Confession time: your humble blogger is a Texan, a Houstonite in fact. Grew up on barbecue from grills made of repurposed oil barrels, as per custom.
It will not shock you to learn this upbringing made me a bit of a carnivore with a “natural” disdain for vegetarian food—and a revulsion for vegan food generally and vegans in particular. Like a lot of the original software that came with my Texas upbringing, I’m only going to unlearn so much, and so it is with vegan food. If such fare turns out unpalatable, I’m already inoculated against surprise.
So when Poco restaurant opened in 2010 I turned my nose up and scoffed. I missed out on a lot of good, healthy, cheap meals in those early days. It took a good few years before this changed—due to the intervention of my dear wife who insisted on dragging her hidebound, knuckle-dragging husband in for a taste.
It turns out Poco has the formula that can melt the heart—and tastebuds—of even a carnivore like me. Kelly Galligan opened Poco not long after moving to Bisbee from New York some 15 years ago, and if the food wasn’t good they would have long since folded. Poco takes the stereotype of bland, boring vegan food and turns it on its head.
It does not suck.
Take the Cali Burrito, for example: beans, pico de gallo, salsa, guacamole, French fries, chipotle aioli, their “cheesy” sauce and marinated “beyond steak.” As for the latter two ingredients, I need not ask nor need to know. The thing is delicious, its damn near as big as a football and can easily feed two. It comes with a couple slices of refreshing watermelon, and for all that its good and cheap.
Or my favorite, the nachos: beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, that aforementioned cheesy sauce, taco sauce and something I am informed is called “soy chorizo” over a biggo basket of corn tortilla chips—not that normal thin restaurant style but the thick, super-crunchy variety one finds at, say, Food City or other establishments that understand how to do it.
For proprietress Kelly Galligan, running the counter can be a source of honest to goodness hits of pure, plant-based dopamine. There are always the locals and their steadfast patronage, but year round and especially in the high season there are the tourists, not all of whom read the clearly vegan-labeled menu closely nor quite understand what they’re getting into. For all the world it looks, acts and tastes like a taco/burrito/nacho joint with cheap beer and mango mimosas “al frente.” Yet there are inevitably those who eat their fill from Poco’s small, tight menu, realizing all too late they’ve ordered and eaten a delicious, vegan meal they would never have picked if given the choice beforehand. The tired tropes of “preachy vegans” compelled to announce their creed to anyone in earshot aren’t necessary. You just have to do it right, and Poco does. The food speaks for itself, and does so more convincingly than mere words could ever match.
And then there’s the interior, the Poco Bodega stacked floor-to-ceiling with staples, condiments, snacks, a good variety of drinks including beer and wine, and various and sundry other goods. It’s like someone played Tetris with a small retail space and won in spades. There is not a square foot of space wasted in the joint: candy, juice, soy sauce, dried fruit, various Nut Milks and plant-based goods. All plant based, all defying stereotypes of unmarketable bland vegan food, with the kind of staying power that has run circles around Bisbee businesses that started and folded over the last 15 years. Poco continues to beat the odds, feeding the locals and the tourists and standing as an example of a vegan restaurant model with real longevity.
True to form as an advocate for animals (which includes, but is not limited to the bare minimum which is not eating them), Kelly and friends started the Friends of the Bisbee Animal Shelter nearly ten years ago. This non-profit supports the efforts of the City of Bisbee’s animal shelter, which provides care, facilitates vaccinations, spay-and-neuter clinics, and adoptions for Bisbee’s local critters. If, like Kelly and friends, you’d like to support their efforts, you can visit them and make a donation here.
Meanwhile, I’m a believer, a convert with all the zeal implied by the term. They’re opening this weekend, and I’m making a beeline for those delicious nachos.
Just don’t tell my folks back in Texas.