Where is it?
I’m a fan of Taqueria Patzcuaro in Denver. At work, we hit up Ralliberto’s in Wheat Ridge for late night Mexcian food.
There is no way to pick a favorite Mexican food restaurant in El Paso, so I’ll go a little north.
I was surprised to discover very good Northern Mexican cooking at Chepo’s in Eagle River, Alaska. On the way back to the washroom I think I found out why…everybody in the kitchen was speaking Spanish.
Aha!
Someone mentioned Olvera Street in downtown LA earlier in the thread. There’s a sit-down restaurant in there (the name, much to my chagrin, escapes me) that serves the best damn flautas I’ve ever had. It’s an extra perk to be able to walk out of there and hit up the churros stand for dessert. 
There’s also a small chain of restaurants called El Cholo that isn’t really the essence of authentic, but the food is damn good. And although I don’t really drink, I’m told by almost everyone who goes there that they have by far the best margaritas anywhere.
As for tamales, there’s a place in East LA called Tamales Liliana’s that draws crowds from miles around. I was told about a tradition of getting tamales on Christmas Eve, which I decided to try in 2004. I got there at 6:30 in the morning and stood in a line that went around the corner outside of the place. Took me about an hour to procure tamales, and I can still claim without hesitation that it was worth it.
EuroMDguy writes:
> Oohh that is scary indeed - I was thinking of checking them out for Restaurant
> Week but ended visiting a bunch of other restaurants. Oh well Restaurant
> Week will come around again.
>
> There’s a whole slew of mexican restaurants in Wheaton, though I don’t know
> which are truly authentic or merely mediocre
As I said earlier in this thread, try this one:
> La Sirenita, 4911 Edmonston Road, Hyattsville, Maryland. Go south from the
> Beltway on Kenilworth Avenue for about four miles. Turn left onto Edmonston
> Road. It’s about three hundred yards along that road on the left.
Riverdale and the area around it has the most authentic Mexican restaurants in the D.C. area. It’s not just that you’ll be the only person in the place speaking English. You’ll be the only one who’s not an illegal immigrant.
That reminds me- some of the most awesome Mexican food in SoCal can be found on carts near civic centers (court complex, federal building, etc) or out of the back of a car.
Slightly dangerous for the gringo gut, but damn those are the tastiest tamales I have ever had.
Bwahahahaha! I forgot I posted this and just now read it and realized I didn’t even name the place. It is called Pancho’s.
I spend a lot of time around the courts since I work in Downtown…any favorites of yours? I’m up for an experiment.
Not really. I’m never even sure if it’s the same person from trip to trip (I’m not there much anymore).
Santa Ana civic center is good for that too.
Spoken like a man who has never experienced the culinary delights of Casa Bonita. 
I didn’t see anything from Minneapolis/St. Paul, so I will nominate Boca Chica in St. Paul.
Nothing (that I’ve been able to find) in Phoenix comes close to Los Dos Molinos.
It’s a solid 3-hour wait for dinner because AFAIK they have 1 cook, 1 waiter, 1 hostess, 1 busboy/dishwasher and that’s it, but it’s well worth it.
mack: Last I checked, they had a location in Manhattan, you might want to seek them out.
I’d spend more time in that area, because we’re definitely talking authentic. Unfortunately, the seediness of the area makes my wife nervous.
We’re partial to Taqueria Poblano in Del Ray.
If, by some unfortunate chance, you are in Toledo OH (the current Putschpunkt of American Nazism) then the place to go is El Tipico. It is a short distance from Downtown, in a different and poorer neighborhood, but do not fear. Good people in Toledo.
Heh. There’s been like five different Denver recommendations in this thread. I’m making a list.
Philadelphia
Los Catrines & Tequila’s Bar (16th and Locust) - Somewhat fancy and expensive but excellent.
El Vez (13th and Sansom) - More flash than flavor but not bad either and a fun place to eat or just get a drink.
Lolita (13th and Sansom) - Across the street from El Vez and even better. More aptly described as Mexican themed continental cuisine. BYOB, cash only. Bring a bottle of tequila and they’ll add it to one of their various homade margarita mixes.
La Fonda (7th and Snyder) - Hole in the wall, inexpensive, authentic, delicious, BYOB
El Fuego (7th and Walnut) - Burito joint like Chipotle or Qdoba but not a chain and fresher food.
Pasion (15th between Walnut and Locust) - Super expensive (like $120 a couple), but nothing short of gourmet.
Zocalo (36th and Lancaster) – Nuevo latin for the UPenn crowd, not too expensive and they make their own corn and flour tortillas.
RTFirefly writes:
> I’d spend more time in that area, because we’re definitely talking authentic.
> Unfortunately, the seediness of the area makes my wife nervous.
It’s really not that bad an area. I tend to go to La Sirenita for Saturday or Sunday lunch about 1:00 or 2:00 PM. Hey, you want to get some of the local Dopers together to do lunch at La Sirenita or one of the other places? I think that that would be great.
Being unable to find good Mexican food seems to be one of the major complaints of Americans in NZ. WHY?
BIG SHOCK! NZ does not share a border with Mexico, NZ is also not a popular choice for Mexicans leaving Mexico (rumour has it that they go to the US 
). If you want awesome Asian food you will find it in NZ. Thais, Chinese, Koreans, Indonesians (and many more) come to NZ and make wonderful food. If you want Mexican food stay in the US or go to Mexico.
Complaining about bad Mexican food in NZ is as silly as me wanting pavlova, marmite and cheese sammies, L&P or a good hangi in the US.
Wasn’t it recently that a Kiwi-themed restaurant had to close down in the US? I agree with you, calm kiwi. Having a bleat over a Mexican restaurant in Wellington is just plain - odd.
Too right. I had a friend who worked in a “Mexican” resturant in Milford…owned by an Eygptian! Eygptians are far more common then Mexicans in this neck of the woods.
There was a Kiwi themed restaurant in the US?? Jeez that is taking ethnic cuisine to a place it has never been before!
Heh. They weren’t into hangis, I’d say. I was thinking of the Kiwi Grille. Probably not completely “kiwi themed” come to think of it, but the associations are there.
Maybe they should have stuck to marmite and cheese toasties and pavs…cheap as chips.
Or perhaps they learned the Mexican lesson. Don’t take Kiwis to the US or Mexican food to NZ