Will van Overbeek/Houston Press Matt Martinez Jr., the "King of Tex-Mex," died on Friday. He was 63. Martinez and his family owned the Dallas restaurants Matt's Rancho Martinez and Matt's No Place as well as a stake in Matt's El Rancho in Austin, the restaurant his father founded. Robb Walsh, on his embrace of the term: Matt Jr. was attending a cooking class taught by Englishwoman Diana Kennedy, who spoke derisively of Americanized Mexican food."She said she only did authentic Mexican food, not Tex-Mex," Martinez fumed in the introduction to his book [Matt Martinez's Culinary Frontier]. "I was so insulted." To defy Kennedy and those who belittled his heritage, he decided to abandon any claim to "authentic Mexican" and...
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In 4,200 words, Robb Walsh valiantly searches the Lone Star State for old-school Tex Mex. We're talking chili con carne before Velveeta was ever a thing, third-generation tamale carts, and what tacos used to be: tortillas dipped in oil, filled with smoked brisket, and then griddled. If anyone can build a Tex-Mex time machine, Walsh can....
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When I asked all of you to pray for me diet-wise because I was headed to Dallas and New Orleans, I meant it. Here's the kind of thing I'm going to be doing for the next four days: My friend Robb Walsh, restaurant critic of the Houston Press, who perhaps knows more about barbecue and Tex-Mex food than any man alive, picked me up at the Dallas airport yesterday at 5:30 p.m. and announced we were going on a real Fort Worth food tour for the rest of the evening. By 6 p.m., we put our names on the list at a fried-chicken and chicken-fried-steak roadhouse called Babe's Chicken Dinner House in Roanoke, Texas. While we were waiting for...
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Denver Post sportswriter John Henderson visits San Antonio for work and develops a fascination for that city's great contribution to Tex-Mex cuisine, the humble breakfast taco: "I can't imagine trying to drive with cheddar and beans flowing down my wrist but in San Antonio, the traditions of neighboring Mexico clash with fast-paced modern American society. I often saw people driving through downtown in the morning with a taco nearing their mouth. It's messier than a cellphone but not nearly as annoying. "It doesn't take up too much of your time when you're rushing," Torres said. "You call, it's ready, you pick it up and go."...
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