Austin Mexican restaurant question (Houston, San Antonio: restaurants, store, eat)

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by 355spider

Genuine Mexicans food doesn't include enchiladas. Just go local taquerias where they don't speak English for a little taste of authentic MeXican. Very good very cheap and I have seen that sauce. They serve a couple gringo plates like enchiladas. Stay away from taqueria arandas. It's a chain and not very good.

Not true at all.

I lived in Mexico (central, San Luis Potosi) for a few months years ago, and ate what the locals eat every day--and all kinds of enchiladas were served as side dishes (and not main meals as they are in Tex-Mex). Might be a little different, but to say that genuine Mexican food does not include enchiladas is flat-out wrong.

The food I had in SLP, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Saltillo, San Miguel de Allende--and other places--all included enchiladas in one form or another.

[TexasHorseLady]

Taqueria Arandas is either good or not good depending on which one you go to. It's a chain, yes, but not in quite the same way we think of a chain where everything is exactly the same at each one.

Only one we'll go to is on Burnet Road. Their menu (click through from the link) shows red enchiladas, though I can't promise they'll be what you have in California.

[Idlewile]

Originally Posted by 355spider

Genuine Mexicans food doesn't include enchiladas.

Completely untrue. And there is a ton of info out there surrounding the history of the enchilada in Mexican culture. Google is your friend.

[CptnRn]

Santa Rita Cantina, Austin, TX: Home has a red sauce that is different from their Tex-Mex chili sauce.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by 355spider

Genuine Mexicans food doesn't include enchiladas.

Enchilada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Enchiladas originated in Mexico, where the practice of rolling tortillas around other food dates back at least to Mayan times.[4] The people living in the lake region of the Valley of Mexico traditionally ate corn tortillas folded or rolled around small fish. Writing at the time of the Spanish conquistadors, Bernal Díaz del Castillo documented a feast enjoyed by Europeans hosted by Hernán Cortés in Coyoacán, which included foods served in corn tortillas. (Note that the native Nahuatl name for the flat corn bread used was tlaxcalli; the Spanish give it the name tortilla.)[5][6][7][8] The Nahuatl word for enchilada is chīllapītzalli [t͡ʃiːlːapiːˈt͡salːi] which is formed of the Nahuatl word for "chili", chīlli [ˈt͡ʃiːlːi] and the Nahuatl word for "flute", tlapītzalli [t͡ɬapiːˈt͡salːi].[9] In the 19th century, as Mexican cuisine was being memorialized, enchiladas were mentioned in the first Mexican cookbook, El cocinero mexicano ("The Mexican Chef"), published in 1831,[4] and in Mariano Galvan Rivera's Diccionario de Cocina, published in 1845.[5][10] An early mention, in English, is a 1914 recipe found in California Mexican-Spanish Cookbook, by Bertha Haffner Ginger.[11]

[Neo45]

LMAO at enchiladas not being genuine Mexican food. Just stop...

[sanmiguel]

Originally Posted by 355spider

Genuine Mexicans food doesn't include enchiladas. Just go local taquerias where they don't speak English for a little taste of authentic MeXican. Very good very cheap and I have seen that sauce. They serve a couple gringo plates like enchiladas. Stay away from taqueria arandas. It's a chain and not very good.

Sounds like you have never had Enchiladas Potosinas. They are real as they get. Used to buy them at OXXO convenience stores while driving up from Guanajuato to Laredo. There are a couple of places you can find them in Austin.

[doctorjef]

I'm going to suggest going to Fonda San Miguel (just check out their website), where you can get some proper Interior of Mexico dishes, as well as an elevated level of TexMex (sort of Interior-TexMex fusion, if you will). I think you'll find something with an approximation to the red sauce you seek.

[Danbo1957]

Austinites simply do not eat California or New Mexico style red chile sauce; in Far West Texas and El Paso you'll find it though. This is a recipe for a simple, very good hybrid West Texas / Northern Mexico / Southern New Mexico Chile Colorado enchilada sauce:

3oz Chile Ancho ground
3oz Chile Guajillo ground
3oz Chile Red New Mexico ground
1 5oz can chile chipotle in adobo
3 tbs onion powder
3 tbs garlic powder
2 tbs ground cumin
2 tbs ground black pepper
2 oz all-purpose flour
2 oz vegetable oil, or bacon fat
28 oz tomato juice
28 oz water

In a large pot over medium heat, make a small roux with the flour and oil, cook 1 minute until mixed (do not burn).
Add tomato juice and water, turn up heat and bring to a slow simmer.
Add all other ingredients.
Cook for three hours at a slow simmer until liquid reduces by half and becomes a dark red color (colorado).
Add salt to taste.
Use as any other enchilada sauce.
Can be frozen for future use.

[sanmiguel]

"Austinites simply do not eat California or New Mexico style red chili sauce; in Far West Texas and El Paso you'll find it though."

I had a preflight breakfast taco at ABIA Earl Campbell restaurant this morning. Gal asked if I wanted salsa with it and was delighted to receive a packet of SoCal's own La Victoria salsa. That's as good as it gets