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The Myth of Authenticity Is Killing Tex-Mex

182 points by samclemens 9y ago

deleted 9y ago
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Chardok 9y ago
The best part of the "great American melting pot" for me is the fusion of cuisines. Trying to knock a restaurant or food because it isn't "authentic" is completely missing the beauty of the different combinations of flavors and styles that arise. Texans know the difference between Mexican and Tex Mex, and can enjoy both without having to act like one is superior. By the way if you've never had brisket chili I highly recommend it.
- jihadjihad 9y ago
  Was just talking with my wife about this yesterday when we went to an Asian fusion place for lunch. Sometimes you just want to eat gyoza, sushi, and mapo tofu in the same meal. Doesn't mean you don't appreciate that they're foods from different cultures. It's quintessentially American to gather up the best bits of multiple cultures and offer them all in one convenient package.
  - pbhjpbhj 9y ago
    Aren't all modern cultures (with exception of "lost" tribes perhaps) amalgams of multiple historic influences. It's the quintessence of culture to be a composite of prior cultural aspects. It doesn't appear to be distinctly American in that it seems to be present in the other continental areas too? For example traditional British chip shop food includes battered pineapple, and curry sauce and may just as well be cooked for you by a person born in China, say.
    - flyinghamster 9y ago
      Indeed, food gets remixed worldwide. The gyros I get in Chicago are almost identical to the kebabs I found in Britain, except that the British variety has a wide variety of sauce options, including ones more commonly associated with curry, such as tikka. Tikka masala, on the other hand, was invented in the UK and has made its way back to India. Food would be boring indeed if ingredients and techniques strictly stayed in one place.
- jimmaswell 9y ago
  It's interesting to think what the transition point was when people just made do with whatever plants and animals were available nearby, and that was "food," to when things became "<country/culture/region/etc> food." If tortilla wraps, beans, etc. were imported to Japan 300 years ago, that would just be Japanese food, but now if a Japanese restaurant started mixing those in, it would never escape the label "Japanese/Mexican fusion" or a variation on that.
  - geephroh 9y ago
    Tempura is 16th century "Japanese/Portuguese fusion" cuisine. http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170808-the-truth-about-japanese-tempura http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170808-the-truth-about-jap...
- xeonoex 9y ago
  This is why Houston food is so great. I actually grew up in the Rio Grande Valley (mentioned in the article), then moved to Houston after graduating from college. Most of the Mexican food in the RGV is really good, but I think Houston has it beat overall, maybe just because of the increased competition. People from the RGV will never agree though, because the RGV is the "authentic" style to them. Most of the time, "authentic" actually means "familiar". You can find great TexMex and MexMex all around Houston. Not every place is great though. There's always places that serve cheap, bland or stale food. But the best thing about Houston is the variety. There are large populations of people from all over the world. Vietnamese, Thai, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, and Mediterranean food in particular are pretty popular. Then add the traditional american food, BBQ, seafood, and the Louisiana dishes, and it's hard to find a city with more diversity in food.
  - RandallBrown 9y ago
    If you haven't already, check out the Netflix series Ugly Delicious. There's a whole episode about the fusion cuisine in Houston.
    - vonlena 9y ago
      Ex-Houstonian here (born and raised, moved to California) and I gotta say this episode actually disappointed me. I know there's no possible way to fit all the different fusion and great breadth of variety available in the city, this focused pretty much only on Viet-Louisiana fusion and similarities. There is SO MUCH MORE to Houston than that. *edit- I'd like to also say that this show is great though, especially his view on the topic of authenticity and how he thinks it hurts more than it helps. :)
nailer 9y ago
I'm not American, so have no patriotic love of US food, and was fully prepared for 'authentic' Yucatan to completely eclipse Austin (where I'd eaten a bunch of Tex Mex food before). I was actually disappointed - the quality of the produce, and the sharpness of flavour in even the cheapest food in Austin eclipsed anywhere on the mid/low range in Yucatan. Queso aside (I do not like American cheese) I'd prefer Austin any day.
- minikites 9y ago
  It's because Mexico ships all the good quality produce to the USA, leaving poor quality produce behind for the domestic market.
- maxxxxx 9y ago
  Agreed. The food I got while driving around Baja a while ago was not very good.
- always_good 9y ago
  I lived in Austin. Now I live in Mexico, various parts, and I'd say that Austin has a very short supply of Mexican food. But there are people who will always prefer Torchy's bizarre tacos over a legit taqueria you'd find in E Riverside or wherever. And they didn't enjoy some of the best tacos I could take them to in Guadalajara. But I would never conclude that Austin's food is better from that sort of experience.
  - bretthoerner 9y ago
    Hopefully you realize that your comment perfectly embodies the point of the article? You're complaining about the "authenticity" of Austin Tex-Mex in a reply to someone who said they loved the Austin food more than "authentic" food they had in Mexico.
weeksie 9y ago
Certainly one of my biggest pet peeves. If I had a nickel for everybody that got in my ear about "authentic" Mexican food and of course was talking about one particular regional cuisine: Tex-Mex, Southwest American, Californian Mexican, Mexico City, . . . The search for authenticity in food is a weird obsession anyway since cuisine changes on contact with new ingredients.
- taeric 9y ago
  Completely agreed on the weird obsession that this is. I get wanting to have something you know, but I don't get dismissing the things you don't. Especially on some pseudo ranking based on "authenticity".
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    Seeking authenticity in cuisine is often about seeking to escape familiar uniformity, rather than avoiding the unfamiliar.
