Have you ever been to a burger restaurant that didn’t serve fries? A Chinese food joint that didn’t serve egg rolls? A chicken place that didn’t serve biscuits (I’m looking at you Gus’s)?
Apparently there are Mexican restaurants that don’t serve queso dip, AUTHENTIC ones!
I was in for an unpleasant awakening when I explored the American southwest for the first time. After a 13 hour drive the day before and a four hour drive that morning, I finally reached New Mexico. And my mouth was watering for some queso dip.
I love me some queso. Moe’s Southwest Grill’s is my favorite. I imagined queso from authentic Mexican restaurants in the southwest region would be queso on steroids. As I fired up Google maps, a ton of Mexican restaurants popped up. I was like “dude, I’m about to climax from the excitement!” But I was extremely disappointed when I couldn’t find any restaurants that served queso. I eventually gave up and ate some Thai food instead.
Midwest Degenerate Gambler
-Did you know that there’s only one Moe’s Southwestern Grill in the southwest (Phoenix)? Shame.
When I went to ‘traditional’ Mexican restaurants back in Texas, I don’t think any of them had queso (but they often had tamales!). I think of queso as Tex-Mex.
Getting back to the OP’s question, I’ve been to quite a few hamburger places that don’t serve fries. They’ll have chips (crisps) and other sides instead. Makes perfect sense to me.
So my half-Mexican friend is right about queso dip being “gringo” food? I guess where I’m from, the authentic Mexican restaurants cater towards “gringos”. The Mexican restaurants in my neck of the woods definitely serve it, and other parts of the midwest. Except for Pilsen, a predominately Mexican neighborhood in Chicago. I ran into the same issue.
She also told me about queso fresco. She said if were I to be served queso in Authentic Mexican restaurants it would be in the form of queso fresco. A cold dry crumbly cheese. But I didn’t know how much to believe because queso dip is so common in this region.
She is correct. You aren’t eating “Mexican.” You are eating “Tex-Mex” or some other variation. Yellow cheese just isn’t a thing in most Mexican cooking. Totally gabacho.
You might find choriqueso, a chorizo-cheese mix, at some Mexican restaurants here in Chicago, but I’m not sure I’ve even ever had “queso dip” (though I suspect it can be found) and my Chicago neighborhood is like 85% Hispanic. On the other hand, it’s not something I would look out for.
Egg rolls are similarly an American invention. Or Chinese-American. You’ll probably find them at all American-Chinese take outs, and probably most regional Chinese restaurants here, because people have kind of come to expect them, but it’s not necessary. I would not at all be surprised at a Chinese restaurant that doesn’t have egg rolls any more than I would be surprised at one not having chop suey.
Some here may come to a surprise if they visit Gene and Jude’s (or "Gene’s and Jude’s) hot dog stand asking for ketchup. They literally do not have any ketchup on premises, not even for your fries.
Let me preface this by saying that my heritage is 100% Calabrian, that is definitely pure southern Italian. Until my grandma passed when I was 13, I was the beneficiary of a lot of lights out southern Italian cooking; i.e., all red sauce cuisine.
About 3 years ago I was in Minneapolis visiting, and my host cheerfully suggested we go to, and I quote, “a really great Italian restaurant”. I was game, so we went. When I got my menu and like always, I started t skip by the white sauce gunk so I could see what good red sauce choices they had. Well, I kept skipping to the end because they had no red sauce cuisine. NONE. I finally chose shrimp scampi as a bailout.
I was astounded and mentioned this to my host. He said, “Oh, this place is really different.” Yeah, it sure was.
I’ve been to more than one sushi place that has a sign or large note in their menu that essentially says, “Don’t even think about ordering a California roll!” I suspect there are many more Japanese restaurants where they are just not available , but I would never look for them on a menu.
And yeah, in California, you need to go to Taco Bell or Chipotle for queso dip.
Food historians are quick to tell you that the very notion of “authentic” ethnic cuisine of any kind is something of a joke, as nearly EVERYTHING has elements or ingredients that came from somewhere else. Culinary styles are blending, fusing, and changing all the time. What is now ‘classic’ was yesterday’s ‘fusion’.
Oh, and has anybody else noticed the slow disappearance of the fortune cookie in Asian restaurants? I used to wonder how many times the average cookie was left unwrapped on a table before it finally found a taker.
