Burrito:  a flour tortilla folded around a filling.  Bistro:  a small informal restaurant.  These are the dictionary definitions.  If you want to know how to put those words together well and truly define them, however, never mind the dictionary.  At the Capetown Plaza, in Hyannis, MA, you'll find B2 Burrito Bistro, and that's where you should go.

Dark copper walls below the chair rail, and a pale yellow above, interspersed with some very interesting artwork,  create a warm and inviting room.  Jazz often times will fill the ears and create an atmosphere suitable for a relaxed and comfortable meal.  Tables and chairs are very casual, as is the counter service, and the place is immaculate.   On one of my four visits the service was rather curt, but otherwise the young people taking and delivering orders were friendly and helpful in describing the offerings.  By the way, the room is a wi fi hotspot, although I've yet to see anyone with their laptop open.

The menu is large and not limited to burritos, or even to Mexican food, for that matter.  Salads include a tostada, a tortilla hard shell filled with letuce, beans, sour cream, cheese, quacamole, carrots and salsa fresca.  The fajita salad, also in a tortilla hard shell, is filled with lettuce, chargrilled peppers and onions, sour cream, cheese and salsa fresca.  A Caesar salad and a house salad are also offered.  Soups, including chili, are offered in three sizes, and change daily.

The Mexican items are what you would expect:  burritos, all including the basic elements of beans, rice, lettuce, cheese, sour cream and salsa fresca, and coming with a choice of steak, ground beef, chicken, pork, fish or vegetables.  I can tell you that every one of them is terrific.  Tacos are of the same varieties:  steak, beef, chicken, pork, veggies and fish.  My favorite, though, is the pulled pork, moist, very flavorful and not in the least bit greasy.  It's easy to knock off three or four of them, along with the corn tortilla chips that accompany them.  Make sure you get a side of quacamole for the chips, too - - - it's remarkably fresh tasting and freshening.

You'll also want to check out the choices of salsas for your chips.  They are made in-house, fresh daily, and are help-yourself.  A wall chart behind the salsa station will help you choose the right one for you by degree of hotness.  The salsa Colorado is a smoothened type, nice flavor, a little on the hot side, but not bad.  The B2 salsa is a chunky variety, very fresh tasting, and is my favorite.  There are also chopped onions, chopped jalapenos and chopped cilantro available to add to any of the salsas based upon your taste preferences.

Let's get back to the star of the menu, though, the burrito.  In what the menu calls the "Modern" category of burritos, you'll find some terrific flavor combinations, and this is what brought me back four times for sampling before writing this review.  I won't mention all of them, but I will tell you about a couple that are truly stellar.

When I ran the food operation at The Asticou, a 125 year old hotel on Mount Desert Island, Maine, the bulk of my crew was from Jamaica.  Michael, and Robert, and Lawrence and Wakee, in particular, introduced me to true Jamaican flavors like jerk chicken and curry goat.  The Caribbean burrito made me think of them and of that great food.  Chicken, Jamaican jerk sauce, rice, vegetables, pineapple and cabbage make a great burrito.  The Texas BBQ burrito is steak, barbecue sauce, rice, black beans and cheese, wrapped tightly and gently steamed to warm the flour tortilla, and is my review companion's favorite.  The Thai burrito is chicken, a good satay peanut sauce, rice, sprouts, carrots and cilantro, something a little different, a nice infusion of several cultures in one bite.  And then, there is my personal favorite, the one I have ordered more than any other . . . the Santa Fe burrito.  Chicken, rice, lettuce, salsa fresca, cheese and an ancho pepper sauce, and I swear there's a secret ingredient in that sauce that makes you crave it every fortnight.  I eat one there and bring one home for breakfast the next morning, they are that good.

Fruit smoothies, an extensive coffee bar, beer and wine round out the beverages section on that large menu.  Cookies and brownies are the extent of dessert offerings, but that is okay.  The burritos are the star attraction, and whether you choose the regular size ($5.85) or the grande size ($8.35), the portions are generous enough, when coupled with chips, salsa and some do not miss guacamole, you really won't need anything else.

Everything is made to order, nothing done up ahead.  The burritos are warmed after assembly, and wrapped tightly enough to stay together while you're eating them.  That slight steaming seals the flour tortilla wrap and keeps everything inside.  It's fast food, sure, but it is so unfair to have places like the "burger" joints lumped into that category, because B2 Burrito is way out of their league.  This is fresh, freshly made, high quality and incredibly tasty fast food, and you can stuff your face and that of your guest for under $20.  This is a really good place and a really good bargain, and I recommend it highly to you.  It fits easily into the family friendly category of restaurants for this review, and for every value we rate restaurants on it scored high enough to be awared our highest rating, 4-Cods.

If you go . . . . . . .

CAPETOWN PLAZA
790 Iyannough Road (Route 132)
Hyannis, MA  02601
B2 Order Line:  508.771.6071

No portion of this article may be reprinted or republished without the express written permission of the copyright holder.