    - taeric 9y ago
      Not always. I'd wager it's more often elite signaling. Sometimes, though, is is just comfort. As an example, the donuts from New Orleans are easy to make at home. Ish. I have yet to have them elsewhere be the same. I'll probably call the ones I do authentic, but I confess it is just to my tastes.
- kerkeslager 9y ago
  There are tons of examples of this in Japanese food. A friend who spent most of a year in Japan said that they love sauerkraut over there because it has the sour, fermented taste that's emblematic of some of their fine cuisine. Corn (native to North America) is a common topper for ramen. Many Japanese broths and sauces now integrate peanuts (also native to North America).
  - PakG1 9y ago
    And how about cheese fondue in South Korea! :) Though apparently they've been making their own cheese since 1959, so at what point may it be considered part of their culture? https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/22701/when-did-cheese-enter-the-korean-diet https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/22701/when-did-c...
kodablah 9y ago
The death of traditional tex mex is hinted at in the article. I think it's because the vast majority of transplants and modern youth simply do not want cheap mounds of food from dingy establishments. Yet true tex-mex can only operate this way. They cannot raise prices and modernize their establishments because then they are completing on a separate, higher-priced plane. I'm not going to a tex-mex restaurant that wants > $8 for lunch because it's unlikely to be tex-mex. But others are not going to any dingy restaurant serving mounds of unhealthy, greasy food regardless of prices, and so we have the impasse. It's no different than saying froyo is killing the ice cream truck. Having said that, there are still a ton of tex mex establishments just barely raising their prices. Some are locally chaining up (e.g. Matitos, Cristinas, etc in the Metroplex), some are not really traditional (or in the process of losing it) and already chained up (Chuys, Pappasitos, Uncle Julios, etc). The rest are operating on small margins, but they're not completely dead and some are even opening anew or revamping. They are no longer dirt cheap, but still not expensive.
- conductr 9y ago
  In Dallas area, I find you have to go south to find anything close to authentic. Like Herrera's in Oak Cliff (which is now even getting chained up). Dallas is very economically segregated and south is where the these rent issues are less present and dense mexican communities have formed.
  - kodablah 9y ago
    While mostly true, we have to be careful with words like "authentic". Tex-mex has variations in every area, even among metropolitan areas (same deal w/ Fort Worth, except many "authentic" ones are in North Fort Worth). For example, I consider a chimichanga to be quintessential tex-mex even though it's probably not Texan or Mexican and not "traditional" or "authentic". Some tex-mex places may laugh at you for asking while others will serve it proudly.
    - conductr 9y ago
      Good point. Authentic to me - but I do think the greasy food of cinder block buildings are a good sign of authenticity (in Texas). And you just don't see that at all in most of the north of I30 Dallas. I'm not too familiar with Ft Worth, except Joe T's (IMO: authentic but poor execution on the food, great patio & margaritas). I'm not a purist, I agree with you on the chimichanga.
kurthr 9y ago
Tex-Mex was really popular in Europe in the early 90s (along with the color orange). I ate at a restaurant in Paris that served decent enchiladas and chalupas, but the guacamole old, brown, and inedible. Today, I suspect you could get much fresher avocados... and of course margaritas are everywhere. Now Tex-Mex is moving up-scale even in Texas. It's weird, but there's so much competition at the food trucks, fast casual, etc that it's hard for the old grease ladlers to pay the rent (and rent has really gone up). The joke, “Tex-Mex is it’s invented in the Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio makes it popular, and Austin takes all the credit.” really only sounds right in Austin where self-deprecatory hipsterism is a thing. The valley and SA don't care.
nimbius 9y ago
Whats killing tex mex --and frankly quite a number of other american fusion cuisines-- is what I like to term lard-as-a-service. Elites didnt kill tex-mex, Texas did. Things like Tacos al Carbon and fajita dishes take time, patience, and effort to achieve not only a reproducible but flavorful and healthy results. Huitlacoche, corn, and other fresh produce have the duality of problems for restaurants and cooks: discounts offered only at scale and the potential to spoil. Finally, places like McDonalds have ruined food. Everything has to be delivered in 6 minutes or less, or your yelp review will shutter your business. this combination of 'fast/cheap/good' drives restaurants to eschew creative dishes and involved recipes in favor of simple durable ingredients. Sure, the fajitas came frozen, but most customers wont care if you fry them in margarine and drown them in an ocean of inexpensive cheese that has an amicable shelf life. Refried beans can either be made in house, or if you dont like the idea of hiring a chef for a fair wage, purchased from a sysco truck on 70lb batches of flavourless grey box shaped paste. Or, skip it altogether and sell something that was cheaper than sourcing 6 vegetables like Brisket and canned beans. So long as someone else cooked it, its not on your ledger.
- jimmaswell 9y ago
  Do that many people look at yelp? The most anyone I know sees are the reviews that pop up on Google Maps, and I've never noticed those reviews to be unfair about small wait times or the like.
  - ravenstine 9y ago
    Everyone I know looks to Yelp first, I'm guessing in part because Google Maps' UI for reading reviews is somewhat obtuse in contrast. I live in the LA area, so it's possibly a regional thing.
chrissnell 9y ago
