Real appeal of Pancho’s Kitchen is the food, not surroundings

At first glance, Pancho's Kitchen doesn't seem like the type of place one would drive out of the way to visit. It's inside a small shopping center with a sign that almost screams "dive taco shop."

But don't let this small, hole-in-the wall Mexican restaurant fool you. The interior is rudimentary — the Formica tables are dressed in Mexican striped tablecloths and covered in plastic — but the real magic here lives in the food.

Mexican natives Pancho Mares and his wife, Elena, run the restaurant. For the past five years, the couple have been serving traditional Mexican food at local farmers markets. They opened their first brick-and-mortar location due to customer demand in the Spring Valley area last April.

The menu covers breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a special menu dedicated to innovative vegan selections.

Breakfast items, served until noon, include buttermilk, chocolate chip, wheat and banana flourless pancakes; sweet corn tamales; vegan and regular chilaquiles; vegan and regular molletes; huevos rancheros; and vegan huevos rancherios, each less than $10.

Regular lunch and dinner entrees include traditional burritos, quesadillas, soft tacos and crunchy tacos, while other more authentic items include memelas, enchiladas, tostadas, salad bowls, nachos, fries, tortas and gringas, ranging from $6 to $12.

Vegan lunch and dinner plates feature most regular items with more vegetables to replace the meat and soy-based cheese and sour cream. The most popular vegetarian item is the taco plate ($10), with choices of beer-battered avocado, poblano and zucchini, crispy potato, or lime, cilantro and mushroom. Tacos are made with a choice of blue or yellow corn tortillas and include Mexican-style rice and beans.

The vegan tamal ($8) is free of genetically modified ingredients and gluten and is served with rice, beans and salsa. It is made with zucchini, chile poblano, corn, onion, tomato and garbanzo beans and wrapped in Swiss chard.

Other specialty vegan items include the green pozole ($8.99) made with hominy soup and served with cabbage, avocado, tomato and two taquitos, and the green enchiladas ($8.99) made with potatoes, mushroom or chile poblano.

The vegan gorditas are made with blue, yellow or green corn masa and come with customer's choice of lime, cilantro, mushrooms, beer-battered avocado, poblano and zucchini, refried beans or crispy potato.

The gorditas are handmade and are served warm, stuffed with vegetables. They come with lettuce, sour cream and a side of lime.

To ensure that customers don't leave feeling hungry, Pancho's Kitchen also offers nachos topped with Mexican rice, pinto beans, pico de gallo, guacamole sauce, sour cream and shreds of cheese.

In addition, the vegan-fried items are prepared in a separate fryer that has never been used with animal products.

To add more flavor to the meal, or to wash it down, drinks include soda in cans, Mexican soda, bottled water, various flavors of fruit water, coffee and seasonal champurrado, a chocolate-based atole.

With salsa made from scratch, fresh tortillas made daily by hand and a creative vegan menu, it's hard to find a more authentic and delicious place to satisfy the one's craving for Mexican food.

Pancho's Kitchen, 3655 S. Durango Drive, No. 27, is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. It can also be found at the Las Vegas Farmers Market, the fresh52 Farmers Market and the farmers market at Downtown Summerlin.

Visit panchoskitchenlv.com or call 702-370-0987.