Taking A Trip To Mexico Via The El Rancho Supermercado In Fort Worth

This morning when I went for a swim it was 49 degrees. The water was a lot warmer than the air.

The temperature continued to get colder after the sun began its daily rise, eventually bottoming out at 46 before beginning to get hotter, with it currently being a not too balmy 53 in the middle of the last Friday afternoon of October of 2012.

In addition to a long swim and some other things, this morning I was reading this week's FW Weekly and came upon this week's Chow Baby column.

Chow Baby is sort of a restaurant review column written in an amusing manner. This week's article was titled Tortillas Flat. About two places where tortillas could be found near the border of Haltom City and Fort Worth, near the Belknap/Beach Street  intersection.

One of the places mentioned by Chow Baby was the EL RANCHO SUPERMERCADO. Chow Baby described the Supermercado as being as if all the Mexican products had seceded from Central Market and opened their own grocery store.

I figured this Supermerado place would have a website. I figured right. It's a really noisy website, playing Mexican music. I could not find the off button.

At the El Rancho website I learned that Fort Worth is not the only place where an EL RANCHO SUPERMERCADO is located. There are 5 in Dallas, 2 in Austin, 1 in Lewisville, 1 in Cockrell Hill, 1 in Arlington and even 1 in Odessa, conveniently located for the Queen of Wink.

Re-reading Chow Baby's words of wisdom I see she says the Beach Street store is #23 in the chain. I guess that means there are more EL RANCHO SUPERMERCADOs than what I saw on their website.

So, with it being so cold that going on a walk or hike or bikeride did not seem all that enticing, and after having had myself plenty of endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation from swimming this morning, I decided to go to the EL RANCHO SUPERMERCADO on Beach Street. Turns out it is not all that distant from Town Talk, just a short distance north of the Beach Street Walmart Supercenter.

I rather liked the EL RANCHO SUPERMERCADO, though I did not find a lot to buy there. It felt like a trip to Mexico. The same type Mexican music that blares from their website also blares in the store.

The EL RANCHO SUPERMERCADO has a big bakery with Mexican baked goods. My previous experience with Mexican baked goods has been that they look way better than they taste.

There is a restaurant that looked to have the Mexican food regulars, although I'm not sure about some of it because it was all in Spanish. I think tongue may have been on the menu. The dining room is nice and rustic with picnic tables.

At the Tortilleria (tortilla making operation to you non-Spanish speakers) I got myself a big batch of freshly made, still very hot, whole wheat tortillas.

Since the EL RANCHO SUPERMERCADO is so close to places I regularly go to, I will likely be back, if only for the fresh tortillas.