Faux Mexican? Five ways to know your food may be great, but not Mexican...

An old friend who was raised in Mexico told me about the day his dad came to him after they had lived in the states for many years.  “Octavio” he said, “Tonight we are going out to dinner to a Mexican restaurant.  The food will not be Mexican, but it will be delicious.” So off Octavio went with his family years ago in the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles to get some “Mexican” food.  When he told me the story, Octavio told me his dad was 100% correct.  The food was wonderful, but it was not Mexican. Gustavo Arellano, in his excellent book “Tacos USA, How Mexican Food Conquered America” would argue with the assessment that it was not Mexican.  He celebrates all the variations of Mexican food, from mission style burritos to the famous combination plate laden with rice, beans and fried tacos as he explains in this great interview. All of this came back to me last night after a visit to Wahoo’s Tacos here in Las Vegas.  The food was indeed delicious, but Mexican? Not a chance.  A burrito with lettuce?  Cajun beans?  Seriously guys, simply serving food centered around tortillas and Modelo Negro beer doesn’t get you into the panteon of quality Mexican Restaurants now spreading around the country. With that experience close at hand, as a public service, I’d like to offer five clues you’ll see if your local taco shack is more Taco Bell than what we’ll find south of the border, down Mexico way... 1. If the beans on that combo plate you ordered are covered in triangles of yellow cheese or the grated four cheese blend you can get at your corner market, you won’t find it south of the border. I have never seen a Mexican variety of yellow cheese.  Cheese in Mexico is usually white and if it is served on beans, tends to the crumbly queso fresco type. 2. If your tacos come with any of the following, ground beef, lettuce, tomato slices, grated cheese, yellow wax paper or even turkey, you are not in Mexico. Tacos come with onions and cilantro in Mexico.  They are also made with steak and all the other parts of the cow or pig, but never have I seen a taco filled with ground beef. 3. If you can order shrimp, chicken, steak or any other type of fajitas, you won’t be finding that plate in too many taco stands or restaurants in Mexico. Sorry folks, as wonderful as fajitas can be, I’ve never seen fajitas in Mexico.  I’m sure they are served somewhere in that great country, but this is a dish popularized by the Orange County restaurant chain El Torito in the 1980’s. 4. When you ask for salsa and the spiciest option you get is Amor or Tapatio bottled sauce, you certainly are not ordering your food in Guadalajara. In Mexico, we love our chiles.  Habañeros, jalapeños, serranos and chiles de agua, we love them all, and expect to experience these tastes in our food.  Unfortunately, the American palette is not ready for this type of experience so we mostly get a tomato blend spiced up with a little bit of pepper. 5. Finally, when you walk in the door, if the first thing that greets you is a wall of mariachi hats or a chile in a beach chair, you can bet you’re gonna get a lot of that yellow cheese covered stuff. The derivative here is that if you see folks getting drunk wearing mariachi hats and dancing like loons, you are more likely in Papas-n-Beer or the old Carlos Murphy’s than an authentic Mexican restaurant. So there you have it.  My top five ways to know you are not in an authentic Mexican restaurant, at least as I’ve experienced it in my 20 years in Mexico.

Delicious Yes... Mexican? Not a chance...

The #13 at El Torito... Green Chile Pork Burrito In the middle of this political season, I've found myself looking for other things to write about.  I've become so worn down from a form of demonization of which both sides are guilty, that I rarely take the time to comment unless something specific strikes my fancy. In the meantime, here's a look at a place for you to look up next time you are in Las Vegas. Over half of my life is spent in Mexico, so I get my fair share of good Mexican food.  Often times people assume that I will try to avoid Mexican food here in the states because I get so much of it when I travel. Let me say this.  The majority of food that the average American eats in Mexican restaurants around the country is about as likely to be served in Mexico as orange chicken, a staple in US Chinese restaurants, is to be served in Chengdu Province. Mexican restaurants in the US are in reality, Mexican themed, having about as much in common with traditional Mexican food as the old Casa de Fritos in Disneyland. But that is another discussion, for my journey this weekend took me to a place located on the outskirts of old Henderson, El Torito.  No, this is not the corporate El Torito where they make the guacamole at your table. This is the hole in wall El Torito, owned and operated by locals since the mid 70's when this neck of the woods sported the Old Vegas Fort, a trailer park and a few homes. My first impression was that I was in some sort of time warp.  Nothing hip here.  If you are expecting a tapas and microbrew joint, Houston, you've got a problem. The place has vinyl booths, a bunch of formica tables, and what mainstream America knows as Mexican food.  It's almost comfort food.  Tacos with ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes and shredded cheese.  Chimichangas, fajitas, nachos, and even burgers in case the kids don't want a taco. I went for the #13 Green Chile Pork Burrito, all meat, at the urging of my server.  As I waited I tried what I was assuming was going to be the wimpy salsa.  Was I surprised.  It had just the right amount of jalapeno bite to go with my chips.  So often, restaurants avoid the chiles when making this important part of the Mexican experience.  Not here. Soon enough my plate arrived and it was classic.  The burrito was served wet, covered with extra pork and like the beans, topped off with melted cheddar cheese.  My first bite was heavenly.  Tender shredded pork, green chile salsa, wrapped in a flour tortilla.  And it was a little spicy. The rice was more chicken based, as opposed to the "normal" reddish tomato rice one might expect, and I liked it.  It was not all clumped together, was fresh, and like the beans, served hot on my plate. Overall, I give the place 4 out of 5 stars. Will I go back?  Yes I will.  Is it authentic Mexican food?  Not a chance.  Was it delicious?  Of course, and that's what you want when you go out. So next time you are in Vegas and heading out to Boulder City or Lake Mead, make sure to stop in at El Torito on Boulder Hwy in Henderson... and get the #13! You'll be glad you did.

