Restaurant Review: Pancho's

Ole!

Long ago, I gave up on the dream of finding good Mexican food outside of the Western Hemisphere. I've had enchiladas made with feta cheese and topped with mayo in Nizhny Novogorod, salsa served with Ruffles potato chips in Moscow, and countless other bastardizations of Mexican delicacies. And yet, Brian and I found ourselves drawn to Pancho's in Baku, which was touted as the closest we'd get to Mexican food outside of the West. I mean, with all of the Texans in town for the oil, it seemed quite possible that Pancho's might indeed serve up the Mex food, south of the border style.

Brian ordered a chimichanga, I a vegetarian burrito. All in all, I would have to concur with the Baku locals and say that Pancho's is by far the best Mexican I have had this side of the Atlantic. While neither dish seemed entirely authentic (the burrito was more like a hybrid enchilada), they were both delicious and avoided the faux pas of using local ingredrients in lieu of the originals (i.e. dill instead of cilantro). So if any of you decide to cash in on the oil boom and find yourself shipped off to Baku, we highly recommend Panchos.