PHOTO COURTESY OF MAD MEX

What are Pennsylvania’s best fall flavors?

The PA Chamber of Business and Industry is holding a bracket competition on X, formerly Twitter, to determine the Commonwealth’s top autumnal foods, beverages and events. Voting closes on Friday, Oct. 6 at noon. 

The first round of consumable nominees include Pittsburgh Brewing Co.’s Block House Pumpkin Ale, Penn Brewery’s Pumpkin Roll Ale and Mad Mex’s Gobblerito, a Thanksgiving feast stuffed into a burrito.

Matt Glick, regional manager for the big Burrito Restaurant Group chain, came up with the menu item in 2006. The company served it at the now-closed Oakland location during the three days leading up to Thanksgiving that year and the response was overwhelming. 

Voracious customers (I call them “tryptofans”) consume approximately 50,000 Gobbleritos a year between the Autumn Equinox and Thanksgiving. 

The dish, which is going head-to-head against Philadelphia-based Dietz & Watson’s Oktoberfest sausage, includes house-roasted turkey, black bean mashed potatoes, traditional stuffing and corn in a flour burrito topped with gravy with cranberry sauce on the side. Accompany that with a couple of local pumpkin beers and you’ll be feeling thankfull this Nov. 23.