From the ashes will rise a new Hivemind.

[Jdvn1]

Just got back from San Antonio. How is is possible that a city with nothing but tex-mex to fail at making this kind of food?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Dude! Where did you go? I went to school down there (Trinity) and visit often- there are some AWESOME tex-mex restaurants down there!

 

[Relique du Madde]

Just got back from San Antonio. How is is possible that a city with nothing but tex-mex to fail at making this kind of food?

It's called Americanization. Most Mexican food in California (except in the heart of the barrio) tends to suffer from that.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Aye. Aeson's site I assume.


I have just been away. Not much free time.

Yup.

 

[Relique du Madde]

The skunk came back. Sprayed the family dog (Lucy), then decided to wait around in the backyard.


Side note: Some nutjob guy is saying: War in Korea. It's going to rain oil in the south. US War with Mexico.

 

[Jdvn1]

I went to THREE tex-mex places, and they were all terrible!

The first was on the riverwalk at the Naked Iguana Lounge, then at Pericos (in the NW part of town, I believe), then at La Tierra in Market Square. Bleh, bleh, and bleh. The tex-mex is far better at all of Houston, Austin, and Dallas.

I wouldn't even call it Americanization, just bad food. How else can I explain good tex-mex in other parts of the state?

 

[Relique du Madde]

I went to THREE tex-mex places, and they were all terrible!

The first was on the riverwalk at the Naked Iguana Lounge, then at Pericos (in the NW part of town, I believe), then at La Tierra in Market Square. Bleh, bleh, and bleh. The tex-mex is far better at all of Houston, Austin, and Dallas.

I wouldn't even call it Americanization, just bad food. How else can I explain good tex-mex in other parts of the state?

Heh.. it would help by explaining Tex-Mex. I mean here Mexican food is either Mexican Food, Fusion (ie. "__non Mexican dish__" Tacos), or fast food.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It's called Americanization. Most Mexican food in California (except in the heart of the barrio) tends to suffer from that.

Nah- its not Americanization. Tex-Mex is already inherently Americanized. There are significant flavor and textural differences between Tex-Mex and true Mexican cuisine.

I went to THREE tex-mex places, and they were all terrible!

The first was on the riverwalk at the Naked Iguana Lounge, then at Pericos (in the NW part of town, I believe), then at La Tierra in Market Square. Bleh, bleh, and bleh. The tex-mex is far better at all of Houston, Austin, and Dallas.

Naked Iguana and Pericos wouldn't have been on my radar at all. Mi Tierra is kind of a touristy place.

I haven't lived in SA since 1990, but I visit every once in a while. I still hit Chuys on occasion, and Taco Cabana was a lifeline for us students up & about at 2AM and hungry.

Still, I've forgotten some of the other places I'd go...somewhere around here, I have a few business cards of some of my old faves. If I can find them, I'll pass the info along.

 

[Jdvn1]

Nah- its not Americanization. Tex-Mex is already inherently Americanized. There are significant flavor and textural differences between Tex-Mex and true Mexican cuisine.

I don't know a lot about it, but tex-mex seems to be a part of border culture. So, one might even consider it a particular regional cuisine rather than a mix of "Texan" and "Mexican."

Naked Iguana and Pericos wouldn't have been on my radar at all. Mi Tierra is kind of a touristy place.

Naked Iguana was on the Riverwalk, so I assumed it'd be as crowded as and have the same ratio of tourists as (and have roughly the same quality of food as) any other place on the Riverwalk. While that's not necessarily true, if it's even close-ish to true, then that doesn't speak well to places on the Riverwalk.

I went to San Antonio to celebrate a friend's birthday--so, the location was decided by someone who lives in San Antonio. And, online reviews of this place are decent. In the past year, I've had a number of bad experience with restaurants recommended by "friends" (whom I don't know well, and don't know how well they know food).

Mi Tierra is definitely in a touristy place, but another "friend" said that--while it wasn't the best--it was still good.

I wanted to try a place called Biga on the Bank (I think it's new), which I've heard was very good... but it seems not to be tex-mex. The highest rated restaurants in San Antonio seem not to be tex-mex, though.

I haven't lived in SA since 1990, but I visit every once in a while. I still hit Chuys on occasion, and Taco Cabana was a lifeline for us students up & about at 2AM and hungry.

I can get these places in other cities, too. Chuy's is pretty good, but I'm definitely not a Taco Cabana fan, and I wasn't even when I was still a student. I'd probably have preferred to go to Chuy's than any other place I tried.

Still, I've forgotten some of the other places I'd go...somewhere around here, I have a few business cards of some of my old faves. If I can find them, I'll pass the info along.

If you can find them, I'll definitely try them out for my next trip! I would like to make another trip out there, eventually, to visit more of the missions, try Biga on the Banks, check out the japanese botanical garden thing, to explore the caverns, and to enjoy the wine country tours.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'm definitely not a Taco Cabana fan

Well, I'll tell you that the TCs in San Antonio are better than those elswhere in the state (it started in SA, after all).

As a student, it had several advantages:

1. Cheap as hell
2. Open 24 hours
3. Cheap as hell
4. Broad menu
5. Cheap as hell

Those factors- plus the fact that it was cheap as hell- made it perfect dining for students on a budget with a craving in the dark AM hours.

In addition, the TCs closest to Trinity were often staffed by illegals. I'm not kidding- staff turnover was HIGH. I was never there during a raid, but you could always tell when one had occurred. Given the intrinsic "Mexican-ness" of the staff in general, I think they gave the food a little bit more attention than in some other locations.

Nowadays, TCs is kind of like a comfort food. For 7 bucks, I know I can go in and recapture a little flashback of my youth.