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Best Mexican Food place in Texas (and every state)

Both Tacos

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Zombie

Zombie 284

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Posted
7 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

What ever happened to La Fogata in SA?

 

And lay off El Patio. It’s an institution...with average food.

 

The Calvillos family (Soluna & Mirasol) sold it some time ago. The quality has gone down since. Speaking of, Soluna and Mirasol are both amazing and deserve top billing in this type of list. 

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Armybrat

Armybrat 40818

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20 hours ago, Hate said:

As a San Antonio native, I grew up during the glory years of Mi Tierra. Thirty years ago, you would be hard pressed to find better enchilada’s anywhere. Several years ago, we were in SA to visit and stopped by for old times sake. It was awful. It was every bit as bad as Casa Rio on the Riverwalk. It was a shame.

I ate at Casa Rio when it first opened (1946) and it wasn’t bad then. By the 1960s it was really downhill.

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12447

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17 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Fair enough. Rosario's is decent. 

Also, don't take it personally. There are plenty of Mexicans in Houston, Austin, and Dallas and all their Mexican food sucks ass too.

Honestly, Mexican food has always been similar to pizza to me in that the line between average and great is thin.  Even shitty Mexican food usually tastes ok, in my experience.  The best Mexican food I've had is really good, and the worst was still better than a lot of shit out there.  You can mask a lot with good seasoning in that style of cooking, whereas something like steak, BBQ, or any meat-forward meal can be made absolutely inedible quickly with poor technique.

Definitely not trying to get defensive, but a lifetime of the whole "you're from Iowa, you don't know good (insert literally anything here)" thing gets old.  It's not all Maid Rites, fried butter, and corn on the cob here, and it's not like I haven't traveled the country and tried other things.

Edited by Al_4_ISU
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GRHorn

GRHorn 105

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For just straight up greasy Tex Mex I’ll go with Thousand Oaks Cafe in San Antonio. Especially the branch actually on Thousand Oaks. 

Or actually I would probably go with the local place in the rural South Texas town where I was raised, but I’m not gonna name names. I like being as anonymous as possible here. 

Edited by GRHorn
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ztejas

ztejas 43411

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The fact that Las Manitas and El Azteca (which gets my retrospective vote for TexMex) closed in Austin tells you all you need to know about Mexican in Austin. 

Honestly Matt's is probably the best TexMex in Austin. Shit, the original Chuy's is actually pretty good still. For more traditional/interior (even though it's pretty tex-mexy) Fonda still blows anything else out of the water. Manuel's is okay. 

El Arroyo is almost American it's so white. But, I do have a soft spot for it. 

Maudie's is pure, unfiltered garbage and has been for 15 years. Except the diablo sol food. That shit goes hard (they also do great breakfast tacos).  

In Dallas, I like both Mesomaya and Mesero - especially for the price. Never had a bad meal at either. Javier's is pretty overrated at this point. Need to get to Mesa - have always heard great things. Gloria's fucking sucks. For traditional tacos either Trompo or El Come - pick your favorite. For trashy-authentic Taquiera La Paloma is pretty banging. Texmex is a bit of a crap-shoot. Honestly Matt's in Lakewood is hard to top - esp. at happy hour. But I feel like they do better apps/meats than actual staples like enchiladas. Again, almost American. Best texmex texmex in the state probably in SA or somewhere South of that. 

Haven't ate enough in Houston to comment. I've heard it crushes it across the board and would assume so. I'll leave that discussion to the rest of the board. 

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Ollie Slatt

Ollie Slatt 289

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41 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Honestly Matt's is probably the best TexMex in Austin. Shit, the original Chuy's is actually pretty good still. For more traditional/interior (even though it's pretty tex-mexy) Fonda still blows anything else out of the water. Manuel's is okay. 

Agree with most of this except about Fonda. The atmosphere is great, but its food is not blowing anyone out of the water.  Suerte is easily better and El Naranjo is at least as good.  

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Mitch Cumsteen

Mitch Cumsteen 18547

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1 hour ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Honestly, Mexican food has always been similar to pizza to me in that the line between average and great is thin.  Even shitty Mexican food usually tastes ok, in my experience.  The best Mexican food I've had is really good, and the worst was still better than a lot of shit out there.  You can mask a lot with good seasoning in that style of cooking, whereas something like steak, BBQ, or any meat-forward meal can be made absolutely inedible quickly with poor technique.

