food festivals, and food trucks. It's not that I didn't like the food at these events and locations, it's just that I didn't really find them too convenient. Food festivals would often get too crowded and the samples are way too tiny. Food trucks, of course, are mobile, and move around too much for me to keep up with, and are not usually parked anywhere around where I live.
My deal with pop-ups was that I always found out about them too late, and had usually made other plans. With the pandemic that we've experienced this last year, I now look for reasons to get out of the house, and pop-ups are a good way to do that. I had just happened to see one of my friends post on Instagram that Lowkey Burritos was going to be doing their first-ever pop-up in OC in mid-January. So I woke up before Katie on that Sunday, something that's definitely not that uncommon, and tried to beat the crowd so I could be back home before sleeping beauty woke up.
Lowkey Burritos came across my radar late last year when I watched Eater's Guide to the World on Hulu. They were featured in the episode that highlighted LA food spots that could be eaten on the hood of your car. In that episode, it showed owner Matt Stevanus and his team cooking breakfast burritos on the streets of Downtown LA. The hook for me and many of their 50,000 and counting social media followers was that they wrapped their huge burritos in a blanket of crispy fried cheese. That was enough to get me moving.
Lowkey was strategically working out of the parking lot of Tropicana, a marijuana dispensary in Santa Ana. The irony was not lost on me, or a lot of the others in attendance. They began service at 8am and went until noon. I arrived at half-past 8 and was met with a line of about 20 people in front of me. By the time I left, the line had grown into a nearly two-hour wait.
It took me about twenty minutes to reach the front of the line to order. Their menu is pretty straightforward. They have a base model burrito that features eggs, potatoes, cheese, and salsa, and then you have other options like bacon, veggies, avocado, and their famous cheese crust, or jalapeno cheese crust for an additional dollar or two per item. There's also usually a special burrito or two offered, so keep an eye out.
I placed my order and took in the scene. Matt was manning the flattop grill and was chatting with many of the people who came by to take pictures of the big pile of bacon, the melty cheese waiting to be wrapped around the burritos, or just to share how much they appreciated him bringing his breakfast burritos to OC. I got my burrito after a 45-minute wait and was headed back to Katie, who amazingly was up before 10 on a Sunday morning. I was excited to find out if Lowkey Burritos could match the hype.
Looking at these pictures, it's easy to see why Lowkey Burritos are so popular on the photo-centric Instagram. This is definitely the most awe-inspiring breakfast burrito I've taken a picture of during the 11 plus years of this blog. This is their Base Burrito with Avacado, Bacon, and Jalapeno Cheese Crust added ($12). As good as this burrito looked, it was just as satisfying eating it. The cheese crust added a nice richness to each bite, but as time went by, the crispiness of the cheesy outer layer grew less and less, which I expected with the twenty-minute ride home, plus time allotted for my pictures. The inside featured plenty of avocado and bacon, but the potatoes and salsa got lost in the shuffle a bit here. Definitely one of the richest breakfast burritos I've had.
When I checked out Lowkey Burritos on Instagram, they mentioned that their special for their OC debut was going to be the very popular Tri-Tip Burrito ($16). This burrito included plenty of grass-fed tri-tip, grilled onions, queso fresco, guacamole, salsa verde, and a complimentary cheese crust added. They cut the tri-tip by hand here, so it added to the wait time, but this beef was the star of the show. The avocado and grilled onions were present, but they applied the salsa and queso fresco too lightly, and I would not have known they were in there if it was not mentioned on their menu. I'm still not really even convinced after looking at my photos. The cheese crust went well with this one and helped generate a flavor boost that balanced things out a bit.
Last but not least, Katie had requested a Breakfast Burrito, with Avocado, Mixed Veggies, and Bacon ($11), but due to her ongoing keto diet, no potatoes. So disciplined. This one did not have their signature cheese crust encasing it, but she ended up loving this anyways. She was a big fan of the veggies and the way the bacon came through in bursts. It was a different breakfast burrito than anything she's had in recent memory. It was lighter than most, and she did not feel sluggish for the rest of the day, which also could have ben due to the fact that she got twelve hours of sleep on this Sunday.
I had some really conflicting thoughts about Lowkey Burritos. I placed these burritos on a pedestal so high before eating here, that there was no chance that they could live up to the hype I had set in my head. They were really good though, and I think they would have been even better if I had eaten them right away, instead of waiting 30 minutes due to driving and taking my pictures. Yes, the outer layer of cheese is what gets all the attention, but these are nicely crafted burritos. These are a labor of love from Matt and his team, and you can taste the passion that he puts into each burrito. That being said, I'd probably not wait any longer than 45 minutes for one, but there are reports that they are opening a storefront in Korea Town sometime this year, so I'm guessing that the lines will go down a bit when people have the chance to get these burritos every day, instead of only at pop-up events.
Out of five dabs of black paint, (because low-key is also an art term which means that a portrait is dominately dark in hue, and to achieve this an artist would need plenty of black paint), five being best to zero being worst, Lowkey Burritos gets 3.5 dabs of black paint.
Lowkey Burritos does not have a website, but you can find out about them on their Instagrm page here: https://www.instagram.com/lowkey_burritos/
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