Slortar: I don’t know about Escanaba, but I can tell you that there are no Mexican restaurants in Marquette atm. There used to be one right downtown but they’ve been closed for many years now. The best we get is the aforementioned “Border Grill” and Mexican night at the local Greek place.
look!ninjas The really funny thing about the pasty story is that I know people who probaby don’t really know what a burrito is, and “Mexican Pasty” would probably get the idea across. Although empenadas are more like Mexican Pasties.
Speaking of MichMex, there is one advantage: Trout and whitefish actually make pretty damn good fish tacos!
Just out of curiosity, seeing as how I’ve lived in Texas all my life and (if you count California) I’ve never really been outside of the Southwest US:
What are some of what you Northerners and Midwesterners (and possibly Southerners, though I haven’t yet seen anyone comment on the state of Mexican cuisine in the south) consider inferior Mexican chain restaurants?
Not counting fast food like Taco Bell, of course. Real sit-down, order from a waiter establishments that apparently serve these sad replicas of real Tex-mex. I’m rather curious. The only one’s food that I’ve ever found to be consistently crummy is “Casa Ole”. Do you have those? Is that a national chain?
“El Chico” and “On the Border”, on the other hand get my thumbs up. They’re nothing ORGASMIC like you sometimes find at independently owned local places, but they’re alright. Do those sound familiar. “On the Border” seems to have the smack of an “Olive Garden”-like national chain. Is it?
You might actually know this better than I ( since I’ve never been south of Tiajuana ) but NorCal, or at least the SF Bay Area, I suspect tends to show a little more of a Central American influence than Tex-Mex, which just isn’t native ( well, I know you can at least get pupusas a few places around here, anyway ). In fact I think San Francisco is the only county in CA where Central and South ( but mostly Central ) American-origined Latinos outnumber Mexican-origined Latinos ( out of about a commbined total of maybe 15% of the population ). I must say that I prefer the local style to the Tex-Mex I’ve had ( I’ve never been a fajita fan ), but to each their own :).
I’ve located an excellent Mexican restaurant in my local town…the guy is mexican, and he uses real mexican stuff, like mexican cheese, etc. His chile rellenos are excellent.
One weird thing though-he doesn’t make his own salas! He uses canned salsa-that’s the only detraction from his food!