Definitely not trying to get defensive, but a lifetime of the whole "you're from Iowa, you don't know good (insert literally anything here)" thing gets old.  It's not all Maid Rites, fried butter, and corn on the cob here, and it's not like I haven't traveled the country and tried other things.

The difference between average and great is huge. Shitty Mexican food is well, shitty. If you can't tell the difference, then it kinda makes my point for me. 

I'm not trying to call you out because you're from Iowa, but it's one of those deals when you don't know what you don't know. If it makes you feel any better, I don't think I could delineate good fried butter from bad fried butter.

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ztejas

ztejas 43411

Posted
Posted (edited)
14 minutes ago, Ollie Slatt said:

Agree with most of this except about Fonda. The atmosphere is great, but its food is not blowing anyone out of the water.  Suerte is easily better and El Naranjo is at least as good.  

Hard to keep up with everything in Austin. Will have to try Suerte if I get the chance next time I'm in town. 

11 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

The difference between average and great is huge. Shitty Mexican food is well, shitty. If you can't tell the difference, then it kinda makes my point for me. 

I agree. I have had some downright horrendous Mexican food. If you fuck it up you fuck it up. I will say that the line between good and great can be marginal, where as with pizza I feel like the line between average and good is pretty marginal but it is difficult to turn good pizza into great pizza. Great pizza is almost a craft, like baking or BBQ. Great interior Mexican is more of an art imo. 

5 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

*Pours some cerveza on the concrete for the cabrito*

I never got to try the cabrito. She's the one that got away. I just know that everything else there was so on point and incapable of improvement for what it was. That and the sherbet. Shit, now I'm getting emotional. I think the last time I ate there was with my ex-girlfriend (oh, right, she isn't the one that got away - fuck that hoe). One of the waiters hadn't seen me in probably 5 years and instantly recognized me and asked me how I was. Pour one out indeed. 

Edited by ztejas
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Anastasis

Anastasis 23455

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Posted
3 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I never got to try the cabrito. She's the one that got away. I just know that everything else there was so on point and incapable of improvement for what it was. That and the sherbet. Shit, now I'm getting emotional. I think the last time I ate there was with my ex-girlfriend (oh, right, she isn't the one that got away - fuck that hoe). One of the waiters hadn't seen me in probably 5 years and instantly recognized me and asked me how I was. Pour one out indeed. 

My dad and I use to drop over there exclusively for the cabrito. sigh. 

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Liquor and Poker

Liquor and Poker 3659

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, Ollie Slatt said:

Agree with most of this except about Fonda. The atmosphere is great, but its food is not blowing anyone out of the water.  Suerte is easily better and El Naranjo is at least as good.  

Fonda is the one restaurant that I just don't get.  Been there 3 times - had food so bad I thought it was a joke each time.  Was told I ordered the wrong thing, and ordered what was recommended the last two times.  Yet almost everyone I've ever talked to raves about that place and has for 25 or so years. And it's not the "Mex Mex" thing - I love that shit.  It's just bad food - really fishy, tough shrimp, cheap-tasting cheese, stale, bad all-around.

Random other thoughts:

Maudie's has one thing on its menu - Josie's enchiladas.  Never ordered anything else and never will.

Best Mex I ever had in Austin was at a place called Seis Salsas.  I think it's long gone.  

For some reason, salsa in Austin is uniformly better than anywhere in DFW.  Restaurants, grocery stores, homemade by co-workers, whatever.  

Matt's in Austin is pretty good but Matt's in Lakewood is what I think Mexican food must taste like in Tulsa. 

Javier's is great, but I think the TexMex in Dallas proper is generally pretty mediocre.  Gloria's, Manny's,  Mattito's, Blue Goose, Uncle Julio's-type places predominate.  Mia's and Rafa's are OK.

Not sure about Houston yet.  All the places I knew from childhood seem to be gone or shells of their former selves.  Still love Chapultepec's on Richmond, though.

 

 

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ztejas

ztejas 43411

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Posted (edited)
21 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

For some reason, salsa in Austin is uniformly better than anywhere in DFW. 

