Mexican resturaunt questions

[Old TexMex]

And many of them, especially north of Santa Fe, have been here since the 17th century. They will be quick to tell you that they are Spanish, and not Mexican. Add to that the intriguing story of crypto-Jews who fled the Inquisition, and settled at the far reaches of New Spain in order to avoid persecution. New Mexico Jewish Historical Society | Crypto-Jews

I love living in New Mexico for its history and heritage, not so much for its politics.

As El Paso and Juarez, the Lebanese population is big, and not new, that has influenced the cuisine.

 

[Muss Muggins]

So you're eatin' kosher Spanish food and not Mexican food. Big, big difference . . .

And many of them, especially north of Santa Fe, have been here since the 17th century. They will be quick to tell you that they are Spanish, and not Mexican. Add to that the intriguing story of crypto-Jews who fled the Inquisition, and settled at the far reaches of New Spain in order to avoid persecution. New Mexico Jewish Historical Society | Crypto-Jews

I love living in New Mexico for its history and heritage, not so much for its politics.

 

[Sistema1927]

So you're eatin' kosher Spanish food and not Mexican food. Big, big difference . . .

Absolutely. New Mexican cuisine is head and shoulders above Mexican food, and quite different.

I wasn't aware of much Lebanese migration to El Paso, but the Haddad and Malooly families, along with others from Syria, have been fixtures for a long, long time.

 

[Ματθιας]

I had pozole for lunch the other day at a place in my neighborhood I hadn’t tried before. It was nicely presented and looked wonderful. It was a red pozole with pork. The texture was good, meat tender and falling apart, the hominy firm.

Unfortunately, it didn’t have a lot of flavor. I added salt and hot sauce, but it was really missing some other spices, most notably cumin. I will try it again. It might have just been me. But first I have to try their chilaquiles.

Put a little bit of oregano. It won't take a lot. To get the best re-heat it and let it simmer of a few minutes.

 

[JohnZMI]

I don't claim to have any special knowledge of Mexican restaurants or food, although I lived in Ramos Arizpe (outside of Saltillo) in 1980, during the first year of building the Ramos Arizpe car assembly plant. I lived in the El Camino Real hotel, and religiously followed the "no water except from sealed bottles and no uncooked salads", and managed not to get sick (although my boss did and never visited again).

In this area, the El Charro restaurants have far and away the best Mexican food (they started in a little hole-in-the-wall location next to a bicycle shop which they later bought so they could expand), then they built a beautiful stand-alone restaurant and expanded to a third location a few years ago. All are "standing room only" for waiting and always have been. I'm not an adventurous eater, but my wife and I LOVE their puffy deep-fried soft-shell shredded beef tacos with the usual rice and refried beans, three kinds of salsa, and a frozen wildberry margarita. That doesn't make me an expert - I just love their food. Writing this made me hungry for puffy soft-shell beef tacos and Wildberry frozen Margaritas, so we went out to El Charro tonight!

 

[Alpo]

> deep-fried soft-shell shredded beef tacos <


How does one have a deep fried soft shell taco?


Just seems to me that once you deep fried it it would be crunchy - not soft shell.

 

[Bullseye 2620]

It is the height of green chili season here in southwestern New Mexico. They're roasting the fresh ones out in front of both the Walmart and Peppers Supermarket. You can smell the stuff all over town. I'm driving the 50 miles over to Hatch on Saturday and picking up a 50 pound sack, and then will spend the rest of the weekend processing them to make salsa verde and some other wonderful concoctions.

I make a wicked green chili stew. I got the recipe from the ladies who run Irma's, the best Mexican restaurant in a town that is full of them. They use cubes of chuck, but I find it a little dry, so I go all out and use beef tenderloin instead. The rest of the recipe is a secret, but drop by and I will serve you up a big bowl.

If you happen to visit Deming, the two best Mexican restaurants are Irma's and Benji's, both small family owned and run operations.

At Irma's the green chili stew is indeed the standout, but the parilladas (especially the fish ones) are great too. At Benji's, it is the menudo. I don't do tripe, but every Thursday morning I watch my boss, a Mexican by ancestry, chow down on a huge bowl of the stuff. He calls it "the Mexican breakfast of champions." I guarantee you won't find food like this at Taco Hell.

 

[Sistema1927]

If you happen to visit Deming, the two best Mexican restaurants are Irma's and Benji's, both small family owned and run operations.

I wish that I had known this a couple of weeks ago. We stopped in at Si Senors on a trip back from Arizona based on Google reviews. It wasn't all that great.

 

[joeintexas]

After eating good Mexican food in Texas and New Mexico I find it not so good here in Florida. Southwest food can really spoil you. Green chili pozole with pork is pretty hard to beat on a chilly day, or any day for that matter. Now the tamale stand at the downtown flea market here is top shelf, not about to ask him what's in it though.

 

[JohnZMI]

> deep-fried soft-shell shredded beef tacos <


How does one have a deep fried soft shell taco?


Just seems to me that once you deep fried it it would be crunchy - not soft shell.

The key word at El Charro is "PUFFY" - that's on the back of the waitress' T-shirts, and is the secret of their immensely popular soft-shell taco; the main portion of the taco shell is about 1/4" thick, and the edges are about 3/8" thick, and "PUFFY" is the only way to describe them. They're that way all the way through - think bubble-wrap texture. I'll see if I can get a photo to post.

Edit: Here's a photo of the El Charro "puffy" taco. For more info, just Google "El Charro Puffy Taco" and you'll get many more photos and videos on how to make them. They also have an El Charro Taco Truck that does a LOT of party catering, cooking everything on the restaurant menu wherever they can park the truck.

 

[Rustyt1953]

I really like Mexican/Tex-Mex food.

For that matter, I like food no matter what language it's cooked in.

 

[TX-Dennis]

My Cuban in-laws cook picadillo with ground beef and ropa vieja with shredded beef. Both are delicious. They also make a wonderful arroz congri which is rice with black beans. And the best tamales I've ever tasted - huge, soft, and delicious.

I grew up eating Tex Mex, but there's a lot to be said for Cuban food.