Elvis' Go-To Mexican Restaurant And His Unconventional Order

Elvis Presley is an indelible legend of popular music, and had a heavy hand in the popularization of rock-and-roll music, concert residencies, and peanut butter and banana sandwiches. The King's unusual culinary tastes are almost as famous as his music, though many may not know about the down-home twist he put on his Mexican food.

While Elvis made his full-time home in Tennessee, he was also fond of Palm Springs, California, where he honeymooned and eventually lived part-time with his wife, Priscilla. When Elvis was in Palm Springs and wanted Mexican food, his first choice was Las Casuelas Original, which is still owned and operated by the same Delgado family that served The King all those decades ago.

When Presley dined at the original Las Casuelas (several others have since opened), he preferred the Combo Plate #1, with shredded beef tacos, chile relleno, and beans — but not refried. Elvis substituted Memphis-style beans, a sweet-and-smoky serving of baked beans seasoned with Memphis barbecue flavors. It's no longer on the menu, with or without Memphis beans, but you may be able to sit in the Elvis booth by the kitchen door and ask about the restaurant's regal lore.

A taco platter with Memphis-style baked beans is far from the most unusual thing The King ate. The Arcade Restaurant in Memphis, another of Elvis Presley's favorite restaurants across America, still serves the fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches he loved to eat there in person — plus bacon for a modest $1.50 more.

Elvis ate a lot of calorie-intense foods, especially sandwiches. Another of his favorite showstoppers was known as the Fool's Gold Loaf: a hollowed-out baguette (think Jimmy John's) filled with peanut butter and blueberry preserves, and an entire pound of bacon (are we seeing a theme?).

But for all the food Presley appreciated, there was one food the King banned from his Graceland home: fish. Elvis reportedly hated the smell of cooked fish so much that he forbade anyone from eating it while in his 17,000-plus square-foot mansion. Lucky for Elvis, he had a habit of renting out entire restaurants to dine in privacy; otherwise, he may have had to suffer fish orders passing by his Las Casuelas table.