That sounds to me like cilantro. I don’t particularly remember Chi Chi’s using cilantro, though, but it’s been at least 25 years since I’ve been in one, so I don’t know. I do remember that soapy taste in the local Mexican restaurants, and it did turn out to be cilantro, but I just got used to it after the fourth or fifth time I had it and now I don’t notice it at all (and cilantro is now one of my favorite herbs.) I mean, I can identify it, but it doesn’t connote “soapiness” to me anymore. But, yeah, those first few times having homemade pico de gallo at the local Mexican joint I was sure they weren’t rinsing their dishes well, as they tasted soapy compared to the jarred stuff.
I recall Chi Chis as being reasonable middle-of-the-road Tex Mex. There was nothing bad about it that I remember. It was family friendly and had stuff everyone liked.
I’m from Northern California. Apparently the Mexican restaurant that I remember visiting as a child in the 1970’s has been around since 1958 and is still going strong.
According the to Wiki on Casa Bonita Mexican food was a novelty when the first one opened in Oklahoma in 1968. so late 60’s early 70’s seems like Mexican food was moving out of the Southwest and West and into the mid-west.
… I don’t know crap about Mexican food or its origins, but I do know you can’t take the advice of people who put mustard on pork and call it BBQ. You just can’t.
Yep, I grew up eating TJs. Every day before kindergarten I ate a Taco John’s taco burger in the parking lot of the school before going in (thanks, mom!) in Spearfish, SD.
TJs was also a big hang-out place for friends in Belle Fourche, especially on Tuesdays!
I remember eating with my grandfather at a local Mexican restaurant in Arkansas City, Kansas in 1977. Ark City is just a few Frisbee throws from the OK state line, fwiw.
The El Torito chain started in Southern California in 1954. They were the first big Mexican chain, and at one point were buying more tequila than any other chain in the US.
Having been born and grown up in Northern California, I don’t remember there not being Mexican food. I visited a Mexican restaurant in Madrid, Spain ca. 1974 (it was owned by two Americans from Texas).
Dude, you gotta try Taco Bell. It’s amazing if you get the right thing. Not something I would consider truly Mexican, but good American food.
Strangely…I kind of thought they were still around. I admit that I have not had them in…apparently many years, but I figured they were still out there. Looks like they went out of business in the USA in 2004.
We’ve had Xochimilco in Detroit for many years and it is still the best I’ve had. They make the food spicy enough to actually be hot and everything there is pretty good. I’ts been there as long as I remember.
I’m wondering how to measure this. Total number by year? Percentage of restaurants? Presence in __% of counties?
I can get Mexican in bumblefuck UP MI. I probably couldn’t if we look back far enough.
And I think its mainstream-ness probably came in phases. Back when she used to cook, my mother would buy Old El Pass taco shells that she’d fill with seasoned ground beef. We’d top with grated sharp cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and “taco sauce”. The only restaurants I saw were Taco Bell. We twice went to Chi Chi’s, maybe in the early 90s. I * think* most people today have something else in mind when they think of Mexican food.
I was born in 1967 in Sacramento, and have lived here all my life. As far as I’m concerned, Mexican food has always been “mainstream”; nowhere near as ubiquitous as Italian food, but there were always plenty of ‘taco stands’, and several ‘nice’ Mexican restaurants in town as far back as I can remember.
I grew up in a small blue collar town in Indiana in the 60’s and 70’s… not exactly a border town. I remember long before I could drive (76) my Mom taking me to Lord John’s Tacos, but even before that my Mom used to make tacos at home. This was before Old el Paso packets and boxes of crunchy shells. I don’t know where she got them but used to get soft corn tortillas that she would fry. Seasoned ground beef (not from a packet), lettuce, onions, tomato and cheese. I think the only hot sauce we had was Tabasco. I’ve always kind of thought Mexican food was a standard even in the Midwest my entire life. And if we want to claim any ethnic background it would be Swedish. My guess is she got introduced to “Mexican” food while my Dad was in the Air Force. She was always a very good cook who liked to try new things.
Lord John’s though was my favorite, and looking back at it now they were actually what we would now call street tacos.
In SoCal, Mexican food has been mainstream as long as I can remember. Growing up in 1960s San Diego, we had make-your-own taco night several times a month. For a treat we’d go out to the old (now gone) Casa Blanca in Old Town. That’s where I had guacamole for the first time. And my first sip of beer, too. (Michelob)
This made me do some quick Google searches and it appears that there is a bar that may still serve Lord John’s (Jon’s) tacos, and I found something from 2007 saying they had been in business for over 40 years (1967 or earlier).
