On the Richmond Burrito Trail: 23rd Street's Tacos El Panzón
Don’t believe everything you see on social media.
We were out for a walk on a recent evening and passed by Tacos El Panzon at 23rd Street and Garvin, whose lot was packed with people in line and some eating at picnic tables.
This food trailer is at the corner parking lot near the old Richmond Hospital.
When we returned to Grandview Headquarters, we started researching Tacos El Panzon and found they had those ginormous burritos for which food bloggers on Instagram go nuts. They say they are as big as your arm!
Well, we wanted one of the ridiculously oversized burritos.
The next day, we headed down to El Panzo around lunchtime on the weekend. While in line, we started hearing disturbing chatter from those ahead of us. The words “no burritos” ping-ponged down the line.
For those who don’t speak Spanish, “no burritos” means "no burritos" in English, too.
When we got to the window to order, our fears were confirmed. There were no giant burritos, not even regular-sized burritos.
We were hungry and didn’t want to go home empty-handed, so we ordered a chicken torta. We like tortas almost as much as we like burritos, so not all was lost. Tortas are sandwiches, like burritos, except all of the goodies are served on a large roll instead of a tortilla.
El Panzon starts building the torta on the grill, melting and caramelizing the cheese into the bread. The torta artist then pulls out a sizeable saucy piece of chicken and cuts it up with a big old knife. He adds onions, cilantro, and salsa, but the loads of chicken are the star of the show.
According to El Panzon’s Instagram page, the food and restaurateurs hail from the Michoacán city of Chavinda.
The torta comes with a spicy pepper that makes you sweat and cucumber on the side to cool you down after the heat. However, it doesn’t come with refried beans, which we kind of missed. We didn’t see rice inside the food trailer or on anyone’s plate, so maybe the lack of beans and rice explains the lack of burritos.
The Chronicle profiled this food truck when it was in Vallejo; the author was particularly taken by the chef’s practice of tossing salsa in the air. The paper also detailed a sultry tail of local businesses pushing El Panzon out of Richmond because of its long lines. El Panzon is now back in Richmond and drawing a crowd again.
The chicken torta weighed 637 grams and cost $15. Credit cards were not accepted; only cash and payment apps were available.
Check back next week for a new slab as the Richmond Burrito Trail ventures out of Burrito Central to a new neighborhood across town.
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