Originally from the Deep South, the comfort food I grew up on was fried chicken, mac and cheese and mustard greens. My dad, a chef of sorts, would come up with new family classics monthly, be it a rare steak, chicken Marsala, pulled pork sandwiches, fried catfish or tilapia covered in scallops and mushrooms. It was not until I was fifteen that our small town got its first Mexican restaurant.

This was a very cosmopolitan event for most Natchezians who had grown up on soul food with the exception of Chinese or Italian for special occasions. However, the specialty of the sole Mexican restaurant was the fajitas. Don't get me wrong. They were fabulous but my dad had been making them sporadically for years. So I shrugged off the allure of Mexican food; that its, until I came to California.

My first burrito experience was at High Tech Burrito in Berkeley and it floored me. Beans, cheese, rice, sour cream and salsa (I prefer nuclear) all rolled up into a perfectly mixed meal. It was decadent, not just because of the foreign factor but because it consisted of all totally delicious flavors mixed together in an easy (depending on where you go) to eat manner.

I began to frequent High Tech and Chipotle weekly for dinner. I was in burrito heaven until a friend pointed me to Gordo's in the Bay Area. Gordo's is leaps and bounds better than all those chain places. The meat is not all super high quality like the kind found at the chains, but you can tell it has been cooked all day in a traditional manner: low and slow to maximize the flavor. Plus, I like that they will give me extra hot sauce without rolling their eyes.

To this day, every time I go back to Berkeley, I have to get a Gordo burrito. The only thing better than a Gordo burrito is almost any one you can find in the Mission District in San Fransisco. Taqueria Cancun is my favorite but Taqueria San Fransisco, La Coreta Taqueria and Papalote Mexiacon Grill (if you have vegan friends eating with) are all stellar.

I moved to Sacramento September of 2007 and have had no luck in the burrito department. Before any cynics tell me to go back to the Bay if I like it so much, I want to clarify that I love Sacramento. The people are polite and inviting. A lot of the restaurants I have been to rival San Fransisco any day. My only complaint is that I have not found one burrito that I would want more than once here.

I fear the Mission District has set my bar really high and I think that was my problem when I first came here. Now I am desperate. I would love a recomendation or suggestion if any of you kind souls reading would care to offer.

Here is the small list of places I have had burritos:

• Vallejo's- Not bad, really... The ingredients were mixed well but the chicken was stringy and had only a faint flavor.
• Ernesto's- Ah, the gourmet burrito... The chicken was good, I give them that. However, I always ask for no olvies and they always manage to throw a few in. This has happened more than three times. That's not my real problem with them, though. They put entirely too much rice in the burrito and not enough wet ingredients. Plus, the burritos are enormous, so it is like a giant plate of dry spanish rice.
• Jalapeno's- Mediocre... I was hoping it would be packed with the spice implied by the restaurant name. Not so much...
• La Fiesta- This is probably the most promising of the bunch. The burritos are on the small size, which is good for little people like me. The pollo asado is very flavorful and yummy as you are eating it. It isn't until afterward that you are guzzling water from the saltiness of their food.
• La Garnacha- Where should I start? I asked if they would leave off the lettuce and the clerk appeared to understand. When I got home, the burrito was filled with shredded lettuce to the point where it could not be picked out. Plus, the burrito was cold... like out of the fridge cold.
• Rey Azteca- The burrito was fine but oh so bland. I had to slice habaneros on it to get any flavor at all.

And finally, Lalo's Restaurant — I loved the atmosphere and the salsas were great (no chips though). I have a hard time explaining the burrito, but I will try. The meat was boiled so there was little flavor. The rest was good but, I dunno... The rice, salsa, cheese and sour cream tasted all the same. For example, the cheese tasted like chicken stock, as did the rice and the beans.

If anyone has any recommendations, I would love to hear them. My once-a-month fix of Gordo's isn't doing it for me. I am willing to travel within the greater Sacramento area. Please help a poor burrito deprived girl.