I was born and raised in San Antonio. My grandmother wrote a locally-famous cookbook back in the 1960s, "The World of Mexican Cooking". [1] It's actually almost purely Tex-Mex, although she does have a chapter for "Mex-Mex" recipes. The recipes are fantastic, authentic, and most are easy enough fo r the average home cook to prepare. I asked my aunt, who now owns the copyright, if I could typeset the book in LaTeX and distribute it under an open-source license. She was cool with it and I started the transcription but never got beyond the second chapter--it's hard, tedious work! If anybody knows of some software that I can feed scanned pages into and get a PDF of OCR'ed text plus the artwork (it had wonderful art doodled in between the pages and paragraphs), please let me know. By the way, Tex-Mex is the quintessential melting pot cuisine and one of the things that ties us San Antonians together. Tex-Mex has been embraced by many different ethnicities. My great aunt and uncle were children of Syrian-Lebanese immigrants who came to the US via Mexico. They opened up a restaurant, Karam's, that was one of the most famous and popular Tex-Mex restaurants in San Antonio for decades until it closed in the early 2000's. If you're ever in San Antonio, skip all of the crappy tourist restaurants on the Riverwalk and head straight for the original location of the Blanco Cafe [2]. In my opinion, it's the most authentic and delicious Tex-Mex joint in town. [1] https://www.amazon.com/World-Mexican-Cooking-Margaret-Curry/dp/0931722462/ https://www.amazon.com/World-Mexican-Cooking-Margaret-Curry/... [2] https://www.yelp.com/biz/blanco-cafe-san-antonio https://www.yelp.com/biz/blanco-cafe-san-antonio * EDIT: I just remembered that I did scan the book to PDF already. I have it here on my phone but I'm on a plane at the moment. Once I'm on the ground, I'll see about uploading it to Github for everyone to check out. The scanned version is sub-optimal and I think my grandmother would have appreciated my efforts to typeset this. If you're interested in helping out, we can figure out some way to divvy up the chapters and you can help me with OCR+proofing or doing the image->text manually. Thanks for your nice comments! I hope to get something for Show HN soon.
- jimmaswell 9y ago
  There are book scanning machines on Amazon of varying price and complexity, some advertising coming with OCR capability of their own.
- fein 9y ago
ddavis 9y ago
Thanks a lot for sharing, I enjoyed reading this. I spent most of my life in Texas and went to college in Austin. The first thing out of my mouth when I get home: "let's go grab some Mexican." I can't think of anyone (friends and family living outside of Texas) that doesn't do the same -- Tex-Mex will never be killed :)
jordigh 9y ago
The article doesn't seem to talk about it, but why do people crave authenticity anyway, as if they were afraid that they were getting scammed by their food? Nobody cares that spaghetti bolognese isn't from Bologna or that Haägen Dazs isn't a remotely Scandinavian word, and nobody had cared for a long time. Why are they caring now? More internet? More migration? What's changed that's making everyone realise, in abject horror, my god, we have seen this food's ethnicity, and it is ours!
- ravenstine 9y ago
  People like things that seem exotic because it's novel. They care more now because life is generally easy(or, rather, straight-forward) so people need amusement and ways to feel special. It's unique experience they crave, even if it's the merely perception. Oddly, flavor comes second. [ which I believe is the case with the recent popularity of phở, but that's my subjective belief. ;) ]
- deleted 9y ago
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- pmichaud 9y ago
  My pet theory is that our culture is becoming increasingly atomiticized, like everyone experiencing their lives as entirely disconnected from anyone else or to history or some bigger sense of meaning. There are upsides to it, but I think people are craving some "grounding" in a world where things/groups exist for deep reasons--where there's a continuity of identity that lasts many generations instead of the blink it lasts in most peoples' current experience.
ataturk 9y ago
It's stupid to throw political crap in at the end of the article like that. These writers, they just can't help themselves.
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banned1 9y ago
First it was Tex Mex music. Now this? :-(
cicero 9y ago
When I think of "authentic" Tex-Mex, I think of El Fenix in Dallas. They certainly have a long (in American terms) and interesting history[1] with that cuisine. My favorite comfort food, especially during cold weather, is their Mexican Dinner with tamales, chili con carne, and a cheese enchilada. 1: http://www.elfenix.com/history http://www.elfenix.com/history
- kodablah 9y ago
  I don't think that, personally, at least its modern incarnation. But this just goes to show that opinions differ on this. Also we shouldn't necessarily attribute history to "authenticity" as many times the history is held up for marketing purposes and does not represent their modern approach.
sudosteph 9y ago
Growing up in NC, I was never really exposed to the idea that there were different types of Mexican cuisines in the US. Everything was just "Mexican" food there. Now that I've experienced west coast varieties, I'd definitely say it's Tex-mex dominant in the southeast. Queso is such a staple there. I just couldn't believe it when I arrived in Seattle and couldn't find it anywhere! I don't think tex-mex will die any time soon though. It definitely is a comfort food that people will always crave. I haven't noticed a downturn in tex-mex style mexican in NC, but it's not competing with Brisket there either. Still, even small towns in NC usually have some sort of mexican restaurant, often staffed by immigrants from Mexico with soccer games playing on the TV, so maybe that makes it feel more authentic. Ultimately it's the portions, the approachable tastes and textures, and the price that will keep Tex-Mex restaurants chugging along. It's not a hip food, and probably wont ever be again.
mcguire 9y ago
Here in north Alabama, El Palacio (of Mexican Food) on the parkway in Huntsville closed a few months ago. Another part of my childhood is dead. (I grew up in Texas, frequently eating in dimly-lit Tex-Mex restaurants with pictures of toreadors and dying bulls, sometimes on actual felt. This was before even fajitas became popular---burritos, enchiladas, tacos, and chile rellanos were the popular fare. Walking into El Palacio made me feel like I was 6 again.)
- logfromblammo 9y ago
  Guadalajara Jalisco on Madison Blvd., next to the Wal-Mart. It's the best one in Madison, in my opinion, but I can't speak for Huntsville proper. Chapala, the one that has "authentic mexican restaurant" right in the name, next to Publix on County Line, is certainly genuine enough, but the service responsiveness ranges from sluggish to glacial. Places like Casa Blanca, Rosie's, and Phil Sandoval's are all like Olive Garden for Mexican. They're what I think of when I imagine an "inauthentic tex-mex" restaurant. Speaking of which, there are zero good Italian restaurants in the area, according to my spouse. There's a decent one in Chattanooga, within a mile of the 24/75 junction. But that's at least 2 hours away. Chuck Wagon BBQ on Madison Blvd. sells Texas barbecue, if you didn't already know. Most of the other barbecue joints in the area are essentially Memphis barbecue, plus white sauce. The owner has also been referred to as the "barbecue Nazi", in reference to the "soup Nazi" Seinfeld episode, so you'd best know what you want before reaching the counter.
