Has he ever been down here in San Antonio, becouse, I would like to say, we have the best Tex-Mex around. Which is not surprising, given that Tex-Mex is our food, which is why you will find only a very few Mexican restraunts serving "pure" food from one state or another, and those at the high end of the market.
If he comes here, which would be so cool, I would happily recomend five or six great places for him to go, where I could accidentaly run into him....
Posted by Robin Kaczmarczyk (Member # 9067) on :
Scott...
You are getting sleepy.. You are thinking.. You can't stop to think.. You are in a Bordertown!
A.
Border.
Town.
Posted by Youth ap Orem (Member # 5582) on :
Tell me more about this Bordertown.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
Hmm, I wonder if there's a thread somewheres that you could read to find out more about this 'Bordertown'?
And Pelegius: I, on behalf of Houston, hereby challenge you, on behalf of San Antonio, to a Tex-Mex duel. Our Tex-Mex will murderate your Tex-Mex. We have the original Mama Ninfa's. That is the building where fajitas were invented. Yeah, beat that.
[ June 20, 2006, 05:27 PM: Message edited by: vonk ]
Posted by Pelegius (Member # 7868) on :
Original taco cabana, plus a much better local selection than Houston. Oh, and a much longer history of Tex-Mex: look at the names San Antonio de Bexar vs Houston.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Dang, Tex-Mex sounds really good to me right now for some reason.
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
lol.. I think it would be great if we could get Card down here sometime. I actually think it would be really cool if he would do a story based on some of OUR local legends. Lots of other authors have. Heck Rita Kerr made a whole series of childrens books from local folk tales. (My personal favorite was "The Ghost of Panna Maria", but I'm a bit biassed). I wonder though, can people born in Utah bred folks really handle the spice?
Posted by PUNJABEE (Member # 7359) on :
Tex-Mex is a joke. MEXICAN food is the best and the only place to get real Mexican food is from a bordertown like El Paso, Brownsville, Harlingen etc. This does not apply to New Mexico or Nevada, but it does apply to southern California.
Tex-Mex is responsible for making up cuts of meat that don't exist - such as "Chicken", "Pork" or "Shrimp" fajitas. What most people don't realize is that 'fajitas' are not the way you cut the meat, it IS a cut of meat. It is the beef-skirt, so I don't think it would be right to serve 'chicken BEEF-SKIRT' tacos, or 'shrimp BEEF-SKIRT' tacos. I've even been told by some morons at a restaurant that 'fajitas are only fajitas if you get the peppers and onions with the meat'. Imbeciles.
I live in Austin so we have loads of tex-mex places and I hate them all. Taco Cabana, Chuy's etc, but I'm originally from Southern Texas - THATS where you find real mexican food.
Posted by Blaine (Member # 9412) on :
Pshaw. It's all about Taco Bell.
PS... Hi Punj!
Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
PUNJABEE--OSC addresses your fajita points in the essay. I tend to agree with him.
Being a Yankee, I have no informed opinions about where to get good "real" Mexican food in the U.S., but I like Tex-Mex just fine. As a matter of fact, there aren't too many food categories I don't enjoy!
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
I can't take the heat, but I'm from Maryland. People who brag about how hot they like their food are as odd to me as people who like helping people move for free.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
You Yanks wouldn't know good food if it ate you. I've been to "Mexican" and "Cajun" restaurants in the North East, and pshaw! All it is blandness topped with Pace Picante Sauce or Cayenne.
Original Taco Cabana? whoop-dee-freakin'-do. That's like saying you have the first Taco Bell. Yeah, your Cabana Bowls sure are authentic Tex-Mex. Ninfa's is, hands down, one of the best Tex-Mex restaurants of all time. That, combined with the innumerable small family owned hole-in-the-wall restaurants with traditional home-made food straight from the Rio Grand Valley puts H-Town leaps and bounds ahead of anything San Antonio can offer.
And Punjabee, the reason you hate your Tex-Mex restaurants is because your in Austin. All Austin knows how to do is try to be Seattle. That city is so full of posers it's got a Madonna complex. Tex-Mex is a valid style of cooking originating in the Rio Grande Valley on both sides of the border when ranch hands cooked for the cowboys running herds north and south. Its good food that doesn't compete with Mexican food, but compliments it in many ways.
(any insults contained here-in are meant as playful banter and not meant to be taken seriously)
Posted by Pelegius (Member # 7868) on :
The quality of Taco Cabana's ranges from the good to the disgusting, but I would agree that, in general, the food is worse in chain restraunts.
Shrimp fajitas are not Tex-Mex and I have never even heard of pork ones. But yes we have chicken fajita tacos, as they are called, and, since the fajita is itself a Tex-Mex invention, we can eat them with joy!
