The Original Grande ~ Kansas : Abilene

First visit: Oct 2023 (Abilene)

Locations: Abilene, Salina, and Scott City

We started the next day by taking advantage of the hotel buffet breakfast. We always eat very light at these. I had a bagel with ham on the side - which was locally sourced and quite good. We then visited a wonderful local park and got in a fast walk. We both needed to rest our legs from running every day, and so we settled on this for exercise. It's amazing what amenities these smaller towns have. The tennis courts are very well maintained, and I longed to play a game. After that we headed towards Manhattan.

OK, so here we are at what used to be Taco Grande (read that entry first) having our first small snack of the day. And I think this is the exact location Dad and I went to back in 1981. The website doesn't tell the real history, settling rather on a silly backstory. But it's pretty obvious this is a splinter chain from Taco Grande.

Everything is similar, though we give the edge to The Original Grande. Primarily because the shells are homemade and very crispy. Excellent "mush meat". We tried three of their salsas, which should be familiar to anyone who's had a taco in Kansas: Hot; X-Hot, and Verde. All were great though not necessarily that spicy. How about that logo? Awesome.

10/1/23 (new entry)