The Best Tex-Mex In Texas

From the Mayan to Aztec to Spanish to Mexican to Anglo-European to North and South American cultures, came the dishes, which culminated into many cuisines. One of the most confusing enigmas about the American cuisines is how to delineate Tex-Mex cuisine and Mexican cuisine. This quandary puzzles new immigrants to Texas. The differences between the two cuisines were clear in previous cuisine eras in Texas. 

What’s the Difference Between Tex-Mex and Real Mexican Cuisine?

Modern Southwestern culinary experts both agree and disagree on the variations. However, there are distinct differences evident today even throughout the fusion cuisine era beginning in the 1970s. Ingredients separate Tex-Mex from Mexican cuisines and make up the primary variations and deviations from true Mexican cuisine. 

Tejanos* and European Anglos must take responsibility for creating Tex-Mex cuisine. The definition of true Mexican cuisine is much broader than what foodies might think about in Texas. Rick Bayless, one of the most modern esteemed chefs of Mexican cuisine, cites that there are seven regions in Mexico with differences between cuisines. So how do we tell the difference?

What Are Typical Tex-Mex Foods?

Beef, black beans, chili con carne, chile powder, corn taco shells, gobs of cheese and yellow cheese, the heavy use of cumin, the heavy use of sour cream, and white flour define Tex-Mex ingredients. Tex-Mex dishes include chile con carne, enchiladas, fajitas, nachos, queso, tacos, fried corn tortillas, tortilla chips, and white flour \tortillas. 

Texians, Tejanos, and the latter born native Texans used the ingredients they had available to adapt their dishes to a spicy Mexican flavor. They also added ingredients they enjoyed tasting to create the Tex-Mex fusion cuisine, long before fusion cuisine was a “foodie” thing. Or, the Anglos omitted ingredients like tripe used in menudo. 

True Mexican dishes use much lighter meats, like cabrito (goat), pollo (chicken), plus el cerdo (pork), and game meats, like bison, rabbit, and venison because beef was a rarity in Old Mexico, plus seafood on the Mexican coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. MMM…shrimp or fish tacos—Tex-Mex—fried corn taco shells.

Authentic Mexican ingredients include avocado, cacao (raw cocoa), chayote and other squashes, cilantro, corn, epazote**, Mexican crema (similar to creme fraiche instead of sour cream), whole chili peppers, native Mexican fruits, mole sauces (thick, spicy, sauces with many ingredients), nopal cactus, oregano, pinto beans, squash, and vanilla. 

Authentic Mexican dishes include fried, hard-shell corn tortilla creations, chile rellenos, enmoladas, guacamole, menudo, pozole, and tamales wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves, plus numerous seafood dishes, for example, from the Veracruz region of Mexico. 

Since the word “foodie” was first used in New York in the 1980s, the distinction between Tex-Mex and Mexican cuisine is continuously evolving through fusion cuisine. It is becoming more and more difficult to tell the difference between the two. 

What Is the Most Popular Tex-Mex Food?

Bar none, chili con carne, fajitas, and nachos win the award as the most popular Tex-Mex dishes. All three come with delicious variations of legumes, meats, spices, and vegetables. 

What Is the Oldest Tex-Mex in Texas?

The term “Tex-Mex” originated in the 1940s, according to food historians. However, the Tex-Mex cuisine came about when Spain collided with the Americas and began exploring present day Mexico and Texas. The land that is Texas birthed the cuisine and can rightly call Tex-Mex its own. 

Tulia Berunda Guitierrez (or Contreras) opened the first Tex-Mex Restaurant in Texas in 1887 in Marfa, Texas, which closed in 1985, the Old Borunda Café. It had three cooks, Tulia and two succeeding female relatives of Tulia, for its 98 years. The best records that we know of begin in 1938, but several sources, including the University of North Texas’ Portal to Texas History and Texas Monthly, document the 1887 establishment of the Old Borunda Café in Marfa. 

The Most Notable Best Tex-Mex in Austin

Matt’s El Rancho—Matt Martinez sold tamales 1923 at the age of six out of a a wooden pushcart by the Texas Capitol—the original old school food truck! In 1952, Matt and his wife, Janie, a beautiful Latina, opened Matt’s El Rancho with no employees and 10 or 40 tables in 1952. Some sources say 10 and some sources say 40 tables.

Extremely handsome Matt and Janie’s daughters, Cecilia Muela, Gloria Reyna, Cathy Kreitz, and daughter-in-law Estella Martinez, own and operate Matt’s El Rancho today. Matt’s El Rancho is an Austin institution. Janie Martinez died in 2013 at 90 shortly after the 60^th anniversary of this iconic Tex-Mex culinary establishment. 

Today, Matt’s El Rancho can handle over 500 patrons with a parking lot to match. It is worth the wait for most folks. Yeah, you have to wait, sometimes an hour, during peak hours, like for dinner on weekends. Matt’s El Rancho menu runs the entire gamut of Tex-Mex cuisine with the freshest ingredients and original recipes. Their margaritas are out of this world. Drinks and chips keep a comin’ throughout your meal. 

