Chipotle Mexican Grill Moving Into Old La Salsa Building

Updated with confirmation from Chipotle Feb. 9 @ 2:15 p.m.

A "Public Notice of Application to Sell Alcoholic Beverages" in the name of Chipotle Mexican Grill recently showed up on the front window of the old restaurant that more than a year ago.

This sign is solid evidence that a Chipotle restaurant will be in the midst of Trolley Square in the near future. The same type of application notice was seen on the old for an about a year ago, and BWW ended up choosing in Santee; though, that situation is unlikely to occur here.

"Our Santee location will be opening sometime this spring. Nothing's set in stone at this point... Suffice it to say that, if all goes according to plan, we'll be spicing up Santee before you know it," said a representative of Chipotle.

Interactions with the company on their Facebook page revealed an intended opening date possibly in May of this year, pending permits and a remodel.

Rumors of a Chipotle opening in town surfaced in December and steadily increased up to the placement of the notice. This is a good sign for Trolley Square, which has lost a few eateries in the last year (, , , ). This is the first restaurant to open in the shopping complex since those closures.

Chipotle is a chain restaurant founded in 1993 and named after a smoked, dried jalapeño chili pepper. Wikipedia says the "restaurant is known for its large burritos, assembly line production, and use of natural ingredients."

On the Chipotle website they put forward the following proposition: "Can burritos make good neighbors?"

They answer: "We like to think so. Each and every Chipotle restaurant is an active part of the neighborhood around it- because without a neighborhood, you couldn’t have a neighborhood burrito joint."

Santee Patch will be inquiring as to how Chipotle might help out the Santee community.