In the Bay Area, where the rice-bloated super burrito reigns supreme, artisan flour tortilla maker Michael de la Torre of popup Xulo wants to bring attention to the thinner, homestyle burritos found along the U.S.-Mexico border.
For the first time, his burritos are now available on a regular basis at Morrell’s Bread in Berkeley on Saturdays from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. People are lining up for burritos enveloped in Sonoran-style flour tortillas made at a commissary kitchen just steps away. Xulo is known for those tortillas, a rarity in the Bay Area, and eclectic, California-inflected burritos, such as ones filled with turmeric-infused carnitas ($16) or huitlacoche, an edible corn fungus, with shiitake mushrooms and black beans ($16). Bean-and-cheese burritos ($13) are a permanent fixture, but the insides may feature creamy Mayocoba beans with cheddar one week and firm black beans with mozzarella the next.
De la Torre channels the slender burritos, often filled with just one or two ingredients, that he grew up eating in his native Coachella Valley…