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
I got ingredients to make something vaguely mexican tonight. But reading this thread, I'm wondering if it's a good idea, since all the mexican food afficianados seem to be a bit unpleasant. Though it would be equally valid to guess that I'm craving mexican because I feel unpleasant.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
Oh no! Please don't let me turn you away from Mexican food or Tex-Mex! I'm really quite a pleasant guy, just a little bit competetive. Please, feel free to enjoy the goodness.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I loathe Tex-Mex. Mainly because everything is smoky. I don't do smokey. Hate BBQ, too. I did not do well when my mother-in-law continually served BBQ for family dinners. :|
Posted by Pelegius (Member # 7868) on :
PUNJAB, Chuy's is New Mexican food, and the "Mexican" food in South Texas is Tex-Mex.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
quote:Hate BBQ, too.
Gasp! Blasphemy! Dem dhere's fightin' words, I challenge you to a duel!
...unforgivable...
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
Taco Cabanas vary their ingredients from store to store being that they are a franchise. However, the ones in San Antonio do tend to be BETTER than the ones in Austin, Dallas, Houston, or even just Seguin.
However, I will agree that the chains aren't as good. Actually, almost none of the resturaunts with big fancy names are very good, but San Antonio does have alot of quality mom and pop ones that are truly wonderful.
As for fajitas, I can speak that yes, the word "fajita" truly did originate as a cut of meet. It actually comes from inside the rib cage and is used to buffer the heart from being blugened when the annimal runs. (Can you tell I grew up in a family that owned an old fashioned meat market.) They used to be almost "throw away" meat, so people could get them really cheap. Then everyone realized they tasted good and the price shot up. While some people claim beef, chicken, EVEN MUSHROOM fajitas can be made by the way they're cooked, I think it's silly. I think they should just call them sliced chicken or seasoned shrimp, because personally my favorite way to eat fajitas is burned slightly crispy from the barbe-que
Posted by PUNJABEE (Member # 7359) on :
quote:Originally posted by Blaine: Pshaw. It's all about Taco Bell.
PS... Hi Punj!
Bl.... Blaine? PEZKING!?
Posted by PUNJABEE (Member # 7359) on :
quote:Originally posted by vonk: You Yanks wouldn't know good food if it ate you. I've been to "Mexican" and "Cajun" restaurants in the North East, and pshaw! All it is blandness topped with Pace Picante Sauce or Cayenne.
Original Taco Cabana? whoop-dee-freakin'-do. That's like saying you have the first Taco Bell. Yeah, your Cabana Bowls sure are authentic Tex-Mex. Ninfa's is, hands down, one of the best Tex-Mex restaurants of all time. That, combined with the innumerable small family owned hole-in-the-wall restaurants with traditional home-made food straight from the Rio Grand Valley puts H-Town leaps and bounds ahead of anything San Antonio can offer.
And Punjabee, the reason you hate your Tex-Mex restaurants is because your in Austin. All Austin knows how to do is try to be Seattle. That city is so full of posers it's got a Madonna complex. Tex-Mex is a valid style of cooking originating in the Rio Grande Valley on both sides of the border when ranch hands cooked for the cowboys running herds north and south. Its good food that doesn't compete with Mexican food, but compliments it in many ways.
(any insults contained here-in are meant as playful banter and not meant to be taken seriously)
I'm from Rio Hondo. Real Mexican food is found in Los Portales, Los Nortenos (matamoros) or even to a lesser extent - Los Asados in Harlingen.
By the way - Austin > Seattle. By a boatload.
Posted by Blaine (Member # 9412) on :
quote:Originally posted by PUNJABEE:
quote:Originally posted by Blaine: Pshaw. It's all about Taco Bell.
PS... Hi Punj!
Bl.... Blaine? PEZKING!?
Word.
Posted by PUNJABEE (Member # 7359) on :
lol dude, its nice to 'see' you. What are you up to?
Posted by Blaine (Member # 9412) on :
Not too much... Kickin' it here in Houston with the Missus. How's Austin (besides Seattle Lite)?
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
BURN!
Posted by PUNJABEE (Member # 7359) on :
What what whaaaaat?! Missus?
When did there become a PezQueen? Any PezPrinces or Princesses?
Wow that's a really lame statement.
Posted by Blaine (Member # 9412) on :
quote:Originally posted by PUNJABEE: What what whaaaaat?! Missus?
When did there become a PezQueen? Any PezPrinces or Princesses?
Wow that's a really lame statement.
Gretchen became my PezQueen 2 years ago this Monday. No shorties yet, but we're working on that.
Say hi to Mrs. Punj!
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
I made my burritos last night and they were quite good.
I remember when flank and skirt steaks used to be cheaper cuts- back in the day when meat and dairy were priced according to how much fat they contained. The weird thing I've found is they never, ever, go on sale.
Posted by RunningBear (Member # 8477) on :
Wha....
*sputter*
No likey BBQ!!
I must agree, those are fighting words!
But, I must also admit, none of this "food" is as good as REAL chinese/thai/lao food....
you think you have had spicy food.
HA!
mmm, my tongue is smoldering already.
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
You would think that, but a lady I work with is Indonesian, and she makes all sorts of spicy asian foods at home, and trust me, they ARE spicy. However, when we took her to Casa Rita's with us (a not all-that-good resturaunt in San Antonio) she thought the pico was salad and took a bite. Her mouth was burning for forever afterwards. Apparently the spices are not relateable, her mouth was not conditioned for the jalepeno.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)