The California Mexican Diner That Elvis Loved Still Serves His Favorite Order

Few music artists have captured the attention of fans quite like Elvis Presley. From the moment he crooned "Don't Be Cruel" on the "Ed Sullivan Show" in 1956, he became a national sensation, sparking the kind of fandom that would have his fans making pilgrimages to locations associated with "The King." These include his Graceland estate in Tennessee, his birthplace of Tupelo, Mississippi, parts of Hawaii where he filmed several movies, and Las Vegas, where he is still immortalized by hundreds of impersonators. This lengthy list also includes Palm Springs, California, a desert oasis where Presley purchased a home and where he regularly spent a few months of the year. Here, he was known to frequent a Mexican restaurant called Las Casuelas, an eatery that opened in 1958 and is still in operation.

Located just up the street from Walk of the Stars (Palm Springs' version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame) where Elvis himself is immortalized with a star, Las Casuelas has been run by the Delgado family since its inception. Their timeless family recipes have garnered generations of fans, including Elvis, whose favorite order was quite low-key and simple. It's said that he loved the Frijoles Rancheros and a glass of iced tea. Frijoles Rancheros remains on the menu and is a bowl of pinto beans that have been cooked and flavored with onions, tomatoes, cilantro, Guerito chiles (a type of light-colored, Mexican chile), bell peppers, and cheese. The restaurant has hosted many famous Palm Springs residents over the decades including Sonny and Cher as well as Dwight Eisenhower and his wife Mamie.

Besides his music and performance jumpsuits, Elvis Presley is famous for his appetite. Notorious for his fondness of peanut butter and banana sandwiches, he also favored several restaurants besides Las Casuelas in Palm Springs. Some of them offered dishes that he loved so much, he would arrange to have their food delivered (via plane, if necessary) wherever he was performing. While there's no evidence of him placing an order for ranchero beans while away from his desert home, he apparently regularly had the ribs from Rendezvous restaurant in Memphis, Tennessee delivered to him in Las Vegas while he was performing there.

Presley had discovered a unique sandwich called the Fool's Gold at the Colorado Mine Company restaurant in Denver. He enjoyed it so much that he would fly in just to pick up the sandwiches which consisted of peanut butter, jelly, and a pound of bacon. During his notorious performance residency in Las Vegas, Elvis often frequented the famed Golden Steer, whose sizable steaks and baked potatoes are world-renowned. But, he'd actually order hamburgers here. While home in Tennessee, Presley liked to eat at the same places he enjoyed during his youth which included the chain Krystal, Coletta's Italian restaurant (where he loved the barbecue pizza), and Arcade Restaurant, an old time café that proclaims guests can "eat like The King." Despite his death at such a young age, Elvis Presley clearly lives on in part through the eateries he loved so much and that still honor him.