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How to Make a Kick-Ass Burrito with Pro Skater Joey Brezinski

The dude is passionate about burritos. We talked to him about his favorite restaurants, what makes a good burrito, and why skating on a full stomach can be rough.
Copyright Mike Blabac/Red Bull Content Pool

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Pro skater Joey Brezinski is serious about his burritos. The man can hardly get through a skate edit or media interview without either mentioning or being asked about them. His Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat feeds are full of burrito content, and now he's made a how-to video of one of his favorite recipes.

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In 2014, Brezinski, along with fellow skaters Chico Brenes and Kelly Hart, set up Team Burrito, which started as a Twitter hashtag and is basically just an assemblage of burrito-loving skaters. This spring, Team Burrito hit up five of Los Angeles's best burrito joints, by Brezinski's choosing, with some skating in between. They called it the Burritour and, with his sponsor Red Bull's support, they have plans to take it to other cities in the future.

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We caught up with Brezinski last week to talk burritos.

Do you remember your first burrito?

I do remember my first burrito. I was pretty young, three or four, and at a family barbeque or something. Growing up in Southern California, the burrito just became the go-to food. It still is the go-to food. Any time I'm picking up someone from LAX, the first thing we do is go get a burrito.

What's your favorite burrito place in Southern California?

Near my house, I go to a place called Señor G's in Playa Vista. When I'm inland, I go to a place near Redlands called Cuca's. They do it right. I go out of my way to get a burrito from there any time I'm passing through.

Have you found any good burrito spots in New York City?

I went to a place on the Lower East Side, which is where I usually spend my time when I'm in New York, that had what I call a fancy burrito. It's an upscale place, and it had this super-nice burrito with slightly seared ahi tuna. It was good, but it's hard to find good burritos in New York. There's a taco truck in Williamsburg, in that area where everything's happening right now, that's good. It's on the corner of North 7th and Bedford. Late night, that place is good.

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Do you eat burritos when you travel?

I usually try to find the equivalent wherever I go. There was this horrible place in France advertising burritos. They got it all wrong. Didn't even have rice. It was like red kidney beans and a side of Doritos. It's insane how wrong people can get it.

Some places offer things like caesar salad in a wrap. That's not a burrito. I get people snapchatting me some crazy burritos that aren't burritos. Sometimes I'll have to break off a little knowledge if it doesn't look up to par. Be like, 'That's kind of shitty—if you were out here in L.A. I'd take you to a good spot.'

Looked like the Burritour hit up some good spots. Was that fun?

That was a good idea in thought. Actually, physically doing it was pretty rough on our bodies. Rather than eating five burritos and skating in one day, I wish we had spread it out over five days. But it was National Burrito Day so we had to bang it out.

After the first burrito, we tried to skate the second spot, and we were full and bloated. Trying to ollie up four stairs isn't as easy after eating a burrito as it is on an empty stomach. We usually do our burrito eating at the end of the day, after we've been skating for six, seven hours and have burned a million calories.

You ate five burritos in one day?

I had to eat at each spot because each spot was like a guest. Not all the skaters did, though, and we definitely had some leftovers. The last place we went to serves this 20-pound burrito that's insane. It came out looking like lasagna. It was nuts, and it lasted at my house for at least a week.

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So what makes a good burrito?

Finding the right ingredients is key. Making sure you have access to the right spices. And you have to get good recipes. Then you can make any variation of a good burrito at home. My wife's family is from New Mexico, and I get a lot of recipes from them. And Google; I get recipes off the internet. The beans are also huge. Everybody has their own way of making beans, and I always try to make them in a new way.

In your latest video, you add Red Bull to the salsa. Does the company have any input on your burrito content like this?

Not really. I'm always just doing my own stuff. I present them with the content I've created, and they decide whether they want to share it. I used to have a weekly show on the Red Bull website, but now I just publish the content through my own YouTube channel. So pretty much I just do whatever I want, stay creative.

I'm following your dog on Twitter now. Tell me about Pizza.

Pizza is one of my pugs. She's cool; she likes treats. She's 12 years old. My wife and I have four pugs. We started with one, 14 years ago, and then got another, Pizza, and they ended up procreating. They had a litter, and we kept one out of the litter. Her name's Runty. And then a couple of years ago we fostered two pugs from our local shelter. One was adopted and we kept the other, Bud. They're like gremlins: we just poured water on them, and they multiplied.

What else are you working on these days?

I'm actually working with some guys on a new shoe program. It's super top secret right now, but the tech is really cool and there's nothing else like it out there. I can't really talk about it yet, but these dudes have the patent for some new shock-absorption technology in the sole. We should have a sample soon—I can't wait to start skating with them.

Brezinski in his backyard with a few of his pugs. Copyright Mike Blabac/Red Bull Content Pool