Pancho's Mexican Buffet!

[Mudpuppie]

So there is a Pancho's about two blocks off of the interstate in Albuquerque

Wow! So Pancho's is still around! Some of my favorite childhood memories are of eating at Panchos with my huge (20 cousins) family. Do they still have the little flags on the table that you raise when you want more food? And those sopapillas!

You folks down in Texas don't know how good you have it. Y'all can turn up your nose at Panchos and go to any number of better Mexican restaurants, but I'm a Texan living in Canada now, and Panchos is much better than the Mexican I've tried up here.

Sorry to veer off the candy topic. Just had to wax nostalgic.

All right, I'm convinced that this place needs its own thread. They're making a comeback, apparently. There's a new one in Round Rock. And one in, of all places, downtown Austin -- at 6th and Congress.

This was the place where my Hoosier parents first learned to eat Mexican in the 60s. And I was weaned on the stuff. All important family gatherings took place there.

As far as decent Mexican food goes, well, it's not really up for consideration.

But I have to admit, I asked my folks to take me there during my visit to TX during xmas. They asked me how the food was. I said, "It's disgusting, but I'm loving it!"

Mmmmmm, sopaipillas! Plasticky chile rellenos! It's like baby food! What's wrong with that?

Here's some PR:

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m4PRN/2...1/article.jhtml

Edited January 15, 2004 by Mudpuppie (log)

[Jaymes]

Well, they certainly make no pretense to be anything more than they are.

I haven't been to a Pancho's in years. But when I had three hungry adolescents to feed (two of them "bottomless-pit" boys), we went there a lot. It was filling, tasty and cheap. And dining with that bunch, Mom took particular pleasure from the Margarita machine.

I mean, to everything there is a season (turn turn turn) and a time for every purpose under Heaven. Right?

So therefore, if someone says to me, "I really love good Mexican food...where shall we go?" I'd never suggest Pancho's. But when my neighbor tells me that her sister and brother-in-law and their four kids are coming from Atlanta and the whole crew needs a place to eat that's quick, tasty, affordable, and where they won't be embarrassed by a raftload of rambunctious, easily-bored kids, what would I suggest?

I'd say, "How's about Pancho's Mexican Buffet?"

[Raynickben]

Now why did you have to bring up Pancho's?

I ate there one time for the experience of it but I can't go back. It's quite dirty in there isn't it? Anyway, my husband and his college buddies ate there all the time and that is the perfect place for a poor starving college student.

[Lone Star]

The only thing good at Panchos is the never ending supply of sopapillas!

[foodie52]

I'm confused...how can they afford to rent downtown????

Something's going on: it's got to be a front for something else...

[fifi]

There is one just down the road from me but I haven't been in one since maybe back in the 60s, high school time. They were a new phenomenon in town and was the first time any of us had seen chile rellenos or sopapillas. And that cute little flag was a real innovation. I went there with my parents a few times and then we moved on and went back to Felix's when mom figured out how to do the rellenos and the fruit stand started getting poblanos. Then my sister figured out the sopapillas and that was the end of going to Pancho's. I also remember that my impression of Pancho's was that it was pretty grubby. Now, my curiosity is getting to me and I just might have to go in there for... um... for research... yeah... research. That's the ticket.

[FoodMan]

Personally I never liked the place even in the college starvation days (chinese buffets -Lucky Village on Fountainview- were my thing ). And those sopapillas are pretty nasty, they taste like a spoonfull of vegetable oil. yuck.

Elie

[Dana]

I haven't been there in years, either. The one in Beaumont closed a couple years ago. The thing I remember most was the supposed 'cheese' sauce that tasted more like flour than anything else. GAAA

Edited January 16, 2004 by Dana (log)

[Mudpuppie]

Personally I never liked the place even in the college starvation days (chinese buffets -Lucky Village on Fountainview- were my thing ). And those sopapillas are pretty nasty, they taste like a spoonfull of vegetable oil. yuck.

Elie

Make that a spoonful of vegetable oil and honey, and I'm with you!