Tasting Texas

I’m quite content with the Southern cuisine here in Georgia where I’ve lived for the past 45 years. There are times, though, when I crave the food of my Texas childhood. When I first arrived in Athens there was only one Mexican restaurant in town, and the owner was from California. Today there are several dozen places that sell some variety of Mexican cooking.

Here’s how I cope when I want something really Tex-Mex:

Chili. Not really a problem; you can make your own. All ingredients are available locally. There’s even one grocery in town that sells cans of Wolf Brand Chili, a childhood memory (named for Kaiser Bill, Lyman T. Davis’s pet wolf). I make chili myself with beans. Sometimes I long for that watery, nondescript chili served in little Texas cafés. It had a unique flavor.

Enchiladas. Wouldn’t it be nice to find a platter of south Texas enchiladas, swimming in American cheese and smothered in raw onions? Many varieties are available in Athens. My fav here is Enchiladas de Mole garnished with Avocado.

Tamales. There’s problem number one. Tamales aren’t popular with our local eateries. The ones they serve are outsized, mealy things. But you can order tamales from Texas, frozen, delivered to your door. Right now I order from the Texas Tamale Warehouse. Just great!

Tacos. A viejo once sold tacos outside Rex Wright’s grocery in Kingsville. The tortilla shells were somewhere between hard and soft. Special sauces he made himself, three of them, he carefully added to each taco. Those tacos are the benchmark. Nothing here comes close.

Chicken-fried steak. Well, you can just forget that! No place known to me this side of the Neches River sells a decent chicken-fried steak. It’s just something that southern cooks have yet to conquer – that special batter and the right fry pan.

Whataburger. The ultimate hamburger, that originated in Corpus Christi. Are they sold anyplace outside of Texas? When I met Tometta H. in San Antonio – first thing she wanted was a Whataburger. Nothing else like it.

Hey, I’m not starving here, but I can find plenty of reasons to visit Texas. Such as the tortilla soup at Rosario’s on south Alamo in San Antonio.

Dac Crossley
February 19, 2012

“Happiness is a destination we reach only when we are trying to get someplace else.” – Matthew Syed.

Comments

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[Lindsay]

Ahhh! Love the tortilla soup from Rosario's! What a find! I think we need to take Ashton and Harley to the Alamo.

[irene black]

Had the soup in San Antonio. Not a fan of round steak beaten till microscopic thin and coated with anything, The only thing that might save it from dog food is the milk gravy.

[Eileen Obser]

I'm flying to Mexico tomorrow, Puerto Vallarta, to see my son, who is living there, and to be a presenter at the PV Writer's Conference next weekend.

Hate to tell you, Dac, but I don't like Mexican food. I did when I was younger. I even had a Mexican-American boyfriend in my mid-30s who cooked tamales and enchiladas that everyone loved. The spices don't agree with my anymore! So, except for quesadillas (stuffed with lobster and shrimp at a local restaurant - yum) I eat as little as possible when I'm in Mexico or anyplace else.
I'll think of you when they bring the menus to me during the week!

[Dac Crossley Jr.]

Nice that you can get locally made tamales that arent characatures of the real thing. Tamales made in Georgia are a far cry from Texas tamales.

Dac

[Mike D.]

A small correction...Whataburgers also exist in New Mexico. I'm a vegetarian now, but I used to really enjoy those. However, in my mind could top the burgers of the local chain Burger Time...topped with hot hatch green chile, almost too hot, but not quite. Exquisite.

Vic and I have also ordered tamales frozen to be delivered to Wisconsin. We get ours from Albuquerque, but I know where you're comin' from, Dac. Those are not easily replicated outside the southwest.

[Velda Brotherton]

Ah, yes, don't we all crave what we were raised on. While living in New York we hunted for chili. Nope. Yet, we fell in love with Italian Pizza and have yet to find it anywhere else that tastes the same. Food is a super subject and when we go to Texas we find our favorites there too.
An Arkansas Southern cook.

[EJ]

When my son (who now lives in Indiana) comes to Texas he eats Whataburgers for breakfast, lunch, supper. Course he was raised in Corpus. A family from McAllen have a tamale business here in Tyler. They are the best.

[Caroline Clemmons]

You made me hungry. I could eat TexMex every day given the chance.

[Elizabeth Chilson]

I am hungry now!!!!

[Pat Shields]

Tamales! Viva Tamales. Used to go out for breakfast in Selma, Ca. with a hang over on Sunday mornings at Sal's.

The proprietress would ask if we would care for a dozen tamales, to go, for Sunday supper as we paid up.

The tamales came packed in a cardboard container, in sauce that smelled wonderful, even with a hang over! Saucepan ready for 8 bucks a dozen. How could one refuse?

[Shirley White]

This makes me hungry and I had a late lunch!

[Celia Yeary]

Ahhh, a man after my own heart. You should try Tex-Mex in Michigan...no way. The enchiladas you described are the number one way to eat those. Tacos--those can be made just about any old way as long as they have cheddar cheese and picante sauce. I never cared for tamales, though. Sorry. And oh, yes the Whataburger--only in Texas.

[Janice Pulliam]

Ah, the food we grew up with. I recently had boeuf carottes at a French woman's home and discovered it was strikingly like my mom's pot roast. Perfect meal for cooking while the family's away at church and then digging into at the Sunday supper table.
The ladies at the local Catholic church here in Patagonia make some pretty good tamales that they sell to raise funds. Ron and I want to have a tamale making party like the ones we used to have in Tucson. A group of friends blending the masa and cooking the brisket, then assembly line building of tamales, then a great meal together---with dozens of tamales for each person to take home and freeze. The best!

[Patricia Gligor]

I'm sure that, unless I go back to Mexico, I will never taste tacos as good as the ones I had in Todos Santos, Mexico.
By the same token, when I lived away from Cincinnati, I missed our Skyline Chili more than I can say.

[Jean Henry Mead]

I also love Mexican food, Dac, especially tamales. The best ones I ever ate (including those I've eaten in Texas) were at El Sid's Restaurant in Oakhurst, California (the gateway to Yosemite). I'd weigh 300 pounds if I lived there.