re: Things you judge a restaurant by - Mexican food edition

Interesting question for any cuisine, I am not an expert on Tex-Mex, but I know what I like.

1. Clean, don't want to eat in a grungy place, some Mexican places act like that is part of the culture, it isn't.

2. Fresh ingredients, I don't want salsa made from canned vegetables.

3. Variation in the menu. As an earlier poster said, I'm tired of the same fajitas, enchiladas etc.. A lot of TexMex places might as well be chains, they all have the same menus.

4. Soups, I like em, have more than just tortilla soup.

5. Smile and educate your customers on your specialties. Carlos on Airline and Florida used his charisma, he was engaging and made you feel like it was cooked just for you.

6. Most important to me,I want it spicy. The Tex-Mex places around here gringo-ize their dishes to the point of blandness. At least offer some spicy variations of the dish, don't just point to the hot sauce.

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Tex-Mex=gringo food

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I'm sure you are correct. However I have had a lot of Tex-Mex in the Houston area that made me pound the table and cry. Loved it.

One of the things that i can't stand at most Tex-Mex places is the lack of sides. Most of the time the refried beans look like old dogshit and the mexican rice is completely flavorless.

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One of the things that i can't stand at most Tex-Mex places is the lack of sides. Most of the time the refried beans look like old dogshit and the mexican rice is completely flavorless.

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Yeah there is this one place in town that has great beans and rice...I wanted to go there last night but they closed and we went to this Tex Mex place...it kinda sucked

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Things you judge a restaurant by

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homemade flour tortillas goes without saying.

if they say its barbacoa, i better be eating meat from the skull of a cow.I will judge harshly if the menu lies to me.

Also, if you serve something to me in corn tortillas, i want it to be two corn tortillas to sop up the grease, some chopped onions and cilantro served with a slice of lime.

Oh yeah, and they better have salsa verde if i decide to order beef.

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enchiladas..show me a place that can cook a
good plate of cheese and onion
enchiladas and everything else
will be great.

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This.

Love enchiladas. You can tell when they are an afterthought at a Mexican place (which, oddly, they increasingly seem to be), the other stuff typically won't be too good either.

Los Potosnios in Houma...

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A real deal fresh black mole sauce?

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Yeah I'm pretty sure. I've had the chicken mole there before and it was definitely different than others I've tried where the stuff appeared to be store bought.

I'll probably go their for lunch today. If I order that I'll return in awesome fashion with some pictures and maybe I'll be able to get a scan of the menu.

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Fresh thin chips...not greasy
Fresh salsa
enchiladas..show me a place that can cook a
good plate of cheese and onion
enchiladas and everything else
will be great.
Rice...a good spanish rice sets a place
apart.
tortillas...must be fresh

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Pretty much sums up what I look for. And I prefer the traditional "red" or "green" sauce on my enchiladas. But its hard to find good versions except down on the border or in New Mexico and Cali.