I have the pleasure to live 45min away from Zapata...believe me there is no words to explain how delicious the chicken fried steak cheese AND gravy is...if I was in death row that would be my last meal.
I ate at El Paraiso a few times when I lived there in the original restaurant. It tended to be known as "Tencha's". I loved the taste of their big 'home style' cheeseburgers! So when I would visit Zapata that's what I would get when I would eat there. But when I visited in 96 I ordered a chicken fried steak in which it was so big that it took up the whole plate but it did not have cheese. One of Zapata's best! I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Hortencia in late 95 when I went to eat there, telling her about having eaten there before, after having heard so much about her many years earlier. RIP Hortencia, you built a great restaurant!
Spent my summers in Zapata, falcon lake, crossing over to Mexico for some good times. Zapata Tx is a must visit again. Shout out from Corpus Christi TX..
Proud and former lifetime Laredoans , we now live a block away from El Paraiso Restaurant and I can proudly say all the food is amazing there! Thanks for making this video Texas Bucket List! Proud to represent Zapata ! El Paraiso has also made it to the Texas Monthly Magazine as one of the Best Small Town Cafes out of 40 places back in 2013.
My wife and I have eaten at restaurants thru out the united states and without question this place has the best chicken fried steak we have ever had. The negative comments sound like competitor BS. We ride our Harley several hours a few times a year to eat here and have never been disappointed.
I dream of tencha burgers; they were the BEST!! She would toast the bread on the griddle. And I am forever gratefull to for her kindness and generosity 💝
It looks good. I went through Zapata last month. On my way to McAllen from Laredo. It looked like there was nothing out there. Just a tiny, rural poor town. I saw the dirt roads. Something you see in few places in this country. I was hungry. But I left after stopping for gas. I wish I knew about this place. The food looks good. Gringo but good. I'll definitely check it out. The next time I'm in Laredo.
It's these Mom and Pop resturants that seem to have some of the best food. Chicken Fried steak is such a Texas tradition, I just never thought about it smothered with gravy and cheese, but it looked so good, especially the quacamole. The only thing I would add are some homemade flour tortillas.
I used to live in Detroit Michigan but now i live in Laredo the first time i had chicken fried steak crispy tacos enchiladas rice and beans I thought it was awkward now I'm hooked on it from time to time I go visit this famous restaurant it's Great..one time years back me and a bunch michiganders they came in motorcycles from Ann Arbor Michigan we had a good time and good food..
@@getsomezs Some dark times if you want you can visit Zapata and go see for yourself its peaceful nice little town but you dig deep you'll see the dark truth
We drove from McAllen to Zapata to eat at El Paraiso. The food is delicious and great customer service. My husband and I had friends from McAllen and the had a lake home in Zapata and we'd spend weekends there...sweet memories.
What I like about this channel is just the out of the way places that serve such great food. As for that plate, I would not say no to it but I know my Blood Sugar would spike big time, diabetic but it might be worth it never the less. Another place I am going to have to get to one of these days.
Everything on the menu is delicious but the chicken fried steak is the best and you can top it however you like. Definitely a place to not miss if you’re ever in Zapata. Breakfast is also great.
I used to work in Zapata for Golden he would always take us driver's there, awesome boss and friend, he took me to alot of good places to eat in Zapata, I still can't forget about Z-Wings best wings in the whole valley, cool breeze, rincon de angeles, el jaracho or something like that, so many you won't get bored lots of restaurants in Zapata. Shout out to the Villareal family good people. Will someone please buy El Cowboy Cumbia another shirt besides the American flag one, you all know what I'm talking about.
I went 1 time Really wasn’t what I expected rice was reheated and dry steak over cooked But the fideo soup 🍜 they give you arriving was more than excellent And watching this video I KNOW I SHOULD GIVE ANOTHER TRY 🔜
I'm only here to put my two cents in and let everyone reading know about a real hidden gem that deserves just as much credit as paraiso which is Diana's on hwy 16. Try their chicken fried steak, mexican plate and/or burgers. They have more stuff but those are my top three picks when I go or pick up.
