Dear Shawn,
Driving home from some errands today, I passed by one of the few remaining locations of Panchos Mexican food buffet restaurants. There was a day these restaurants populated Houston like crazy. In the mid seventies, a family outing to Panchos was so special. We didn't get to go often, but I was thrilled.
When you walk into a Panchos, you go down the line and pick whatever you want- enchiladas, tacos, burritos, chile rellenos, tostadas, beans and rice. Then there was a bar with chips and salsa and sour cream and anything else you needed. The fun part for a kid was that when you wanted more of anything, there were these little Mexican flags on the table that you would raise. You'd tell the server what you wanted and in a few minutes, there it was, served on a searing hot metal plate housed within a cool-to-the-touch plastic outer plate.
When you'd had your fill of crispy and cheesy goodness, raise that flag again and they'll bring dessert: fresh, hot sopapillas with honey and cinnamon sugar. These fluffy little squares of fried dough, the Mexican equivalent of beignets from New Orleans, were things dreams were made of! You know how much I've always loved honey.
When I moved back to Houston a few years ago, I passed by a Panchos. I had nearly forgotten about them and was happy to see that the sign is still the same after all these years. I looked up their locations on line, half hoping there was one near me and half hoping there wasn't, because if there were, I'd blow up like a balloon from eating there so often!
That is how I found out there are very few locations left, and none near my house. This meant that going to one would either take a very special trip, just like when I was a kid, or a combined destination with errands in another part of town.
It took a few months to find me back in the part of town where the nearest Panchos was located, so I skipped breakfast and hurried through my errands so I could get to Panchos for lunch before the crowd.
Walking in, it was much as I remembered it- dark interior, the buffet line, the campy Mexican outfits on the staff, and the beloved flags ready to be raised high for seconds and thirds and sopapillas! I sat down at a table and wondered if the quality of the food was this bad back in the seventies and I just didn't realize it because I was ten. In thinking back on the seventies, I don't know that they had yet to invent all of the preservatives and plastics they put in foods these days to drive down prices. Surely, the food back then was better.
While not a terrible meal, after all, you get what you pay for, right? ...well, let me put it this way- I've been back in Houston for three years and I've not been back to Panchos. Sure, part of that is that a fifty-year old guy who needs to lose a few pounds has no business going to an all-you-can eat Mexican food buffet, but it's also that I now prefer quality over quantity. And perhaps the worst part of the recent experience was that they now use fake honey. Who uses fake honey???
Now, don't get me going on a pizza buffet, that's an entirely different story all together!
Driving home from some errands today, I passed by one of the few remaining locations of Panchos Mexican food buffet restaurants. There was a day these restaurants populated Houston like crazy. In the mid seventies, a family outing to Panchos was so special. We didn't get to go often, but I was thrilled.
When you walk into a Panchos, you go down the line and pick whatever you want- enchiladas, tacos, burritos, chile rellenos, tostadas, beans and rice. Then there was a bar with chips and salsa and sour cream and anything else you needed. The fun part for a kid was that when you wanted more of anything, there were these little Mexican flags on the table that you would raise. You'd tell the server what you wanted and in a few minutes, there it was, served on a searing hot metal plate housed within a cool-to-the-touch plastic outer plate.
When you'd had your fill of crispy and cheesy goodness, raise that flag again and they'll bring dessert: fresh, hot sopapillas with honey and cinnamon sugar. These fluffy little squares of fried dough, the Mexican equivalent of beignets from New Orleans, were things dreams were made of! You know how much I've always loved honey.
When I moved back to Houston a few years ago, I passed by a Panchos. I had nearly forgotten about them and was happy to see that the sign is still the same after all these years. I looked up their locations on line, half hoping there was one near me and half hoping there wasn't, because if there were, I'd blow up like a balloon from eating there so often!
That is how I found out there are very few locations left, and none near my house. This meant that going to one would either take a very special trip, just like when I was a kid, or a combined destination with errands in another part of town.
It took a few months to find me back in the part of town where the nearest Panchos was located, so I skipped breakfast and hurried through my errands so I could get to Panchos for lunch before the crowd.
Walking in, it was much as I remembered it- dark interior, the buffet line, the campy Mexican outfits on the staff, and the beloved flags ready to be raised high for seconds and thirds and sopapillas! I sat down at a table and wondered if the quality of the food was this bad back in the seventies and I just didn't realize it because I was ten. In thinking back on the seventies, I don't know that they had yet to invent all of the preservatives and plastics they put in foods these days to drive down prices. Surely, the food back then was better.
While not a terrible meal, after all, you get what you pay for, right? ...well, let me put it this way- I've been back in Houston for three years and I've not been back to Panchos. Sure, part of that is that a fifty-year old guy who needs to lose a few pounds has no business going to an all-you-can eat Mexican food buffet, but it's also that I now prefer quality over quantity. And perhaps the worst part of the recent experience was that they now use fake honey. Who uses fake honey???
Now, don't get me going on a pizza buffet, that's an entirely different story all together!
No comments:
Post a Comment