False, objectively. Sounds like you have eaten a lot of shitty Mexican in Dallas and not much of the good stuff. Two of the places I named: La Paloma and El Come Taco have authentic salsa that will light your house on fire. Maybe your take on salsa is a preference thing but I would bet it has more to do with not finding the good stuff in DFW. There are multiple Dallas Latinos on this board that would agree with me. 

21 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

Matt's in Austin is pretty good but Matt's in Lakewood is what I think Mexican food must taste like in Tulsa. 

False, subjectively. They are almost identical in my experience. Like, to an impressive degree. I promise you. If you think one is bad, then so is the other and vice versa. 

21 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

the TexMex in Dallas proper is generally pretty mediocre. 

Agreed. But you really need to venture more on the mexmex/interior side of things to get good Mexican in Dallas. I don't think Uncle Julio's is terrible for what it is but the others you mentioned are awful. One that slipped my mind that is actually pretty damn good TexMex is Bandito's in Snyder Plaza. 

And on Fonda, I'm not sure what you have or haven't ate their. Maybe you are getting poor recommendations. I generally stay away from seafood in Austin in general. 

Edited by ztejas
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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12447

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54 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

The difference between average and great is huge. Shitty Mexican food is well, shitty. If you can't tell the difference, then it kinda makes my point for me. 

I'm not trying to call you out because you're from Iowa, but it's one of those deals when you don't know what you don't know. If it makes you feel any better, I don't think I could delineate good fried butter from bad fried butter.

Fried butter isn't really a thing.  Outside of the state fair, which is a culinary freak show.

I know you aren't trying to be a dick.  It would be hard for me to buy that someone from Texas knew a really good brat or pork chop, even though you've probably had really good brats and/or chops there.

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DalTxHornFan

DalTxHornFan 3097

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Posted

I miss El Azteca in Austin.  Have always been a fan of Matt's in Austin and the Dallas Lakewood store.  Javier's, especially the cigar bar, is just a signature experience.  My favorite Dallas place is Herrera's -- the incarnation previously located on Maple, but now on Sylvan.  Great standard tex-mex and their weekend menudo is the best I've ever consumed.

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ztejas

ztejas 43411

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2 minutes ago, DalTxHornFan said:

Have always been a fan of Matt's in Austin and the Dallas Lakewood store.

Thank you. It's the same fucking thing. 

And I think we should start an El Azteca support group. I'll bring the pineapple sherbet. @Anastasis can bring the cabrito. Modelo Especial for all. 

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Liquor and Poker

Liquor and Poker 3659

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Posted
20 minutes ago, ztejas said:

False, objectively. Sounds like you have eaten a lot of shitty Mexican in Dallas and not much of the good stuff. Two of the places I named: La Paloma and El Come Taco have authentic salsa that will light your house on fire. Maybe your take on salsa is a preference thing but I would bet it has more to do with not finding the good stuff in DFW. There are multiple Dallas Latinos on this board that would agree with me. 

False, subjectively. They are almost identical in my experience. Like, to an impressive degree. I promise you. If you think one is bad, then so is the other and vice versa. 

Agreed. But you really need to venture more on the mexmex/interior side of things to get good Mexican in Dallas. I don't think Uncle Julio's is terrible for what it is but the others you mentioned are awful. One that slipped my mind that is actually pretty damn good TexMex is Bandito's in Snyder Plaza. 

And on Fonda, I'm not sure what you have or haven't ate their. Maybe you are getting poor recommendations. I generally stay away from seafood in Austin in general. 

I have given up on Fonda.  Three meals and over 3 bills spent with nothing but regrets.  Done.

On DFW, my point was more that the "traditional" Tex-Mex restaurants are not good, especially the ones that people in the "bubble" tend frequent.  Places like Mesomaya and even Javier's are all right but that's a different thing. 

I promise the fajitas at Matt's in Austin are edible, even good on occasion.  Nothing at Matt's in Lakewood could convince me blindfolded that I wasn't at some place called "Viva Sombrero!" in the Kansas City airport.

