Pancho's

The other day, I needed a quick lunch and stopped into Pancho’s based on the fact that I have heard a lot of good things about it ever since I started writing this blog.  I got two tacos—one fish and one pastor and a side of chips (you have to order them additionally) (with a soda it was around $7).  You order at the register, but then they prepare the food and call your number when it’s done.  Then there is a salsa bar where you can doctor up your food to your taste.  There is much more than salsa there though—although there are several different kinds ranging in spiciness.  The bar also includes chopped onions, chopped cilantro, lime wedges, pico de gallo and a tasty avocado crema.

My favorite item was probably the fish taco actually—it was sliced deep fried fish in two soft corn tortillas.  That was pretty much it as far as the way they served it.  I added cilantro and onions and a ton of lime and some of the avocado crema.  It was seriously good with all my added flavor.  I really liked the crunch from the fish (which was also quite hot and fresh) and the tortillas were great—warm and soft, but didn’t fall apart when you ate them.  I could go back and get another one of these right now I think.

The pastor was also good.  And in this taco they give you a ton more meat than in the fish taco.  The small dice of pork was well seasoned throughout and had been sautéed a bit to give it all a little crispy edge.  An interesting component to this one was that there were also some sautéed onions in the mix as well as tiny dices of sautéed pineapple which I have never had in a taco before (and apparently based on some quick research, is often included as a part of the traditional marinade/accompaniments for pastor).  While pineapple is not traditionally my favorite flavor, I enjoyed the slightly sweet/slightly sour acidic flavor with the savory and tender pork pieces.  And I really liked that they were so small that they didn’t overwhelm the taste of everything together (which I think pineapple can pretty easily do).  The bits were firm, almost as firm as the pork, and the same size.  It really made for an interesting combo.  I also added raw onions and cilantro as well as a bit of the green salsa from the bar.  Like I said, this one had a lot more meat to it—so much that it spilled out from the taco quite a bit.

I liked the chips just okay.  I appreciated that they are frying their own and they had that kind of bubbly texture to them, but they needed to be salted for one (which I did), but they really just didn’t seem to have anything exciting going for them.  Maybe it was partly because I got a bowl of the mild salsa (which was very mild) to dip them into and I probably should’ve gone with a spicier one.  They also were a little too greasy—many of the chips still had visibly shiny oil on them.  They certainly give you a generous amount of them though.

There are a lot of interesting things on the menu and I know a lot of you guys like this place.  So tell me what you order when you go there.

Pancho’s

9658 Allisonville Road

Fishers, IN 46250

317/585-8427

http://www.panchosmexicantaqueria.com/