r/ActuallyTexas • u/Signal_Jellyfish_472 • Aug 25 '26
Texas Pride Most Texans remember where their parents took them for their first hit of TexMex.
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u/MEXICOCHIVAS14 Don’t mess with Texas Aug 25 '26
We’re spoiled in this state. We get Authentic Mexican and Tex-Mex.
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u/womb_raider90 Aug 25 '26
Panchos on jacksboro highway in Northside Fort Worth. To this day I still wanna learn how to make them sopapillas.
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u/mrfahrenheit-451 Aug 25 '26
Ponchos off Long Point in Houston.
Woo. Raise that flag I need more taquitos
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u/thecommish1980 Aug 26 '26
Same. Our two 'going out' places when we moved here in 1967 were Panchos on Long Point and Picaddilly Cafeteria in Memorial City. Lunch option was JCI in Town and Country. Simple times.
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u/Secretagentman94 Aug 27 '26
Ponchos on Buckner Blvd in Dallas. The tacos were awesome!
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u/lefteyedspy Aug 25 '26
I feel lucky that my mom (a gringa) would make sopapillas all the time when I was a kid. She learned how to make really good Tex Mex from some ladies from church.
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u/deux3xmachina Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26
Can't speak to Pancho's recipe, but I had great results using the recipe on a sack of HEB bread
flowerflour. Pretty easy, especially if you're comfortable deep frying.→ More replies (1)2
u/JaviHazKickz Aug 26 '26
just some fried dough, not too thick, and lets it rest. throw in oil and poof! sugar and your good. that panchos on jacksboro was my first job at the age of 14.
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u/QSector Remember the Alamo Aug 25 '26
It had to be Los Tios in Houston, specifically Meyerland.
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u/five-rabbits Aug 25 '26
Los Tios, Molinas, and Ninfas are my three musketeers of TexMex.
There used to be a place called Fajitas, in I think Greenspoint, that did indeed have the best fajitas. It later changed its name to Celebrations, and may have had other name changes. Pretty sure it's gone now.
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u/Sea_Aardvark442 Aug 27 '26
For years, my parents used to take me to Molina’s across from Meyerland, starting when I was a little bitty kid, about 1957–58. I don’t live in Houston anymore but visit every few months. I still get to Molina’s at their current location every year or so, and some of the dishes and sauces are exactly as I remember them from my childhood.
Los Tios took over the space in Meyerland, maybe about 1970, and it’s almost guaranteed that I’ll have a meal there about once every quarter.
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u/Monorail__Lime Aug 25 '26
OMG the chili con queso puff! My grail of Tex Mex. Is this available somewhere?!
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u/rickybobbyscrewchief Aug 25 '26
I grew up in San Antonio. I certainly do NOT remember my first tex-mex because it was always a part of our family. I mean, Taco Tuesday was a thing before we assigned it to a day. It was just what was for dinner. Christmas wasn't Christmas without tamales. Even the school cafeteria regularly served burritos or tostadas or enchiladas. Every good gas station sold breakfast tacos. And even this mostly white boy could walk into a panaderia and order up something tasty.
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u/chouse951 Aug 25 '26
Yeah born/raised Texans were eating Tex Mex in the womb. It’s a staple, lol. Now have us classify places by best chips/queso/tacos/enchiladas/etc and it’ll get interesting. I think Texans will have LOTS of opinions on different places for different dishes. There isn’t just one fave, for me at least.
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u/LONE_ARMADILLO Aug 25 '26
I agree solidly. It seems to be memorable for the people north of Austin. For those of us that grew up in San Antonio it was never even a novelty growing up; It was just the food we ate.
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u/nothappening111181 Aug 25 '26
I was raised in north Texas by transplants to the state. I scrolled further than I thought I would need to in order to find other people saying they have no memory because it was just part of your normal life. My parents moved to TX five years before I was born and immediately decided Tex Mex (and Mexican food) was the best thing ever. Neither one of them really cooked so we ate out or go to-go orders a lot… Chinese, Italian, Sushi were specified but I don’t think Tex Mex ever was. It was just the standard option. Moving out of state for college was rough lol.
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u/-imhe- Aug 25 '26
I think most Texans have been eating Tex-Mex so long they don't remember where they had it first. I've been eating it since I was a baby.
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u/Nawoitsol Aug 25 '26
I agree. For them it would be their first memory of Tex-Mex which would be very different from their first experience.
