The Fold: BTB Burrito

The mid-series rankings called it out directly: The Fold had not yet covered a late-night campus spot. Entry #6 fixes that.

BTB Burrito at 211 S State St is not a taqueria in the Tmaz sense, or in the Dos Hermanos sense, or in any of the senses the previous five entries established. It is a counter-service burrito shop in the student corridor, operating on the build-your-own format that Chipotle popularized and that dozens of college-town restaurants have borrowed since. The room is small. The line is efficient. The prices are low. That description makes BTB sound like a placeholder, and the series has already had its fill of tacos that overpromise on atmosphere and underdeliver on food. But BTB delivers something specific, and it is worth being precise about what that is.

The Tacos

The taco option at BTB follows the same build-your-own logic as everything else on the menu: flour or corn tortilla, protein, toppings, salsa. Two tacos will run you somewhere around $8 depending on the protein. That puts them at the lower end of the series, ahead of only Tmaz and El Rey on price.

I ordered the tacos on corn tortillas, chicken protein, both salsas. The chicken is seasoned and pulled, consistent across visits. It is not al pastor with marinade built over days, and it is not barbacoa braised for hours with dried chiles. It is seasoned chicken. Properly cooked, not dry, not bland.

The salsas are what separate this from a fast-casual shrug. The habanero has heat that arrives and stays, not the kind that labels itself spicy and then disappears by the second bite. The verde is bright with tomatillo, tangy enough to cut through whatever protein is underneath it. Both are made in-house, and both are good enough that I would eat them on tacos from somewhere else if I could.

The corn tortillas have the structural problem that corn tortillas at a fast-casual counter often have: they do not always hold through the full build. Ask for doubled tortillas. The kitchen will do it without complaint.

The 211 S State Street Version of a Taco

Here is the thing the series has to confront in Entry #6: BTB is a different kind of taco than anything that came before it. El Rey on Vernor Highway is tacos as a community institution, three generations deep. Tmaz on Packard is tacos as a serious late-night operation. Chela's in Dexter is tacos as a family tradition. Dos Hermanos is tacos as a scratch kitchen running on corn and commitment.

BTB on South State Street is tacos as a $9 meal for a person who has seventeen minutes and needs to eat before their 3 p.m. class. That is not a lesser category. That is a real thing. And within that category, the execution is honest. The chicken tastes like it was seasoned on purpose. The salsas are not from a jar. The tortillas are not frozen and microwaved. At $8 to $9 for two tacos, you are getting what the price should buy, and then a little more.

The Hours Argument

The mid-series rankings noted that no entry in The Fold was open past 9 p.m. except Tmaz, which runs until 4 a.m. on weeknights. BTB does not match Tmaz on hours. But it extends further into the evening than most of the Ann Arbor taco options I eat regularly, and the State Street location catches a different kind of late-night traffic than Packard Street does. South State at 11 p.m. is students, bar traffic, people walking home from downtown. The campus corridor serves that crowd well, and the BTB taco at 10:30 p.m. on a Friday tastes exactly like the BTB taco at 1 p.m. on a Tuesday. Consistency is underrated in a late-night context, where most food starts cutting corners after 9.

What BTB Is and Is Not

This is not the best taco in the series. That is still El Rey, where the barbacoa and the al pastor form the strongest one-two punch the series has found, and where the whole chicken dinner remains the best value any entry has produced. It is not the most distinctive. That is still the baked avocado at MAIZ, which no other entry would put on the menu. It is not the most tradition-forward. That is still Dos Hermanos, where the tortillas are pressed daily and the al pastor lets the pork taste like pork first.

What BTB is: the most accessible entry in the series, by geography and by price and by hours. No drive to Southwest Detroit. No inconvenient Dexter strip mall requiring a car. No cash-only situation. Two tacos on South State Street for under $9, built in ninety seconds, salsas made in-house, open late. In a series that has ranged from a Vernor Highway institution to a birria-only Friday special, BTB represents something the series needed: the taco that is there when everything else is closed or far.

Where BTB Lands

Six entries in: Dos Hermanos for the tortillas, MAIZ for the ambition, Chela's for the birria, Tmaz for the al pastor and the 4 a.m. run, El Rey for the fire and the prices, BTB for the 10:30 p.m. on South State when the other five are not an option.

That is not a consolation placement. The series covers different problems. The BTB problem, the I-need-a-taco-and-I-need-it-now problem, is a real problem. BTB solves it honestly.

This is part of our ongoing series. Read the full tracker: The Fold: Best Taco in Ann Arbor.

BTB Burrito is at 211 S State St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Also at 1140 S University Ave. Counter service. Cash and card accepted.