Cheap Eats: Dos Amigos Burritos

Dos Amigos had two locations, but the one to hit is in Dover, an-up-and-coming town with a great music scene fueled by the students at nearby UNH and a burgeoning hip restaurant scene to boot. Folks hang out in Dos Amigos reading or working on the laptop, while diving into freshly made burritos and tacos. The motto here is “hearty, happy, healthy,” and indeed most of the ingredients are just out of the garden.

Choose a main ingredient, including some unusual items not normally found in a burrito, like portabella mushroom and sweet potato. There is the usual steak and a great chicken with a citrus marinade or a great carnitas with sweet pulled pork. Your friendly burrito maker will add whatever you like with rice, black beans, cheese and sauce in temps from mild to XXX. Add extras like sour cream, yogurt and guacamole as well. Wrap them up in a tortilla and it’s one huge meal that really must be eaten with a fork all for under $7 for the basic burrito.

Sides are special here, too. A grilled corn on the cob is slathered in butter and grilled in the husk to smoky and sweet. The best are the fresh jalapenos, char-grilled and stuffed with cream cheese and diced mushrooms and served on rice. The heat grows as you get to the bottom. Chili, soft tacos and quesadilla are on the menu as well, but it’s the burrito folks flock here for — fresh, unique and tasty.

Find Dos Amigos Burritos at 286 Central Ave., Dover. (603) 834-6494. www.dosamigosburritos.com. There is also a Portsmouth location.

Rachel Forrest’s Cheap Eats appears monthly. She is a former restaurant owner and now independent food writer who lives in Exeter. Hear her on “Wine Me Dine Me” — a radio show with co-host Susan Tuveson Fridays at 6 p.m. on WSCA-FM 106.1. She can be reached by e-mail at rachelforrest1@aol.com when she’s not on the road finding great Cheap Eats.