L.A. Foodies who've spent time in Texas, what's the difference between Cali and Texas Mexican food? (Los Angeles: move, eat)

[poodlestix]

I'm posting the link to my opinion on Tex-Mex. I was raised in Calif (6 mos old to 25 years), and I thought we had the greatest Mexican food until I lived in Texas. Now nothing else will do!
http://www.city-data.com/forum/orlan...g-tex-mex.html

[poodlestix]

Oh yes, and they make the best bbq too!

[palermodude]

Originally Posted by Slauson Rosecranz

Mmm hmmm, mmm hmmm, very interesting indeed.

It's apparent that the two region's cuisine are completely different, almost like Sicilian (Southern) Italian food vs. Tuscan (Northern) Italian food.

I just had to respond ... sorry but there is no way that Tuscan cuisine represents Northern Italian cuisine, and Sicilian cuisine is not representative of all of the South. Lombardy, Piedmont and Venetian cuisines are different than Tuscan cuisines, and they are in the North. Tuscan cuisine is considered more central Italian cuisine, and you'll find that Emilia-Romagna cuisine is different than the rest, and it is central along with Roman cuisine. If you talk about Southern cuisine, you need to mention Calabria and Campania - both have distinctive cuisines. Italy is a small country, but its regions are very distinct.

Please, please, there are Italians on this board (like myself), and when I read something like the above post, it makes me cringe. It's like listening to bad out of tune music. What happens if I said all Southern cuisine was represented by Texas? That's how I feel when I read the above post.

[the one]

get it right people, THERE IS NO CALI-MEX FOOD!!!!!! there is only mexican food and then there is other types of wannabe mex food. remeber mex food is oaxacan, veracruzan, GDL style, desert, coastal, etc. it is identified by its mexican region. everything else is an impostor or a fusion, therefore not comparable. if you want the best mexican food in the nation try LA. you will find all types of food from mexico.

[dereistic01]

im moving from houston to la next month, i think the thing i will miss the most is tex-mex.

[Slauson Rosecranz]

Originally Posted by dereistic01

im moving from houston to la next month, i think the thing i will miss the most is tex-mex.

But I know you're gonna have fun comparing the two cuisines!

Two fusion cuisines, as The One would say.

[stargazer]

LA definitely has so many mexicans, the fresh ones that have not been here for generation after generation that the restaurants are more like mexico and less a fusion or tex mex invention as you would find in the lone star state. and before yall try to let me have it, yes texas also has a lot of fresh mexicans, but the mexican community goes back further that they have their own food style. cali mex does not really exist. so a comparison is really mute. but of all the restaurants that i have ate in TX very few had anything special. all spicy tomato sauce and pepper. i will take a cemita from a poblano lunch truck off central any day.

Just today I had a chicken enchilada with sour cream sauce, a cheese enchilada with chili con carne which I requested instead of ranchera sauce and a beef enchilada with verde sauce... all exceptional and fairly mild.. all what others would say is Tex Mex... though I call it Mexican Food, the restaurant is owned by a mexican family with servers and cooks who don't know how to speak english well.

My daughter's school where we live is filled with children who don't know english.. she goes to school with several kids who are there and then she is told they went back to Mexico. One child got upset with another child for revealing he was illegal ( his friend hispanic) and he was afraid that he would get in trouble and sent away..
As for the restaurants, I see trucks with Tortas and Pupusa written on the side... food is cooked by people who are mexican decent or from there orginally.. I grew up eating at restaurant on the coast of Texas where a goat was on a spit roasting over coals, usally for a celebration. We got franks and pintos in a cilatro chicken broth before the meal.. as far as my moms town, 2 mexican restaruants sit side by side and 2 food trucks sit on opposites corners serving up good mexican food with real cane sugar coca cola... Around Christmas, the trucks aren't there due to they go home during the holidays to Mexico to see family...

and the cheese isn't even real cheese - it's a semi-liquid cheese sauce. Bleh

The good queso dip will be white, not yellow.. the yellow, it taste like cheez whiz imo. Now I love cheez whiz but do prefer white and most aren't serving it white . I like to find one on my side of town that does.. It just depends on the restaurant. Where I live, there are some great places to eat that serve Mexican and some not so good.... it varies like I am sure it varies in California.. which btw will be tasting baja cuisine in March... visiting family in San Diego.

[stargazer]

Wanted to make a note, that mexican food varies here from some places being spicy to offering things with a mild to hot range...

[portyhead24]

Originally Posted by JackSparrow

Here's the difference: Texans have an inflated sense of self worth.



Texans like to talk loud while holding onto their huge belt buckles. But yeah, all talk. Everything is better there, haven't you heard??? And if you dispute it, they'll argue with you...

DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS!!!!, cause if you do, you'll have to hear them talk about why you shouldn't.

Inflated sense of self worth? Funny for someone living in LA. It's like the pot calling the kettle black. (just a lil jibe, don't take too personally)

[Slauson Rosecranz]

Originally Posted by stargazer

Wanted to make a note, that mexican food varies here from some places being spicy to offering things with a mild to hot range...

So Texas is on average spicier than California? Is it more chiles that they use?