A Short Guide to Mexican Food in Southern New Mexico

If you’re new to the Southwest, picking between the vast amount of Mexican restaurants available can be a daunting prospect. Not only are there several restaurants, there are several types of “Mexican” food. Mexican cuisine is prepared differently in each region where it is prepared. For example, most people have heard the term “Tex Mex” meaning Texas Mexican—the type of Mexican food prepared as they do in Texas. This is just one of many available forms of Mexican food in southwestern United States. In southern New Mexico alone there’s at least four other types of Mexican food available at local restaurants. To give newcomers a bit of context, I’ll give a description of some of the types of Mexican food with examples of restaurants from the southern New Mexico/Texas and northern Mexican border area.


“Gringo Mex”


As a general rule, restaurants serving nachos, thick dipping style sauces, orange or yellow cheeses, and the hard shell taco are not authentic Mexican restaurants. This is not to say that the food they serve is necessarily bad or not tasty. They are serving what Mexicans called American or gringo food. These types of restaurants are serving the US versions of Mexican meals, typically equipped with menus full of taco salads, quesidillas, fajitas, enchiladas, huevos rancheros, and other dishes. We’ll examine this type of food more thoroughly based on the states after which they are named. Let’s start with the most common, Tex Mex.


Tex Mex


Tex Mex is the most common type of Mexican food on the market in the US. It is also the term used by many people to refer to any type of Mexican food available outside of Mexico. This can be problematic because more authentic Mexican food restaurants are opening in various parts of world, not to mention that every restaurant labeled Tex Mex in this way does not prepare their menu in a similar fashion. Distinction is important, especially in the realm of cuisine.