Editor-In-Chief
FORT WORTH, Texas - It is said in travel magazines that flying into Texas does something to the palate. Writers familiar with this phenomenon point to the rich Texas food, Mexican especially. As one review maven wrote, "You can smell a spicy enchilada as soon as you clear St. Louis."
It is so.
And even though I know D/FW like the back of my girlfriend's lovely butt, I still enjoy dining in my Ol' Hometown. It is a cornucopia of Tex-Mex, from the outs of La Familia on Foch Street in the museum district to the sprinkling of first-rate restaurants in Sundance Square downtown.
But the Queen of All Tex-Mex is the fabled Joe T. Garcia's Restaurant on North Commerce Street, barely a stone's throw from the Stockyards, where one can still spot a however-fake trail drive moving up and down Exchange Drive, weary cows doing their damndest to look haggard & western for out-of-towners working the camera automatic drives. It is a neat cowboy postcard, yes.
In any case, Joe T. Garcia's is the place to go after being away from great Mexican grub for any length of time. It is the quintessential Old Time joint, its bright-green, frame building at the corner of Commerce and 22nd Street looking like it wants to go back to the 1950s. It is as popular an eatery as any found in the American Southwest, its parking lot as busy as its dining room. And that patio out back, well, let's just say it brings out the "eat" in me - even when the evening goes hot & humid on you, even when the line out front snakes around the block and you're standing behind an overweight woman too white to be believed, even when you hear that same woman say she's in town from New Jersey cause she read about Joe T.'s in a national magazine.
Inside, the place is anything but fancy (see photo above). "Cash only," the hostess at the door reminds everyone.
I have my dinner with a glass of red wine and nod a bit before asking myself why the Hell I'm going anywhere in the morning. And then that lovely voice coos out of my cellphone, asking about my whereabouts and about the last leg of my summer trip. I say I want to go to Santa Fe and I hear a distinctive no-no. She's right of course when she coyly brings up our physical relationship and so, yes, there I go again...
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9 comments:
Most if not all " Mexican / Tex - Mex food" is just a cheap copy of true Mexican food. Mexico goes way back in history 6.000 + years . Has more Food Varierities by regions and also is the leading nation in Native 66 dialects in the world.
The " Mexican food " that is sold here in the U.S.A. is mass marketed to the Anglo - Saxon Americans, White Caucasians and the spices are not at all what you'll find in a real Mexican Restaurant / Fonda.
It is a Subculture Antojitos Mejicanos /fast food / cheap snack / instead.
Dr. Atl:...You make a good point. An enchilada served in Brownsville is not the same as the one served in New York. Tex-Mex is just a handy assignation to what really is a wild variety of the same thing. You can find a $20 tamale in the Big Apple if that's your choice in exotic Mexican food, as you can find a fajita taco for $3 in any of a hundred taco trucks. What has come and gone is any hope of ever finding genuine Mexican fare, in the RGV included... - Editor
Unfortunally very true.
also us Mexican - Americans, Hispanics, Chicanos or whatever the U.S.A. Government and other Ethnicities , race They'd
" Labeled " us... We Have become just some " Exotic Mexican Curious "
> and We are to blame, for NOT standing Up for our rigths and everything else. In a way, we have also become our own very worst enemy !!!
CHANO:...Until the RGV can plunge into the 1980s, it will live the life of the lizard, forever tonguing what's bad and never imagining what could be good. It is a Leap-of-Faith that's needed, only instead of leaping the media outlets concentrate on stomping. It's a cheap life by any standard of measure. The politicians suck because everybody sucks... - Editor
Look everyone, to include the editor, the best tex-mex and mexican food is sold in south texas.
I have eaten in many rest. through the state, New Mexico, Az, forget Colorado, they think Mex food is taco bell.
The best food is right here in the LRGV. Chano maracas, quit demeaning our restaurants down here. Pork Tamales and coffee are great during the winter.
Maracas are you hispanic, or are you anglo mascarading yourself as one of us.
Mary Lou:...There are some neat Tex-Mex places in the RGV, but not one world-beater. I like Costa Messa in McAllen, although, as a galpal of mine noticed, the ceiling is too low and the endless stream of mariachis ruins the romantic mood. The holes-in-the-wall may be your best bet... - Editor
Mrs. Mary Lou are you as an Anglo or a as Hispanic, Maria Luisa ?
Well, all I am trying to do is , as Mr. Alcatraz and the rest of the editors, journalists and readers here at The Tribune know... I just want peoplke to see things in a different perspective / another Horizon point - of - view, maybe to " Wake or open " their brains, for Their own benefits and not become just simply observers
[ Playing on "Beign cool ", out of Impotency and powerlessness ]
of what's really going on from politics, society and culture, specially Us Mexican - Americans.
Marraccas, look at all the movement in Brownsville, by the man name of Sorola, plus the commentaries on all blogs, including the tribune. Harlingen has a civil war going on up here. We are doing things, we won't be silent anymore.
Enough is enough we aren't going nowhere. We are going to win the Harlingen fight, as will Brownsville, against thiefs who run for elected politicians to fatten their pockets.
Thanks to the: Tribune, Myharlingennews, El rocinante, Myleadernews,rrun, ruun, and Brownsville Voice for allowing people to report wrong doings valley wide.
Like Martin Luther King: In Harlingen we have a dream.
My most sincere respects to Mrs. Mary Lou and the New " Freedom Figthers "
Yours truly,
Chano Maracas
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