Anglers Inn’s “Off Menu” Items
Diners looking for an edge on their friends, or perhaps a special treat, know about “secret” menus.
For example, when you go to many Chinese restaurants, you can order the standard Chinese-American items never tasted in Szechwan, Hunan or Fujian, or you can ask for the more authentic “Chinese menu.”
Californians know that at In-N-Out Burger you can order a 3x3, a 4x4, or ask for your meal “Animal Style.”
There are dozens of websites and articles aimed at “hacking” Chipotle to get bigger portions.
At Anglers Inn’s properties at Lake El Salto and Lake Picachos, the food is delicious and plentiful. First-time visitors rave about the quality. Returning guests look forward to old favorites. While the breakfast options are more or less the same each day, both lunch and dinner are on a four-day rotation. If you visit for the standard three days of fishing, you’ll get to sample everything once. If you stay longer, with each additional day you’ll return to old favorites – but at no time are you limited to exactly what everyone else is having.
Billy Chapman Jr.’s motto has always been: “Service is our focus.” That extends to eating, too. The staff wants you to be well-fed and satisfied. Accordingly, they’re willing to go the extra mile to make that happen.
As Hanna has previously detailed, she’s on a very strict diet, and the staff has worked with her to eliminate unnecessary sauces and carbs. They can accommodate other diets, too. On our most recent trip, one member of our group was a “pescatarian.” For you Texans, that means that meant he doesn’t eat beef, pork or poultry, but he does eat seafood. He never went hungry. I’m sure there have been vegetarians, too, and they have likewise been accommodated.
The day starts with breakfast, where there is a buffet set up with bacon, ham, potatoes and a cook grilling eggs to order. There’s also a selection of fruit, yogurt and cold cereal. What’s not immediately obvious is that the on-call chef is also glad to make French Toast or pancakes. I had the latter on our final day before we headed to the Mazatlan airport and they were delicious.
Our pescatarian friend did not eat eggs (nor bacon or ham, nor whole milk), so most of the buffet options were off the table for him. Instead, each day the kitchen prepared hot oatmeal for him. Alternatively, if you need a couple of hours to get hungry after waking up (or you just have a large appetite), they can also pack burritos to take in the boat. Request them with some combination of eggs, cheese, bacon or steak (when available).
They’re also glad to pack burritos or BLT sandwiches for the ride to the airport.
At lunch and dinner, if you don’t eat that night’s protein (typically steak, ribs, chicken or fish), with a little bit of advance notice you can get one of the others grilled to your liking. Since Hanna watches carbs carefully she often gets that night’s meat on top of a salad. Our pescatarian friend got grilled shrimp on top of a salad several times. Since carbs were not an issue for him, he also enjoyed fettucine alfredo with shrimp on top – I had no idea that was even an option until Sammy offered it to him.
Many (or most) of the items listed above are aimed at adhering to a restrictive diet, or making the calorie-rich meals a little less sinful. That doesn’t mean that you can’t go the other way. The Anglers Inn desserts are exceptional across the board, everything from banana splits to Key Lime pie, but one item that you won’t get unless you specifically request them is the deep-fried Oreos. Take it from a fat kid: They’re worth asking for!