  - mcguire 9y ago
    It's been a while since I worked out that way and ate at Guadalajara and the Chuck Wagon (it's the only Texas barbecue around, it's good, you take what he gives you when he's open and you eat it and like it). Guadalajara is good, but it's just not the same. (Do they even serve fried ice cream?) Is that Portofino's in Chattanooga?
    - logfromblammo 9y ago
      You are correct. There may actually be a decent Italian restaurant closer, but Chattanooga is on the way to a lot of potential long weekend destinations.
S_A_P 9y ago
No mention of the city with the best Tex-Mex. Houston. Sorry this article is not accurate.
bluedino 9y ago
This site contains information about the origins of many tex-mex dishes - it's an interesting read http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmexican.html http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmexican.html
wallacrw 9y ago
Crunchy tacos. All day long. I don't care where it's from, it's genius.
JoeAltmaier 9y ago
My wife cuts to the chase: its good, but its not what she grew up with in New Mexico. No argument of 'authenticity'. Just not how Mrs. Mays cooked it!
Kalium 9y ago
Given the obesity rate in San Antonio, the death of tex-mex is almost certainly going to be a boon for the health of many a Texan.
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sbussard 9y ago
I'm from El Paso and lived in New Mexico for six years. Personally, I've never had really good TexMex or Authentic Mexican food anywhere outside of the southwest. I've always thought of TexMex as a variation of Mexican food involving high quality beef with a peppery seasoning, like you can get at Taco Cabana or Rosa's. It's sad to me that some people might think places like Taco Bell/Chilis/Applebees are an accurate representation of TexMex or Traditional Mexican. It's also strange that queso is so overused everywhere outside of the southwest. Side note: Navajo Tacos are superbly delicious.
beat 9y ago
The myth of authenticity isn't killing Tex-Mex. Economics are. The increasing advantage of corporate chains over mom-and-pop restaurants, the increasing cost ratio of mass-market factory ingredients over local meats and vegetables... it's just plain cheaper and more profitable to build another Taco Bell or Chi-Chis than to keep Grandma's restaurant going into a third generation.
- rwc 9y ago
  Didn't expect a Chi-Chis reference on HN. For what it's worth, "A combination of bankruptcy and hepatitis drove the chain out of business" in 2004. http://journaltimes.com/news/local/glad-you-asked-what-happened-to-chi-chi-s-why/article_fea637c0-075e-5912-b5bb-34ccead84f1a.html http://journaltimes.com/news/local/glad-you-asked-what-happe...
- pc2g4d 9y ago
  This theory goes against the grain of the "fast casual" movement where people are willing to pay more than bottom dollar for food... if they're convinced they're getting something a little better than Taco Bell. Chipotle, Qdoba, etc.
  - mywittyname 9y ago
    Chipotle is dirt cheap. A chicken burrito bowl (my go-to) is $6.50. It's pretty much the cheapest food around my work. The only other contender is the Chinese place where I can get a lunch for $6.75.
- DoreenMichele 9y ago
  When I worked for a Fortune 200 insurance company, I sometimes had to call healthcare providers to verify information. Healthcare providers were sometimes major hospitals, but they were often small offices providing medical or dental care. Although doctors are highly educated professionals, their education specifically covers medical stuff, not business stuff. Small offices routinely had piss poor knowledge of regulations like HIPAA and lousy business practices. Small shops often simply lack robust practices in important areas outside their main area if expertise. This is a serious problem in business. Similarly, I imagine that in many cases, Grandma's restaurant was started because Grandma was an excellent cook and she decided to make money off of it in an era where her lack of business acumen was less of a hindrance. The grandkids may not cook as well as Grandma and may have no idea they need to up their game in non cooking areas as well. So Taco Bell comes in and Taco Bell has better business practices and a robust system in place to standardize the quality of its so so food. The fact that no gourmet chefs work there won't hurt the business the way it kills Grandma's restaurant when the grandkids just can't turn out a dish like Grandma could. I would really like to see a world that does a better job helping small shops perform well as business entities. But that isn't the world I live in currently. Currently, small shops often die because they simply lack business acumen that franchises have well sorted.
dahart 9y ago
Maybe it's just keto/Atkins trends that are making BBQ so popular? Tex-Mex might be plenty authentic, but I haven't found carnitas in the states that match my memories of Mexico. Not even BBQ pulled pork that compares either. It could be entirely a perception that is influenced by being in Mexico rather than the quality of the food itself, but it doesn't really matter, the Mexican food in Mexico seems better. Best meal I ever had in Mexico was a hole in the wall joint in Guanajuato where a woman would bring a new dish of her choosing to all 4 tables in her restaurant room, about once every 15-20 minutes. You could walk in and sit down, and just eat what you get, for as many courses as you wanted, then on your way out, pay for however many courses you ate. It was soups and meats and vegatables, not much of the fare you'd consider "Mexican food", but one of my best memories of eating in Mexico.
dalacv 9y ago
People care more about this topic than Net neutrality. As they should. I mean it's Tex Mex for crying out loud.
Joof 9y ago
It's partly how we view the cultures. Popular 'chinese' food is also supposed to be cheap, but we have a similar view of their manufactured goods. Japanese food is expensive, we consider their manufactured goods as high quality. Meanwhile, Chinese food is some of the most highly regarded food in the world. Mexican food... probably gonna expect it to be cheap.

