FiveThirtyEight Uses Data To Find Nation's Best Burrito

Can you use data and numbers to find the best burrito in America? Renowned statistician Nate Silver, along with his website FiveThirtyEight.com, a panel of burrito experts, and a tasting correspondent, believe that they have. After crunching numbers from Yelp, and narrowing down the choices to a 64-burrito bracket based on 4 quadrants of the country, FiveThirtyEight.com sent out their "burrito correspondent," Anna Maria Barry-Jester to determine the best of the best.

After spending the summer swimming in pools of carne asada and guacamole, Barry-Jester has determined that the best burrito is served at La Taqueria in San Francisco's Mission District. We're not too surprised that the best of the best came from the burrito capital of America. Barry-Jester described this rice-less burrito to The Daily Meal as "wonderful and packed full of juiciness, even though none would leak out while you're eating. It's not possible to understand how they pack so much meat and guacamole in the tortilla without it bursting at the seams!" La Taqueria came in at #2 on The Daily Meal's 35 Best Burritos in America list; our burrito panel gave the top spot to La Azteca Tortilleria in Los Angeles.

The other three finalists in the great burrito bracket of 2014 were Taqueria Tlaxcalli in the Bronx ("a simple, well-prepared burrito with four sauces on top") which didn't place on our list, Al & Bea's Mexican Food in Los Angeles ("classic and perfect bean and cheese burrito") which also didn't place on our list and Delicious Mexican Eatery in El Paso, Texas ("freshly-made tortilla, spicy, and the best comfort food"), which came in at number 20 on The Daily Meal list.

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Joanna Fantozzi is an Associate Editor with The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter@JoannaFantozzi