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."
Dannyalcatraz said:
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.
Dannyalcatraz said:
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.
Dannyalcatraz said:
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.