Find fantastic, all-you-can eat Mexican food at La Fonda Mexican Buffet
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IDAHO FALLS — For five years, La Fonda Mexican Buffet has been delivering the best in authentic Mexican cuisine to Idaho Falls.
The restaurant, owned by Angelica Resendiz, sells delicious tacos for $1 or $2 a piece (depending on the size). On Taco Tuesday, tacos are available for 75 cents each.
The all-you-can-eat buffet features tacos, drinks and three main dishes that rotate every day for $12.99.
“Sometimes we have pork ribs and green salsa with nopales (cactus),” said Leslie Trejo, Resendiz’s daughter and an employee at the restaurant. “Sometimes we have picadillo. Sometimes we have, like fajitas with chicken mole. … It kind of just depends what my mom wants to make that morning.”
The buffet always includes delicious side dishes such as rice, whole beans, refried beans, sopa de fideo and pork rinds in green salsa or red salsa.
“Then we always have two soups that change every day, so we have posole and menudo, or sometimes we have birria (beef stew) albondigas (meatball soup) or caldo de res (beef soup).”
You can also order La Fonda’s individual entrees.
Resendiz and Trejo prepared four authentic dishes for reporters to try on East Idaho Eats.
The sope is a traditional dish in Mexico, consisting of a fried tortilla complete with meat, beans, lettuce, sour cream and cheese.
“You get to choose your meats, so we have like spicy pork, chicken or beef,” Trejo said. “That one’s really good – it’s really popular.”
She said night stands throughout Mexico City frequently sell sopes as a staple in Mexican cuisine.
Resendiz said her favorite dish is the mulita.
“It’s kind of like a quesadilla … in a corn tortilla. It also has onion and cilantro,” Trejo said.
The fried tortillas add to the mouth-watering crunchy texture.
Third, we tried tacos dorados, one of the restaurant’s most requested meals. The rolled tacos come four to a plate with lettuce, sour cream and cheese.
Finally, Trejo recommended the huarache. Huaraches means “sandals” in Spanish and it is served on a large sandal-shaped piece of fried bread. The huarache is also accompanied by a choice of meat, cheese lettuce and sour cream.
Most of the dishes come from Resendiz’s hometown located three hours from Mexico City.
“We also sell the tortillas by the dozen,” Trejo said. “It’s $1.90 a dozen, and if you have an event or something, you just give us a call and we can make them.”
Stepping into the restaurant, located at 1635 S Woodruff Ave., is like entering a Mexican festival — with colorful banners hanging from the roof and elaborate paintings, sombreros, decor and figurines throughout the interior. The taste of Mexico is complete with a touch of Latin music in the background.
Every time her mother travels back to Mexico, she returns with something new to decorate the restaurant, Trejo said.
The restaurant is truly a family-run business, with family members taking orders, working the kitchen, checking in with customers and wiping down tables.
Resendiz has more than 20 years of experience in the industry, and her talent for culinary excellence shines as wide as her smile. Frequent visitors to the restaurant call her their “Tia” or Aunt Angelica.
La Fonda also caters to events from Idaho Falls to Jackson, Wyoming. On some weekends, they prepare as many as 500 tortillas for weddings and quincinieras.
“We also do the trays, like a full pan for rice, beans or any other food that you want us to make,” Trejo said.
La Fonda is the only authentic Mexican buffet in Idaho Falls. It is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can learn more at http://orderlafondamexicanbuffet.com.
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