Mexican Restaurants

I like Mexican food quite a bit. It's not my favorite but I do enjoy it from time to time. My favorite national chain is Moe's. They edge out Chipotle, though I do enjoy them to. What I usually do is go to a couple of local joints, though. The food is fantastic and I enjoy a more formal atmosphere that these local chains provide.

 

I prefer Chipotle over Moe's but neither are around where I live now. There's a good authentic hole in the wall place by me now, which I prefer, but I still miss fast food burritos sometimes and I don't really go to Taco Bell. I love mexican food and could eat it every day

 

Mexican restaurants are good places to eat, I enjoy food cooked there. However, as in all cooking from anywhere on this planet, it's the man/woman who cooked the food that gives any food its quality and splendor, or cooking disaster. I rather eat at a non-corporate Mexican restaurant, because the cook cares more for their business and wishes for positive customer service, which will help their business continue and possibly grow. Corporate restaurants aim for maximum revenue and do so by service to as many customers they can serve.

 

I haven't eaten at Taco Hell in nearly 30 years. Used to be able to tolerate Del Taco but they are skimpy and tasteless. I went to La Salsa a couple of weeks ago and their food was extra bland. Chipotle is okay but who I miss is Naugles. It was a fast food chain that actually tasted like food. These days, when I want Mexican-American food, I just make it myself.

 

I much prefer a local family owned Mexican restaurant. I live in Southern California so there aren't shortages of authentic Mexican food. As far as Mexican food chains go....I prefer Qdoba over Chipotle. I have heard of these restaurants, but never ate at them. A thread on this very forum made me decide to check them out. Chipotle is more popular in my area, but I found it to be a bit bland. Qdoba has more flavor, but still doesn't hold a candle to an authentic Mexican restaurant. La Salsa is bland to me. I don't consider Taco Bell to be real food.

 

I love Chipottle!! It's one of my favorite restaurants ever, their food taste so fresh and their guacamole is amazing!!! I also love a Mexican restaurant called La Victoria which is in San Jose, CA. I'm not sure if they have them anywhere else but there, it's not a chain as far as I know, but they make my favorite burritos ever! I'm not a fan of places like Taco Bell, though.

 

Chipotle and Qdobo are both decent for a quick fix, but overall I prefer a local Mexican restaurant we have here. The food is authentic and the atmosphere is nice overall, the downstairs area has a bar and some drinking specials at different times, so it can get a little rowdy, but you can go upstairs for a quieter experience. The flavors and the prices really can't be beat .

 

I like the old fashioned traditional taco shops. You can't find them everywhere. The best ones I've ever been to were during a trip to San Diego.

 

I enjoy the local small Mexican restaurants. The large chains are basically an overview of what Mexican fare is like. The smaller places feature food from the regions of Mexico the owner or cook is from. The food from Nogales, Mexico is surprisingly different than the food from just over the border in Nogales, Mexico. Regional food makes all of the difference.

 

I've only had Q'Doba a handful of times, but was never really impressed with their food at all. I just didn't care for their flavors and seasonings on everything. Their stores were clean and the service was good though, and the food itself was well prepared - I just don't like their recipes I suppose.

I loved Chipotle when they first opened in our area back in 2007, but the quality of their food and service has dropped off in recent years. They've gotten far too stingy with the meats and put way too much rice on everything now - so it's not as great of a bargain as it once was. Also if you happen to get there at a bad time, you get stuck with brown guacamole or the bottom scrapings of dried out meat in the pan. I also can't stand it when they tear the burrito and try to "fix" it by wrapping it in another tortilla. Just get a couple spatulas and scoop everything over to another tortilla! It's not that hard. I don't want to be gnawing through two tortillas.

Fortunately I've found it's super easy to make my favorite stuff from Chipotle at home, and I can make it in portion sizes that I like, instead of those monster size burritos that I can barely finish and don't taste that great as leftovers.

The chicken is dead simple. Just dump some boneless skinless chicken thigh meat into a plastic resealable bag with a can of chipotle in adobo and let it marinate overnight or for a few hours. Then just grill it until done, and dice it up. That's it. You can even make a large batch of this cooked chicken, and have it on hand to heat up for a quick taco or snack later.

If I want the pork carnitas, I just roast a 2lb pork ribeye roast slowly for several hours in my oven, until it browns on top and is fall apart tender. I just season it with salt and pepper and some garlic cloves. You could flavor it more though with some citrus juices and chili powder and cumin though.

The rice is obvious, just sea salt, lime juice and fresh cilantro. If you don't like the cilantro, use less or leave it out.

Their corn salsa is just poblano peppers, corn, red onions, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper. Their mild salsa is just tomatoes, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper. I don't know the recipes for their hot salsas.

 

We have a few Mexican restaurants around here and I'm not too familiar with which ones are more authentic but I think I prefer the ones that are adjusted more to our local taste. I'm not too huge on beans and I think the authentic ones tend to use a lot of them and also the flavors are a bit too muted for my taste whereas the more adapted ones make ones with stronger flavors.