The Most Notable Best Tex-Mex in Dallas

Founder Miguel Martinez opened his El Fenix restaurant in 1918. Today, El Fenix operates four Dallas locations, one in Fort Worth, and five more in DFW suburbs, plus four more in Burleson, Greenville, Weatherford, and Waxahachie. At first, Miguel served Anglo-American fare, but his family and friends said, “No, you gotta do Mexican” (not those exact words). Miguel experimented with his recipe fare and established the first Tex-Mex restaurant chain in Texas. El Fenix is still going strong and is now a Texas Tex-Mex cultural institution. 

You can find many more high falutin’ Tex-Mex restaurants in Dallas besides El Fenix. You cannot taste what this Texas Outside writer grew up with at El Fenix, eating squeezed lime juice on parsley leaves, simple chips and “hot sauce” (what we called salsa back then), and steamed buttered corn tortillas encased in glass warmers (no synthetic tortilla containers) before the entree, with dishes like the “Mexican Combination Plate,” with beans, a tamale, an enchilada, and rice, and dishes with regional names like “The Monterrey Plate”. 

Today at El Fenix, you will experience quite good, albeit much more modern, Tex-Mex at a reasonable price with an old timey Tex-Mex aura. El Fenix got slammed critically when it joined the fried ice-cream trend in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but fried ice cream is a treat to behold. There is no debate. El Fenix kept up with its customer’s demands for over 100 years. Customers demand—El Fenix supplies. 

The Most Notable Best Tex-Mex in Fort Worth

Joe T. Garcia’s and Fiesta Gardens. That’s it! You need look no further for Tex-Mex in Fort Worth. Just go to the Stockyards a bit south on the main drag, Commerce Street, and you are in for a Tex-Mex treat from heaven! Joe T’s grows its own chili pepper and herb garden sanctuary right in front of its dining area; you can explore this garden. Its menu is not extensive, but just a downright lip smacking Tex-Mex delight.

Joe T. and Jessie Garcia opened Joe T. Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant on July 4, 1935, in the front room of their home in Fort Worth, Texas. Today, Joe T’s  home takes up most of a city block and serves about 2,000 customers on weekends. The kitchen staff tends to have no turnover, with one employee that had been there over 40 years in 2012. Joe T’s wait staff opportunities tend to attract students from Texas Christian University—Go Frogs! 

The Most Notable Best Tex-Mex in Houston

For over 80 years, Molina’s Cantina has been serving up Tex-Mex since 1941. At 18-years-old, Raul Molina moved to Houston from Laredo, Mexico, and worked as a dishwasher and busboy at the Old Monterrey. Ten years later, Raul and his wife, Mary, bought the Old Monterrey, only one of five Tex-Mex restaurants in Houston at the time. Today, there are three Molina’s Cantinas locations in Houston. 

Texas Monthly magazine christened Molina’s Cantina as one of their “Yellow Cheese Hall of Fame” inductees, as it has Matt’s El Rancho in Austin and Joe T. Garcia’s in Fort Worth. Molina’s has no conserve with a lady’s calorie intake with its “Ladies Special”, a cheese enchilada, guacamole, and chili con queso. Its menu is extensive and covers almost all there is to be devoured in Tex-Mex cuisine. 

The Most Notable Best Tex-Mex in San Antonio—Old San Antone

This is a tough one to define because San Antonio is known as the birthplace of Tex-Mex cuisine, but that is not a truly accurate birth certificate because today’s Tex-Mex cuisine evolved over several centuries in all regions of Texas. History says Mi Tierra opened in 1941and Casa Rio opened in 1946. Both restaurants claim to be the oldest continuously operating Tex-Mex establishments in San Antone. Based on documented accounts, Mi Tierra wins this historic title. Both are excellent Tex-Mex culinary treasures—can’t go wrong!  

Mi Tierra serves up classic Tex-Mex food, house-blend coffee, pan dulce, live Mariachi entertainment, and cold cerveza 24/7 (well…not the cervza 24/7, due to laws) in downtown San Antone. While you are at Mi Tierra in Market square, you can also immerse yourself in shopping until you are dropping. Mi Tierra is more than a place to dine. It offers patio dining, a bakery, hosts events, seating for 200 in private fiesta rooms, and a to-die-for breakfast, dinner, bar, and to-go menu.   

* Tejano: A Tejano was a person of Spanish/Mexican heritage living in today’s Texas before and after Texas was the Republic of Texas.  

** Epazote is an aromatic, large, leafy herb grown and used extensively in southern and central Mexico. Epazote is well known for its enzymatic capabilities that reduce flatulence after consuming pinto bean dishes. You will not have to add much epazote to your next pot of pinto beans with pork fat to understand the difference.