It is really hard to find good Mexican food.
We first ran into this in New England. They at least had the excuse of being far away from Mexico. It was also thirty years ago and the Latino invasion was still confined to the Southwest. We laughed at the way people pronounced simple words like taco and tortilla. We watched the uncertainty when we served them enchiladas. You have seen the look of concern on their face as they push something around with their fork and try to figure out what is in it. The only place we could find that made a taco used Velveeta for the cheese. But that was thirty years ago in a world far away.
Ten years ago we were in Indiana staying at a time share and noticed that recent emigrants had started a Mexican restaurant. We were far from home and felt a need for some good Mexican food. The names were the same but the ingredients had been changed to protect the innocent. All of the strong accents were missing. They seemed afraid that middle America was not yet ready for the jalapeno. They provided us with decent, boring Indiana-Mex. Boring.
I am currently in Texas and I am looking for some good Mexican food. On previous trips we have been disappointed in what we found. We were trying out a local place and my daughter said, “The rice tastes fishy.” I pointed out to her it tasted fishy because it had chunks of fish in it. This year we tried a new place in a small town. We decided on the pink one rather than the yellow one. They did not seem to know what a burrito could be.
We may have to try the Tex-Mex style. Or maybe we just need to re-label what we like as Cal-Mex and let it go at that.
Travel is tough but someone has to do it.
homo unius libri
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