A love affair with Frita

Frita Batidos.  Could there be more perfect words?  This place is in a league of its own.  If you have not been to Frita Batidos, let me attempt to dictate how delicious and amazing their food is for you.  A "frita" is a cuban inspired burger made with chorizo and served on a french brioche and topped with shoestring french fries.   A "batido" is a tropical milkshake made with fresh fruit, crushed ice, and a drop of sweetened milk.  The combination is truly a gift from the Gods.
   You can custom make your frita by choosing your meat (they have everything from spicy chorizo to turkey to fish to blackbean) and then choosing your toppings from a delicious list of options including muenster cheese, a sunnyside up egg, cilantro lime slasa, tropical coleslaw, and avacado spread   If you are a first timer, I say go all the way with a "frita loco" which is ALL of the above on one beautiful sandwich.  :)  
   I had the pleasure of going to Frita Batidos this past week with my good friend Colin.  Since I knew I wouldn't be back in Ann Arbor for a while, we pulled out all the stops.  We began with our batidos.  He ordered Mocha and I ordered Passion Fruit.

      They were perfect.  They taste like a milkshake and nothing like a milkshake.  They are very creamy and flavorful, but not as heavy as your normal ice-cream milkshake.  The passion fruit was sweet and the flavor of the passion fruit hit your taste buds right away.  Colin's mocha batido was also sweet but had that great bitter coffee taste too.  I took a sip of his and immediantly tasted the sweet from the milk and then a second or two later was hit with the strong but perfect amount of mocha flavor.  They were out of this world.  I challenge you to order one and have enough self control to still have some left by the time your food comes out.  I did not...
  Colin and I both ordered Chorizo fritas which we had "loco" style.  When they came out, they were exploding with everything our hearts could ever desire.

   This is about the most perfect tasting sandwich I have ever experienced.  It is gooey from the muenster cheese, a little spicy from the chorizo, salty from the fries, crunchy and fresh from the coleslaw and cilantro lime salsa, and topped off with a fried egg to tie it all together.  Not to mention that the bun itself is soft and sweet and soaks up all the juice from the sandwich.  One bite of this and you will know what perfection tastes like.  But be prepared with lots of napkins.

   We also ordered a side of the "best snack ever" which is just beans, rice, salsa and cheese.  But like everything else at Frita Batidos, it exceeded all expectations.  I don't know if I would call it the "best snack ever", (that may always be reserved for bananas and peanut butter for me) but it was pretty stinkin delicious.  The salsa is filled with chunks of sweet tomatos, the cheese is muenster and gooey, and the rice and beans are cooked perfectly.  Definitely a great addition to our meal.

  

   The service at Fritas is just as amazing as their food.  They are always there with a smile to take your order, always happy to offer their own opinions, (I ordered a passion fruit batido because of our cashiers advice.)  and always bring the food out quickly.  It's a fun and relaxed enviroment where you sit at large picnic tables with other groups and families and don't have to worry about being too loud or having a young kid running around.  I have loved every experience I have had here and urge you to give it a try if you haven't yet.        http://fritabatidos.com/ 

“Life is so brief that we should not glance either too far backwards or forwards…therefore study how to fix our happiness in our glass and in our plate.”
- Grimod de la Reynière