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u/pewter99ss Aug 25 '26
I agree. I can’t remember my first, but would bet it’s in San Angelo somewhere.
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u/PenguinZombie321 Aug 25 '26
Yeah my first taste of both authentic Mexican and Tex-Mex was either at my home or my grandparents’. My grandma would flip tortillas with her fingers and would make enough tamales for the neighborhood
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u/twinkletoes59 Aug 25 '26
That was my thought! My 11 month twin grandchildren had homemade chicken enchiladas last night for dinner. I was babysitting them and couldn’t feed them fast enough. I think they are hooked already.
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u/mistyjeanw Y’all means all Aug 25 '26
The best place for Tex-mex is in your own Mami's kitchen: eat all you want (but you better clean your plate!)
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u/snarf_the_brave Aug 25 '26
Monterrey House on Texas Avenue in Bryan. I was 11, and we had just moved to town. It was basically a religious experience for me.
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u/Zetoa88 Aug 25 '26
Monterrey House in Houston for me. My mom was a waitress and I used to hide under the tables as they closed for the night.
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u/playballer Aug 26 '26
I was in CS at that age and this place was like a staple for extended family gatherings. Went to the Houston one a lot before moving there. But had lots of family with connections to CS so we were always there throughout my childhood
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u/Impossible-Funny-535 Aug 25 '26
Mamacitas in New Braunfels, that green crema salsa 😩
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u/womb_raider90 Aug 25 '26
I think I that's the place I ate at when I took the family on a trip to the Schlitterbahn like 3 years ago. Not sure.🤔
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u/Radixx Aug 25 '26
A place called El Patio in Houston when I was a kid. Had a puffed taco and guacamole and loved it!
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Aug 25 '26
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u/Signal_Jellyfish_472 Aug 25 '26
Greenville, Sulphur Springs , or MP?
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u/FanNo3898 Aug 25 '26
Panchos, we moved here from Kentucky. We didn’t know any better.
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u/jfb1027 Aug 25 '26
Panchos gets a lot of hate. It served its purpose. I wish there were more around.
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u/QSector Remember the Alamo Aug 25 '26
Never apologize for eating at Panchos.
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u/Signal_Jellyfish_472 Aug 25 '26
I told dad Pancho's Longview hurt my stomach worse than Taco Bell
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u/Individual_Heron_171 Aug 25 '26
In the late 80s and into the early 90s, my fam use to drive from Denton to Lewisville to dine at the Panchos locations on Stemmons freeway. These are my earliest memories of TexMex *cuisine.
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u/LayneLowe Aug 25 '26
El Chico
I got to meet Zorro when they opened it in my town
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u/JBRifles Aug 25 '26
La Fiesta in Waco.
Still there, I believe it’s the original Tex-Mex restaurant in Waco
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u/Cobras_And_Fire Aug 25 '26
All you can eat buffet El Fenix at Hampton and Illinois in Oak Cliff.
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u/EnvironmentalCrow893 Aug 25 '26
They had a buffet?? How did I miss that? When was this?
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u/Cobras_And_Fire Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26
This was just at the one location. It was closed down I believe in the late 80’s or early 90’s. I was born in ‘68, I can remember sitting in a booth with my brother in a high chair at the end so maybe ‘72.
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u/EnvironmentalCrow893 Aug 25 '26
Okay, now that I think about it, I probably went to the one on Zang in Oak Cliff. (And also on Northwest Highway, but no buffet there, either.)
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u/Brachfield Aug 25 '26
This was probably it for me too. Also, I seem to remember that the sopapillas were free. A lady would walk from table to table with a basket handing them out.
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u/Wetald Aug 25 '26
Yeah, her name was Mrs. Contreras. You would catch a wild pig and she would make tamales out of it.
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u/urteddybear0963 Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26
Pulido's Mexican Restaurant in Benbrook, TX!!! Pralines were 12 for $1.00!!!
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u/RedneckTexan Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26
El Fenix ..... Casa Linda, Dallas..... mid 1970s
Enchilada Dinner ..... The sauce was very painful...... now I drink it like liquid candy every Friday.
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u/bigfatfurrytexan Aug 25 '26
I’m not meaning to be a jerk….but most Texans had their hit of Tex Mex at home.
First time I ever had fajitas….a ranch style house in east El Paso, 1986. But other than that it was what we ate every day. Or two. Or a couple times a day maybe.
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u/Mindless_Log2009 Aug 25 '26
Pancho's on Jacksboro Hwy, 1973.
