Culinary Explorations at Mi Ranchito

This Mi Ranchito restaurant is actually one of six in the area that have flavorful food said to be passed down through the centuries. I have heard the buzz about this mini franchise. I just had to try it and check it out for myself.

 The four of us came in during a rau

c

ous time when the place was full and the Big 10 basketball NCAA games were on the 

air. I was curious to see how a winning combination 

keeps this franchise expanding and keeping people coming in and satisfied.

The place was packed with eager fans yet we could still hear each other. 

(espinaca dip at left)

The authentic menu includes appetizers, salads, 18 specialities (fish tacos, combos, platters,s amplers and more), fajaitas, burritos, chimichangas, traditional menu offerings, eggs, combinations and lunch specials.

The extensive menu is amazing and

 so were the relatively low prices. Many of the eclectic offerings had creative combinations or ingredients that made my selection even more difficult. The different chimichangas caught my eye. However the one in the combination

 listing, Manchego beef, caught my eye instead of the other chimichangas. We sampled the mildly spicy tomato cilantro based salsa.

We agreed it was not the best salsa we ever tasted but was okay. It was tomato and good but no zing or special flavor. 

The taco salad (left) was nicely plated and had nice chunks of avocado.

We also tried their famous espinaca dip with its combination of Mexican and America cheese, onions, tomatoes and spinach. Not bad but it congealed into

 a solid within a 10 minutes. It needs to be in a little flame container to keep it liquid.

The wait staff is very attentive, helpful and friendly. They always kept our water filled and asked how we liked the meal and whether we needed anything.

My winning combination platter (left) arrived. I love chimichangas and I was not disappointed. The lightly fried wrapped tortillas enclosed the mild shredded beef. What stood out and took this

 dish to “another level” was the unexpected savory mushroom sauce on top of the chimichanga (not listed with the title of the entree). Nice surprise and really added to the entree. Still it melted into the beef and gave the entree even more identity and was heavenly. My platter came with a corn tortillas and bean and cheese flat tostado and cheese enchilada. These were good although not as majestic tasting as my beef chimichanga. Still I enjoyed the contrasted tastes and the refried beans. My wife and my friend enjoyed their sumptuous chicken avocado salad served in a exquisite tortillas bowl (my wife skipped the jalapeno dressing). Our other friend liked the vegetarian burrito with broccoli, mushrooms, peppers, pico de inside a tortilla with black beans and rice. The teams that won were winners and so were our dishes. I now know why people keep coming back to this mini franchise.

While I don’t usually  prefer "franchise"  type  restaurants, this place is deservedly a winner with so many traditional and non traditional dishes. The dishes were excellent and I can see why are here and that keeps people coming back and expanding the business. The prices for great food no doubt is some of the best value of its kind in Kansas City. It seems that I definitely could see coming back here or at another of the locations,  to sample more of the surprises and their "winning game".

China Buffet- some hits, some misses but some tasty entrees and more

 The newly opened restaurant, China Buffet, doesn’t have a fancy name. I’ve seen this restaurant before and ducked into once but never ate as it did not look interesting. However when I saw the place boasted about having the largest buffet in the Kansas City area (a re-opening?), I thought I would check out whether this buffet lives up to its billing and how good the food was.

Entering the building, I could hear soft nice music. The serving area was smaller then I thought it would be. One area had the tables with the food but surely it did not look like the biggest buffet around. Maybe its a PR move and in a way it is. I looked at the menu and the big seafood part of the buffet (crab legs and more ) were for the night. Plus items are changed frequently so all the items are not there for lunch or dinner but these are still counted So the sum of the parts might equal the largest buffet. No matter tasting the food is the real public relations test.

There were quite a lot of dishes. But the largest moniker titling probably includes the dessert items, condiments, and items listed. I started with hot and sour soup. It had a nice distinctive flavor but not too spicy or sweet/sour but it did have a distinctive heat spiciness which i liked and was different. I am not an egg drop soup “fan” but I felt it was one of the best ones I have ever tasted. Thicker then usual it was nice and yellow with a very silky taste. I also liked the softwonton noodles soup. Wonton means “ swallowing the cloud} . Like a thin skin ravioli, it is made with a trailed noodle which floats in the soup liked “trailing clouds. You know I like something when I have to find a little information about its history.

I decided to do a tapas- like approach and savor the main dishes I wanted (I skipped several Pork dishes). The best were: coconut shrimp (white soft delectable balls of shrimp with a curious white coating); crab rangoon ( typical but good fried correctly); three different fresh tasting types of sushi (with green wasabi paste and pickled reddish ginger ). The rice pudding was creamy and excellent (for all I know it comes out of can/jar), The I spied some green like long items near the sushi and tasted it. Looked stringy but it was soft with little strands of carrots with a slight salty spicy taste. I asked even though I surmised) is was seed weed. It was sweeter and really good then I had tastedpreviouslyy at a restaurant in Overland Park that no longer exists.


The items that I sampled but were not as good and were okay were 3 types of egg rolls (meat, vegetable and another) which were fried but did not taste that great; chicken and broccoli; special chicken (not so special!); Marley chicken was not that spicy or have any particular specific flavor (I’ve had this at other restaurants and it has better flavor there); honey chicken chicken (too sweet and I have better at other places); egg food young ( did not have a good onion and egg flavor that I expected as other buffets); mushroom chicken did not have a meaty- buttery type taste I usually get from entrees like this); beef on stick ( little stringy); chicken wings (not spicy and did not have much flavor.

To top it off I sampled strawberry cheesecake ice cream I sampled had a lot of flavor (Baskin & Robbins like).

There were also different dishes that were not Chinese/. Asian meant to be part of the buffet that I did not touch like the regular salad bar items, baked potatoes
The soup were winners It has a big menu so you can also try other dishes not on the buffets. There are house specialties, all day comb specials. While it might not have been the largest set of items at the time, I visited, there was much that was good.

All in all for me, and possibly others, to come back to a restaurant, there are several factors . The price for lunch was right ($7.25). I thought the soups were special. Several has different textures, colors but above all tasted different then the normal and were a “level above” what I deem “average”. For overall consistency-wise, I prefer two places all you can eat places in Lawrence and Olathe.But I like a place that pulls a few surprises, has different flavors and has a " different take on foods " that I have not tasted before. I could see coming back here and seeing whether there are some entrees I missed.