Quote Originally Posted by Urbanized View Post
As a kid growing up in Wichita - I’m a 6th generation central Oklahoman but my mom got a teaching job in the 316 and my folks moved there before I was born - I was extremely partial to Taco Tico. We also had another solid chain there called Taco Grande, though I have no idea regarding whether it still survives.

Anyway, when I moved to OKC in the mid eighties I was super happy to find Taco Tico, including the aforementioned one in Edmond but also one on May just south of Mayfair. Now that one is Sheesh Mahal. I was terribly bummed when it closed. The entire Tico chain folded but various attempts were made to revive it using the original recipes. I ate at one on a trip to Wichita maybe a decade ago; not sure if it still survives. It was a pretty close approximation but not precisely as I’d remembered it.

Taco Bell’s off-menu enchirito was a pretty close approximation of the Taco Tico enchilada, which was my favorite thing at Tico. Now I can’t even get THAT.
So, reading your post was surreal for me. I am a 3rd generation Okie but in 1983 we moved to the Wichita area to take care of my Grandmother who wouldn't leave Kansas. I was in the 5th grade and I essentially grew up there and lived there off and on between my time at OU for college, until 2001 when I moved back to OKC. Grew up on both Taco Tico and Taco Pronto. I actually loved Pronto even more than Tico and would frequent the location in Derby until it closed in the 90's. Looks like there is still one last Pronto and one last Grande still open there. Taco Shop had rapidly expanded there when I last lived there in the late 90's and it was very good as well.

Part of why I love Taco Casa is because it reminds me so much of those places I grew up with.

Speaking of the Taco Bell Enchirito/Tico Enchilada... The Chilada at Taco Casa is the exact same thing, even down to the black olives. You NEED to go have one if you haven't.