What type of Mexican food?

What type of mexican food do you like? Authentic regional Mexican cuisine? Or do you prefer the TexMex style? I've been to restaurants where people say "This ain't real Mexican!"... so what? TexMex has carved out it's own niche, and offers some great dishes.

Most authentic seafood suits me right down to the ground and I've never met a Tamale I didn't like. I've had some terrific Tex-Mex in the LaGrange to San Antonio Texas area. I love Mexican hot chocolate. It makes me happy during the holiday's and some old timers I know will be starting to hint that they're getting a little chill in the bones so I'll make some soon. I'm such a sucker for that one.

Hello All,
The best mexican food I've ever had were made by Cubans.
It wasn't TexMex, and I'm not sure what you would call it.
Take Care,
Fieldthistle

Frijoles, arroz; my life wouldn't end if I never had those again but mariscos-now your talking a must have! Chile rellano and enchilada are more must have oitems

Tex-Mex? How about Cal-Mex? That is what I know and ate for many years. I used to go to this small kitchen that had these mamacitas with many pots of things boiling away. One pot always had pork simmering to pull apart tenderness. Same with beef and chicken but I'll eat any dish with pork in it, whether in enchiladas, burritos or tacos. As I grew up in the Bay Area, some may say that I grew up eating 'Mission Style' burritos. They were the best, nothing Texan about them...

I used to live in Huntington Beach too, and there was this great place on Beach Blvd., that was a combination of carniceria, taqueria, tortilla factory and there was a booth for great aqua frescas to the side.
It was here that the offerings included lengua, beef hearts, tripa and whatever part that could be cooked. There were a variety of meat and dessert tamales too.

I have been bemoaning the fact that I haven't had any good Mexican food since crossing the Mississippi. I have been having some kind of weird problem posting links lately, but if anyone looks up Sarapes Restaurante in Enfield, CT. in the Roadfood Search, I think we can all agree that this is true Mex food.
The leaves have been turning color and falling, time for a long drive.

mark

My uncle Jose makes the best refried beans and green chili(HOT HOT HOT)sauce i have ever tasted..

I'm well aware that they are different experiences, but I love it all. Sometimes I want a real authentic traditional Mexican meal, and sometimes I just want a goddam burrito. Good food is good food.

Dan B,
way north of the border

New Mexican cuisine does it for me, a staple of which is red/green chiles.

The best Mexican food I have ever had was at Elena"s in Nogales, Sonora, a stones throw from the border. Mexican veggies, round enchiladas, spicey but not particuliarly fiery. Plus, free shot of tequila. BT turned me on to this place and I hope other roadfooders will try it.

I like tex mex and have had cal-mex as well.As long as the food tastes good,that's all I care about.Even in mexico different regions have their own cusines.These people who say it isn't real mexican,have they even been to Mexico at all?Tex-Mex cuisne started at home with people using locally available foods and such and putting their own spin on things.For example,on Chowhound.com,someone mentioned the Mission burrito,which has beans,meat,rice etc. in it.Started apparently in the mission district of San Francisco,and you find this kind of burrito at Chipolte and Taco Bell and other places.To me it's not authenic.Only burritos I have ever had around San Antonio or we made at home was bean and cheese,or bean and meat.
Think the mission burrito was a way to use up leftovers.But people love it.
Even if a meal is authentic mexican from say the Oxaca area,if the ingredietns aren't fresh and prepared with love and care it can still taste bad.

Ok, what about Yucatan? Love that seafood. (But of course in USA: Tex/Cal/NM Mex and Mex/Mex (generic?) my loyalty is to NM.

I like Yucatan, much of which is Mayan cuisine. Been there... great food!

Mr Chips, I'm going down to Nogales Friday. Hope to find Elenas and give them a try.

I love authentic mexican- primarily seafood dishes- I like ceviche, coctail des camarones with fresh chunks of avocado, tomato and cilantro served with saltines. I love Mayan Sopa de Lima.

