Tex/Mex and Mexican Food (San Antonio, Austin: neighborhood, living in, restaurants)

[suncityswkr]

Hello everyone. I am new to town and wanting some feedback. First, what is TexMex with regards to Mexican food? Furthermore, any suggestions for restaurants that serve authentic Mexican food, I am from El Paso, so I do know 'la comida mexicana' and no I am down with any Chicos Tacos wannabes.


Thanks Austinites, you all are friendly people.

[austin-steve]

Try the Texican. One of my favorites. Use to eat lunch at the one in Manchaca 3 or 4 times a week when I had my office down there in the late 1990s.
TEXICAN CAFE

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

[TexasHorseLady]

Try Azul Tequila. Both Tex Mex and Interior Mexican menus (you can check them out online to see if the dishes are what you're thinking of), and in my experience, the food is as good as Fonda San Miguel, though the ambiance is not as fancy.

[capcat]

To me, texmex brings to mind cheese enchiladas made with softer, more meltable cheeses and a chili con carne sauce, a crispy ground beef taco, with sides of rice and refried pinto beans. The queso has a more liquid consistency due to the type of cheeses used in texmex. There are certainly other texmex dishes, but I'm not sure how close (or far away) they are from interior Mexican cuisine.

My favorite texmex in Austin is El Patio, with El Gallo coming in a close second. Texmex comfort food and familiar people/surroundings in those two places. Not sure what all their menu encompasses (texmex/interior), but I was impressed in a different way with the ambiance and food of Vivo. For what I think of as interior Mexican cuisine, I would go to Fonda San Miguel. I believe Manuel's is a spin-off (long ago separation of ownership or chefs?) of Fonda San Miguel.

[Cha Ching]

For fancy interior Mex, Fonda San Miguel.

For tacky, fun, and the most indulgently cheesy, sour creamy, cilantro-y Tex-Mex, Chuy's hands down. I had to leave Texas because of the heat (got MS after 40 years of never even caring about 104 degrees), but GAWD I miss their Enchiladas Verdes. I'm salivating right now just thinking of them!

[theloneranger]

Cheesy is the way to describe Tex Mex. Cheese is perhaps the key ingredient of Tex Mex cuisine. It also uses a lot more beef. It's based on northern Mexican cuisine but it's diverged quite a bit in almost 200 years.

I would recommend Matt's El Rancho and Trudy's in Austin, but if you want really good Tex Mex (and probably better interior Mexican as well), I would head down to San Antonio. It's a much more Hispanic city and does the cuisine much better.

[texastrigirl]

Fonda San Miguel is great but for the price, try Azul Tequila for interior Mex. Also Curras, Habaneros (try the Zack Attack) and Polvos are good - all in the same area. Any of the listed TexMex above is great but personally I miss Chuys the most. I could list at least 20 places in Austin with great TexMex so going to yelp and putting in your neighborhood would be a good start.

[TexasHorseLady]

I just noticed your screen name, suncityswkr, and it sounds like you live in, or are at least in, Georgetown. You might want to try Mariachis de Jalisco on Williams Drive. Especially for breakfast.

[suncityswkr]

Thanks for the feedback dudes and dudettes. I will be checking out those places. Proir to moving to Austin, I was living in Lubbock. Yup, my heart was broke on that last second TD too. There was the first time I heard Tex-Mex applied to Mexican food. That meant that it was a notch or two above a high priced TV dinner. I had better luck going to Taco Bell.

I am sure glad I made the move here...this is like paradise!!!

[centralaustinite]

Welcome!

I do love Matt's El Rancho, pure heaven for Tex-Mex, for affordable interior Mexican, Curra's is good.

(yes, our hearts broke on that last second TD too, if only the game had four more minutes to go . . . ah well. "Next year" is almost here!