Get Wrapped Up In New Kind Of Cuisine

----------------------------------------------------------------- Restaurant review

XX World Wrapps (three locations): 124 Lake St., Kirkland (827-9727), 528 Queen Anne Ave. N. (286-9727) and 406 Broadway Ave. E. (328-9727). Lunch and dinner ($2.50 to $6.25) 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; until 11 p.m. Friday, Saturday. No alcohol. Major credit cards (started acceptance this week). No smoking. No reservations. Phone orders taken. -----------------------------------------------------------------

Some funny things happened to the humble burrito when it waded the Rio Grande and drifted into the American culinary mainstream a few years ago - unexpected things.

Early this year, the Nation's Restaurant News listed eight "Hot Concepts for '96." Among them was an upstart San Francisco company with only three outlets: "World Wrapps, the quick-serve concept catching fire in San Francisco."

The "fire" had already spread - to Kirkland in May of last year, and to lower Queen Anne and Broadway this year. All are packed.

The Northwest extension was instigated by former Burger King investor, Greg Flynn, a friend of the original four partners in the Bay Area, and overseen here by Brad and Hope Pettinger, former managers of almost two dozen Keg restaurants.

What Wrapps did, essentially, was apply the same ethnic eclecticism to the burrito that Wolfgang Puck (et al.) had done to the pizza. That is, enhance and embellish it in ways its originators never dreamed.

Other wraps here, too

That it caught on here, is not surprising (Todo Loco - now Todo Wraps - had already prospered on variations on the same scheme). What is surprising, is how good the foil-bound pounds of tightly wrappped product could be. And are.

The basic wrap, a 12-inch flour tortilla, comes in three different flavors: spinach, Roma tomato, and fat-free plain. The choice of 16 fillings ranges from $2.95 for a real Mexican burrito with black beans, rice, lettuce, cheese and salsa, to $6.25 for the Spicy Shrimp or the Barcelona.

The Barcelona is essentially a paella in a clutch - shrimp, chicken sausage, red snapper, baby spinach and saffron rice in a tomato tortilla - and tastes like the real thing.

It would be a mistake to regard these creations as foodie novelties or mere fillers with salsas. The Mango Snapper ($5.95), for example, contains two fillets of red snapper grilled to order, jasmine rice, a delightful ginger coleslaw and a mango chutney/salsa wrapped in a compatible spinach tortilla. The whole enchilada, so to speak, weighs 20 ounces.

It's a lot of food, especially for a crowded, supposedly fast-food setting. Many couples split an order (the staff will slice them in half for you). And if you have a whole one for lunch, coupled with the ultra-loaded fruit and vegetable smoothies and "health-boost smoothies," you might find yourself skipping dinner.

My favorite so far has been the Spicy Shrimp, made with sauteed, fresh rock shrimp, Spanish rice, black beans, a slosh of sour cream, barbecued scallions and a red pepper-corn salsa in a tomato tortilla. When I was about halfway through the concoction, I thought I should have the remainder rewrapped for the trip home. Instead, I took a deep breath - or was it preparation for the resultant sigh? - and finished it, rinsing down the last bite with a gulp of Black and Blue, ($2.25 for a small; $3.25 for what looks to be a pint) heaps of blackberries, blueberries, chunks of banana, apple juice and a raspberry sorbet, whirled in an industrial-strength blender.

Enjoyed two of the vegetarian versions: the Bombay ($4.95), curried vegetables (carrots, cauliflower and lentils) with jasmine rice, ginger slaw, garlic yogurt sauce and mango salsa; and the Grilled Vegetables with Goat Cheese ($5.25), with Japanese eggplant, mixed squashes and red bell pepper strips in a balsamic vinegar salsa.

I downed a whole Triathlete one mid-morning - with strawberries, orange sherbet, banana, orange and apple juices, protein powder, mango, chunks of fresh coconut, wheat bran, oat bran, wheat germ and "nutritional yeast" and listened in amazement to an abdominal war for the next 18 hours.

Fresh, made to order

"All of our ingredients are fresh," said Hope Pettinger, "and are made to order. We even roast our own ducks for the Peking Duck Wrapp. Nothing is made in advance and we don't use microwaves or deep fryers."

The settings and decor are colorful verging on garish, seating more utilitarian than inviting. Unless hunger is pressing, I'd prefer to take the Wrapps home - if only to escape the loudspeaker drone of, "No. 486, your Creole Snapper is ready!"

A fourth World Wrapp is due near Green Lake in December.

(Copyright, 1996, John Hinterberger. All rights reserved.) John Hinterberger, who writes the weekly restaurant review in Tempo and a Sunday food column in Pacific, visits restaurants anonymously and unannounced. He pays in full for all food, wines and services. Interviews of the restaurants' management and staff are done only after meals and services have been appraised. He does not accept invitations to evaluate restaurants.