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In short: Fame. Glory. Multiple shots of tequila. A serious need to up the meat order.

“Our business over the weekend darn near doubled!,” at both their locations, Papalote co-owner Victor Escobedo, wrote in an e-mail response to the question: How’s business since he and his brother Miguel defeated Food Network celebrity and Iron Chef Bobby Flay in a contest of dueling burritos.

Sales of the epic, prizewinning, $20 Triple Threat Burrito have gone from 4 or 5 a day to at least 100 a day (The “Triple Threat” refers both to grilled prawns, grilled chicken, and grilled steak and these guys.) After a viewing party last Wednesday at the Mission Cultural Center, Triple Threat spun a set at Milk Bar in honor of their namesake’s triumphant burrito victory, interrupted periodically by repeated viewings of Throwdown with Bobby Flay and further gloating.

Meanwhile, as the brothers continue to scout out potential sites for an East Bay location, the Poleng burrito (Filipino chicken adobo, garlic fried rice and chopped tomatoes – a combination that Miguel Escobedo, its inventor, refers to as Mexo-Pino) is now a permanent addition to the Papalote repertoire.

Though don’t expect to find it on the menu anytime soon: some international coverage from TFC (The Filipino Channel, for all you neophytes) was apparently enough to get it put on as a permanent off-the-record addition. And this Friday, expect a new, equally not-on-the-menu something at Papalote. All we at Mission Loc@l are at liberty to say is: it involves honeyed prawns. Super spicy ones….

Images in the slideshow are from Suckafreeze.  See more here.

To see an earlier video of the evening among friends and famiy watching the throw down, click here.

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Heather Smith covers a beat that spans health, food, and the environment, as well as shootings, stabbings, various small fires, and shouting matches at public meetings. She is a 2007 Middlebury Fellow in Environmental Journalism and a contributor to the book Infinite City.

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  1. I’m happy that they won, but I also decided last night that I am breaking up with Papalote. After paying $9.20 ($10 after tip, on a to-go meal) for my burrito, I asked for a second cup of salsa and was told that it would be an additional $0.55. Fifty five cents for a second only-half-filled cup of salsa on top of my $10 burrito? The end. I’ll frequent Taqueria Cancun, La Corneta, and other quality establishments who don’t nickel and dime their customers over sufficient salsa for a burrito and a bag of chips.

    P.S.: the other tacquerias mentioned both have some completely kickass salsa verde, too. Not Papalote!

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