Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
It’s unique New Mexican cuisine, tasty and half a century old.
I can’t be talking about anything but the Allsup’s burrito. No, the burrito itself hasn’t been sitting under a heat lamp for that long but the concept has endured for 50 years. That’s right, since 1974, they’ve been frying those yummy little gut bombs at an “Allsup’s near you.”
Apparently we’re about a month into a year-long celebration of the world famous burrito from eastern New Mexico. A month in and I still haven’t stopped by for a burrito since it started.
There was a time in my youth when there were two choices for lunch — a jumbo cheeseburger at Pat’s Twin Cronnies or a pair of Allsup’s beef and bean burritos. Pat’s had been around for awhile but Allsup’s burritos were not yet famous when I was a freshman in high school and just beginning to drive on public streets.
Both meals were right at a dollar before you added a drink, so they fit the budget of a starving teenager. About that time I worked Saturday nights at the newspaper and we always made an Allsup’s run at some time during the evening, before, during or after the press run. In the wee hours of the morning I always paired my burritos with a large carton of chocolate milk. I reasoned the creamy chocolate milk would soothe any rough edges in my stomach created by eating fried burritos at that hour.
Lonnie Allsup started his grocery store chain in Roswell in 1956 and it seems like by the late 1960s or early ’70s we had our first store in Portales. He was said to be the first person to ever sell fried burritos in a convenience store and apparently the idea was a stroke of genius.
These days, with stores not only stretching across New Mexico and West Texas, numerous other states have come to love the delicacy since Yesway purchased the Allsup’s chain in 2019 after Lonnie Allsup’s death. Now they reportedly sell 27 million of them a year.
If that’s not crazy enough, Allsup’s world famous beef and bean burrito is now sold online. Apparently they’ll ship them to you handmade like always and ready to fry at home, wherever home might be.
There’s also a guy with a song out about the Allsup’s burrito. Sort of a love story on the sly sort of an ode. No one admits to, or at least likes to own up to, eating them. But in his song Aaron LaCombe reassures the entrée, he’s taking her home tonight.
My favorite way to end the age-old stalemate with my late wife of “Where do you want to eat tonight?” “I don’t care,” was to say “OK, Allsup’s burritos it is.” She made up her mind fast after that threat.
I still like them but these days I’ll admit they’re relegated to road food for me. I try to watch my figure you know.
When I do cave in to the craving I only get one. Those things aren’t 50 cents anymore you know.
Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:
