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G) How was Phoenix left off this list? Or even Tucson? Come on people.

Santa Barbara, CA - we have some pretty authentic Mexican eateries off the beaten path of downtown SB. A favorite for locals is La Super Rica which was featured in Sunset magazine a few years ago. They have excellent homemade tortillas and simple, straightforward flavors. There is always a line out the door!

El Paso, TX - my in-laws live in El Paso, and I have never eaten food as good as I have eaten there. How El Paso is not a major foodie travel destination is completely beyond me.

I suppose this might be cheating, however, as some of the amazing food was in Cd. Juarez. Technicalities notwithstanding, I can't see how any other American city can compete with the real deal.

i can't speak to most cities on the list as i've only visited them briefly, but i've lived in houston and eaten many a mexican meal there. it gets my vote.

Having spent a lot of time eating "Mexican food" all over America, and in Mexico I have to to give it to Santa Fe - where the food is by far the most authentic, varied and thoughtfully prepared. Everyone loves their favorite Taco or Burrito joint - but Mexican fare goes far further than Tex-Mex street food. For a real look at the possibilities our heritage cuisine offers there is no place like New Mexico, and Santa Fe offers up some of the very best in one place. I ask, where do Texan's go to get their Chiles?

Ed: Phoenix is my hometown, so I am biased towards it. I'm not much of a Rick Bayless style Mexican food eater- I like my tacos and burritos cheap and fast. The Phoenix Metropolitan area is chock full of cheap Mexican dives. If I can pay less than 5 bucks for an amazing carne asada burrito that's the side of my forearm, I'm good to go. There's also amazing mexican bakeries that will serve up mind blowing tamales.

It has got to be Houston! From high end (Hugos) to taco trucks (Tierra Caliente on Montrose) and great tex-mex we have it all. Plus, its not a "touristy" town like San Antonio...

C

This is a mind-numbing poll for me. I come from a multi-generational New Mexican family, and while the upscale Santa Fe style food is terrific (albeit ridiculously expensive), my favorite style of food is the traditional northern New Mexico food that my grandmother made (a style that could be represented by El Rialto in Las Vegas, N.M.).

However, I spent most of my life in Los Angeles, where I thought I had a firm grasp on excellent and diverse food, as LA has each region of Mexico represented.

For the last 10 years, I've lived in San Diego county, and I must say that the consistency of the Mexican food here is MUCH better than LA. From taco shops to excellent sit down dining, I prefer San Diego.

Bottom line, the food I crave is that of Northern New Mexico, and more particulary the family style tradicionales. Since Santa Fe is the only "city" in the north, I call that my favorite (for the real taste and feel of New Mexican family cuisine, go to Castro's Restaurante Comidas Nativas on Rodeo in Santa Fe - be warned - it's austere, but excellent!).

I'm surprised to read about people rallying for Phoenix. I've lived here for two years and while I've certainly enjoyed some stellar Mexican food at a few places, I've found most of the Mexican restaurants in the valley to be unimpressive. My vote would be for Santa Fe--there are some great upscale restaurants as well as some delicious mom and pop places outside of downtown.

El Paso. Word.

Houston.

I think there are more Mexican food restaurants here than gas stations.

G.) Tucson

i agree with condiment. how could you even consider anywhere other than L.A.?! there is no contest.

Thanks for the Castro's reco in Santa Fe, arman52. I'll be there on business next month and will check it out. Any other Santa Fe recommendations from you new mex boosters? swank or austere ambience and prices ok.

Tucson!!! I'm totally biased, as that's my hometown. But I live in SF and have spent time in Santa Fe, and while both of those have amazing food, I will always crave paper thin flour tortillas from Tucson. Among other things.

It would have to be San Antonio (tho I'd vote for Albuquerque if it was on the list). This is a rather odd list to leave off Austin and Albuquerque.

Austin. Old school tex-mex at Cisco's or Dario's, family style at Matt's El Rancho or East Side Cafe, laid back at Guero's or Trudy's or Magnolia or Maudie's, or upscale at Fonda San Miguel.
Man, I'm hungry all of a sudden.

ditto with someone above: Even the idea of a contest is absurd: Los Angeles is the second-largest city in greater Mexico, with millions more Mexicans than even Guadalajara. There are restaurants, taquerias and trucks from almost every conceivable region of Mexico in the metro area; an extensive network of farms and ranches growing Mexican-specific produce; and a hungry audience that knows exactly what the food from their village needs to taste like. Anybody who would posit another U.S. city as a better place to eat Mexican food is myopic, suffering from extreme nostalgia, or more likely, not getting to the right places in Los Angeles.

How are WE being myopic when you won't recognize there could be another alternative? C'mon!

My vote is for Phoenix.

I'll add a vote for Albuquerque, even though it's not on the list...

I'm going to say C. Los Angeles assuming that means the greater L.A. Metropolitan Area... which is pretty much all of So Calif...

Tex-Mex is good, but it ain't Mexican. Duh. It's Tex-Mex!

Hello, my name 'the minority' and I'm for Chicago. All the way.
Though I will confess to not having tried out some of these places... But oh man, Chicago.

Beth1 has it right -- I grew up near the Mexican border in San Diego (18 year) before moving to Los Angeles (12 years) and now San Francisco (6 years).