I grew up when Tencha and her sister ran the place . They always gave me a lollipop when we paid & a hug and beso on the head. (Probably because we were the only butter blondes around in the 80’s😜). This food shown looks nothing like the goodness from back in the day. Linda was our main waitress on our almost daily visits. Man I miss my home town Zapata at times!
My brother Gonzalo used to work in Zapata Hospital. I was staying with him for some days and I wanted to sample the famous chicken fried steak. I went to the diner and I was about to order when I happened to see the waitress with a load full of plates to be served. As I looked on, suddenly she lost control of the plates and one of them came tumbling down to the floor. I did not order my chicken fried steak. I left the place and felt sorry for the waiter. I hope she did not get fired. It could happen to anyone.
I just can’t stop watching The Texas Bucket List I’m hungry for something down home and new and this show has showed me the way .....
I worked in Zapata several year's I miss it, and I miss that Chicken fried steak.
I have the pleasure to live 45min away from Zapata...believe me there is no words to explain how delicious the chicken fried steak cheese AND gravy is...if I was in death row that would be my last meal.
I ate at El Paraiso a few times when I lived there in the original restaurant. It tended to be known as "Tencha's". I loved the taste of their big 'home style' cheeseburgers! So when I would visit Zapata that's what I would get when I would eat there. But when I visited in 96 I ordered a chicken fried steak in which it was so big that it took up the whole plate but it did not have cheese. One of Zapata's best! I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Hortencia in late 95 when I went to eat there, telling her about having eaten there before, after having heard so much about her many years earlier. RIP Hortencia, you built a great restaurant!
Spent my summers in Zapata, falcon lake, crossing over to Mexico for some good times. Zapata Tx is a must visit again. Shout out from Corpus Christi TX..
Proud and former lifetime Laredoans , we now live a block away from El Paraiso Restaurant and I can proudly say all the food is amazing there! Thanks for making this video Texas Bucket List! Proud to represent Zapata ! El Paraiso has also made it to the Texas Monthly Magazine as one of the Best Small Town Cafes out of 40 places back in 2013.
Beautiful hard working woman. Godspeed
My wife and I have eaten at restaurants thru out the united states and without question this place has the best chicken fried steak we have ever had. The negative comments sound like competitor BS. We ride our Harley several hours a few times a year to eat here and have never been disappointed.
I dream of tencha burgers; they were the BEST!! She would toast the bread on the griddle. And I am forever gratefull to for her kindness and generosity 💝
What's tencha burgers
The guy who said “add it to your fries” you know he’s been there alot
Heck yeah, cheese and gravy french fries are da bomb. 👌
Awesome.....I'm about to eat a TV dinner
FML lol 😂
brad currie you’re better off. Trust me.
As long as it's not a "hot pocket " Jim Gaffigan.
All I can say is enjoy mi amigo, and get to El Paraiso a soon as you can.
The irony lol 🥴
Wow!!! That plate looks amazing!!! I would never have thought of adding cheese to a CFS!!! Definitely gonna road trip it for that!!!
I remember when I lived there in Zapata. It was a really small town. But the food is great there.. And Zapata is a great place to go fishing
Love being Latino I eat food like this almost daily 🤤🤘🏽
It looks good. I went through Zapata last month. On my way to McAllen from Laredo. It looked like there was nothing out there. Just a tiny, rural poor town. I saw the dirt roads. Something you see in few places in this country.
I was hungry. But I left after stopping for gas. I wish I knew about this place. The food looks good. Gringo but good. I'll definitely check it out. The next time I'm in Laredo.
Those are the best places , the hole on the wall Mon and pop restaurant
I’ve been there. Their food is freaking delicious. I love the fried chicken.