182 points by samclemens 9y ago

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

The best part of the "great American melting pot" for me is the fusion of cuisines. Trying to knock a restaurant or food because it isn't "authentic" is completely missing the beauty of the different combinations of flavors and styles that arise. Texans know the difference between Mexican and Tex Mex, and can enjoy both without having to act like one is superior. By the way if you've never had brisket chili I highly recommend it.

jihadjihad 9y ago
Was just talking with my wife about this yesterday when we went to an Asian fusion place for lunch. Sometimes you just want to eat gyoza, sushi, and mapo tofu in the same meal. Doesn't mean you don't appreciate that they're foods from different cultures. It's quintessentially American to gather up the best bits of multiple cultures and offer them all in one convenient package.
- pbhjpbhj 9y ago
  Aren't all modern cultures (with exception of "lost" tribes perhaps) amalgams of multiple historic influences. It's the quintessence of culture to be a composite of prior cultural aspects. It doesn't appear to be distinctly American in that it seems to be present in the other continental areas too? For example traditional British chip shop food includes battered pineapple, and curry sauce and may just as well be cooked for you by a person born in China, say.
  - flyinghamster 9y ago
    Indeed, food gets remixed worldwide. The gyros I get in Chicago are almost identical to the kebabs I found in Britain, except that the British variety has a wide variety of sauce options, including ones more commonly associated with curry, such as tikka. Tikka masala, on the other hand, was invented in the UK and has made its way back to India. Food would be boring indeed if ingredients and techniques strictly stayed in one place.
jimmaswell 9y ago
It's interesting to think what the transition point was when people just made do with whatever plants and animals were available nearby, and that was "food," to when things became "<country/culture/region/etc> food." If tortilla wraps, beans, etc. were imported to Japan 300 years ago, that would just be Japanese food, but now if a Japanese restaurant started mixing those in, it would never escape the label "Japanese/Mexican fusion" or a variation on that.
- geephroh 9y ago
  Tempura is 16th century "Japanese/Portuguese fusion" cuisine. http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170808-the-truth-about-japanese-tempura http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170808-the-truth-about-jap...
xeonoex 9y ago
This is why Houston food is so great. I actually grew up in the Rio Grande Valley (mentioned in the article), then moved to Houston after graduating from college. Most of the Mexican food in the RGV is really good, but I think Houston has it beat overall, maybe just because of the increased competition. People from the RGV will never agree though, because the RGV is the "authentic" style to them. Most of the time, "authentic" actually means "familiar". You can find great TexMex and MexMex all around Houston. Not every place is great though. There's always places that serve cheap, bland or stale food. But the best thing about Houston is the variety. There are large populations of people from all over the world. Vietnamese, Thai, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, and Mediterranean food in particular are pretty popular. Then add the traditional american food, BBQ, seafood, and the Louisiana dishes, and it's hard to find a city with more diversity in food.
- RandallBrown 9y ago
  If you haven't already, check out the Netflix series Ugly Delicious. There's a whole episode about the fusion cuisine in Houston.
  - vonlena 9y ago
    Ex-Houstonian here (born and raised, moved to California) and I gotta say this episode actually disappointed me. I know there's no possible way to fit all the different fusion and great breadth of variety available in the city, this focused pretty much only on Viet-Louisiana fusion and similarities. There is SO MUCH MORE to Houston than that. *edit- I'd like to also say that this show is great though, especially his view on the topic of authenticity and how he thinks it hurts more than it helps. :)

nailer 9y ago

I'm not American, so have no patriotic love of US food, and was fully prepared for 'authentic' Yucatan to completely eclipse Austin (where I'd eaten a bunch of Tex Mex food before). I was actually disappointed - the quality of the produce, and the sharpness of flavour in even the cheapest food in Austin eclipsed anywhere on the mid/low range in Yucatan. Queso aside (I do not like American cheese) I'd prefer Austin any day.

minikites 9y ago
It's because Mexico ships all the good quality produce to the USA, leaving poor quality produce behind for the domestic market.
maxxxxx 9y ago
Agreed. The food I got while driving around Baja a while ago was not very good.
always_good 9y ago
I lived in Austin. Now I live in Mexico, various parts, and I'd say that Austin has a very short supply of Mexican food. But there are people who will always prefer Torchy's bizarre tacos over a legit taqueria you'd find in E Riverside or wherever. And they didn't enjoy some of the best tacos I could take them to in Guadalajara. But I would never conclude that Austin's food is better from that sort of experience.
- bretthoerner 9y ago
  Hopefully you realize that your comment perfectly embodies the point of the article? You're complaining about the "authenticity" of Austin Tex-Mex in a reply to someone who said they loved the Austin food more than "authentic" food they had in Mexico.

weeksie 9y ago

Certainly one of my biggest pet peeves. If I had a nickel for everybody that got in my ear about "authentic" Mexican food and of course was talking about one particular regional cuisine: Tex-Mex, Southwest American, Californian Mexican, Mexico City, . . . The search for authenticity in food is a weird obsession anyway since cuisine changes on contact with new ingredients.

