Description Of Business And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies (Narrative) (Details) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) segment region item	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) item	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)
Description Of Business And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of regions	11	9
Number of reportable segments | segment	1
Unredeemed gift card sales percentage	4.00%	4.00%	4.00%
Gift card breakage recognized	$ 3,624	$ 4,226	$ 3,146
Acquisition, development and construction of restaurant capitalized costs	8,076	9,554	7,756
Goodwill impairment charges	0	0	0
Restricted cash asset	28,490	22,572	19,889
Aggregate impairment loss recognized on disposition of assets	17,394	6,675	0
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets Held-for-use	14,505
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets Held-for-use, Net	8,014
Advertising and marketing costs	$ 102,969	69,257	57,290
Maximum reasonably assured lease term	20 years
Excess tax benefit on stock-based compensation	$ 1,320	74,442	$ 21,667
Accrued Payroll And Benefits [Member]
Description Of Business And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Estimated insurance liability	35,550	28,391
Accrued Liabilities [Member]
Description Of Business And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Estimated insurance liability	$ 13,881	$ 11,898
United States [Member]
Description Of Business And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of restaurants | item	2,198
International [Member]
Description Of Business And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of restaurants | item	29
Non Chipotle Restaurants [Member]
Description Of Business And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of restaurants | item	23