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Actual Mexican food is as cheap as Taco Bell where you live? Interesting
Very common in Texas (don't know where that poster lives). Mom and Pop restaurants, often teeny tiny and not generally visited by "gringos". Sometimes sketchy neighborhoods, and that throws people off. But excellent homemade Mexican food.
I love the enchirito too. For a while they stopped making it when they came out with the smothered burrito, but it’s back now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lodestar 77
Yep, "love me some Taco Bell"!
My first impression of anything Mexican was going to Taco Bell in 1982. My 4 yr. old daughter chose it for our weekly outing. I had no clue what they even offered, I was a hamburger and hot dog girl.
Chose something from the description posted of the food offerings.....an enchirito. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!
Several years later a fancier Mexican restaurant came to town......Chi-Chi's. Pricey but served drinks. Went for the first time (and possibly only time) with coworkers after work and I was not impressed! Didn't come close to the flavor I loved of Taco Bell.
To this day Taco Bell is my absolute "go to" for fast Mexican food. And I live in a city now where every corner has some sort of restaurant or Taqaria (sp) that is a Mexican food place.
I DO miss a bar in an industrial area that 2 friends and I would go to before ceramics class across the street. This bar had a "wet burrito" that was TO DIE FOR! Oooooey Gooooey cheesy, lots of ground beef and red sauce, mmmmmm. It was so big it fed the 3 of us. When I first visited Texas and went to a Mexican restaurant, I ordered one, specifically drooling for a "real" wet burrito. THEY HAD NO CLUE WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT! Discovered to my disappointment it was a Northern thing. I still haven't found anything to match that particular Mexican item.
I started eating at Taco Bell when I was living in an area where there was not much else that was “Mexican”. Whether I think it is Mexican or not now, I still like the food as an alternative to other fast food selections.
On another note, there was a restaurant near here (Maryland), in a strip mall, that had a sign advertising Authentic Mexican Food - California Style. They didn’t last. I never had the desire to find out what California Style could be that would still be authentic Mexican.
Taco Bell tastes like dog food smells. I'm scared of Taco Bell meat. I tend to wonder whether it's Soylent Green or else Ribwich meat from The Simpsons. Or those frogs that they made a sandwich into on Futurama?
Taco Bell makes me wonder whether there's actually such a thing now as Grade G meat.
OTOH, I love Del Taco. So it's not that I'm a purist or some sort of connoisseur or anything. I'm pretty "common clay" with things like this. Maybe even one or two inches below common clay...my eating and cooking habits may actually qualify for water table or even Earth's Mantle but I digress...
I do live in SoCal and yes, we have great Mexican, and mediocre Mexican and bad Mexican. And yes, some people do like Del Taco or Taco Bell but it's not like having it as a preference over "traditional" Mexican or even American "good" Mexican (i.e. full-throttle restaurant but with non-traditionally Mexican additions like cheese on tacos), it's just an entirely different thing. Like just feeling like a Big Mac once in a while rather than a ribeye and twice-baked potato. And honestly I don't see anything wrong with not always wanting dinner to be the ribeye. People are creative, we love having a variety of experiences, including with our food.
I started eating at Taco Bell when I was living in an area where there was not much else that was “Mexican”. Whether I think it is Mexican or not now, I still like the food as an alternative to other fast food selections.
On another note, there was a restaurant near here (Maryland), in a strip mall, that had a sign advertising Authentic Mexican Food - California Style. They didn’t last. I never had the desire to find out what California Style could be that would still be authentic Mexican.
California has a larger Mexican population than any other state. They know quite a bit about authentic Mexican food.
California has a larger Mexican population than any other state. They know quite a bit about authentic Mexican food.
That's true...
When marketed, though, "California style" often means silly things like a lot of veggies or with avocado added. I've noticed this even on our menus here. "California omelet - with fresh medium salsa and sliced avocado." (FTR, I love everything that way, LOL.)
It is true that if there is "authentic" Mexican anywhere in the U.S. it's here, although we also have everything else "Mexican adjacent."
When marketed, though, "California style" often means silly things like a lot of veggies or with avocado added. I've noticed this even on our menus here. "California omelet - with fresh medium salsa and sliced avocado." (FTR, I love everything that way, LOL.)
It is true that if there is "authentic" Mexican anywhere in the U.S. it's here, although we also have everything else "Mexican adjacent."
Hmmm. . . To me, "California style" Mexican food is typified by Gordos or Robertos taco shop style. Not a lot of veggies or avocado added.
Hmmm. . . To me, "California style" Mexican food is typified by Gordos or Robertos taco shop style. Not a lot of veggies or avocado added.
That's what I'm saying...stereotypes v. what people actually eat or like day to day.
It's like saying all Texans wander around in ten gallon hats yelling about how they like everything BIG!!!! or nobody in Maine eats anything but lobster and when they do they wear goofy striped shirts and those giant water boots.
Nearly every time I see "California style" on menus - even here! - it means either avocadoes, or vegetarian (and/or there are actual vegetables ON it).
Personally I think it would be more accurate if it meant it came with a blunt and competitive hair.
Just an FYI, but hamburger IS carne. It's carne molida.
True,
a carne de res
beef
la carne molida
ground beef
asado
roasted
el bisté
steak
But you'd get raised eyebrows around here ordering it that way.
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Discovered to my disappointment it was a Northern thing. I still haven't found anything to match that particular Mexican item. 
I've noticed this even on our menus here. "California omelet - with fresh medium salsa and sliced avocado." (FTR, I love everything that way, LOL.)
