Bub’s Burritos Wraps Up Hearty Lunches in Southwest Harbor

RaeChelle Sexton’s homemade flour tortillas are stuffed with smoked meats and from-scratch salsas.

burrito stuffed with smoked meat, rice, black beans, corn, peppers and salsa from Bub’s Burritos

By Will Grunewald
Photos by Chris Battaglia
From our September 2023 issue

Lunches that are simultaneously hearty, tasty, and quick sometimes seem in short supply around Acadia National Park — especially when lobster rolls and fried clams sound a little too soporific between hikes, paddles, or bike rides. A few years ago, though, after Coda, the Southwest Harbor restaurant where she waited tables, went out of business, RaeChelle Sexton began making large flour tortillas at home and stuffing them full of meats she smoked and salsas she made from scratch.

an open-faced burrito made with shredded smoked meat, rice, black beans, guacamole, and salsa from Bub’s Burritos — *Bub’s Burritos isn’t RaeChelle Sexton’s first go-round with Mexican food. She used to live in Costa Rica, where she ran a taco shop.*

At first, her target audience was fishermen, who she rightly figured would be keen on fortifying, portable meals. Then, chef Carter Light, her former employer, encouraged her to sell burritos from a window at the old Coda building, where he had started a sausage-making company. Sexton dubbed her new endeavor Bub’s Burritos and, this spring, moved to a space across the street, with indoor and outdoor seating and a menu that’s lately grown to include tacos and empanadas. Now, her husband, Serkan, runs the front of house, Light supplies chorizo, and guests refuel for afternoons exploring around the park.