We Need Your Help!

Looking again at the food offerings at Spartan Stadium, we at TOSSS need your help. We've lamented over the last few months about the loss of Pancheros, and a commenter brought up the fact that the Coney Island is also gone. The new Maria's Tacos got poor reviews, so now what?

We're looking for great food at Spartan Stadium for an upcoming Final Four Friday, and we would love to hear your thoughts ahead of time. We need the stand and it's location, and your favorite item from that stand. Tell us why it's good, the price, etc. We'll narrow it down to the top four and then feature those one of these Fridays.

Please leave your thoughts here in the comments or email us at tosss.1855@gmail.com.

A New Victory Burrito?

Along with the opening of Spartan Stadium for the year came the opening of it's new concessions, and TOSSS asked frequent reader Tom Edwards to try out a burrito from Maria's Tacos. We're looking for a contender for the "Victory Burrito", a pretty high standard currently held by Pancheros. Here are his thoughts:

It was a beautiful day for football at Spartan Stadium. The sun was shining, the air was warm, and the Spartans were up 28 points at halftime. So it was time to try out the new Mexican option at the stadium. First off, the option resides behind the south endzone, so I had to make the long journey from section six. This takes a while during the halftime rush. When I reached the stand I saw that I could immediately place my order. I should have taken this as a bad sign as everywhere else had long lines. However I took my beef burrito and drink and booked back to my seat only to emerge into the stands right as kick off occurred.

I sit down ready to enjoy my meal and the rest of the game. I then opened up the foil wrapping and was confronted with a yellow mass of food. It was not a trick of the bright sunlight overheard, nor was it even a yellow corn tortilla, it was a burrito positively bathing in grease. To add insult to injury, the burrito was obviously not loaded evenly consisting of a very skinny end and a very fat end. This forced me to take several bites of tortilla before even getting to the main part of the burrito. When I actually I found that the burrito consisted of five ingredients: a flour tortilla, ground beef, shredded taco cheese, red beans that appeared to have disintegrated to a paste, and copious amounts of grease. Before I comment further it is useful to look at the origins of Maria's Tacos. Going to the Maria's Tacos website yielded this interesting paragraph on its founding:

"In 1997 on the campus of Michigan State University, two friends Ruben De Los Rios and James Espinoza, began selling burritos every Sunday to the poor and hungry students of Rather Hall Dormitory. What began as a hobby and service to fellow students soon turned into an expanding business as customers lined up in Rather hall, establishing Maria's Tacos. When Michigan State University student organizations caught word of Maria's Tacos, the duo began catering for ethnic events and the operation was then in full swing!"

Yes, it was founded in a dorm room in the Brody Complex, and it tastes like it too. The cheese is of low quality, the beef is of low quality and obviously the only seasoning used are those packets of taco mix that you buy at the store. So basically this was a meal that could have been cooked up in any dorm room on a hot plate. The only difference is that I know that in the directions of those little packets of taco mix they instruct you to drain the grease before serving the meat.

Zero out of five stars
--

So, it looks like the search for a Victory Burrito in Spartan Stadium may be continuing. Our suggestion for now may be to visit Pancheros on Grand River before the game, and bring a burrito with you over to the game. Perhaps though, Maria's Tacos suffered some first game jitters, and they will be putting out a better product in future weeks.

If you are still brave enough for a try next weekend, Mr. Edwards took note of some options:

• Beef or Chicken Taco - $2.50
• Meal Deal of 3 Tacos - $6.00
• Beef or Chicken Burrito Grande - $5.00
• Beef or Chicken Taco Salad - $6.00

If you try one of these out next weekend, or already have, please let us know what you think!

New Concession Options in Spartan Stadium

As we discussed here last month, there are changes coming to Spartan Stadium concessions, most notably the loss of the Panchero's near the Student Section.

TOSSS has been working to find out what other changes we should expect, and specifically what vendor will be replacing the Panchero's. It looks like the vendor fans should expect in that location will be Submarina. Their store location in town is over in the Edgewood Towne Center off of Cedar St. They were also the sub vendor for Breslin Center starting last season, and MSU "Received very good feedback from our customers," according to Bill Kost, Associate Director of Retail Food Service at MSU.

For those that just can't give up the craving for Mexican food during a Spartan football game, MSU is adding Maria's Tacos at a location in the South endzone, next to Sparty's Pizza. This should help to offset the loss of the Panchero's in food variety. No word yet if Maria's will be serving anything that may qualify as a "Victory Burrito," but TOSSS will continue to investigate.

A Sad Day for the Victory Burrito

Panchero's location in Spartan Stadium is no more.

For many years, Panchero's Mexican Grill has had a location in Spartan Stadium under section 9, providing Spartan fans with an superb alternative to classic stadium cuisine with their giant burritos. It was confirmed Panchero's will not return to the stadium for the 2009 season.

No word yet on what food vendor will fill the section 9 location, or if there will be an alternative burrito provider somewhere else in Spartan Stadium. The change could mean the loss of an entire genre of food available in the stadium, where variety is already an issue.

Panchero's enjoys a special relationship with East Lansing and Spartan fans. Their East Lansing restaurant on Grand River Ave was one of two original locations opened in 1992. It proved so successful that there are now over 50 locations nation-wide. Last month, Panchero's was named the preferred vendor for the Victory Burrito tradition by both TOSSS writers and in a fan poll.

Workers at their East Lansing location expressed disappointment about the change for the upcoming season. "Now you'll have to come here first, and sneak the burrito into the Stadium."