Now Open: Pardo’s Grand Buffet

​A friend of mine — a true connoisseur of Mexican cuisine — turned me on to the two-month-old Pardo’s Grand Buffet restaurant at 904 Southwest Boulevard, on the same retail stretch as the melon-colored Taqueria Mexico.

I’ve eaten in the restaurant twice now, including once for Sunday desayuno when scrambled eggs with peppers are on the buffet, along with a first-rate menudo. I don’t know if I’d call this buffet grand, but it is satisfying.

The restaurant itself, an old storefront with an interesting tiled floor and barely a dozen tables, is too tiny to be grand. The selection of Mexican dishes is excellent, however. There’s typically chicken simmered in a thick mole sauce, fine chile rellenos (be careful of the toothpicks hidden in the cheese-filled peppers), sauteed beef with jalapenos, camerones, spicy chicken or pork, fresh fruit, salad, rice, beans and a choice of flour or corn tortillas — all for about eight bucks.

For the after-bar crowd, Pardo’s offers a midnight buffet on Friday and Saturday nights until 4 a.m.