Never Buy Tex-Mex West of...

Yesterday was an interesting culinary experience. First, DH swept me up at lunchtime and we ran out to the store. Before shopping for more food for the hotel room, we walked a few blocks down the street looking for a cafe for lunch.

We found a Cuban themed cafe. Game to try anything, we ordered off the menu. One burrito for DH, one quesadilla for me, and an order of nachos to share. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but I know we were pleasantly surprised.

The tortillas weren't what we expected. They had taken the local flat bread and just created it flatter. So instead of soft, giving coverings wrapped around the filling, they were hard as rocks. Not steamed and softened like we're used to. The fillings were interesting but not at all cheese based or highly spiced. It tasted good, just not terribly Cuban or hispanic in any way.

Then the nachos arrived.

These were a surprise. You can see the hard shell bowl... that's actually full of 'chips' made from the bread and deep fried. Then they poured meat and cheese sauce over it and put some stuff on top. And by stuff, I mean the cheese on top is a torn up piece of American sliced cheese, right out of the plastic wrapper. There is a dollop of white creamy stuff that is neither 'creme fraiche' nor sour cream, but some Middle Eastern equivalent. The sliced up peppers are bell not hot. In fact there was very little heat in this dish at all. But they got the cheesy goodness and the yummy meat right. The nachos are worth going back for... even if the chips are questionable.

Last night, we went to a Tex-Mex buffet at a local resort hotel where some co-workers are living. I had high hopes. I meant to take pictures to show the 'make your own taco bar' and other delights, but we had a few drinks and I forgot entirely. Not eating until 8:30 pm also affects my good mood and intentions.

All I can say is that the chefs tried really hard to prepare Tex-Mex foods. Sadly, they did not come close. There was a big pot of chili con carne. Try to imagine cooking up a mess of ground beef without salting or peppering or giving it any kind of spice at all. Then dump in cans of kidney beans. Are you with me? It looks chili-like but has no chile flavor at all. Because of the total lack of chilis or spices.

They had a station making 'fajitas to order'. This is not to be missed, right? So I stepped up and asked for a fajita. "Beef or chicken?" "Beef" I responded. He nodded and pulled out a frying pan that had ground beef in a pinkish sauce cooked up with onions and nothing else. He took a tortilla looking piece of cooked dough, flung it on a flat griddle and ladeled in a big heaping spoonful of the beef in sauce concoction. Then he rolled the 'tortilla' up and grilled it on the outside, flattening it with his spatula. The chicken on was created with about the same technique. Unrecognizable liquid stewed meat filling in a not quite tortilla wrapper, grilled to crunchiness. Not fajitas. Something. Just not fajitas.

Then I went down the rest of the buffet looking for 'go withs'. There was a bowl of salsa. It didn't took too bad. It had diced up green and red and white stuff. It could have been chilis, tomatoes and onions, right? There was even a side of Spanish rice. When I looked closely, I could see the shrimp and seafood in the rice. So, not quite what I was expecting.

I sidled down to the salad bar and looked at the offerings. They had seafood salads tastefully perched on avocado quarters and several bean based salads. I skipped the seafood ones and concentrated on the two bean based salads that included avocados in the mix.

Then I took my loaded plate and settled in for the taste extravaganza. What I received was the 'vaganza' without the extras. It was filling, tasteful food. What it was not, was Tex-Mex. The flavors and spices that we associate with Hispanic cooking are chili based or earthy ingredients like cumin, cilantro and citrus. All of these were lacking in those flavors. Even the salsa, that you'd think couldn't be ruined, was less than expected. There were no jalapeños at all. All the green chunks were bell peppers. The salsa was a green pepper, a purple onion and a tomato diced up together. If you'd poured vinegar on it and called it cucumber salad, you wouldn't have been disappointed...except maybe for lack of cucumbers. My point is that it didn't include any of the heat or flavor that was evocative of the name.

It was all tasty. We ate what we picked up. It just wasn't Tex-Mex. Or fajitas. We even joked about taking some of the harrissa and putting it into the chili con carne to 'heat it up'. They DO have hot red chilis that they cook with... they just didn't bring them to any of these recipes. Now, I get it that a resort hotel can't bring fire to their cookery. I just wish I wasn't in such a mood for spicy food.

Tonight is Moroccan/Tunisian buffet at the same restaurant. What do you guess they do that much better??

--Sandee Wagner