Mad Mex’s fall favorite, the gobblerito — a tortilla stuffed with house-roasted turkey, black bean mashed potatoes, stuffing and corn, served with gravy and cranberry sauce — is returning for the season.
The Big Burrito Restaurant Group announced its return with a social media meme featuring newly engaged pop star Taylor Swift hugging the burrito.
“It’s that time of the year,” said Bill Fuller, president of Big Burrito Restaurant Group.
The Mad Mex Thanksgiving special will be available at all nine restaurant locations starting Sept. 8, making it the earliest start to the gobblerito season yet.
The gobblerito has grown in popularity each year, originally returning to the restaurant a month before Thanksgiving, then in mid-September and now making its big return at the beginning of September.
“It seems like pumpkin season is coming earlier this year,” Fuller said.
Emily Philpot, creative director for Big Burrito Restaurant Group, said they weren’t initially planning on announcing the gobblertio this week. That changed after Swift, a Pennsylvania native, posted about her engagement to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce on Instagram.
Philpot dropped everything she was doing to photoshop the image of Swift with a gobblerito.
“It’s ridiculous,” Philpot said. “[But] people always get really excited so why not pair it with Taylor?”
Matt Glick is the creator of the gobblerito. He came up with the idea while drinking with friends in Philadelphia about 11 years ago. Glick ordered turkey and mashed potatoes slathered in gravy from a diner and realized it would make a great burrito.
The burrito contains over 1,483 calories, according to myfitnesspal.
There are eight Mad Mex restaurants in the Pittsburgh area and one in Erie.
Last year, Mad Mex sold over 55,000 gobbleritos over an eight-week period.
“Mad Mex isn’t traditional Mexican at all and we like to have fun with it,” Fuller said. “Nothing is like the gobblerito.”
Editor’s note: The calorie content has been corrected.