And the salsa thing, I'm pretty comfortable with my statement.  It's not really just heat, it's the flavor.  Dallas salsa is either that dumbed-down Pace-like garlic marinara crap or something in a little plastic jello shot container that tastes like pure fire mixed with whatever's hotter than fire.  Some of the latter is good on tacos, but not much for sitting on the couch with a bowl on your stomach to dip chips in while watching football.

Oh and is the El Patio on Guadalupe still around?  That place was like a little slice of 1970's Panhandle in West Campus.  Crackers and butter instead of chips and salsa.  Fucking nostalgia.

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ztejas

ztejas 43411

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Posted

I can see this discussion is going nowhere. 

That said, you are wrong about Matt's on Lakewood. Maybe it's a psychosomatic thing, maybe you had a bad night, maybe you haven't been recently. I have eaten at both of them dozens of times. It's the same restaurant. 

Otherwise you are entitled to your opinion. Salsa is super subjective and some of other people's "favorite" salsa I think is meh so I get it. 

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After irth

After irth 1243

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On 1/8/2019 at 7:04 PM, Hate said:

As a San Antonio native, I grew up during the glory years of Mi Tierra. Thirty years ago, you would be hard pressed to find better enchilada’s anywhere. Several years ago, we were in SA to visit and stopped by for old times sake. It was awful. It was every bit as bad as Casa Rio on the Riverwalk. It was a shame.

My own personal fave is (and always will be) Jacala. 

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formermav43

formermav43 4606

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7 hours ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

The difference between average and great is huge. Shitty Mexican food is well, shitty. If you can't tell the difference, then it kinda makes my point for me. 

You’re arguing against a point he didn’t make. He said average.

Ive had bad Mexican food. And when it’s bad, it’s REALLY bad.

But when it’s good, it’s all pretty much the same, at least if we’re talking classic Tex-Mex. You have a fairly standardized group of dishes. That’s not a criticism-I love it. Some places may do one thing better than another or whatever. But, in general, the Iowan is right.

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Zepol87

Zepol87 9185

Posted
Posted
My favorite is probably Sabrocita in Denton. Last time I was there in 2016 they still had a special three tacos, rice, beans, and a coke for $5. I'm not sure if the Austin location shares the same awesomeness.


Love sabrocita!! It is a solid after hour spot also
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South Austin

South Austin 52437

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Posted
13 hours ago, ztejas said:

The fact that Las Manitas and El Azteca (which gets my retrospective vote for TexMex) closed in Austin tells you all you need to know about Mexican in Austin. 

Las Manitas is an example of nothing more than a cheap shitty dirty (and for some, nostalgic) restaurant that had to relocate because it could no longer afford the rent.

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12447

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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, shnsajax said:

Never been as its not where near where I live or work, but I have heard of it at least. Can you take a Wyoming based taco chain seriously?

I'm sure I'll get slammed for it, but for what it is, Taco John's is good.  Don't think of it as Mexican, think of it as meat in tortillas with crack-laced fried potatoes on the side.  With that in mind, it's fucking delicious.  Especially when you're hungover in college, broke, and the dorm isn't serving dinner on Sundays.  6 pack And a Pound (6 tacos and a lb of potato oles) chased with cheap beer while watching NFL games was many a Sunday in those days.

It's a competitor of Taco Bell.  Within that pond, it slams and goes hard.  It is not an example of authentic quality Mexican cuisine.

Edited by Al_4_ISU
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GringoSalado

GringoSalado 1651

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Posted
21 hours ago, Zepol87 said:

The damn food inside fiesta, El Rancho, and Rio grande grocery stores is better than that list honestly.

Stripes has some fairly legit chile verde & etc., or did a few years ago in, say, Lamesa. For a little while there they had some seriously delicious tamales. Optimal masa to carne.

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Paco

Paco 1934

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Posted
If you want tacos go to a fucking stand not a sit down place.  Get a torta while you’re at it.  In Austin, we used to go to El Primo’s for tripas and al pastor.  Damn, that place was badass.
I'll eat tacos wherever the fuck I want.
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Guest

Guest

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Posted (edited)
3 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Wildly inconsistent from place to place, though.

Indeed.  I work in the burbs, but also go into the north side of H-town.  I look for the lawn crews at the good places.

 

Never fails if you want great tacos.

Edited by slorch
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