The Heart of Las Vegas

***Update Below*** Many people have wondered what makes Las Vegas tick. Is it the gambling? The girls? The shows? Well, the easy answer is yes, it's all of that, and more. And that more is best understood as UNLV. Not the university mind you, but the basketball team. Yep... the UNLV Runnin' Rebels are really the heart and soul of Las Vegas. When all is right in the universe, the Rebs are runnin' and gunnin' and playing a swarming defense that can completely disorientate an opponent in a few short minutes. I was fortunate to get a ticket to the game last week against Louisiana Monroe. Now I know this is not what one might call a quality team, but what I saw that night impressed me. Like most teams today, the kids, or young men, are always looking for a way to get on the ESPN highlight reels and this game was no exception. Mike Moser had a couple of reverse dunks that brought the house down in the second half. But those dunks were the product of a lock down man to man defense not seen in Las Vegas since the glory days of Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony, and current coach Stacy Augmon in the late 80's and early 90's. I watched as time after time the current group of Runnin' Rebels controlled the tempo of the game, stole the ball, and kept Louisiana Monroe from even getting a shot off before the shot clock ran out. Yes, as evidenced by a 50 point blowout of Central Arkansas last night, and the recent trashings of Cal, Illinois, and North Carolina, the UNLV Runnin' Rebels are back. And that is good news for Las Vegas. The heart is beating again. Here's a nice video of Karam Mashour's dunk from the game against Bakersfield Thursday Night... Enjoy!

You've Been Surplussed

The other day I was in church when I learned a new term. During the prayer time, one of our members, a teacher here in Las Vegas, shared that she had been surplussed. Not having any idea what that meant, I turned to my wife, who generally is much smarter understanding these things and she explained that surplussed is the nice way to say we got too many teachers. But the problem in Las Vegas isn't that we have too many teachers, it's that there is no money in the system to pay them. So instead of just saying we are laying teachers off, a politically risky move, we now just surplus them. You know, categorize them as extra. Like too many ball bearings at an axle factory. The problem is, we are not talking about a commodity here. We are talking about real people. People who just a few years ago we were convinced we needed to educate the children of the Las Vegas Valley. Is that not true now, or were we wrong then? In a state woefully short on quality education in good times, imagine what havoc this will wreak on our education system now. Las Vegas regularly ranks at, or near the bottom of the pack in almost every educational marker, including per pupil spending. Yet while the truth of that sets in, our politicians seem intent on closing a budget short fall they themselves helped create, not with a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases, but solely by cutting spending. As anyone who has ever grappled with a tight budget at home knows, seldom can you make all the ends meet by just tightening the belt. There comes the time when the stay at home mom or dad must get a job, or perhaps a second job, to bring more money into the pot. There is always a point at which you cannot cut budgeted spending any more and expect to move forward. You must consider ways to raise additional revenue. If we are at a time when teachers are told the state can no longer afford to have them educating our children, and that they are little more than surplus, perhaps that time has come in Las Vegas.

Vegas Craps Out Again... Sahara Hotel to Close

[the sahara hotel, scheduled to close may 15, 2011... from the las vegas sun] I am frequently asked by friends and acquaintances how it is in Las Vegas and if things are improving. Here's a couple of items that should help with that answer. First up is an article that tells the story of our housing market. Almost 70% of all homes with mortgages in the Las Vegas Valley are under water. And then, the Sahara Hotel and Casino, a longtime anchor at the north end of the Las Vegas Strip, will be closing its doors in May.

Tossing in the Chips

I was once a part of a small church start here in Las Vegas. Many times as the offering plate was passed, locals, having won a few extra dollars the night before would frequently put part of their winnings in as the plate passed. My father-in-law, usually at the behest of his wife, was one of those guys. If he had won big during his visit, you would see a bucket of quarters passing along through the church. I was reminded of this today when I read the following story in the local Las Vegas Breeze. Las Vegas Churches Accept Gambling Chips This may come as a surprise to many of you, but there are more churches in Las Vegas than Casinos. Many of those churches are Catholic. Not surprisingly, many worshipers at these churches have taken to giving their weekly offerings not with cash or check, but with local casino chips. Since the churches are receiving chips from many different casinos, the local diocese has had to develop a procedure to collect and cash in the chips from their various parishes around the valley. The diocese collects all of the chips from the local parishes and then sends them to the Nevada Franciscan Monastery in Boulder City for sorting. Once this is done, the chips are then taken to the appropriate casinos to be cashed in. This is all done by the Chip Monks.

Carl Karcher, Founder of Carl's Jr. Dies

In 1976 I got a job at a small fast foot restaurant near my home in West Covina, California. It was called Carl's Jr. It was my first real job and I worked a grand total of about 6 hours a week for $1.75 an hour. I stayed at Carl's Jr. for five years, eventually becoming a training store manager. Yesterday, Carl Karcher, founder of the chain died of pneumonia. He was 90 years old. The Los Angeles Times ran a nice obituary today. Midway through there was mention of the company's growth and expansion. "The focus of his energies was the restaurant chain, which continued to flourish. Sales topped $100 million in 1979, when Karcher opened his first restaurant outside California, in Las Vegas." I was one of the managers who opened that store in Las Vegas June 5, 1979. That was when I met Carl. As we were talking I managed to drop a steak sandwich onto his nice clean off white Palm Beach suit. It was a mess but he was very gracious and we were both able to laugh about it. Carl's story is one of the great success stories of America. He was hard working, dedicated to his family, and a man of God. He will be missed by many. Sign the Orange County Register Guest Book