Its my hometown
It's these Mom and Pop resturants that seem to have some of the best food. Chicken Fried steak is such a Texas tradition, I just never thought about it smothered with gravy and cheese, but it looked so good, especially the quacamole. The only thing I would add are some homemade flour tortillas.
I used to live in Detroit Michigan but now i live in Laredo the first time i had chicken fried steak crispy tacos enchiladas rice and beans I thought it was awkward now I'm hooked on it from time to time I go visit this famous restaurant it's Great..one time years back me and a bunch michiganders they came in motorcycles from Ann Arbor Michigan we had a good time and good food..
Living in California wishing I was eating in Texas!
Same except I'd live out in the Lone Star! I was born in the wrong part of the country haha
Thank you for show casting these places. I've gone to many of them. Peace
God bless Texas !! Love my state !!
I love my state whit my heart but if you see dig in the truth about zapata it's a dark twist
@@nancy5673 what happened?
@@getsomezs
Some dark times if you want you can visit Zapata and go see for yourself its peaceful nice little town but you dig deep you'll see the dark truth
Must have after every fishing day!
We are from West Tx and we enjoy that restaurant and the people from Zapata.
Hello from France and thank you for your videos and you beautiful joy
Damn. That absolutely looks like Texas heaven.
We drove from McAllen to Zapata to eat at El Paraiso. The food is delicious and great customer service. My husband and I had friends from McAllen and the had a lake home in Zapata and we'd spend weekends there...sweet memories.
Passed by zapata several times. I will check this place out soon
The girl that was takingto the old guy is my tia
I like Texas bucket list videos on UA-cam, from the imperial co California.
Worked down there for a couple months and ate there almost every day really good food they had an Italian chicken fried steak it's was so good
El Paraiso and Steak House 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
El Paraiso has been in business at least 45 years, and has been serving the BEST chicken fried steak for all that time.
If you are in the Zapata area you should also stop by Tina’s restaurant it’s amazing!
Im here im visiting relatives.
Just looking at that food makes me go overthere all the way from Vegas😁
Tina was an original cook from Paraiso. In my opinion, she kept the recipe the closest to how Juan's mom (Tencha) intended it. Definitely try Tina's!
Shane i wanna see you do videos of youre top 10 restaurants
I’m coming down from Virginia to eat there! See you soon Wendy.
Oh man, that looks SO good!
In zapata theres a wing shop cauld Zwing.its bom and have a Zsauce that has ghost pepers and habenero
Everything looks and sounds great, and meeting Wendy. can't wait!!!
She's my boss and she's amazing and such a strong character ❤
El Fénix Bakery in Edinburg since 1947.
Now I gotta point my RV in that direction!
And the girl holding the plate is my cousin
She's cute brah
Tell her hit me up!
@@el_mas_mafioso how old r u where r u from
muy linda
Which one?
And I’m sitting here salivating over the commentator!!! Whooooooooohooooooooooo!!! ♥️
Man that just looks Absolutely Amazing 😇
What I like about this channel is just the out of the way places that serve such great food. As for that plate, I would not say no to it but I know my Blood Sugar would spike big time, diabetic but it might be worth it never the less. Another place I am going to have to get to one of these days.
Looks awesome for two meals, because I can’t eat that much in one. lol
I used to eat the cfs with cheese there in the nineties. There was two of them, one on either side of the Falcon Lake bridge.
Everything on the menu is delicious but the chicken fried steak is the best and you can top it however you like. Definitely a place to not miss if you’re ever in Zapata. Breakfast is also great.
RICON DE LOS ANGELES BEST RESTAURANT IN ZAPATA, TX, GO BY THER NEXT TIME TEXAS BUCKET LIST, PS. I LOVE YOUR SHOW👍
That's a big lie!
