Loyal readers may know that this food blog adheres to an almost exception-free policy of not re-reviewing restaurants. First impressions are the most important impressions and that is why this unwritten policy is in place. However, when a restaurant innovates or completely reworks a menu, they could be considered for another feature on the Unvegan. Typically, this has been relegated to Taco Bell, but another faux-Mexican restaurant called Mad Mex is continuing that trend. Namely, this innovation is called The Gobblerito and it means Thanksgiving in a tortilla.

You see, The Gobblerito is an item that only appears on the Mad Mex menu around the Thanksgiving season and then it goes away, leaving a hole the size of a Thanksgiving turkey inside those fortunate enough to have tried it. It comes packed with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and corn, then is topped with gravy and served with a side of cranberry sauce. Essentially it is what an x-ray of my stomach after Thanksgiving dinner would reveal. As you may recall, the Mad Mex burritos come in strange cubic form and The Gobblerito is no different.

In just a few bites, I was thrown back to a time when I first tried The Bobby at Capriotti’s and realized there was true good in this world. The Gobblerito is absolutely at the level of The Bobby and this status is only bolstered by the brevity of its existence every year. The only downside was the weird “garnish” of lettuce strewn in one small area of the plate just large enough to interact with some of the gravy. Fortunately for Mad Mex and The Gobblerito, it was easy to avoid.

So what are you waiting for? Thanksgiving is fast approaching and you do not want to miss your chance to taste the burrito of tryptophan-induced dreams.

I know what I’ll be thankful for come Thursday.

It isn’t too often that my buddy, Joel, repeatedly requests that I go to a restaurant with him, so when he does I try to listen. After asking me to go to Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop in Beverly Hills with him a couple times, I gave in and went. I’m not sure what I was expecting when I walked in, but the place kind of had the air of an upscale Subway. But aside from that and the general shape of the sandwiches they served, to compare this place to Subway would be a severe disservice.

For starters, they have some really inspiring sandwiches, none of which more inspiring than their Bobbie. So what’s the Bobby? Well, the name hardly describes the sandwich that is essentially Thanksgiving on bread. Filled with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce, this carb on carb on meat on fruit sandwich was just begging for some unvegan eating. Plus, vegetables were only available by request. Swank!

I walked up to the counter and ordered myself a large, but I was quickly set straight by one of the workers who told me the large was 20 inches. They told me I probably wanted the 12 inch medium and they were 100% right. Maybe I could eat a large someday, but I was not prepared for it on this day.

When my sandwich was ready, it was truly a thing of beauty. All-too-often sandwiches just don’t look as good on your table as they do on the menu, but the Bobby was different. It was so picturesque that I was almost scared to eat it. But when some of the stuffing started falling out, I just had to start eating. What I tasted was as delicious as it had sounded on the menu. It tasted a whole lot like Thanksgiving, but without the Scrabble. Yes my family plays Scrabble at Thanksgiving. Yes we are that awesome. Okay, back to the sandwich. The turkey was much tastier than the overly-salted cold cut sort and the stuffing tasted homemade. The cranberry sauce was just how you would expect it to taste, which was great. And the bread was so different from the stuffing that I didn’t feel like I was biting through redundancy. The best part was definitely the delicious stuffing. I was ready to box some of it up, which I may actually need to do when Thanksgiving comes around.

After devouring my delicious sandwich, I was struck by the tryptophan and needed a nap. I still think I could tackle the 20 incher some day, as long as the combination of complex sugars and tryptophan don’t knock me unconscious first.