taeric 9y ago
Completely agreed on the weird obsession that this is. I get wanting to have something you know, but I don't get dismissing the things you don't. Especially on some pseudo ranking based on "authenticity".
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  Seeking authenticity in cuisine is often about seeking to escape familiar uniformity, rather than avoiding the unfamiliar.
  - taeric 9y ago
    Not always. I'd wager it's more often elite signaling. Sometimes, though, is is just comfort. As an example, the donuts from New Orleans are easy to make at home. Ish. I have yet to have them elsewhere be the same. I'll probably call the ones I do authentic, but I confess it is just to my tastes.
kerkeslager 9y ago
There are tons of examples of this in Japanese food. A friend who spent most of a year in Japan said that they love sauerkraut over there because it has the sour, fermented taste that's emblematic of some of their fine cuisine. Corn (native to North America) is a common topper for ramen. Many Japanese broths and sauces now integrate peanuts (also native to North America).
- PakG1 9y ago
  And how about cheese fondue in South Korea! :) Though apparently they've been making their own cheese since 1959, so at what point may it be considered part of their culture? https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/22701/when-did-cheese-enter-the-korean-diet https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/22701/when-did-c...

kodablah 9y ago

The death of traditional tex mex is hinted at in the article. I think it's because the vast majority of transplants and modern youth simply do not want cheap mounds of food from dingy establishments. Yet true tex-mex can only operate this way. They cannot raise prices and modernize their establishments because then they are completing on a separate, higher-priced plane. I'm not going to a tex-mex restaurant that wants > $8 for lunch because it's unlikely to be tex-mex. But others are not going to any dingy restaurant serving mounds of unhealthy, greasy food regardless of prices, and so we have the impasse. It's no different than saying froyo is killing the ice cream truck. Having said that, there are still a ton of tex mex establishments just barely raising their prices. Some are locally chaining up (e.g. Matitos, Cristinas, etc in the Metroplex), some are not really traditional (or in the process of losing it) and already chained up (Chuys, Pappasitos, Uncle Julios, etc). The rest are operating on small margins, but they're not completely dead and some are even opening anew or revamping. They are no longer dirt cheap, but still not expensive.

conductr 9y ago
In Dallas area, I find you have to go south to find anything close to authentic. Like Herrera's in Oak Cliff (which is now even getting chained up). Dallas is very economically segregated and south is where the these rent issues are less present and dense mexican communities have formed.
- kodablah 9y ago
  While mostly true, we have to be careful with words like "authentic". Tex-mex has variations in every area, even among metropolitan areas (same deal w/ Fort Worth, except many "authentic" ones are in North Fort Worth). For example, I consider a chimichanga to be quintessential tex-mex even though it's probably not Texan or Mexican and not "traditional" or "authentic". Some tex-mex places may laugh at you for asking while others will serve it proudly.
  - conductr 9y ago
    Good point. Authentic to me - but I do think the greasy food of cinder block buildings are a good sign of authenticity (in Texas). And you just don't see that at all in most of the north of I30 Dallas. I'm not too familiar with Ft Worth, except Joe T's (IMO: authentic but poor execution on the food, great patio & margaritas). I'm not a purist, I agree with you on the chimichanga.

kurthr 9y ago

Tex-Mex was really popular in Europe in the early 90s (along with the color orange). I ate at a restaurant in Paris that served decent enchiladas and chalupas, but the guacamole old, brown, and inedible. Today, I suspect you could get much fresher avocados... and of course margaritas are everywhere. Now Tex-Mex is moving up-scale even in Texas. It's weird, but there's so much competition at the food trucks, fast casual, etc that it's hard for the old grease ladlers to pay the rent (and rent has really gone up). The joke, “Tex-Mex is it’s invented in the Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio makes it popular, and Austin takes all the credit.” really only sounds right in Austin where self-deprecatory hipsterism is a thing. The valley and SA don't care.

nimbius 9y ago

Whats killing tex mex --and frankly quite a number of other american fusion cuisines-- is what I like to term lard-as-a-service. Elites didnt kill tex-mex, Texas did. Things like Tacos al Carbon and fajita dishes take time, patience, and effort to achieve not only a reproducible but flavorful and healthy results. Huitlacoche, corn, and other fresh produce have the duality of problems for restaurants and cooks: discounts offered only at scale and the potential to spoil. Finally, places like McDonalds have ruined food. Everything has to be delivered in 6 minutes or less, or your yelp review will shutter your business. this combination of 'fast/cheap/good' drives restaurants to eschew creative dishes and involved recipes in favor of simple durable ingredients. Sure, the fajitas came frozen, but most customers wont care if you fry them in margarine and drown them in an ocean of inexpensive cheese that has an amicable shelf life. Refried beans can either be made in house, or if you dont like the idea of hiring a chef for a fair wage, purchased from a sysco truck on 70lb batches of flavourless grey box shaped paste. Or, skip it altogether and sell something that was cheaper than sourcing 6 vegetables like Brisket and canned beans. So long as someone else cooked it, its not on your ledger.

jimmaswell 9y ago
Do that many people look at yelp? The most anyone I know sees are the reviews that pop up on Google Maps, and I've never noticed those reviews to be unfair about small wait times or the like.
- ravenstine 9y ago
  Everyone I know looks to Yelp first, I'm guessing in part because Google Maps' UI for reading reviews is somewhat obtuse in contrast. I live in the LA area, so it's possibly a regional thing.

