Posted on 01/08/2023 3:09:04 PM PST by DallasBiff
We moved to North Dallas 14 years ago. From Southern California. The day we moved in our neighbors from California and Arizona welcomed us. Then advised us that there is no good Mexican Food in Texas. They were basically correct. Tex-Mex and their liquid Cheese on everything. Gross.
And everything is Chicken......fried Chicken. Chicken Fried Steak, Chick Strips, Chicken this and chicken that. Thankfully, Pollo loco came to Texas. And IN N OUT, and there is a couple of authentic Mexican joints that have sprung up lately. Valerie’s Taco Shop from San Diego and Marianna’s Tacos in Frisco. Authentic enchilada sauce instead of liquid Cheese and chili dog sauce....(yuk) and they deep fry their own taco shells.
Other then that.....we like Texas.
As the story told to me…. A group of Germans immigrated to TX in the 1800s and settled a new town east of San Antonio. Very soon, they decided that American beer tasted like horse *iss. So, they took up a collection and sent a delegation back to Germany to recruit a professional brewmaster to move to TX and establish a town brewery for proper beer. Shiner beer was born and is still going strong. Try their lager and bock beers. Good stuff.
A condiment brought to the US by a German immigrant in the 1800s is Koops Mustard. The story from the plant manager to me is that young Mr. Olds arrived on the boat then went to Chicago. To earn money, he started making mustard using his grandmother's recipe then drove a wagon through neighborhoods with a large crock of mustard and selling it by the ladle to wives of working men. Mustard if it has the right amount of vinegar base, does not require refrigeration.
Yeah. I think it is veal or pork.
I have got it at German restaurants to check it out.
I have had the chicken fried steak in five of these ten locations. I’m surprised they missed the Smoke Stack in Thurber - probably the best I’ve ever had!
One of the best I’ve ever had was at the Hickory Hollow Restaurant in Houston, near the Sam Houston Horse Track!!
Mary’s in Strawn is also my go to place.
Can’t remember any of the places, but I had several good chicken fried steaks when traveling to Lubbock along Highway 82 in the late 80s when I attended Texas Tech.
I like Babe’s but there used to be a place in Waxahachie that used ribeye and was so big it would hang off the plate. So good.
Other states might offer something similar, but these seem
to fail in comparison. Perhaps Texas uses Texas beef and
other states vote to go Omaha beef.
Not all eateries speak the same language. Order “tea”
in Texas, you’ll be served Iced Tea. Order tea in any
northern state, it will be hot tea. Lessons learned.
The Center in Muenster, Texas had a delicious CFS. Alas, they have now
closed their doors. In Tioga, Texas the BBQ joint had CFS
on its menu. They, too, have closed their doors (after a considerable plunge in their business).
CFS, cream gravy, Texas toast, fried okra. The potato choice has always been a toss up. Mashed or French fries. Both can be gravied so these are ordered in a simple rotation decision.
Cheers!
For sure Tex-Mex and Mexican are distinct, but there are plenty of places in north Texas to get good food in both styles. You just have to know where.
Ordered schnitzel in a German restaurant in a small German town many years ago. Was basically a breaded, fried chop (either pork or veal, wasn’t sure) with some kind of nasty sauce on top. Would have been good without the sauce - had to scrape it off.
My Grandmother’s House. She made us kids the best ever.
One of the best ones I’ve had in the Dallas area was at Love & War in TX. Lunch special was as big as your face.
Mary’s is ‘Pure-D-Texas’ for sure...I lived close by for almost forty years so I went 2-3 times a month...I miss it, but now I get seafood that I never got out there...kind of a balance thing I guess.
Besides Valerie’s and Marianna’s, I’d appreciate if you can tell me else there is true Authentic Mexican. Real enchilada sauce and where they actually deep fry their own taco shells instead of the preformed premade shells virtually every Tex Mex joint has. And please.....no liquid cheese. Might as use Cheez Whiz.
Thanks.
We lived in Fort Worth for a long time, near many mom & pop places owned by Mexicans, Salvadorans and Guatemalans. GREAT homemade food! My daughter still lives there. Unfortunately my favorite Sinaloa BBQ chicken place went out of business during covid. For excellent homemade TexMex there were some great non-touristy places near the Stockyards. Then closer to Haltom City were excellent Viet pho places. My other daughter went back there for Christmas and reported many of the good places closed or went downhill. Too bad! As we say in Cow Town, life’s too short to live in Dallas ;-D lol... anyway, I’m stuck in Filthadelphia for a couple more years then heading back to Texas as soon as I can. When I left in 2016 the was already a huge influx of Californians moving into the area. Glad to hear you like it.
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