DCist: Pedro and Vinny's Reopening Gets Line Down the Block

monkeyrotica

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:41:35 -0500

I love how their Flash-soaked noisemaker of a website gives you tons of irrelevant information and no menu or prices. All this proves is how desperate people are downtown for decent taco vans. Then there's doner kebabs. Which reminds me: why the f**k do I have to go to LEESBURG to get a goddamned doner kebab? WTF is all that about? Was there some anti-Turkish pogrom downtown that forced all the donermakers to Leesburg? Or maybe they already applied for a permit in quadruplicate years ago and DC lost it? Maybe it was in that $40 million pile that Harriet Walters swiped.

traclay

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:10:39 -0500

I agree with monkey, Greek Deli is the shiznit.

monkeyrotica

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:11:42 -0500

Yeah, but once you got to Breadline, you'd have to wait another 40 minutes for your $9 sammitch. The only thing in that neighborhood I can think of that's worth waiting in a line for is Greek Deli.

downtown rez

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:47:27 -0500

That's sad. I'd rather wspend my 40 minutes walking to Teaism or Bread Line

IMGoph

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:10:04 -0500

julia's empanadas? they had a location down there too? did it go under like the one that used to be on u street—because it was never freakin' open? shortest hours i ever saw in a restaurant on a nightlife strip...

downtowndc

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:54:52 -0500

dude's name is john rider. the hitcher. yet the cart is pedro and vinny's? what gives? spanish for john is juan. and spanish for sucker on the street waiting too long for burritos is that line. julia's shouldn't have left vermont and k.

Fluxgirl

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:54:33 -0500

It's just a burrito.

pfr37

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:27:51 -0500

Back in early 2006 there was a screw in my burrito from Pedro & Vinny's. I never went back after that.

Benedict

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:09:53 -0500

I loved Pedro & Vinny's, but Carlos at 17th and K has won me over. May the Corridor have enough burrito fiends to keep them both in business.

Disco Stu

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:55:17 -0500

@Henry Krinkle, Totally, rice and bean burritos I much prefer to bean and rice burritos. Or even burritios. Um, but has anyone tried the Free Samiches given out everyday at McPherson Sq? Those are cheap! Cuz they're free!

mommyworks

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:54:26 -0500

I agree that Carlos' burritos at Farragut Square are much better than the ones that Rider sells and he is a swell guy on top of that. In the AM the coffee is good too.

tomaloisi

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:51:55 -0500

I saw this line when it was slightly longer. At first I thought people were waiting for concert tickets or something. Then I thought one of those free meal vans had pulled up. But when I looked at the clientele, I figured it must be free burrito day or something. When I saw people paying, I was shocked, and headed to Potbelly, where I had a sandwich in about 5 minutes. We also discussed the crazy long line for a simple burrito purchase! I'd NEVER do it.

monkeyrotica

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:51:49 -0500

I might as well put in my application for a trough on rollers, filled to the brim with baked beans and garnished with a couple of dead dogs. Monday is halfpriced bean night and with our Frequent Farter card, with every tenth purchase, you get a free dead dog. (Warning: Dog may explode.) Welcome to Monkey's Gutbucket! May I take your order?

the_heckle

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:48:02 -0500

Eh, pardon my ignorance on this one, but when I worked near the current cart's location I often ate at a burrito cart owned by a guy who I think was named James. Is he the overlord that owns Pedro and Vinny's or did these guys gank his spot? From all accounts Pedro and Vinny's is fantastic, someday I hope to make it into the heart of lobbyist Washington to once again savor a cart-born burrito.

Mainland

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:46:07 -0500

Having just eaten mine (and only having to wait in a line of 2 people to get it!) I can say it's just like I remember it....and worth the wait.

guest guest

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:42:06 -0500

monkey, hell, the recent popularity of cupcake shops, of all fucking things, is reinforcement of the same theory.

Virginia is for Losers

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:26:32 -0500

This explains the long line stretching from the restroom door here at the office this afternoon. 40-minute wait!

Henry Krinkle

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:21:15 -0500

Oops, I meant "rice and bean" burritios. I like rice and beans, but burritos are better with meat.

monkeyrotica

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:11:18 -0500

Open up two shops on opposite ends of a street that sell identical... say... cupcakes. S**t. You had to f***ing say it, didn't you? Now we get to look forward to Cakelove-on-the-Go and Georgetown Cupcake and Feed-my-fat-Ass Cupcakery carts peddling $7 flavorless briquettes with wide-open-ass frosting to chubbies sweating in line in their suits and running shoes.

DAJ

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:10:54 -0500

I am voting for Monkey for mayor. Carlos's burritos, at Farragut Square are WAY WAY better then these guys. His beans are better spiced. These guys have a vast selection of hot sauce, but who cares? Beans make the burrito.

Henry Krinkle

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:01:37 -0500

They only serve meat and bean burritos? I wouldn't stand in line for that.

IMGoph

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:58:29 -0500

i'm going to throw my vote in for the bleakness option. and monkey hit the nail on the head here. this is a great example of government regulation not doing its job here. give the licenses quickly and get the hell out of the way.

guest guest

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:55:48 -0500

It's a testament of how much tools love standing in lines which they equate with exclusivity, even for something as ridiculous as a burrito. Open up two shops on opposite ends of a street that sell identical... say... cupcakes. Convince people that cupcake shop #2 is the shop where the cool people in the know eat their cupcakes. Watch the line for cupcake shop #2 wrap around the block past the door to empty cupcake shop #1. Scenario works for burritos too.

Bethesdaist

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:38:51 -0500

Are these guys better than the other burrito guy near the Farragut North Metro? Is there a difference?

PAonPenn

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:36:57 -0500

A forty minute wait is par for the course at Pedro & Vinny's, but it's well worth the wait. It usually takes most of my lunch hour just to get the burrito.

monkeyrotica

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:25:27 -0500

Fenty promised an end to the streetcart moritorium and more vendors downtown back in 2006. So far, according to Washington Business Journal, they've approved twelve new vendor licenses. The problem isn't the lack of dining options on K or the quality of the burritos. The problem is that the administration has its head so far up its a** it's farting earwax. It shouldn't take two years to approve a dozen vendor licenses.