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Competition in the Tex-Mex and Mexican segments of the restaurant space has been fierce in recent years, led by fast-food chains Yum Brands' Taco Bell (YUM) and Chipotle (CMG) . Taco Bell is king with about 7,936 locations in the U.S., according to data company ScrapeHero. Chipotle has a good size of the market with 3,398 units. Other major players include Qdoba with over 750 locations and Del Taco (TACO) with over 600. Certain Mexican casual restaurant chains have had financial difficulties trying to compete and needed to file for bankruptcy. Chevy's Fresh Mex, which had as many as 37...

Workers at an Upper Manhattan Chipotle restaurant say they’ve been fighting a losing battle against hordes of hungry rats — and a management team that let the infestation get so bad that four staffers have been bitten by the massive rodents. The besieged fast-casual Mexican joint on Broadway near West 169th Street in Washington Heights closed to customers indefinitely late last month, but only after rats chewed through the wiring of a computer system that handled orders, two employees told The Post. In the meantime, those workers are still going into the store to clean, in an effort to keep...

I’m going to leave you to Taco Tuesday on your own as we’re leaving for the dark side (Gretchen’s Miserable Michigan} tomorrow and what can I tell you? It’s a lot of work no matter how many times you do it. So feel free to start your day in the pre-dawn hours with Ms. P’s Breakfast Tacos. I suppose there are worse ideas, although none come to mind immediately. Improper social distancing down at the chicken food truck, without masks: looks pretty naughty. I don’t know what’s in a breakfast taco but I’m guessing maybe chicken precursors?  Perhaps with green...

Culture Nazis have claimed another victory by shutting down a small business in Portland. The pop-up shop Kooks Burritos sold authentic Mexican food and that simply would not do. See, white people making tacos is “cultural appropriation” they say, and better to force the place out of business than put up with that. Kali Wilgus and LC Connelly are owners … were owners … of Kooks Burritos. They took a trip to Mexico to pick the brain of the local tortilla makers and brought their cooking secrets back to the states. “I picked the brains of every tortilla lady there...

There are over 38,000 Mexican restaurants across the United States. Mexican food is the most popular international cuisine in the U.S., representing 42% of all ethnic food sales. It’s represented on the menus of one in every 10 restaurants in the United States. With so many Mexican restaurants to choose from, the real question becomes how to spot authentic Mexican food.

Despite peaking in popularity in the early 2000s, low-carb diets remain a staple of the fitness and nutrition industry. However, these diets have not abated America’s love of carbohydrates. The health of the country hurts because of it — obesity rates are still rising — but the data show that the country’s most popular foods continue to be the most carbohydrate-laden. From pizza to sandwiches and baked goods, we can’t get enough. Using the most recent 2014 estimates from the American Community Survey and Dun and Bradstreet, the experts at FindTheHome discovered the most popular food in every state....

There’s more than just cilantro in the growing fields in Mexico, and that’s caused the Food and Drug Administration to institute a partial import ban on it through August. The move comes after health officials found human feces and toilet paper in growing fields, which have been linked to hundreds of intestinal illnesses dating back to 2012. The FDA will focus on product coming from Puebla, and all of it will need to be manually inspected and certified before being allowed into the U.S. Cilantro from other parts of the country will need to have documentation proving it did not...

It’s funny how liberals liked using the Salem Witch Trials are a metaphor for America, when it’s really a metaphor for them. Social Justice Warriors can see something offensive in a grain of sand and demand, and receive an apology. Welcome to Stevenson College. The letter you are about to read is real even though it sounds like it comes from the Twilight Zone.

Stevenson College is apologizing to its students for serving Mexican food during "Intergalactic" night. In a letter sent out to students, the college apologized for having "a Mexican food buffet," while also featuring spaceships and aliens. The college received complaints saying the combination was racist because of the association between Mexicans and illegal immigrants. "We would never want to make a connection between individuals of Latino heritage or undocumented students and "aliens" and I am so sorry that our College Night appeared to do exactly that," wrote Carolyn Golz, who had taken this picture of the activities before the complaints:...

Food and gaming chain Dave & Buster’s has had to apologize after sending out a racially-charged tweet to promote #TacoTuesday. On Tuesday, Dave & Busters --which has more than 70 locations in North America-- posted on this on its official Twitter feed:

....There is nothing remotely Mexican about Potato Olés—not even the quasi-Spanish name, which has a distinctly Castilian accent. The burrito was more insulting to me and my heritage than casting Charlton Heston as the swarthy Mexican hero in Touch of Evil. But it was intriguing enough to take back to my hotel room for a taste. There, as I experienced all of the concoction’s gooey, filling glory while chilly rain fell outside, it struck me: Mexican food has become a better culinary metaphor for America than the melting pot. Back home, my friends did not believe that a tater tot...

This resembles a Mexican lasagna because of the layers of cheesy meat sauce and flour tortillas, and is oh so tasty!

ACAPULCO, Mexico - An official says a shark has killed a Mexican surfer off the Pacific coast. Local Civil Protection Director Jaime Vazquez Sobreira says 21-year-old Osvaldo Mata Valdovinos was attacked off Pantla beach in southern Mexico. Sobreira says the shark bit off the surfer's left hand and broke one of his legs. Friday's attack occurred six miles from a beach where a shark killed an American surfer last month. Environmental organizations have demanded that authorities post warning signs about sharks in the area of southern Guerrero state.

MINNEAPOLIS - Whiplash is a 19-year-old Capuchin monkey from Texas. He saddles up on a border collie, wears a sombrero, and rides to the rescue bearing Mexican fast-food. Of course, there's a decent chance you already know this. For the Minneapolis-based Kerker ad agency, Whiplash is that holy grail of television advertising: A repeat character that clicks with the public. He's been a ticket to financial success and industry honors since Kerker cast him in his first commercial for them early last year. In the first ad, "The Burrito Incident," a man walks into a mailbox, dropping his burrito on...

A Mexican man killed his lover in a drunken, drugged fight then cooked the man's body in tomato and onion sauce and ate it over three days. Police found Gumaro de Dios Arias grilling human flesh for his breakfast, including part of a heart, when they raided a shack he lived in near the Caribbean beach resort of Playa del Carmen, a police chief said today. "He was preparing stews. There was a grill where he was cooking part of the heart and bits he had cut off the body. It was terrible, terrible," said local police chief Martin Estrada,...

One family's tamalada marks its 32nd year. By Suzannah Gonzales AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Sunday, December 05, 2004 The aproned women crowded around a square table in the kitchen of the Balcones home Friday night, their hands busy and eyes focused on the work in front of them. Piles of masa-covered ojas (corn husks), bowls of masa (corn dough) and containers of pork roast obscured the tabletop. With paint scrapers, some of the dozen or so women spread a thin layer of masa on the shucks. Others put a few spoonfuls of meat in a thin column on each masa-covered oja, rolled...

Political pollsters take note: California Tortilla's burrito ballot has named John Kerry the next president of the United States. The completely "scientific" and "accurate" poll, which began Oct. 1 and ended Oct. 28, pitted the presidential candidates against each other in the form of a burrito. Rockville-based California Tortilla created two burritos with the help from each candidate's camp. The George Bush Hickory Chicken Burrito, was made with grilled chicken, black beans, horseradish mashed potatoes, Texas hickory sauce, salsa and lettuce in a flour tortilla. On the opposing side was the John Kerry Savory Chicken Burrito with grilled chicken, Mexican...

<p>Chilies start out safe. But by the time chili powder reaches the Mexican market, it can be tainted with lead.</p> <p>SUMMARY Situation: Chili gives many Mexican candies a spicy kick, but it can be laced with lead by the time it is sold to candy makers.</p>

Mexican candy - a seemingly harmless indulgence - can contain a poison that is especially dangerous to children. Story by JENIFER B. McKIM, KEITH SHARON and WILLIAM HEISEL Photos by ANA VENEGAS The Orange County Register SWEET INNOCENCE: For birthday girl Elva Alexandra Cardona, 2, right, the Pelon Pelo Rico she enjoys with cousin Giselle Yanez, left, is just a sugary treat. But the candy, which has tested high for lead 11 times, and others like it have increasingly been linked to poisoning of California children. SUMMARY Situation: The state finds lead in candy one out of four times it...

The poison arrives in an ice cream truck, "Happy Birthday to You" crackling from a single speaker wired to the roof. On this street in Anaheim, the neighborhood kids drop their bikes and balls and make a beeline for their mothers to beg for money.