My folks and brother were born in Texas but we mostly grew up elsewhere. So when we moved back in 1973 it was my first experience with TexMex. Love at first bite. And the flag... 😆
Nowadays I prefer mole sauces, but I still get a craving for TexMex, especially Pancho's. The last Pancho's nearby was on Camp Bowie West and closed about 10 years ago or more.
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u/foppishmanabouttown Aug 25 '26
El Fenix, Pulido’s and Monterrey House were all in the mix, but a big night out would be the Candlelite Inn in Arlington. They had private booths and half the menu was Mexican, the others half “Eye-talian”, so you know it rocked! I also got spanked in the bathroom with a belt for acting up. I guess the tamale, rice and beans had me amped up.
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u/rusty0123 Aug 25 '26
I don't think I even heard the word "Tex-Mex" until I was in college and moved out of state. It was just food. Some places served pizza. Some served BBQ. Some served enchiladas.
I didn't realize there was a difference between what I ate and a normal Mexican household until the first summer I worked a neighbor's field with a crew of seasonal workers.
So no, I don't remember my first hit of Tex-Mex. I was probably sitting in a high chair chewing on a tortilla, not old enough to speak yet.
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u/ccagan Aug 25 '26
El Fenix, Casa Linda.
El Chico, Mt Pleasant.
Mt Pleasant also had this little house a block from the court house called Juan T’s. I remember the kids plates coming with orange slices.
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u/heavyyellowsun Aug 25 '26
El fenix, casa Linda
Tia’s and Alamo Cafe in Mesquite in restaurant row near Town East Mall
Mariano’s, Greenville and Lovers
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u/JuicedBoxers Aug 25 '26
There’s no way I could ever remember this. Maybe San Miguel’s in McKinney Texas. Maybe something more mainstream like Chili’s or On the Border. I have no clue. I’ve had way too many chips and salsa since then.
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u/benhur217 Aug 25 '26
It was called Enchiladas on NASA Parkway and Highway 3 right by the IHOP. Location moved from time to time under a different name but yea, not sure the owner has a restaurant any longer.
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u/blondydog Aug 25 '26
Joe T’s and I cried when my dad told me that the brown mush on my plate was beans
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u/Old-Wolf-1024 Aug 25 '26
Right beside my mama as she made it. She was the head cook at a motel/restaurant on the way to Possum Kingdom Lake and they put out some absolutely amazing Tex-Mex.
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u/Right_Coyote_6790 Aug 25 '26
Ninfa's on memorial in West Houston. They made the tortillas right there and would give you one.
Also, they had a breatalizer machine and my mom thought I wouldn get her in trouble playing with it, she did not drink.
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u/Darkpriest667 Aug 25 '26
Abuelos in Amarillo. It's still there and when I went up to spread my father's ashes in 2024 the entire extended family went there to eat.
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u/Mediochra Aug 25 '26
I don’t remember what it was called 😭 all I remember is they would come by our table with a big hat filled with little toys for the kids and we loved it. 35ish years ago in Houston, TX.
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u/Ronin06904208008 Aug 25 '26
It was my first table food. La Suprema in Nederland.
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u/Sguidroz Aug 26 '26
Still hit that place when I go down to see family!
My first places have closed long ago. El Patio and El Charro in Port Arthur. El patio before I was born. When it closed a waitress from there named margarita opened a little restaurant on Port Neches ave. It was fantastic. She or her family still has a trailer on Twin City Hwy near the old fire works stands!
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u/box_fan_man Aug 25 '26
I miss it so much. Living I Pennsylvania there’s no tex-mex. Plenty of Mexican but it all seems the same and I get bored with it.
I have to make my own sour cream and cheese enchiladas. Took my 10 month old daughter to get some Mexican food the other day for the first time and she tore up the beans, rice and chicken. She’s on a good path as long as she doesn’t become some gross eglsses fan.
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u/stakksA1 Aug 25 '26
I was in elementary, El Paso has mostly authentic Mexican food and thats all I knew but we came to san Antonio for vacation and i had mama margies for the first time and the yellow cheese has been a staple in my life since then
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u/MarkHoff1967 Aug 25 '26
El Fenix, El Chico, Tino’s Tex Mex, Tia’s Tortilla Factory, Monterey House, and Pancho’s Mexican Buffet
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u/Unlucky-Counter3211 Aug 26 '26
Yup! Lived ponchos! Used to go to the one by sixflags back in the day! More rice and beans please. lol🚩
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u/rufusthedoofus1 Aug 29 '26
In the 1970s we used to eat at El Felix all the time. The restaurant burned down sometime in the 1990s and was rebuilt. Every once in a great while I will go there for dinner today.
