SURVEY SAYS……TEX-MEX

Now, I am not just saying this just because I am a home grown Texan, but hands down, Texas has the best mexican food of all time.  I don’t know what these peeps out here are thinking that there food is sooooo good with their green and red chile, I mean come on.  Now don’t get me wrong, I completely understand there is a supposed to be a distinction between the two types of mexican food, but if any one of you were to compare them side by side, you too would agree that Tex-Mex just tastes better.  I’m sure several of you faithful readers have been to the annual Green Chili Festival at Chuy’s Restaurant in Texas, if you haven’t you should be ashamed of yourself and you must go.  It is quite an enjoyable event where chefs experiment with green chilis and create a variety of recipes.  I have tasted several of them and been completely satisfied with the green chili taste, but the difference between us and them is Texans know how to use just the right proportions of green chili.  In New Mexico this isn’t the case, they use so much green chili that the food is too spicy to enjoy.  Here are some additional issues I have with New Mexican food, first of all the cheese on New Mexican enchiladas is kind of crispy, it is as if they just sprinkled kraft shredded cheese on their enchiladas and melted it until it was crispy, COME ON who wants crispy cheese on their enchiladas. Secondly, they serve potatoes instead of rice, when I eat mexican food I want some rice and refried beans, NOT potatoes.  Third, they do not serve both green and red salsa, they only serve red, and in the two experiences I have had neither one of them had a lot of flavor, they were just SUPER spicy and unenjoyable. Lastly, and most appalling, just the other night I went to a little “hole in the wall” restaurant that came highly recommended by City Search and the locals called El Patio and they charged us for chips and salsa, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???  I was COMPLETELY and UTTERLY shocked.  

El Patio

 

 

It was on that particular night when eating at El Patio when I looked at Jodi in all seriousness and stated “Jodi, I don’t want to eat Mexican food for the remainder of our time here.”  Thankfully my compadre was in complete agreement with me and we are both fearful of even trying it for a third time.  

 

 

I know some of you may be thinking that I am being much too harsh on New Mexican food, and it is customary to give things three chances.  You might even hear common cliches such as, “Three strikes and you’re outta here” or “Third time’s a charm,” but I’m afraid that just isn’t the case for New Mexican food.  In the words of Siskel and Ebert, New Mexican food gets two thumbs down.    

I leave you with words from a song I once sang in elementary school, “North, south, east, west in my calm, objective opinion, TEXAS is the BEST of the fifty, nifty United States.”