chrissnell 9y ago

I was born and raised in San Antonio. My grandmother wrote a locally-famous cookbook back in the 1960s, "The World of Mexican Cooking". [1] It's actually almost purely Tex-Mex, although she does have a chapter for "Mex-Mex" recipes. The recipes are fantastic, authentic, and most are easy enough fo r the average home cook to prepare. I asked my aunt, who now owns the copyright, if I could typeset the book in LaTeX and distribute it under an open-source license. She was cool with it and I started the transcription but never got beyond the second chapter--it's hard, tedious work! If anybody knows of some software that I can feed scanned pages into and get a PDF of OCR'ed text plus the artwork (it had wonderful art doodled in between the pages and paragraphs), please let me know. By the way, Tex-Mex is the quintessential melting pot cuisine and one of the things that ties us San Antonians together. Tex-Mex has been embraced by many different ethnicities. My great aunt and uncle were children of Syrian-Lebanese immigrants who came to the US via Mexico. They opened up a restaurant, Karam's, that was one of the most famous and popular Tex-Mex restaurants in San Antonio for decades until it closed in the early 2000's. If you're ever in San Antonio, skip all of the crappy tourist restaurants on the Riverwalk and head straight for the original location of the Blanco Cafe [2]. In my opinion, it's the most authentic and delicious Tex-Mex joint in town. [1] https://www.amazon.com/World-Mexican-Cooking-Margaret-Curry/dp/0931722462/ https://www.amazon.com/World-Mexican-Cooking-Margaret-Curry/... [2] https://www.yelp.com/biz/blanco-cafe-san-antonio https://www.yelp.com/biz/blanco-cafe-san-antonio * EDIT: I just remembered that I did scan the book to PDF already. I have it here on my phone but I'm on a plane at the moment. Once I'm on the ground, I'll see about uploading it to Github for everyone to check out. The scanned version is sub-optimal and I think my grandmother would have appreciated my efforts to typeset this. If you're interested in helping out, we can figure out some way to divvy up the chapters and you can help me with OCR+proofing or doing the image->text manually. Thanks for your nice comments! I hope to get something for Show HN soon.

jimmaswell 9y ago
There are book scanning machines on Amazon of varying price and complexity, some advertising coming with OCR capability of their own.
fein 9y ago

ddavis 9y ago

Thanks a lot for sharing, I enjoyed reading this. I spent most of my life in Texas and went to college in Austin. The first thing out of my mouth when I get home: "let's go grab some Mexican." I can't think of anyone (friends and family living outside of Texas) that doesn't do the same -- Tex-Mex will never be killed :)

jordigh 9y ago

The article doesn't seem to talk about it, but why do people crave authenticity anyway, as if they were afraid that they were getting scammed by their food? Nobody cares that spaghetti bolognese isn't from Bologna or that Haägen Dazs isn't a remotely Scandinavian word, and nobody had cared for a long time. Why are they caring now? More internet? More migration? What's changed that's making everyone realise, in abject horror, my god, we have seen this food's ethnicity, and it is ours!

ravenstine 9y ago
People like things that seem exotic because it's novel. They care more now because life is generally easy(or, rather, straight-forward) so people need amusement and ways to feel special. It's unique experience they crave, even if it's the merely perception. Oddly, flavor comes second. [ which I believe is the case with the recent popularity of phở, but that's my subjective belief. ;) ]
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pmichaud 9y ago
My pet theory is that our culture is becoming increasingly atomiticized, like everyone experiencing their lives as entirely disconnected from anyone else or to history or some bigger sense of meaning. There are upsides to it, but I think people are craving some "grounding" in a world where things/groups exist for deep reasons--where there's a continuity of identity that lasts many generations instead of the blink it lasts in most peoples' current experience.

ataturk 9y ago

It's stupid to throw political crap in at the end of the article like that. These writers, they just can't help themselves.

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banned1 9y ago

First it was Tex Mex music. Now this? :-(

cicero 9y ago

When I think of "authentic" Tex-Mex, I think of El Fenix in Dallas. They certainly have a long (in American terms) and interesting history[1] with that cuisine. My favorite comfort food, especially during cold weather, is their Mexican Dinner with tamales, chili con carne, and a cheese enchilada. 1: http://www.elfenix.com/history http://www.elfenix.com/history

kodablah 9y ago
I don't think that, personally, at least its modern incarnation. But this just goes to show that opinions differ on this. Also we shouldn't necessarily attribute history to "authenticity" as many times the history is held up for marketing purposes and does not represent their modern approach.

sudosteph 9y ago

Growing up in NC, I was never really exposed to the idea that there were different types of Mexican cuisines in the US. Everything was just "Mexican" food there. Now that I've experienced west coast varieties, I'd definitely say it's Tex-mex dominant in the southeast. Queso is such a staple there. I just couldn't believe it when I arrived in Seattle and couldn't find it anywhere! I don't think tex-mex will die any time soon though. It definitely is a comfort food that people will always crave. I haven't noticed a downturn in tex-mex style mexican in NC, but it's not competing with Brisket there either. Still, even small towns in NC usually have some sort of mexican restaurant, often staffed by immigrants from Mexico with soccer games playing on the TV, so maybe that makes it feel more authentic. Ultimately it's the portions, the approachable tastes and textures, and the price that will keep Tex-Mex restaurants chugging along. It's not a hip food, and probably wont ever be again.

mcguire 9y ago

Here in north Alabama, El Palacio (of Mexican Food) on the parkway in Huntsville closed a few months ago. Another part of my childhood is dead. (I grew up in Texas, frequently eating in dimly-lit Tex-Mex restaurants with pictures of toreadors and dying bulls, sometimes on actual felt. This was before even fajitas became popular---burritos, enchiladas, tacos, and chile rellanos were the popular fare. Walking into El Palacio made me feel like I was 6 again.)