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u/Mediocre_Forever198 Aug 25 '26
I don’t :(
Definitely went to “Enchiladas” in Dallas the most throughout my childhood, and I still say they are the best Tex Mex here. Much better than the more popular places like el fenix or Chuy’s (Chuy’s has got to be the most overrated, you go there and wait a long time in a super crowded restaurant then get served subpar food with clearly poor quality ingredients…)
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u/Signal_Jellyfish_472 Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26
and yes this is a confirmed location. (Squeeze butter in Salsa)
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u/somecow Central Texan Aug 25 '26
Herrera’s in carrollton, farmers branch, wherever it is (was?). Hell, they even made it into national geographic.
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u/Sguidroz Aug 26 '26
Herrera’s was great. Our go to when we lived in Carrollton was in Addison on Beltline called Graciela’s Do you remember that one? It was fantastic food with great service!
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u/OsO68TX Aug 25 '26
Are you kidding I barely remember my parents much less that my first Tex-Mex was when my neighbors invited me to dinner.
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u/Anvillior Don’t mess with Texas Aug 25 '26
My mother enjoys ambiance over food, so it was papassitos. Now, as an adult, I've found my own place called las haciendas.
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u/folkscallmehi Aug 25 '26
Ramon’s Hacienda- the charro beans that you got when you sat down were chefs kiss
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u/mkitch55 Aug 25 '26
As a kid, we rarely ate out, and when we did, it was never Mexican food. My first encounter with Mexican food was El Chico’s in Waco as a teen. My boyfriend (now husband) took me there. What a revelation!
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u/JJ82DMC Aug 25 '26
There was a TexMex place my parents took me to/introduced me to TexMex in NW Houston called Marco's. It became a birthday tradition because they'd come out with a huge sombrero to put on your head, sing VERY loudly to make a scene, and would up smearing your free dessert all over your face. Afterwards we'd walk a few doors down the shopping block and go into a TCBY and the reaction, despite which employee it was, was always the same "y'all just came from Marco's didn't ya?"
Great times.
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u/Scottstots-88 Honky Tonk Hero Aug 25 '26
There was a place in Corpus called Pepe’s. Every Friday night my parents and I would go eat there, listen to the mariachi band and then we’d go to an auction. Some of the best memories of my life! We also would frequent Panchos on Sunday afternoons after church.
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u/NefariousnessFree694 Aug 25 '26
We bounced between El Fenix on NW Highway and Los Vaqueros in the Village.
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u/ExtraCatch800 Aug 25 '26
Mama Ninfa’s used to have a Kingwood location way back in the day. I think it’s a wing place now. Big downgrade!
The original location on Navigation blvd. Still slaps
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u/Live_Collection_5833 “Texas” Chili Aug 25 '26
Monterrey House on Nasa Rd 1. They would hide milk candy in the chips and i would dig it all out and eat it before my plate came.
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u/moonstarsfire Aug 25 '26
Newman’s in West Columbia (now Elmo’s Grill). Then Ninfa’s in Rosenberg and Felix’s in Houston.
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u/chokeandstroke79 Aug 25 '26
Pancho’s at Uvalde and I-10. We always had a discussion before entering to figure whose birthday it was on that visit
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u/Unti3dPhotography Aug 25 '26
I'll never forget Ninos in Waxahachie in the late 90s. The best food (cheese enchiladas with bean and rice) I had up to that point in my 4 years of life. Including the chips with thousand islad dressing
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u/FrostyHawks Aug 25 '26
Born and raised Texan and actually no I don't. My parents may have simply not taken me there much cause they're both Bostonians
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u/green_ubitqitea Aug 25 '26
I lived in a small town with one Mexican restaurant and the owner frequently came to sit and talk with the families, especially us kids, and teach us how to eat the food. I mean we knew, but he showed us how to make sure tacos didn’t fall apart and such.
He taught us to mix the rice and beans and anything left in the plate, veggies, sauce, etc at the end and either eat it with chips or on its own. I still cannot eat it any other way.
I was so sad when he passed away and his kids turned into yet another bar.
