La Bamba. Still one of the best burritos I’ve ever had. Hot sauce was hot too. From a 1997 Collegian article....
Madeline Gomez (senior-theater), left, enjoys her burrito at the La Bamba restaurant yesterday with friend Anne Hanson (junior-theater), who says, "It's about time we have a place to go with real good, fast Mexican food." The new fast food Mexican restaurant specializes in "burritos as big as your head."
Burritos as big as your head have arrived.
La Bamba, a family-owned chain of Mexican restaurants, has recently opened its doors for business in downtown State College.
The fast food establishment, located just behind McDonald's, 442 E. College Ave., began serving its tacos, tortas and head-size burritos on Jan. 31.
The super-size burritos weigh about two pounds and can be "hard to handle," said Jaime Romo, manager of La Bamba, 111 Sowers St.
J.P. Jaworski (sophomore-premedicine), who recently consumed one of the super-size burritos, did not quite agree with that assessment.
"I ate it too fast," he said. "I didn't give it time to be hard to handle."
The first La Bamba opened in 1988 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Additional locations have since opened at other Big Ten schools and in various cities throughout the Midwest. The State College location is the 15th La Bamba, Romo said.
Meanwhile, the effect of La Bamba's presence on the downtown economy remains to be seen. Ed Miller, manager of Taco Bell, 322 W. College Ave., does not think the new restaurant will affect business at his establishment for reasons of location.
"I don't think it will (affect business), because we're at one end of College Avenue and they're at the other," Miller said.
Scott Hall (freshman-anthropology), an employee at Taco Bell, also predicted that business will not be affected.
"People know Taco Bell," Hall said. "They'll come here forever."
Indeed, the two restaurants do both serve fast Mexican food. However, their menus are different.
La Bamba specializes in homemade hot sauce and beans, Romo said.
That hot sauce was enough to bring tears to the eyes of Ed Smith (senior-kinesiology), but Matt Rudy (senior-psychology) was not as impressed.
All of La Bamba's food is prepared at the restaurant and in front of the customer, Romo said.
The restaurant is open daily from 11 a.m. until "after the bars close," Romo said.