The further away I got from the border, the worse the Mexican food got. Even as something as stupid as a Rubio's Fish Taco tastes better in and around San Diego than it does further north. It is one of those cuisines that has not traveled well and to imply that Chicago or New York has the best Mexican food is insidiously stupid. Don't you people know anything????

Of the limited subset of cities on your list Santa Fe wins by default, because it is the only one in New Mexico, which has good Mexican food even by Mexican standards. In San Francisco, Regalito Rosticeria on 18th @ Mission is actually very very good. Houston and San Antonio each have more than any one person's lifetime quota of deliciousness but they are more Texan than Mexican, not that there is anything wrong with that. If you are the kind of benighted connoisseur who thinks that a burrito is food go to Burritos Moyagua in Zacatecas or any of the major roads anywhere near it and shed a tear for your wasted years with "Mission-style" garbage. Truth be told the Mexican food in Mexico is getting a lot worse post Nafta and it won't be long before some hippy American assholes have caught up, in all likelihood it will be the southwest first.

Hey Lambowner - the "jump" is when you read an article that starts on the main page of the blog and is continued with full details on another page that's reached by clicking on a hyperlink in the first page. When you click on that link to read the full details you "jump to the other page.

I lack the experience to say where the best Mexican food is but it's sure as heck not in NY city or NY state. And I think that although having a large Mexican population does raise the chances of having good Mexican food available... adjacency to the border is an even stronger factor.

I know I'm going to start a riot here (after reading the above comments), but San Antonio should not even be on this list. There are several decent taco joints, but that really is the extent of it. Most of the "Mexican" food here is really lacking, and other than a handful of recent arrivals (the aforementioned Picante Grill, as well as Cascabel's, and Guajillo's), there is almost no real Mexican food. We specialize in Texican, characterized by flour tortillas and chili gravy. Taco trucks have started to arrive in San Antonio in the last couple of years, so perhaps things are on an upward trend.

On the other hand, Chicago has phenomenal Mexican food all over the place, and a long weekend in Santa Fe last year was among my greatest runs of consistently amazing food (90% of it Mexican or New Mexican) ever.

(Full disclosure: My recent life: San Antonio 6 years -- Chicago 6 years -- San Antonio 2 years.)

This is a poorly worded question. There is quite a bit of difference between Mexican and Tex-Mex.

LA and Houston have the two largest Mexican populations and will have the best and most representative regional Mexican food. Houston does have an edge here because:

1) Mexican food is not segregated to one part of the city, as it is in LA. Houston is a working city without zoning, where people live and eat right next to one another. Try to find passable Mexican food in Beverly Hills, on the other hand.

2) Houston has Hugo Ortega (who bests even Rick Bayless if you ask me) and Hugo's, one of the best upscale Mexican restaurants in the country. LA doesn't even come close in this category.

Now, if you are looking for Tex-Mex, it's a completely different story. Houston and San Antonio have both originated very distinctive brands of Tex-Mex food, and I have trouble choosing one over the other.

Skirt steak has been cooked around Texas since 1930's, but fajitas in their current incarnation took off in Houston. Today you find them all over the world, but Houston is without a doubt a fajita city.

Similarly, San Antonio have signature dishes that you rarely find faithfully replicated anywhere else. Puffy tacos, cheese enchiladas, thick and doughy flour tortillas. All unique to San Antonio and in a different world when it comes to Tex-Mex.

So to sum up, Houston is the best city for Mexican food, with a tie between Houston and San Antonio for Tex-Mex.

Watsonville, CA!

Houston? What you have there is Tex-Mex. Chicago? I think not. I have lived in both cities. San Diego, CA which is 15 miles north of the Mexican border by far, has the best Mexican in the US. Old Town is dedicated to offering you one Mexican restaurant after another in addition to all the other Mexican restaurants and taco stands located around the city. Real Mexican food is found there.

In Nashville the taco trucks are more authentic, and better then most sit down Mexican restaurants. This town is a total fail for Mexican food.

Tucson, Arizona. Glad to see so many giving love to The Old Pueblo.

1) Sonoran Hot Dogs (El Guero Canelo/BK's) - bacon wrapped hot dogs with beans, onions, mustard, mayo, tomatoes, your choice of salsas, cheese and grilled peppers/green onions on a soft bolillo roll. $2.29, $1.75 on Wednesdays.

2) 24 hour drive through taquerias. Under $4 for a burrito? At 3am?

3) Really good sit down Mexican restaurants. Mi Nidito. Love the nopales simmered in red chile sauce with freshly made flour tortillas.

4) Even the U of A's Mexican place, Cafe Sonora, has decent mole and chimichangas. If a damn college cafeteria can provide good Mexican food, there should be no argument.

I rest my case.

Good grief, anyone who says that San Antonio has bad Mexican food and is "touristy" clearly didn't stagger far enough from the Riverwalk to learn anything about this city and its cuisine. People who actually *live* here don't go near the tourist areas, unless they have no choice.

And to say that LA *isn't* touristy but still has good Mexican food is just laughable. I didn't find one decent restaurant in all of California when I lived there. The food was horrible, and the service abominable.

When you get away from the downtown area of San Antonio, that's when you find out just how awesome the Mexican food is here. There are dozens of wonderful mom-and pop joints tucked into unexpected places all over San Antonio. You just have to know how to look.

And if you want the best Mexican food, anywhere, Texas's Lower Rio Grande Valley is the place to go. Until you've had seso or eyeball soup or panchos, until you can lay out the perfect botana platter, you don't know jack about authentic MX food.