Taco Bell

[wart57]

Loves me the burrito supreme sans onions, don't like Taco Bell onions.

[cardsfansince82]

I think Chipotle's quality is a little better than Qdoba, but they really fail by not having queso as an option.

Between those two, I definitely agree. The burrito place I like best is finally expanding out of Texas and California, and Columbia is getting one this year, Freebirds World Burrito. They have more filling options than either Chipotle or Qdoba, and the stuff's good too.

There's a couple freebirds in KC. I was excited because they have queso and refried beans plus some other stuff you can't get at chipotle, but for whatever reason I thought the food was really bland outside the chips and queso. I need to give it another shot sometime.

[redbirdjazzz]

I think Chipotle's quality is a little better than Qdoba, but they really fail by not having queso as an option.

Between those two, I definitely agree. The burrito place I like best is finally expanding out of Texas and California, and Columbia is getting one this year, Freebirds World Burrito. They have more filling options than either Chipotle or Qdoba, and the stuff's good too.

There's a couple freebirds in KC. I was excited because they have queso and refried beans plus some other stuff you can't get at chipotle, but for whatever reason I thought the food was really bland outside the chips and queso. I need to give it another shot sometime.

I was down in College Station for a friend's wedding last May and the burrito I got there was excellent. Can't speak for other locations, I guess. I did like that they had choices of burrito size, tortilla (white, whole wheat, maybe spinach/tomato), white or brown rice (which Chipotle does now, but didn't then), plus all the toppings. The queso was great.

[jim]

I feel sorry for all of you that don't have real Mexican options. wart is in a great spot (and of course goes to Taco Bell anyway), radbird probably does if he looks for it, but I think in the past years there have been like three Mexicans living in St. Louis and two of them played for the Cardinals. What is with the no Mexicans allowed in St. Louis rule?

[jim]

I am a bit of a Mexican food snob, so forgive me by correcting you doc in saying that there isn't anything remotely close to Mexican food being sold at Taco Bell, or most other "Mexican" restaurants. If I ever were to move from where I live, the number 1 thing I would miss is real Mexican food. It is so good, and so different than what you get at most "Mexican" restaurants.

I'm more than a bit of a Mexican food snob, and I'm telling you there are plenty of places you can live and get good Mexican food. Almost any city over 100k people is going to have a large Hispanic population anymore. I've lived in five different cities in my life and never had a problem finding some good real mexican food.

That's not true, go to St. Louis. Or Springfield, IL (A Sancho at Taco Gringo doesn't count).

edit .. and here is my theory, I know some towns have Mexicans that open restaurants, but when you open a place in a town with a small population you generally end up tailoring it to that population. For example my family told me about a place in Springfield that opened up that is authentic, because the family is Mexican by god so it has to be. They went to explain the food - and it sounded like they still do it Tex/Mex American style. Having restaurants nearby where there is such a large population that the default language is Spanish, you get more of a true food experience I think because they don't even think to Americanize it because because the clients are mostly Mexican too.

[cardsfansince82]

Weird. I guess I've never noticed that about STL but I just found a census that says STL is 2.7% Hispanic while the rest of the US is 16.7%.

I found plenty of good Mexican places up to par in KC and Tulsa, and that's with living in the southwest for several years.

[JL21]

St. Louis definitely has a smaller Latino population. That said, jim needs to go to the Cherokee district.

[Radbird]

I feel sorry for all of you that don't have real Mexican options. wart is in a great spot (and of course goes to Taco Bell anyway), radbird probably does if he looks for it, but I think in the past years there have been like three Mexicans living in St. Louis and two of them played for the Cardinals. What is with the no Mexicans allowed in St. Louis rule?

No complaints here. While the Mexican food in Denver area is not quite to the level of what I remember of Dallas and Houston, it's pretty damn good. But then Houston is 36% Hispanic, Dallas 28% and Denver 23%

And you're right, you have to look for the little hole-in-the-wall/mom & pop places, especially in Latino neighborhoods, if you really want the best. Point is you can probably find one in most places if you're willing to explore and experiment.

In Milwaukee there was a favorite lunch spot - I think it was called the Texas Cafe or something like that - great little hole-in-the-wall. But that was back in the late '70s. I'm surprised to see that Milwaukee is almost 10% Hispanic.

[docellis]

I might have already mentioned this but we tried Le Tejana on north Lindbergh a few weeks ago.

I got a big bowl of seafood soup. It had crab legs, fish, shrimp, squid, etc. It was amazing. The best part was that it came with a little plate that had fresh (not pickled) chopped jalapenos, chopped onions and cilantro, plus sliced limes. It was perfect. And it was like, $7.

[Numbers]

anytime I want authentic mexican food Jim, I have my wife cook, or my suegra