Taco Grande ~ Kansas : Hays

Latest visit: Sep 2023 (Hays)

First visit: Jul 1981 (Abilene)

Locations: Best I can tell there are only three locations of this chain left that carry the name: Hays, Concordia, and Wichita. There's also The Original Grande. More to come on that post.

We had good success thrifting in Colby, but it was very time consuming, and we needed to get further east, as we did have to be in Kansas City by Sunday night. So the next stop was Hays, a town we're very familiar with. The big decision was do we stop here and eat/drink at one of our favorite brewpubs (Gella's Diner), or press on to Salina? We chose the latter. But we decided on a quick snack before leaving.

This will be one of a few "didn't I write about this chain already?" posts. I remember the first date of this chain well because it was at the time of Prince Charles and Diana's wedding. As noted before, Dad was a traveling salesman in the industrial uniform business. It was a garden variety summer Wednesday otherwise, but he took extra time that morning to watch the wedding. My old man was something of a royalist and loved the pomp and circumstance of the entire affair. I was 16 and it seemed all rather boring to me, but I didn't complain - I was happy not to be working myself (while thinking about girls, music, and... tacos...) We watched it from a Holiday Inn in Salina. Funny what you remember. He loved every minute of it - chugging down cups of coffee and chaining one ciggy after another. It's amazing I can still breathe. In any case...

Mrs. RJG and I have been to this location in Hays at least twice before. It's a very small space, and their tacos remain excellent. Good meat and shells. They have five salsas, and this really is Kansas' secret sauce: Mild, Hot, X-Hot, Green Chili, and Picante. We had the latter 4, with picante having the best flavor and X-Hot representing the salsa of my youth. Nothing extraordinary of course, but the RJG's love the quick snack and the experience of going.

Taco Grande was once a thriving chain. Started by Mike Foley, cousin of Dan Foley, the founder of Taco Tico (and do I have a story for you on a later post!). Apparently they started in 1960 in Wichita, and they were likely the first taco chain in the area. I know they had a few in Wichita, and I've been to a couple, but have no idea if it's the one that remains open. In fact Mr. Music and I embarked on a record buying trip way back in 1991 and we went to a location in Wichita.

Who knows how long they will keep going. It seems to be a dying chain, and I wouldn't be surprised they roll it up one day soon. But Fort Hays State University is here, and the kids are always looking for cheap and tasty eats. So who knows?

7/29/81; 11/10/91; 5/7/03; 5/9/09; 10/6/10; 9/30/23 (new entry)

Abilene, Kansas; Hays, Kansas