Huntsville Food Lore
Is Bandito Burrito Basically El Palacio? Well… Not Exactly
For decades, Huntsville diners have connected Bandito Burrito to the long-gone El Palacio. The real story runs through founder Oscar Gutierrez, who worked in El Palacio’s kitchen before opening a Governors Drive institution of his own in 1990.
f you grew up eating Mexican food in Huntsville, you’ve probably heard some version of it: “Bandito is basically El Palacio.” Well… not exactly. But there’s a very real reason people connect the two. Bandito Burrito founder **Oscar Gutierrez** came to Huntsville in 1969 and soon began cooking at El Palacio, the beloved Memorial Parkway restaurant remembered by generations of locals. Over the years, Oscar returned to its kitchen and eventually managed the restaurant. Then, in October 1990, he opened **Bandito Burrito Co. at 3017 Governors Drive SW**. He reportedly started with about $15,000, pots and pans from home and help from his three teenage daughters. The building? A boarded-up former Church’s Chicken. 🌯 More than three decades later, Bandito is still there. The connection to El Palacio is real. The idea that they’re simply the “same restaurant” isn’t. Oscar took years of experience and built something distinctly his own: an old-school, unfussy Huntsville institution known for burritos, beans, tamales, tacos, enchiladas, chile rellenos and that **Green Bean Burrito** loaded with beans, cheese and green sauce.
Bandito also became something beyond a place to eat. Engineers, artists, musicians, construction workers, teenagers and generations of Huntsvillians have passed through that colorful little dining room. Even old accounts of Huntsville’s punk and alternative scene remember Bandito as a gathering place. When Oscar died in 2024, his family carried the restaurant forward. So maybe the more interesting story isn’t whether Bandito tastes like El Palacio. It’s that **El Palacio and Bandito are two branches of the same Huntsville food history.** One restaurant helped introduce generations of Huntsville families to this kind of food. A man who spent years cooking there eventually opened an institution of his own. And Huntsville is still eating there 35+ years later. ❤️🌯 📍 Bandito Burrito Co. 3017 Governors Drive SW, Huntsville **ORDER RADAR:** Green Bean Burrito • chile relleno • beans • tamales • smoked chicken burrito