I was surprised one day to find Le Petit Croissant had closed and replaced with a Mexican restaurant/bakery, especially given that Taqueria El Jalapeno and Santa Maria Grocery are next door. Now in its sixth month of business, El Panzon mostly distinguishes itself through its focus on cemitas (sandwiches).
The cemitas here are big–so big that I had to cut it into fourths. The version I ordered (Milanesa, $11.99) had breaded fried chicken, which was bland. Fortunately, the flavor was helped by the smoky chipotle peppers, the melty cheese, the thinly sliced ham and the abundance of sliced avocado.
You also can get cemitas with spiced pork, pork head or beef leg, and you can build your own.
You can’t go wrong with the tacos ($2.59), served on corn tortillas along with the requisite onions and cilantro. I had one with tripe, and it had an excellent fried flavor to it. Chicken, pork, steak, tongue and deep-fried pork are the other toppings.
One additional taco choice is the taco arabes ($2.99), which features a flour tortilla with fried onions and diced pork, which was tender, juicy and super flavorful.
Everything is made fresh onsite. Unfortunately, on one of my visits, the restaurant didn’t have any tamales ($1.99) or the pollo con mole ($8.99). So instead, I got the burrito ($7.99), which comes with your choice of one of the aforementioned meats. My steak burrito was quite filling with the rice and pinto beans inside, but at least there was enough of the tender steak to make it a satisfying meal. I spiced up the burrito with the housemade red sauce, which is fresh and spicy.
El Panzon is open every day for lunch and dinner.
