The Setup

Burchy and I were born and raised Okies and after 40+ years in Oklahoma, we made the big move to the beaches of Pensacola, Florida in the Summer of 2016. We knew that we were in for changes moving to a completely different region of the US, but one thing we were not prepared for was NO complimentary cheese at the local Mexican food restaurants. We are a family that loves food and Mexican food is usually at the top of the list. Kaden should be fluent in Spanish due to the amount of Mexican food Burchy consumed while she was pregnant with him.

In most Oklahoma Mexican restaurants, complimentary cheese is pretty much the norm so you can only imagine our amazement as we continued to visit Mexican restaurants in the Pensacola area and time after time NO complimentary cheese as well as tortillas and relish(onions, carrots, jalapenos) along with a post meal sopapilla. How could this be?? We found establishments that had some quality items but still could not find one that had the “total package” when it came to a Mexican dining experience that was to the standard we were used to in Oklahoma. For the King family, the “set up” is a big deal and sets the stage for a quality dining experience.

We typically travel home each year for Thanksgiving to visit family and enjoy the holiday season. Outside of visiting family, hitting up local eateries that we miss is always a priority and Mexican flavors are always on the list. This year we decided to come home for the 4th of July for many of the same reasons. A must on this years list was to dine in at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants Ted’s Cafe Escondido. Now there are many good ones here in Oklahoma but Ted’s has always been very consistent as far as taste, service, and overall dining experience. One of the areas we feel they excel at is their “set up”. Needless to say we must have looked like little kids walking into a toy store. As we sat and waited for our table, I chose to stare at the station where fresh flour tortillas were being made to deliver to various tables. Promptly after being seated, we were presented with chips and our own individual serving of salsa and of course COMPLIMENTARY CHEESE! We were then asked if we would like tortillas and as always we requested flour AND corn. We also had the option of having their atomic salsa which I really enjoy along with relish. As always, we ate too much of the “set up” and then the meal comes so we are trying our best to stuff the main course down which was excellent as usual. After requesting a couple of to go boxes we could not turn down the post meal sopapilla that is covered with cinnamon sugar and enhanced with a generous amount of honey squeezed on top. Needless to say, we left the establishment very satisfied with our experience, an experience that we have been missing for several years now. There have been some years that we have done a take out from Ted’s which is very good but there is just something about the “dine in” experience that left us saying walking to the car “that was fantastic!”

I think we all can relate that everything is relative to where we are or where we are most comfortable and familiar. When you live somewhere for so long, the things we like become the “best” in any particular category. Now that we have had the opportunity to compare and contrast Mexican eateries in two different regions for a length of time, we have decided that it is hard to ignore the significance of a more dynamic “set up.” We will continue to hold out hope that at some point in the future Pensacola Mexican eateries will come around to at least some complimentary cheese and maybe even expand to tortillas and relish. If not, that is ok, we will continue to get our “set up” fix back in Oklahoma once or twice a year.