Monday, July 06, 2009

The power of Pancho! (update)

In May I told you about Pancho Restaurant. Here's some o' what I said:

[Pancho is] the finest Mexican buffet I've ever visited. Wait, I'd never been to a Mexican buffet restaurant prior to visiting Pancho.

Pancho's buffet "tables" ain't real big, but each and every thing on those tables packs big, big south-of-the-border flavor: warm 'n' fresh lard-filled tortillas; juicy hunks of chicken and beef, served with sautéed onions, tomatoes and green peppers; seasoned ground beef, and spicy seasoned ground beef with onions and carrots; homemade tamales wrapped in corn husks; juicy hunks o' chorizo sausage; black beans bursting with earthy black-bean flavor; and fluffy Mexican rice.

And then there's the pico and the hot and mild salsa and the tomatilla green sauce. Pancho's pico de gallo has lots o' tomatoes, onions, and peppers ... and a whole lot o' cilantro. Same goes for Pancho's salsas. As for the tomatilla sauce, it not only tastes very "green," it tickles the tip of one's tongue with a muted heat; and then it leaves a hot spot in the back of one's throat which lingers for several minutes -- several "Oh, this is good!" minutes.

A Mexican buffet sounds like a real, real bad idea. Thank God Pancho was able to pull it off.


I've been back to Pancho at least a half-dozen times since my first Pancho-post. During my last visit, I snapped some pictures. To wit:


What you see there is a big pile o' moist, spicy roasted chicken, quesadillas (with cheese, onions, and green peppers), chicken enchiladas, and homemade tamales. Looks good, don't it?!

Another pic:


There you see a tamale, a big bowl of Pancho's excellent pico, and big hunks o' white and dark meat chicken slow-stewed in a spicy red sauce. That chicken 'n' sauce, I swear, I could eat nothing but that for the next 30 days and I'd never get tired of it.

According to the Pancho flyer I posted back in May, Pancho's buffet is $7.49. That's incorrect. It's actually $6.49. (To borrow a line from Eddie Murphy, what a bargain!)

Pancho needs all the business it can get. It's not in an easily-accessible locale; thus, it's never been covered-up with business any of the times I've eaten there. It'd be a damn shame if such a damn fine restaurant had to close up shop. Indeed.

Pancho Mexican Restaurant
1001 Bell Road
Antioch, TN 37013
615.891.3166

4 comments:

jeffrey t said...

there was an Italian place there about ten years ago. it was really good.

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Joltin' Django said...

"there was an Italian place there about ten years ago. it was really good."

Wow, you're remembering back about 13 years. That Italian place was called Nathan's.

When I was in college I worked for a local trucking outfit that often ordered strombolis and pizzas from Nathan's for various company functions (holiday parties, sales meetings, etc.).

That place WAS good!

Joey said...

I stopped by on Tuesday around 11am, hoping to have a margarita and the buffet.
They dont have the buffet anymore, instead, they have the same lunch menu specials that other places have, however, you can get TWO of them for the $7 the buffet used to cost.
The waiter kid said they had margaritas, just not today.