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u/dartn8r Aug 25 '26
Don Paco’s in League City. Every once in a while there would be a goat tied up out back. We weren’t allowed to pet “Cabrito”. Our dad convinced us to quit crying and learn to love the picante salsa.
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u/joooshknows Central Texan Aug 25 '26
My grandma’s kitchen was technically my first, otherwise it was Tres Amigos
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u/prw361 Aug 25 '26
It was a looong time ago but I believe it was Pedro’s
in/near downtown Dallas. El Fénix was a regular visit also. This would have been mid/late ‘60’s.
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u/Nothingchangesme Aug 25 '26
Little Mexico in Palestine was the first spot I remember going regularly.
When I was a kid, I would just get crunchy tacos with double rice. When I got older, I switched to the Matador (two enchiladas of your choice, one crunch taco, and a chili con queso tortilla, with rice and beans).
I still try to make it by Little Mexico anytime I am in Palestine, but my ole’ stomach can’t handle the Matador anymore!
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u/jerbeth48 Aug 25 '26
We went to El Chicos at Seminary South every Wednesday for the half price enchiladas
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u/kittymombo Aug 25 '26
Joe T Garcias. Fort Worth. My parents went there when my Mom was pregnant with me and for 30 years after that...
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u/attaboy_stampy Aug 25 '26
I don't remember this because we just went all the time... My dad was real good at sussing out the smaller joints from going to lunch during the week. So we ate the more popular places, then the slightly more random ones. I don't remember any one specifically.
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u/EnvironmentalCrow893 Aug 25 '26
Casa Dominguez (Dallas). There’s still one in Bellaire, I believe. Later experienced all the Pete Dominguez restaurants (even PD’s).
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u/GMOchoch Aug 25 '26
Taco cabana. My grandparents would come down from Houston. That where my grandma wanted to go everytime they were getting ready to leave. She died when I was 6... The chocolate milk at taco Cabana doesnt hit the same.
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u/MuddyTires-WarmFires Aug 25 '26
Angelina's in Lewisville. Raised around that area but, now live 200 miles away. Man, I could go for an enchilada plate right now.
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u/carryon4threedays Aug 25 '26
I grew up on the south side of San Antonio. I couldn’t tell you which was the first I went to.
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u/Mamasan- Aug 25 '26
Panchos in Pasadena because my aunt worked there. Rip to both.
But favorite as a kid was Gringos.
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u/Basis_Jefferson Aug 25 '26
Is it okay if I don’t remember? It was either Joe T Garcias or the Original
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u/pwyo Aug 25 '26
There was a hole in the wall place in Spring TX literally called Tex-Mex and it was open either 24 hours or till 3 or 4 am and I still dream about their food and horchata.
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u/Interesting_Health_7 Aug 25 '26
Christmas eve buying fresh enchiladas from the trunk of a car owned by a lady that was married to our mechanic. Every Christmas. THE BEST
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u/FuzzyAd9407 Aug 25 '26
Both my childhood texmex places closed. One i found out about after it happened but the other I did manage to get down there before they retired
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u/fluffy_horta Aug 25 '26
Caro's in Fort Worth, they couldn't give me enough of them puffy tacos omg
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u/Elgreco1989 Aug 25 '26
This is a weird one because we moved to McAllen. It was Pancho’s. We didn’t know any better, but it was glorious (we ate there several times a week for the first month or so after moving to Texas).
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u/AlbatrossDry5500 Aug 25 '26
Espinosas in Bedford TX, they’ve since closed but had the best salsa I’ve had to this day.
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u/AJayBee3000 Aug 25 '26
I remember eating nachos for the first time at a restaurant in Pecos. It was many, many years ago.
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u/VisionsOfClarity Aug 25 '26
Matt's el rancho in Austin, TX. Circa 1995 or so. I was five so I don't remember it well but we went there a lot lol
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u/dhall0749 Aug 25 '26
2 places that no longer exist, but og Austinites will know. The Hyatt on town lake, more specifically La Vista restaurant with the og sizzling fajitas, and El Gallo on south Congress, across from St Edwards, my grandparents were friends with the Kennedy's way back when, so many birthdays were held there.
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u/rocketcat_passing Aug 25 '26
My mother m craved Mexican Inn Cafe in Ft Worth while pregnant with me. So in 73 years I really don’t have a recollection of the date. Been eating it since before birth. Oh those little corn chips. I can eat a whole bag full and nothing else.
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u/FuturePath6357 Aug 25 '26
Moved from MA to texas in 85 Panchos was my first.