Brian Benton: 40 Mexican Food Eateries

The Champs
1. The Original
One of the options for the Mexican Food Snob upon his visits to the Metroplex. Very good stuff.
2. The place in Santa Fe with the enchiladas that made me cry. Man that place was good.
3. Los Vaqueros
Another Food Snob Option. What more can really be said about this place?
4. Mexican in Westward Ho
In a casino in Vegas I found the best beans I have ever had. The rest was good too, but the beans, warm mushy pintos served with the chips and hot sauce were unbelievable. I will go back there every time I am in Vegas.

Not Quite Standard Mexican Contenders
5. Eva’s Taqueria
A northside taqueria. The baja/Mexican tacos are really really good. Pick your meat and it is served on soft corn tortillas, with just meat, onions, cilantro, and sauce. Very very good. Just stay away from the tripas and lengua tacos. Not that I have tried them but…
6. Meli’s
I have never actually seen this place, but the sandwiches are great and so are the Baja style tacos.
7. Baja Fresh
Tres Tacos, hot, two chicken and one shrimp and when I’m feeling it, pronto guacamole.
8. Gloria’s
El Salvadoran actually, but chips and hot sauce and beans. Wonderful.
9. Chipotle/Freebirds
I hesitate to put these two together as Chipotle is a lot better in my estimation, but they are both build-your-own burrito places and I need to shrink my numbers a little. I dig the Chipotle burritos and the salads for more healthy Mexicanish fare.

The Good
10. Mexico Chiquito/Chiquito’s Mex-To-Go
The good version of Arkansas Mexican, the place we went in Little Rock, and the home of the inspiration for Benton hot sauce (the To-Go was not anywhere near as good).
11. Monterrey’s Tex-Mex A Bartlesville staple
12. Chimi's
A Tulsa location where I first experienced mix your own hot sauce and where I was enticed to be a translator for Paul Anderson upon our Paraguayan return.
13. Mexico Real
One of the Fort Worth staples, check out the Pollo Ranchero, hot
14. Mi Charrito Ray
From my perspective, also a current Fort Worth staple, though its place in family lore is somewhat unknown to me
15. Chuy’sMexican food in Austin.
I remember chipotle and pecans…with Lisa, Dad, and Melissa.
16. Juan’s/Esperanza’s
The cream of the breakfast Mexican crop, Juan’s with Bean and egg burritos and migas, Esperanza’s with migas and chilaquiles. Good stuff for other times, too.
17. El Chico
I remember this from Wichita Falls next to the La Quinta. This was where I first learned to mix my beans and rice. I also learned how to eat hot sauce and relish here. Later versions in Tulsa and Gainesville do not meet my food memories, but the great happy birthday sombrero on Steve will be remembered for a long time. And by the way, do you need some more plates?
18. Casa Ole
More childhood memories, these from Odessa and Houston. As I recall, this was the Odessa staple. I also remember going to one in Houston with Rennie and getting to eat all the hot sauce I wanted. Good stuff to me.
19. The one with the canoe out front (on White Settlement Rd. in Fort Worth)
I was taken here during my interview to work at Lockheed. The flautas were great and I remembered what it meant to have real Tex-Mex. It still holds up as a good place after living here. The tamales are particularly tasty.
20. Joe T’s/La Playa Maya/The other one on Main
Northside locations that are fine and I enjoy them, but they are not great.
21. The upscale eatery in the Mall in Dallas
This place was good, and I celebrated my Master’s here. Worthy dining.

Somewhere in Between
22. Don Pablo’s This was great in Tulsa, much less so now, though not bad for a chain
23. On The Border
This was what passed for Mexican in Raleigh. Lyndsae and I liked the nachos. We also occasionally went here in Tulsa. We go now on occasion when I am interested in fajitas or as a bit of a compromise.
24. Rosa’s/The place on Crowley Road
Drive thru Mexican that is a step above fast food.
25. Taco Bell/ Taco Cabana/FasTaco
Fast food Mexican can be decent on occasion. Or if you’re in a hurry.
26. Taco Villa/Taco Bueno
Some fast food Mexican can be better for breakfast. I fondly remember Odessa trips to Taco Villa for the yummy yummy breakfast burritos. And Bueno’s new quesadillas are also very good. I also remember walking to Taco Villa and getting Nachos (that’s a scoop of beans and a scoop of meat, still in their mashed potato domes, covered with radioactive cheese sauce) then going next door to 7-11 to play the Star Wars video game.
27. Abuelo’s/Pappasito’s/Uncle Julio’s
Slightly upscale chains, these have some good and some bad. They suffer a bit from being chains.
28. Mexican in Chapel Hill
I don’t remember the name of this place, but it was not really good. It was ok enough to get me through college, though, and they served one thing with a really good smooth white cheese. I liked it enough. Probably more than it deserved because it had no competition.
29. Tia’s
I tried to put this with another chain, but it doesn’t really fit. It has no notable history and the food is OK, but not great.

The Bad
30. Alfredo’s Spaghetti sauce hot sauce made this place a real stinker
31. Desperado’s Japan does Mexican. Poorly.
32. Pancho’s
Raise the flag for this crazy buffet. I have been since it was cast out of the family by my father, but it wasn’t quite as bad as reputed. Still, I won’t be back on purpose.
33. Casa Bonita
More about entertainment than food. And the food was not good. We almost always came here on choir trips to Tulsa.
34. The two crappy places in the strip mall near the house
Locally owned places, making me want to like them, but food so bad the names escape me.
35. Benito’s
Not Tex-Mex but real Mexican. Not my thing, though the brekkie is decent enough.

The Ugly
36. The Red Pump A Stuttgart Arkansas horror show.
37. Pancho’s
The little pink hut on the way out of Little Rock, complete with a chalkboard in the bathroom. Stay away!!!
38. Taco Tico/Taco Casa Fast food Mexican can also be very very very bad.
39. The Mexican Inn/El Fenix
Mexican food chips should not be more like Fritos than Doritos. Period.
40. The one with fluffy stuff
On Bluebonnet Circle the tacos are made with fluffy torillas and the chips are fluffy too. They should not be.