A couple of caveats....

First, there are two distinct sorts of Mexican restaurants, and the first group, those which cater to Anglos/gringos fall into several subcategories - the most common and best know, "TexMex", different regions/cuisines of Mexico itself, and the subclasses New Mexico, Arid Zone (thankfully blessedly small in number) and SoCal, where they used to put ripe olives in the enchiladas).

Then there's real "Mexican" restaurants, which come into communities where an influx of Mexican immigrants, legal or illegal has created a market. Many of them are small, spartan and cater to what we in Texas adjacent to Mexico and with two on every corner in the less fancy parts of town call the "Family Trade". Many of them serve food traditionally eaten in the low and moderate income homes of Mexico, neither very pretty or appealing, dull and filling like the traditional US small town cafes, food like mama cooked for all those young men here plucking chickens, finishing concrete and stapling shingles.

Some of your "simply awful" likely fall into that category. They're not cooking for you, but for a clientele from homes where money was short, diet limited, and Mama wasn't much of a cook.

Then there's Taquerias, curbside stands, carts or little better in Mexico, but here forced indoors by health regs. Here's where you find "organ meats" filling a corn tortilla with chopped onion, cilantro and sauces from mild to Vesuvian, capable of being felt tomorrow, fiery on departure. Tongue, brains, "barbacoa"(actually baked beef head), and to prove the veracity of their heritage, the two kingposts of dining along Northern/Central Mexico's back streets...

Chicharrones - Crisply fried pigskins.

Menudo - a soup/stew of hominy, pig or calf feet, hog maw, beef tripes in a broth of red or green chilies. Served with chopped raw onion, chopped fresh jalapeno, and cut limes or lemons, it is the nectar of the Gods, the original weekend breakfast and hangover cure, "Para la Cruda" as the TShirts say.

Cabrito - a luxury food, young goat, traditionally bought from specialty vendors, not cooked at home.

There days, as the flow of illegals spread, one may even encounter these sorts of restaurants serving regional Mexican cuisine to appeal to mojados originating from the owner's home state.

Some of the family restaurants make at least partial transition to appealing to the Gringo trade, from those with "big" cheap lunches for working men, to specialty places, such as a couple we frequent, one a sort of "Taco Fillings to Go" combo Mexican Carniceria/Butcher shop and takeout joint, the other "Siete Mares", Vera Cruz style seafood.


When a place has Jaramillo brand soda pop in bright colors in the cooler, it ain't aiming at Anglos....