Hidden inside this new Wichita grocery store is a little restaurant with a big menu

There’s a big new grocery store at the corner of Pawnee and Seneca, and there are lots of reasons to go check it out — inexpensive produce and a see-it-to-believe-it meat counter among them.

But the new El Rio Bravo Supermarket in the Westway Plaza shopping center at 2501 S. Seneca — had something else worth checking out that I was not expecting when I visited this weekend.

In the back southern corner of the market is a little taco counter with a pretty big menu, and on Saturday afternoon, it was hopping. The “cocina” offers various tacos, burritos and quesadillas, and diners can choose from a long list of meats both familiar (carnitas, pastor, barbacoa and chicken) and more adventurous (tongue, tripe, chicharron.)

The menu also includes soups like menudo and pozole; breakfast dishes including chilaquiles and sausage-and-egg sandwiches, plus things like shrimp cocktail, a whole cooked fish, chile rellenos, sopes, tamales, gorditas, and flautas. Drinks include aguas frescas, champurrado and coffee.

Those who want to feed a crowd will also find lots of prepared meats served by the pound, including carnitas, ribs, tripe and pork skin, as well as whole and half roasted chickens.

The menu didn’t include the popular Mexican corn dish called elote, but not to worry. Just inside the doors to the market was an elote cart, where customers could stop and get a cup of warm, corny goodness topped with whatever they wanted.

These, though, were just a couple of the wonders inside the store, which occupies about 28,000 square feet. I was most impressed by the massive meat counter, which sells every cut of beef, chicken and pork you can think of including several that cooks will often come across in recipes but sometimes have trouble finding locally — like skirt steak, short ribs, pig’s feet, whole octopus and whole tilapia. What caught my eye were the many marinated and ready-to-cook meats, including chicken and beef fajita meat, beef taco meat and marinated short ribs.

There’s also a big bakery featuring many of the Mexican pastries and baked goods available in places like Juarez Bakery, including fresh churros, and next to the self-serve sweets area was a display case of elaborately decorated cakes. In the front of the store, there were several freezer cases featuring the Mexican ice cream bars made by local stores like Paleteria La Reyna and Tropicana.

And the produce section was also something to behold. The store carries several things that cost less than at other stores. I got two giant avocados, for example, for 89 cents apiece this weekend. It also has every type of pepper you could ever wish for and hard-to-find things like fresh cactus, chayote, papaya and star fruit.

El Rio Bravo, which opened in Wichita in early December, is part of a Kansas City-based chain. Its hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Check out the Cocina menu below.

El Rio Bravo market menu

Denise Neil

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6327

Denise Neil has covered restaurants and entertainment since 1997. Her Dining with Denise Facebook page is the go-to place for diners to get information about local restaurants. She’s a regular judge at local food competitions and speaks to groups all over Wichita about dining.