On-the-go Arvadans in search of a quick breakfast option are in luck, as Pablito’s Burritos opened its second breakfast burrito truck, located in the parking lot of 5545 Olde Wadsworth Blvd. in late June.
Pablito’s was founded in 2020 by Abruci’s Fire and Vine owners Marvin Williams and Jeff Prograr in Abruci’s Lakewood parking lot. Planned to start up in summer 2020, the breakfast burrito truck opened ahead of schedule in April 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the years since, Pablito’s has become a Lakewood favorite known for its hearty, flavorful burritos. The truck has a menu of fan favorites and build-your-own options and was named ‘Best Breakfast Burrito’ by Westword in 2023.
Williams, an Arvada resident, said he was prompted to open a new Pablito’s location just outside of Olde Town to solve the “quick breakfast burrito desert” that he says exists around the historic district.
“You have a lot of people who live where I do and drive all the way down (to Lakewood),” Williams said. “If I’m going to Bonfire (Burritos in Golden) or Santiago’s (at 57th and Independence), I have to drive quite a way to get there. And we just felt like we could expand a little bit more because there wasn’t anything up here.
“You can’t go pick up a breakfast burrito unless you go in a place or go inside of a restaurant,” Williams continued. “There’s no burrito trucks — and really, no food trucks — traditionally, on this side of town.”
Pablito’s offers three meat options; chorizo, pulled pork and bacon, with pinto beans available as a veggie option. Williams said the truck’s most popular burrito is “The Baddest Burrito, Period,” which includes bacon, chorizo, eggs, green chile, hash browns, avocado crema and cheese.
“The Chad” is the second most popular menu item and lives up to its reputation by being truly basic; just cheese, bacon, egg, hash browns and, of course, green chile.
Williams said the difference between Pablito’s and other breakfast burritos is that the ingredients — which are prepared at Abruci’s before going out on the truck — are mixed together before being placed in the tortilla, giving each bite a balance of flavor.
“We throw everything in a bowl, mix it all together,” Williams said. “We add the crema, we add the green chile, we make sure that it’s nice and not dry. By mixing everything together, you’re getting that bite — every bite, it’s the same, you’re getting that yumminess in every bite. I think that’s what really sets us apart.”
Pablito’s shares staff with Abruci’s, which allows for a low-turnover, familiar work environment among the company’s employees, Williams said. Abruci’s notably ditched tipping in favor of a uniform service charge in 2015 — a practice which isn’t carried over to Pablito’s simply because the orders are much smaller.
The truck goes through anywhere between 75 and 150 burritos a day, Williams said, with the latter figure spiking on weekends.
The Pablito’s Burritos Arvada location is open 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The truck is closed Mondays, though the Lakewood location is open seven days a week.