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.
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.
I agree with fivrforfun. I live in Bend and the Mexican food at Pepe's rocks. My friend Marcos has a restaurant called La Rosa that is also a locals favorite.
Some really awesome burritos de carne asada can be found at El Grullense in Salem OR. In fact when I'm there I get a cooler and ice and load up before driving home... yes, that good!
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.
rozilla - there are some good Mexican restaurants in Nashville. Pueblo Viejo and Pueblo Real in Franklin, Las Cazuelas (can't beat the entertainment on Saturday night) or Los Arcos on Nolensville Rd. are all real good.
C) Los Angeles. Taco trucks - 'nuff said.
I'm going to jump on the San Antonio is not real Mexican bandwagon, too. Some of the worst "Mexican" food I've ever had was there. Guess that's why they call it Tex-Mex.
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.
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.)
You can bet none of them are in Philadelphia....
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