Pop-Up Of The Week: SOLRAD’s 'Mexican-Americana' Breakfast Burritos

Published Feb 2, 2024 5:00 AM

A collage of images shows two identical photos on the right and left sides with two burritos wrapped in aluminum foil and a red circular sticker with white lettering in the center. Each burrito sits in a white napkin inside of a red plastic to-go basket.

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Who: Chef Teo Montoya, along with his wife Melissa Montaya and partner Justin Graham, make up SOLRAD, a pop-up specializing in “Mexican-Americana” fare at Sala Coffee and Wine in Whittier, with a suitably Spanglish mashup name.

What: Breakfast burritos, a dish with roots in Mexican cooking, but has gained gargantuan U.S. popularity. SOLRAD’s options are small, but carry a lot of heart and soul. The Bullshead breakfast burrito ($16), is made with perfectly stewed beef barbacoa, hashbrowns, refried beans (lard-free) and Tecate braised onions which meld into each other with a heavenly consistency. Their housemade salsas provide enough kick to have you seeing stars.

An image of medium light-skinned toned hands holding a burrito cut in half, revealing its contents comprised of a layer of yellow soft scrambled eggs filled with light brown stewed meat in the center with cooked down green vegetables wedged in between.

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Once a month, SOLRAD hosts a Baja-style barbecue affectionally named SOLPICNIK (a nod to a Chicano Batman song). Chef Teo's family originates from the northern region of Baja California, Mexico, while Justin Graham grew up in Central California. Graham employs the Santa Maria grilling technique to serve a variety of hometown-style dishes, including tri-tip and grilled oysters.

A plastic cafeteria-style red tray with sliced tri-tip steak, brown due to its cook on the outside and light pink on the inside. Above the tri-tip is a bright red-ish orange sausage sliced into a series of coin-shaped sizes. On the other side of the meat is a flour tortilla folded into a loose-looking triangle shape pointed upward. Around them are various small plastic containers filled with different cooked vegetable sides and red and green salsas.

Where: Sala Coffee & Wine, Address: 7701 Painter Ave., Whittier, CA, 9 a.m. to noon, Wednesday-Sunday. SOLPICNIK 3 to 7 p.m on the second and fourth Saturday of every month.

Why: Breakfast burritos are SOLRAD’s bread and butter, and for good reason. According to Montoya, tacos are everywhere, and he didn’t want to position himself to compete with the already stellar taco market. "People know us as the breakfast burrito people. We love it," Montoya said.