With the World Surfing Championships coming to Lemoore, California at Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch in September, I wanted to spotlight a few restaurants that travelers to the small town may want to check out.
One of the things I noticed during the WSL Founders’ Cup at the Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch is that people would often return back to their cars (being shuttled by bus) to the West Hills College area, which is devoid of any restaurants or anything for tourists to stop by.
As mentioned in my blog post back in May, the food trucks were not enough to cover the large turnout and so people ended up shuttling back to their vehicles in hopes to look for restaurants.
I noticed numerous people who didn’t want to drive away (possibly worried they may lose their parking space) and walked nearly a mile to get to the nearest gas station, which a Subway/7-Eleven is close by, an AM/PM is being built, but the closest is a Chevron gas station where Panchito’s Taqueria is located.
Up-and-down the state of California, you’ll often find mom and pop taqueria’s inside a gas station.
Yes, there are still many gas stations that serve their own food, contract with a sandwich shop company that delivers to the location daily or a major chain restaurant inside.
But Taquerias are numerous and one of our favorites that we have tried was Fast N Fresh Mexican Grill in Sylmar, California.
I have never tried Panchito’s Taqueria and to be truthful, I’ve never went to this gas station before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.
As you would expect from a gas station that has a lot of items for people to purchase and the usual drink station, to the far left of the room is Panchito’s Taqueria.
They had around 4-5 small tables which were full of people when I got there and they had a few people in line, so the location seems to work out as people were there to order Mexican food. And an added benefit since it’s near HWY 41, for people going to work, the location opens at 4:30 a.m. on the weekdays and 5:00/5:30 p.m. during the weekend.
The breakfast burritos were no doubt one of the cheapest in the area at $6.42. You can order machaca (rehydrated dry meat), bacon, ham, chorizo, steak, linguica, sausage and a veggie breakfast burrito which comes with beans, potatoes, egg, cheese and salsa.
They also serve made to order foods such as tacos, burritos, tortas, quesadillas and more. And also combo plates and fried foods.
It was in the morning and we decided we wanted to try the breakfast burritos.
For $6.42, you get a good-sized, breakfast burrito that is filling. It’s important to note that if you want a side of salsa, Panchito’s Taqueria charges extra for it (which I know many other places give it as courtesy for their business, but considering the burritos are inexpensive, that’s how it is).
My chorizo breakfast burrito was interesting because typically, it’s more of a dry type of burrito, whereas this had salsa mixed in. So, it does get a little messy. But it was good. I like the thick cut potatoes that Panchito’s Taqueria uses.
Whereas Angela chose a sausage breakfast burrito with no beans, and she enjoyed her burrito. Sausage and egg were well-cooked and she gave it a thumbs up.
As for the taco, I requested for the Asada and their small taco was delicious and grateful they added the lime. But I enjoyed the sauce and the crisp meat and I actually enjoyed the taco much more than the chorizo breakfast burrito.
But for the most part, a lot of people seek value especially when it comes to breakfast burritos and in Lemoore, Panchito’s Taqueria and Carniceria Panaderia y Taqueria both offer the best value, with the latter having the larger of the burritos.
But overall, you can’t go wrong with Panchito’s Taqueria. And if you are going to be parking at the West Hills Community College in Lemoore during the WSL Surfing Championships in September, just know that the location is not too far if you’re willing to walk to it.