Its not lol. The service and food is better at Rincon....lol
🤔🤢🤮
That parking job at :30 LOL WTF
I used to work in Zapata for Golden he would always take us driver's there, awesome boss and friend, he took me to alot of good places to eat in Zapata, I still can't forget about Z-Wings best wings in the whole valley, cool breeze, rincon de angeles, el jaracho or something like that, so many you won't get bored lots of restaurants in Zapata. Shout out to the Villareal family good people. Will someone please buy El Cowboy Cumbia another shirt besides the American flag one, you all know what I'm talking about.
Go to the restaurant called las Vegas in Harlingen Texas !!!
averiee C calmate ay va corriendo
Eh it’s ok
Let’s go 😁
Looks amazing...........
Been there...pretty good chicken fried steak
Lol the parking @ 0:31
haha
Made me mad just looking at it lol.
I have eaten here before its great.
Go to the Rio Grande Valley to Pharr Texas and look for the Roundup. Try the Botana platter.
Damn - That plate looks good!
I look so good I would love to have some of that it really looks delicious🤟👍👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏🧡💛🥰🤩😍🌮 I love chicken fried steak is so good
The best chicken fried steak I've ever had the best
Wow that looks damn good 👍 Amazing Ladies also
That looks DEELISHOUS.
what a great video..so cool
That looks sooooo good!
Now you left me starving
Muh mouth is watering...
I went 1 time
Really wasn’t what I expected rice was reheated and dry steak over cooked
But the fideo soup 🍜 they give you arriving was more than excellent
And watching this video I KNOW I SHOULD GIVE ANOTHER TRY 🔜
Not for nothing but this guy gets bigger in every video. Lucky Guy!
As a rule, I don't trust skinny cooks or skinny food critics. I will definitely check this place out the next time I'm down there.
It DOES truly look DEElish! Drowning in drool over here!
Amigo, gracias a tu video me dio hambre, 😂😂😂.
Making me hungry!!!
Go in the winter, because it's HOT HOT HOT!
My father is the guy on The right of Juan in the picture of him with some of his regular clients
I can go there anytime i want i live in zapata
Do you have green card?
Lucky you !! Say hi from me to that beautiful lady whenever you see her .
Laredo tx here just less than an hr from there 😀
you should go to laredo, plenty of great restaurants!
I'm only here to put my two cents in and let everyone reading know about a real hidden gem that deserves just as much credit as paraiso which is Diana's on hwy 16. Try their chicken fried steak, mexican plate and/or burgers. They have more stuff but those are my top three picks when I go or pick up.
I grew up when Tencha and her sister ran the place . They always gave me a lollipop when we paid & a hug and beso on the head. (Probably because we were the only butter blondes around in the 80’s😜). This food shown looks nothing like the goodness from back in the day. Linda was our main waitress on our almost daily visits. Man I miss my home town Zapata at times!
3:47 minute the picture perfect tex-mex dish
My home town
👍 "Guacamole all night long!"
Big texter I Chihuahua 🤣
That looks good
Damn that looks awesome
That is Texas on a plate.
That looks sooo fire
damn, thats the kind of plate i like
DAMN that looks Scrumptiously DELICIOUS
My brother Gonzalo used to work in Zapata Hospital. I was staying with him for some days and I wanted to sample the famous chicken fried steak. I went to the diner and I was about to order when I happened to see the waitress with a load full of plates to be served. As I looked on, suddenly she lost control of the plates and one of them came tumbling down to the floor. I did not order my chicken fried steak. I left the place and felt sorry for the waiter. I hope she did not get fired. It could happen to anyone.
There's no hospital in Zapata
Yeah, there's no hospital in our town?
Nice!!
Looks goood😃
Yummmmm
Who parked that car at 00:30 ????
Delicious!
Tex Mex at its finest
I want it!
AYEEEEE I LIVE CLOSE TO THERE
Looks so gopd
Go to glass kitchen in Laredo texas
Salivating? Drooling is more like it!
and nobody's ther eating after 12noon. you should have gone to the
RICON DE LOS ANGELES 😇 #1