To see a great article on the Best Mexican Food Restaurants in Texas, try the November 1999 issue of Texas Monthly. Texas Monthly November 1999: Table of Contents

I grew up two blocks from Taco Bueno (the original one), the first Mexican fast food in my hometown. Each item (Tacos, Borritos, etc.) was 19 cents. That’s what I had almost every weekend evening. I moved on to the gormet foods in Frontara Grill, Cayote Café, etc. and I still go to Taco Bueno when I can. When I think back on Austin, I do not remember a single restaurant that stood out but the fact that we could eat out at 50 different great Mexican Food Restaurants, each different, most very good, and seldom pay over $7.00 each including ice tea with free refills.

The most notable cities in the US for Mexican Food are San Antonio, Austin where Texas Mexican Food evolved into something more, Santa Fe and Albequerque with the New Mexico style, Phoenix, and California (isn't it one big city) with its style and burrito places that exist nowhere else.

Look how Mexican Food changed in the last 40 years. Now some of the best can be found in Chicago at Frontara Grill, Las Vega at Cayote Café, Washington DC at Red Sage, New York City at Tapika and Rosa Mexicano, and (believe it or not) in Morristown, NJ at Ixtapa. This is not Tex-Mex at all but it is wonderful food.

Preparing Mexican Food is easy if you have the ingrediants but they can be a problem. Really fresh tortillas are hard to get outside the Southwest. Green chilies are essential. Cilantro is important for almost all Mexican Food.

Keeping up with the new foods and recipes is easy and very hard. Good Mexican food styles are changing almost as fast as the Internet. Texas Monthly is pretty good at providing a perspective and list of new and old restaurants in Texas. Many of the "suggested" restaurants (that I believe will be good but that I have not tried) come from Texas Monthly and from friends. How about a recent article labeled "Holy Guacamole"?

Mexican Food cookbooks come in various styles. There are traditional cookbooks that may be the best like those from Diane Kennedy. But they are for people that know they like Mexican Food, not for the uninformed. Then there are Rick Baylis' (Owner, Chef at Frontera Grill) cookbooks, that reflects the wonderful new style of cooking. Finally, there are cookbooks like the Mexico the Beautiful, Southwest the Beautiful, and Texas the Beautiful cookbooks. I bought a few for novice friends. My wife is right, the cookbook recipes are not great. But you include the pictures of the regions, pictures of the food, stories about the people, and it has appeal to encourage people to cook the Mexican/Southwestern food. I probably have another 40-60 Mexican Cookbooks but I cannot talk about them all. And my wife is also right about my collection of cookbooks. I have too many.

It was tough to pass up Rick Baylis' trip through Mexico this January. Over a week with a group of 20 chefs and a few people "not in the trade". Every meal every day would have the best that the ciry and chefs had to offer. Wow. But alas we did not go. We would have been 20^th on a list that would accept 4, I would have gained 25 pounds, and it was not cheap. But you cannot take it with you, can you? Maybe next trip.

I attribute all of the typos and other mistakes to Kitten Kaboodle, my cat. When I get on the computer, he gets on the keyboard. Or he claws my leg if I ignore him to work on the Home Pages. He would make virtual office virtually impossible.