San Pancho, the Mission-style burrito shop that took over Takoma Park's Cielo Rojo space in 2024, is expanding into downtown Bethesda. The restaurant plans to open a second location next spring in the Woodmont Triangle neighborhood, bringing a bigger footprint, an outdoor patio and a full café menu to a corridor already packed with lunch crowds and office workers.
The new spot will be located at 4856 Cordell Ave., in a space that formerly housed an Ensemble ghost kitchen food hall, according to Bethesda Magazine. The Bethesda build-out is larger than San Pancho's original Takoma Park shop, with plans for tabletop seating for 30 and an additional 20 seats on the patio. The design also calls for a bar and café area, plus a kitchen co-owner Carolina McCandless says will be big enough to support catering.
A Mural Honoring San Francisco's Immigrant Communities
One of the most eye-catching features will be outside: a planned 100-foot mural dedicated to the immigrant communities and culture of San Francisco, the city that inspired San Pancho's Mission-style burrito concept. McCandless, who co-owns the business with her husband, David Perez, told the outlet she searched multiple regional areas before settling on downtown Bethesda, drawn to its proximity to schools, offices, families and housing.
“It's kind of like a full circle moment,” McCandless said, according to the same report. Construction on the new space began about a week before the article published, and McCandless said the timeline should move quickly. “We just started construction on this space and it's not going to take that long compared to other projects we've done,” she said.
From Cielo Rojo to San Pancho's Rapid Rise
San Pancho's roots trace back to Cielo Rojo, the Takoma Park restaurant McCandless and Perez also own. Cielo Rojo first opened at 7056 Carroll Ave. in 2019, then outgrew that 980-square-foot space and reopened in January 2024 at 7211 Carroll Ave., a location more than triple the size, as Bethesda Magazine reported at the time. San Pancho moved into Cielo Rojo's original storefront that July, filling the footprint its sister restaurant left behind.
Since then, San Pancho has carved out its own identity. McCandless said the burrito shop has drawn a younger crowd than Cielo Rojo has, even as both restaurants ride a wave of regional attention. Cielo Rojo ranked No. 6 on Washington Post food critic Elazar Sontag's list of the 40 best restaurants in and around D.C. in October, and McCandless said that recognition brought a surge of new diners through the door. Separately, The MoCo Show reported that Washingtonian named San Pancho one of its Best Cheap Eats picks around the D.C. area.
What's On the Menu
San Pancho specializes in Mission-style burritos built on Sonoran flour tortillas with Mexican rice, pinto beans, melted cheese and a choice of filling, including barbacoa, carnitas, carne asada, chicken mole, vegan chorizo and drunken mushrooms. The broader menu covers breakfast burritos and bowls, tortas, quesadillas, chips, guacamole, five salsas, Caesar salad and chocoflan for dessert. Diners can upgrade a burrito or quesadilla to a super option for an extra $3, adding guacamole, melted cheese and sour cream.
With the Bethesda build underway and a café-style menu planned for the new location, San Pancho is betting that the formula that turned its Takoma Park shop into a local favorite will translate to a bigger stage in Woodmont Triangle.
