Tex/Mex and Mexican Food (interior, visit to, great)

[BentBow]

La Fuentes off Congress & William Cannon.

La Familia On William Cannon.

True Mexican, not the Tex-Mex stuff.

[achtungpv]

The best overall Mexican restaurant is El Meson. Azul Tequila's Mexican side of the menu is very good, the Tex Mex side is meh. Angie's is good for carnitas tacos in homemade corn tortillas. Amaya's taco village is good for rib tacos. The best Tex Mex enchiladas is probably Enchiladas y Mas. Polvo's has really good fajitas. I probably frequent Texican Cafe the most, but it's neither Tex Mex or Mexican...but it's good. No place in Austin has tortillas worth a damn. The ability to make them stops at the county line apparently.

[kingugly]

If queso is on the menu, you are eating Tex Mex. If fundido is on the menu, you are eating traditional mexican.

The differences between the two fares be subtle, unless you were raised on one or the other, then the differences are HUGE!

[thesonofgray]

Originally Posted by achtungpv

The best Tex Mex enchiladas is probably Enchiladas y Mas.

I don't understand this. I heard such compliments and since I'm an enchilada nut I had to try the place. It was barely a step above Taco Cabana...seriously. Did I get the wrong thing or what??

[achtungpv]

Originally Posted by thesonofgray

I don't understand this. I heard such compliments and since I'm an enchilada nut I had to try the place. It was barely a step above Taco Cabana...seriously. Did I get the wrong thing or what??

I should have clarified Tex Mex as being Austin Style Tex Mex enchiladas which is brown chili gravy with tons of fake melted cheese. In that category Enchiladas y Mas is the best. If you are looking for classical (ha ha) Tex Mex enchiladas that came out of FTW (where the brown chili gravy was invented) then you'll be disappointed. You either love Austin style enchiladas or you hate them with a passion. There's little gray area there. Basically any restaurant that Jorge Arrendondo had a hand in will serve Austin style. I believe he used to own E y M and the current owner kept his recipe.

[homeinatx]

For excellent Mexican food - as opposed to Tex-Mex, of which there are many many great options, try the newish La Condesa on 2nd Street - just opposite Lamberts. Not cheap, but no more expensive than Fonda San Miguel, which is also good, but not quite in La Condesa' s league in my opinion. .

[texasurfer]

Good Description of TexMex here... Articles (http://www.fundido.com/Articles.html - broken link)

Have you ever had Barbacoa? I love it!

[thesonofgray]

Originally Posted by achtungpv

I should have clarified Tex Mex as being Austin Style Tex Mex enchiladas which is brown chili gravy with tons of fake melted cheese. In that category Enchiladas y Mas is the best. If you are looking for classical (ha ha) Tex Mex enchiladas that came out of FTW (where the brown chili gravy was invented) then you'll be disappointed. You either love Austin style enchiladas or you hate them with a passion. There's little gray area there. Basically any restaurant that Jorge Arrendondo had a hand in will serve Austin style. I believe he used to own E y M and the current owner kept his recipe.

So..."Austin style" enchiladas = Taco Bell on steroids? No thanks. I'll stick with the regular TexMex / Mexican.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

I also like Flores and Maudies ,which are great family places when you have to drag the crumb crunchers out with you to eat.

For a nice night out or Sunday Brunch it would be Fonda San Miguel, though it's not TexMex but traditional mexican.
Fonda San Miguel - Restaurant in Austin Texas

Steve

Ditto on your recommendation of Flores. I often bring an order home from there, everything I have tried has been good and reasonably priced.

Maudies has great breakfast Migas con Cueso with excellent refried beans. When they first opened I was very disappointed with their Cheese Enchiladas, and Cueso, it appears they use something like Velveeta for all their cheese. It had been awhile so I tried them again yesterday, but ordered 2 beef enchiladas and 1 cheese enchilada. The beef enchiladas were very good, as was the chili gravy on them, the cheese enchilada was as I remembered, tasted like a sharp velveeta, it wasn't bad since there was only 1 of them it complimented the beef, but an order of 3 cheese enchiladas would have been way too much. I love cheese enchiladas when made with a good cheese, this was disappointing again.

For lunch or a night out downtown I recommend the Laredo Cantina, 201 West 3rd Street, get the guacamole made fresh at the table.

Manuels at 310 Congress Avenue is also very good.

Ditto also on La Fonda San Miguel, excellent interior mexican food.

[latikeriii]

Believe it or not, Maria Maria on 5th and Colorado is pretty good. Not Tex-Mex though. La Tapatia on Ben White and Cedar Park has the best migas IMO. I do not like Flores. Everythings subjective,everyone has different tastes and expectations. Don't complain though, Mexican food has a loong way to go here in NYC. There's a considerable Mexican population here so hopefully it'll improve soon, I'm dying for my fix.