logfromblammo 9y ago
Guadalajara Jalisco on Madison Blvd., next to the Wal-Mart. It's the best one in Madison, in my opinion, but I can't speak for Huntsville proper. Chapala, the one that has "authentic mexican restaurant" right in the name, next to Publix on County Line, is certainly genuine enough, but the service responsiveness ranges from sluggish to glacial. Places like Casa Blanca, Rosie's, and Phil Sandoval's are all like Olive Garden for Mexican. They're what I think of when I imagine an "inauthentic tex-mex" restaurant. Speaking of which, there are zero good Italian restaurants in the area, according to my spouse. There's a decent one in Chattanooga, within a mile of the 24/75 junction. But that's at least 2 hours away. Chuck Wagon BBQ on Madison Blvd. sells Texas barbecue, if you didn't already know. Most of the other barbecue joints in the area are essentially Memphis barbecue, plus white sauce. The owner has also been referred to as the "barbecue Nazi", in reference to the "soup Nazi" Seinfeld episode, so you'd best know what you want before reaching the counter.
- mcguire 9y ago
  It's been a while since I worked out that way and ate at Guadalajara and the Chuck Wagon (it's the only Texas barbecue around, it's good, you take what he gives you when he's open and you eat it and like it). Guadalajara is good, but it's just not the same. (Do they even serve fried ice cream?) Is that Portofino's in Chattanooga?
  - logfromblammo 9y ago
    You are correct. There may actually be a decent Italian restaurant closer, but Chattanooga is on the way to a lot of potential long weekend destinations.

S_A_P 9y ago

No mention of the city with the best Tex-Mex. Houston. Sorry this article is not accurate.

bluedino 9y ago

This site contains information about the origins of many tex-mex dishes - it's an interesting read http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmexican.html http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmexican.html

wallacrw 9y ago

Crunchy tacos. All day long. I don't care where it's from, it's genius.

JoeAltmaier 9y ago

My wife cuts to the chase: its good, but its not what she grew up with in New Mexico. No argument of 'authenticity'. Just not how Mrs. Mays cooked it!

Kalium 9y ago

Given the obesity rate in San Antonio, the death of tex-mex is almost certainly going to be a boon for the health of many a Texan.

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sbussard 9y ago

I'm from El Paso and lived in New Mexico for six years. Personally, I've never had really good TexMex or Authentic Mexican food anywhere outside of the southwest. I've always thought of TexMex as a variation of Mexican food involving high quality beef with a peppery seasoning, like you can get at Taco Cabana or Rosa's. It's sad to me that some people might think places like Taco Bell/Chilis/Applebees are an accurate representation of TexMex or Traditional Mexican. It's also strange that queso is so overused everywhere outside of the southwest. Side note: Navajo Tacos are superbly delicious.

beat 9y ago

The myth of authenticity isn't killing Tex-Mex. Economics are. The increasing advantage of corporate chains over mom-and-pop restaurants, the increasing cost ratio of mass-market factory ingredients over local meats and vegetables... it's just plain cheaper and more profitable to build another Taco Bell or Chi-Chis than to keep Grandma's restaurant going into a third generation.

rwc 9y ago
Didn't expect a Chi-Chis reference on HN. For what it's worth, "A combination of bankruptcy and hepatitis drove the chain out of business" in 2004. http://journaltimes.com/news/local/glad-you-asked-what-happened-to-chi-chi-s-why/article_fea637c0-075e-5912-b5bb-34ccead84f1a.html http://journaltimes.com/news/local/glad-you-asked-what-happe...
pc2g4d 9y ago
This theory goes against the grain of the "fast casual" movement where people are willing to pay more than bottom dollar for food... if they're convinced they're getting something a little better than Taco Bell. Chipotle, Qdoba, etc.
- mywittyname 9y ago
  Chipotle is dirt cheap. A chicken burrito bowl (my go-to) is $6.50. It's pretty much the cheapest food around my work. The only other contender is the Chinese place where I can get a lunch for $6.75.
DoreenMichele 9y ago
When I worked for a Fortune 200 insurance company, I sometimes had to call healthcare providers to verify information. Healthcare providers were sometimes major hospitals, but they were often small offices providing medical or dental care. Although doctors are highly educated professionals, their education specifically covers medical stuff, not business stuff. Small offices routinely had piss poor knowledge of regulations like HIPAA and lousy business practices. Small shops often simply lack robust practices in important areas outside their main area if expertise. This is a serious problem in business. Similarly, I imagine that in many cases, Grandma's restaurant was started because Grandma was an excellent cook and she decided to make money off of it in an era where her lack of business acumen was less of a hindrance. The grandkids may not cook as well as Grandma and may have no idea they need to up their game in non cooking areas as well. So Taco Bell comes in and Taco Bell has better business practices and a robust system in place to standardize the quality of its so so food. The fact that no gourmet chefs work there won't hurt the business the way it kills Grandma's restaurant when the grandkids just can't turn out a dish like Grandma could. I would really like to see a world that does a better job helping small shops perform well as business entities. But that isn't the world I live in currently. Currently, small shops often die because they simply lack business acumen that franchises have well sorted.

dahart 9y ago

Maybe it's just keto/Atkins trends that are making BBQ so popular? Tex-Mex might be plenty authentic, but I haven't found carnitas in the states that match my memories of Mexico. Not even BBQ pulled pork that compares either. It could be entirely a perception that is influenced by being in Mexico rather than the quality of the food itself, but it doesn't really matter, the Mexican food in Mexico seems better. Best meal I ever had in Mexico was a hole in the wall joint in Guanajuato where a woman would bring a new dish of her choosing to all 4 tables in her restaurant room, about once every 15-20 minutes. You could walk in and sit down, and just eat what you get, for as many courses as you wanted, then on your way out, pay for however many courses you ate. It was soups and meats and vegatables, not much of the fare you'd consider "Mexican food", but one of my best memories of eating in Mexico.

dalacv 9y ago

People care more about this topic than Net neutrality. As they should. I mean it's Tex Mex for crying out loud.

Joof 9y ago

It's partly how we view the cultures. Popular 'chinese' food is also supposed to be cheap, but we have a similar view of their manufactured goods. Japanese food is expensive, we consider their manufactured goods as high quality. Meanwhile, Chinese food is some of the most highly regarded food in the world. Mexican food... probably gonna expect it to be cheap.