iff

In another thread someone just mentioned that there wasn't "decent Mexican" food in London. I often hear the same complaint for Paris. And a lot of people in the US complain that you can't get decent Mexican food there, either.

What, in your opinion, do you consider "decent Mexican"?

WineIsGood

do you mean "decent Mexican" or "decent Tex-Mex" or "decent Cali-Mex?" I ask because the only food with "Mex" in the name that I've heard of or experienced in Paris or London were horrifying attempts at Tex-Mex, not really Mexican.

For "decent Mexican" I suggest going to places with large numbers of.....Mexicans!

For "decent Tex-Mex" or "decent Cali-Mex" I suggest going to those places ^

SkeptiCallie

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SRQ Guy

The only place I've had "decent Mexican" food is in Mexico. Most everything in the US that's labeled "Mexican" is a completely different type of food, even if it's good. I've never had Mexican food anywhere else besides teh US and Mexico, to tell the truth though.

thelark

I see a bigger problem here.

Who is looking for Mexican food when in France

kellio33

I had a similar question this weekend while in Mexico. Why would you eat Italian while in Mexico?

Border states offer "decent" mexican. A few place are exceptional. Nothing, nothing beats a taco stand on the street in Mexico. While in Rocky Point this weekend I brought home 4 dozen tortillas, 3 quarts of different salsa's from the taco stand, 3lbs of sea bass, 3 lbs of flounder, 2lbs of shrimp from the fish market and 3 different cheeses.

In Phoenix we have some great Mexican markets but nothing better than getting it from the source!

I can't wait to start cooking

BiziBB

El Chorlito at San Simeon, on our SF to LA roadtrip, was pretty good.

It was our first Mexican food during the visit, aside from SF's tacquerias.
Just as well that it was okay as there were few alternatives at 8.30PM along H1!

Eastbay1K

If there was a great Italian restaurant in Mexico, why not? What is "Mexican Food" anyway? Rice and beans and corn tortillas with hot sauce until you vomit? We have been so accustomed to knowing "typical menu dishes" from a "country", much of which has been concocted not in the country of origin. All the food in Mexico is Mexican, unless it is imported from elsewhere. Sure, I'm going to want to visit a churascarria in Brasil, a parilla in Argentina, and have moule frites in Belgium, but that won't be my diet for the duration.

Back to the OP, I consider "decent Mexican" depending on what I want. A cheap meal, a nice fish meal, a plate of chiliquiles, etc etc. If you order KC-style BBQ in Barrow on your trip to "America", it may not be so good.

bensyd

Exactly. If I goto the US I'm not going to limit myself to hot-dogs and hamburgers and deep dish pizza, although I am willing to try them all, similarly if someone goes to Australia I wouldn't expect them to eat pies pavlova and lamingtons all day long and then 'modern Australian' for dinner every night.

CessnaJock

This isn't Mexican whatsoever, but if it's spicy you want in London, there's a small chain of restaurants called Nando's that serves chicken cooked in a variety of ways (ostensibly Portuguese), with a choice of five sauces. As I live in Scottsdale, I'm accustomed to habanero sauce, so I ordered the next-to-hottest topping.

It made my temples sweat. It made my pulse race. I died.

(The best AmMex around here is The Original Garcia's on 35th Ave. The other ones that franchised the name are pale imitations.)

iff

That's a good question; I suppose it depends on what people are used to. Growing up in the midwest, my first taste of "Mexican" was Taco Bell... then Mexican restaurants run by Americans... and now that there are so many Mexicans living there it's easy to find Mexican restaurants but they're still "Americanized", from what their employees tell me. But since that's the Mexican food I'm used to, that's probably what I'd want if I were looking for it.

I agree with the Tex-Mex weirdness over here, at least in Paris, which seems to be a category that includes not only tacos and enchiladas but also chili and onion rings. And to my Americanized Mexican-acclimated taste buds, the flavors are off (the salsas have too much vinegar or something, the cheeses aren't the same, etc.)

As for why one would want to eat Mexican food while in France, well, why not? French food is fine, but I don't want to eat it all the time. Sometimes I would just like a good old sloppy cheese enchilada with a tasty brown sauce (which I have trouble finding even in the US)... comfort food, you know...

ElkeNorEast

I'm a Texan by birth, but have lived all over the place. Let me tell you, after 2 years living in the Netherlands I would have paid almost any amount of money to be able to get a plate of tacos with nopalitos and a tamarindo juice on the side! Sometimes you just want a taste of home.

When the need for fajitas hits in London I head to Richmond and go to Subteraneo, which isn't the greatest but is pretty decent. It's across the street from the Odeon theatre in a basement... haven't been in a while though, hope it's still there.

I think as time passes and you get more desperate, your definition of "decent" really morphs... you know it's time to just bite the bullet and fly home when you're dreaming of Velveeta and Ro-Tel dip

YVR Cockroach

It's South African of all things, but with Portugese roots.

http://www.nandos.com/

WineIsGood

When I lived in France, I longed for Mexican, Tex-Mex, anything with Mex in the name!!! My friends and family sent care packages of canned beans and salsas. I made my own tortillas (French Old El Paso tortillas = gross). Still, it wasn't quite right.

I think you're right on the cheese issue - France has great French cheeses, but not so great cheeses for Mex food. Also, I had a traumatic experience with a supposed Tex-Mex place that served me a pea and carrot burrito.

If you're in Paris, there's a place in the 6th that sells frozen tortillas that are actually fairly decent. Let me know if you're interested and I can find the name.

Eastbay1K

Shouldn't the restaurant's name "Chez Gerber" have given you a clue? - seriously, I bring a friend in Chile cans of refried beans when I visit, as mexican food is an imported (from the US) and expensive product.

I have noticed some of the Tex-Mex places in London (and to some degree, in Paris) and just look at the menu and the prices and know, that if you overstuffed a taco bell burrito and boiled it, and then put red sauce over it, it might still be tastier than a £12 burrito in London.