I too love coctel de camarones. Do they also include chunks of fresh jalapeño, onion and cucumber like is done around here? Ahhhh, so good.

quote:

Originally posted by enginecapt

I too love coctel de camarones. Do they also include chunks of fresh jalapeño, onion and cucumber like is done around here? Ahhhh, so good.

The seafood restaurant that I am thinking of in particular doesn't include jalapenos or cucumber but I believe there is sweet onion as well. It is also in a tomato jus. The shrimp they use are HUGE.

But what is real mexican food ? Is just putting some lemons and "valentina" on all your dishes...to make them...lets say uniform !????

Or is some crispy tacos ? or some nice posole ? am I talking crazy now ?

You all well identified the thing here...like many cuisine, there is not a specific mexican cuisine but a regional one...

Viva Yucatan and the West Coast...fantastic food, lovely restaurants.

Oye, if you love mexican food...in general (NM, CM, TM....)check out:

http://www.buenostacos.com

Great ideas to spice your diner :)

the only true authentic Mexican Food:
deep fried tacos with peas in them.
Kan-Mex it's called.

Yes, some peas in them with some mint sauce !

And it becomes a true British Kan Mex !!!!

quote:

Originally posted by bill voss

the only true authentic Mexican Food:
deep fried tacos with peas in them.
Kan-Mex it's called.

I'll admit that I miss the first "real" Mexican food (other than Jack in the Box) I ever had. Boston Irish-American Mexican from the now-gone El Phoenix Room in Allston. One of the best parts was that combo plates came with not only refried beans and spanish rice, but also with Green Giant-style "Mexicali" corn.

I never did get to try the St. Patrick's Day corned beef burritos.

I have family in Southern VA. I went to an "americanized" Mexican restuarant down there a couple of years ago and was served a white sauce in addtion to the standard tomato salsa. Maybe it was mayo based. It was ok but nothing too exciting. I'd just never seen it before.

Generally, though, I like tacos made with homemade soft corn tortillas. I like them filled with all sorts of things like tripe, lengua, and brisket.

Barry

Nothing like nursing a hangover in the morning with a bowl of posole!

So true.

But where can you find good Posole outside Mexico ?

quote:

Originally posted by mauricio23

So true.

But where can you find good Posole outside Mexico ?

There are a couple of very good places here, especially in Homestead. If all else fails, a can of Juanita's is pretty ok.

I spent 21 years in New Mexico, and have been in Georgia for 24. I also lived for awhile in Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri and have travelled in 44 of our 50 states, as well as 5 Mexican states.

I have found excellent Mexican food all over, as well as terrible Mexican food all over. What I enjoy most is a well prepared meal - or. at least, a well prepared dish.

A green chile cheeseburger in New Mexico is hard to beat. Fresh piping hot sopaipillas in New Mexico are about the best bread I have ever had. The tortas and burritos in some of the Mexican groceries and taquerias in Georgia are absolutely delicious. The Tex-Mex food offered in several local mini-chains is generally quite good.

This past Friday evening, we tried a Mexican place near where we live. It has been open about a year, but we had never been there. We were not excited to see the "Restaurant For Sale" sign in the window - but we went in anyway. This sit down restaurant appeared to be geared toward the immigrant community. The Spanish language tv program was on so loud that my wife and I could not communicate. I ordered a dish that I saw being delivered to a nearby table. I don't know the name of it, but it was very enjoyable. I had five reddish corn tortillas filled with lettuce, tomato, and avocado. Beside them was a quantity of grilled chicken strips such as would be included with a fajita plate. Additionally, the plate had beans, rice, and lettuce with tomato.

To answer the original question - I think, at the moment, my favorite is the hole-in-the-wall place here in Georgia which is geared to the Mexican nationals who live and work in the area. Several places I have discovered are very good - and very reasonably priced. That is a great combination.

i love nm food, but
miss arroz con pollo
and tex mex.

I've found the local taquerias and mexican groceries are best, at least in CT. As an added bonus, most place carry real Mexican Coca Cola, which is still bottled with azúcar (real sugar).

Don't let these places scare you -- they're pure Roadfood and are usually very accommodating and friendly.