Incidentally, go to places like Ottumwa that have huge Mexican populations (due to the meat-packing plant, in this case) and you’ll see the landscape change. There’s no reason to assume that all Midwestern states are homogeneous wastelands. No, we don’t border Mexico or any other country, but there are definitely large pockets of immigrants in various areas of the state that do change the cultural (and food) landscape. Go to Fairfield and you’ll see a lot more vegetarian cuisine, catering to the Transcendental Meditation people. Go to Ames, and there are a surprising number of various little hole in the wall type ethnic restaurants, catering to the student population which includes many immigrants. And so on.
Sure, we have plenty of boring stuff, too, but you can find mediocre restaurants all over the US, both of the chain and independent variety. Some people seek out bland, inoffensive, unsurprising flavors. While Des Moines doesn’t have the choices and diversity of Chicago, our population is also much less. You can still get some very good ethnic cuisine here, as well as many good fine dining restaurants. I strongly recommend El Salvador del Mundo, for an example of the former, birdbrain.
FWIW - I’ve seen (and even eaten) the “Speedy Gonzalez special” at a couple of central Indiana Mexican restaurants over the years (Muncie, Kokomo & Lafayette) - and yes, it’s a taco, an enchilada & rice/beans.
Meh, my husband is Mexican and we’ve eaten at every Mexican place (chain or otherwise) within a 20 minute drive of our house (we live in the southeast) and he has never complained about the food in any of them.
The combo thing is correct. The salsa person being different is mostly correct. The server is 50% male/female. The staff (unless it’s a popular chain) is 100% Hispanic. One thing the OP missed is that the salsa is EXACTLY THE SAME IN EVERY RESTAURANT. Almost without fail. We have joked that they all order it from some Mexican restaurant supply store.
One thing I had to train him on was to not order in Spanish or otherwise speak to the waiter in Spanish. When he does, the waiter responds in Spanish and proceeds to ignore me for the rest of the meal. The most authentic place we went to, however, couldn’t understand me. They also had about 6 different salsas to choose from. Menu was the same though.
::Hijack::: yet less similar than wing sauce, most of which straight up uses Frank’s Hot Sauce. Now, I love me some Franks (IPTSOE), but it makes it more difficult for them to make it hotter when they are using Franks as a base. The best “suicide” sauce I’ve ever had was habanero sauce where you could taste the actual flavor of the habaneros and not just the heat.
This is true, but if you’re doing Buffalo-style wings, you had better be using Frank’s (or something very similar) as a base. Bulliard’s habanero sauce actually has a similar viscosity and acidity as Frank’s, and will work as a decent substitute if you crave a Buffalo-style habanero wing.
Option B is to use Frank’s and add some pureed habs or whatnot in them. Straight-up Frank’s isn’t that hot (as you note) and is, in my opinion, way too acidic and misses the point of a Buffalo wing, which combines heat, vinegar, and the smooth mouthfeel of margarine or butter, which also tempers a bit of the acidity.
I went to two Mexican restaurants, 60 miles apart. They had the exact (exact!) same menu, except that the name of the establishment was different on the front page.
From what I’ve seen LA style Mexican tends to be very norteno. Chicago is much more regional in terms of the types of Mexican foods you can get here. From what I’ve experienced, Chicago Mexican food has had more breadth and depth than LA Mexican BUT, and I qualify this with a big but, I obviously have spent a lot more time here in Chicago so I know the Mexican food landscape better. That said, I did very much enjoy the Mexican food I’ve had in LA and the surrounding area. It was far better than any Mexican I’ve had in the Southwest. But they’re clearly both in the same league, and I find both better than anything I’ve had in the Southwest, except perhaps for New Mexico which kind of gets its own category from me.
Mainstream LA Mexican is Sonoran. But I have no difficulty finding good places that specialize in every Mexican state’s cuisine. There is a Yucatanian (Yucatanese?) place near here that is amazing, and that’s out in the wilds of suburbia. Ditto a place that specializes in Guerro seafood down the street from Casa Maya. You just have to look for it.
No doubt, which is why I stressed the “but” in my sentence. The point is that it’s silly to claim LA is in a league above Chicago. There’s Native Californians who prefer Chicago Mexican and there’s many who prefer LA Mexican. It’s hardly clear-cut. They’re all in the same league. I’m not saying that as a Chicago booster, I’m saying that as a lover of food. For example, I prefer LA’s fast food burger scene to Chicago’s. For a beef town like ours, you’d think the burger scene would be better. It’s getting there.
I live in the Atlanta area, and I know exactly what the OP is talking about. I always assumed that Mexican restaurants buy their menus from some bulk menu distributor and that’s why they all have the exact same combinations and the “Speedy Gonzales” (only available at lunchtime!).
Contrary to most people n this board, I like this kind of restaurant. I’ve only been to two Mexican restaurants that actually sucked. The food is usually really yummy and it’s nice to already know what you’re going to get. For me it’s always “Quesadilla Verde with chicken and rice.” It comes with my two Latin loves, guacamole and salsa verde, and I love that rice they have with the occasional corn kernel or lima bean. It’s comfort food, I suppose.
Once when visiting relatives in Tucson, we all went out to eat at a local place called, I think, El Fuente. They raved about how good this place was and how much we’d love it. So we got all dressed up and went. The menu didn’t have anything I was familliar with on it so I ordered a chicken burrito. All it was, was boiled chicken wrapped in a flour tortilla. No seasoning at all, no cheese or lettuce or sour cream, and nothing else on the plate with it. I’d rather have had the Speedy Gonzales.
I have been to three of the four places you list in Omaha. I have not tried Puerto Vallarta yet, but will as soon as I can figure out how to work Mexican into my post heart attack diet.
There are some smaller, family owned places that serve a similar menu, but tastier. Try Nettie’s on the Omaha/Bellevue border of south 24th street, and Howard’s on 10th and Deer Park, and probably the best of them: the GI Forum on 20th and N Street.
That may have been your problem right there. Sounds like the “chicken burrito” may just have been a bland choice for more picky eaters, like how you might have sweet & sour chicken or even chicken fingers at a restaurant that specializes in fiery Hunanese food, for instance. Still, it does sound like it should have been executed better. Why not order something that plays into the restaurant’s strengths? Most restaurants have a house specialty or a handful of dishes they’re particularly known for.
