Chipotle may just be the most lovable of big, corporate restaurant chains. First, there's its above-average burritos and salsas, including roasted chili-corn. Then there's the super interactive Web site. Next comes its unexpectedly substantial attempts at sustainability, including buying meat from farms that favor "old-fashioned animal husbandry" over mega-industrial efficiency. That means, for example, that Chipotle's pork comes from pasture-raised, antibiotics-free pigs fattened up on purely vegetarian feed. In fact, Chipotle even helps promote Food Inc., a disturbing documentary about U.S. agribusinesses that does not exactly leave you with a big appetite. My new favorite Chipotle quirk: the sign on its closed Chinatown shop reads, "Don't Panic. We are closed for remodel construction. Order will restored to the universe in a few weeks." Apparently, "Don't Panic" (all caps but without an exclamation point) is a corporate slogan. During a big snow storm, one Chipotle shop that locked up early put up a "Don't Panic" banner that urged disappointed customers to "wander around the block or just loiter here on the sidewalk."
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