Case de Fritos Opens
August 19, 1955
On
August 19, 1955 Casa de Fritos, located next door to Aunt Jemima's Pancake
Restaurant invited its first hungry guest in month after
Disneyland’s opening. In addition to great food, the Mexican eatery featured a
unique Frito Kid chip-dispensing machine that gave you a bag of Fritos Corn
Chips for only a nickel. The Frito Kid stood just inside the door as you walked
to the counter. Guests would put a nickel in the cash box on the fence and the
Frito Kid came to life. While rolling his eyes, licking his lips, and turning
his head, his recorded voice would holler back to his unseen partner Klondike
inside the mountain to send down some more of those “golden chips of corn,” and
then a wax-paper bag of Fritos Corn Chips would slide down the chute. Park
visitors loved this Mexican restaurant that served favorites such as the Frito
Chile Pie - a bag of corn chips sliced open and topped with chile and melted
cheese as well as the popular“Ta-cup” which was made up of ground beef, cheese,
lettuce, and sauce in a fried corn dough cup.
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Originally
located in the corridor known as “New
Orleans Street” this restaurant favorite soon outgrew its space, and was
replaced by Don DeFore’s Silver
Banjo BBQ. When the Casa de Fritos moved next to the Mine Train Through
Nature’s Wonderland attraction on July 1, 1957 the Frito Kid also went to the
new location, but was moved from the right to the left of the chute, minus the
booth with the racks of potato chips, etc. The mountain mine set was also
redesigned to accommodate the different angle of the chute.
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| Photo Credit Imagineering Disney |
Today
in the original location of the Casa de Fritos is the ever-popular Rancho del
Zocalo Mexican Restaurant. A few architectural remnants still remain and the
archway with broken adobe and exposed brick that was once the main Casa de
Fritos entrance, now serves as an entrance to a dining area of Rancho del
Zocalo. In addition, the adobe/brick oven is still there today but with
tables and chairs in front. The days of
the Casa de Fritos and the Frito Kid may be a distant memory, put the tradition
of top notch Mexican food for reasonable prices still lives on today at the
Rancho del Zocalo. And that’s what
happened today in Disneyland history.
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