Need authentic local food in cozumel

[El Graduado]

Are there any locally owned Mexican restaurants in Atlanta? I would expect to only find national chains.

I think Tex-Mex is a lot like Italian food in the US. When Italian immigrants arrived in the US, a good, inexpensive business to get into was opening a restaurant. Italian food is what they knew how to cook, but quickly adapted the recipes to both American tastes and the availability (or lack thereof) of ingredients. Nowadays, most Italian food available in the US seems strange to a visiting Italian.

Mexican immigrants did the same thing in Texas. Although Texas cuisine already included a lot of recipes that had Mexican influence (“hot tamales”, for example) the Mexican immigrants’ restaurants took things farther by tweaking old ideas and even creating new ones based on Texans’ tastes. Fajitas, crispy tacos, and later “chimichangas” come to mind. Mexican immigrants to Georgia, Alabama and Florida and every other state did the same thing. A meal in a “Mexican” restaurant in Atlanta is not Tex-Mex. It is Georgia-Mex, made to fit the local tastes. It is all good.

As far as chains only serving bad food, DandyDon, It all depends on what you grew up with. Many young folks today love Taco Bell. Look at how their pop-up hotel sold out! Personally, as a youngster I ate often at Pancho’s Mexican Buffet, sixty years ago when they served quality food. Those tiny boiled potatoes marinated in escabeche, the hot, fresh-made sopapillas and honey, the green chili stew, all were like comfort food to me back then. Later, when they started to slide and close stores, I would even stop at the one in Amarillo on the way by just for a “fix”, even though it was not nearly as good as others in the chain used to be.

Will there be a US version of Cozumel food? Maybe. Lots of restaurants in Houston serve cochinta pibil. Is the pig cooked underground? No, but these days it usually is not cooked underground in Cozumel, either. Will the recipes served in Cozumel’s restaurants change in time to accommodate American tastes? Of course. It already has. See the post on Lobster Shack, earlier. The old recipes are getting harder and harder to find still being served in Cozumel restaurants. Locals are getting accustomed to bad hamburgers, shrimp dishes (something old Cozumel never had), and many other “easy to cook” foods. Recipes requiring hours (or even days) to prepare are fading away.

 

[DandyDon]

Mexican immigrants did the same thing in Texas. Although Texas cuisine already included a lot of recipes that had Mexican influence

True, but then in the original Tejas years, they weren't immigrants. Austin's colonists from Missouri traveled further to immigrate than many of Hispanic origins. They've been here since the beginning, and they're now just Texans like me (the ancestors I've traced came from Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, etc.) - but some do cook some great TexMex dishes.

My hometown cheeseburger joint's main cook until recently travels to Mexico frequently, by bus, to visit relatives. Haven't seen her lately tho, and a personal friend has taken her spot for now. I haven't asked her tho, as I doubt she'd know.

Then there are the areas of Texas along the Rio Grande, like Del Rio, Alpine, etc. The TexMex dishes there seem a little different, more of northern Mexico perhaps?

 

[Snoweman]

Are there any locally owned Mexican restaurants in Atlanta? I would expect to only find national chains.

There's a joke about Atlanta that there's a Waffle House within walking distance from anywhere. While that's not too far from true, the number of (what appear to be locally owned) Mexican restaurants near where I live outnumber Waffle House by about ten to one.

My local favorite has a number of taco flavors, with some listed as Tripa, Cabeza, Barbacoa, and Lengua. To be honest, the most adventurous I have gotten on that front is Barbacoa. There are a lot of Hispanics filling the tables every time I visit.

But! To be honest... My favorite salsa in the Atlanta area is at either Nuevo Loredo Cantina, or at Pappsitos (definitely Tex-Mex for this one). They really spend extra time on their salsas.

 

[miserkris]

OP, also keep in mind that some Cozumel restaurateurs may hail from parts of Mexico far from the Yucatán, such as Mexico City, Guadalajara, etc., and their food may be authentically Mexican but not authentically local. It’s all good, though. My guess is your goal is not specifically to seek out Yucatecan food but rather simply to avoid the more Tex-Mex concoctions that we all know and love in the US. Am I correct? If so, easy to do, though it’s worth adding that plenty of Mexicans love that kind of food, too. There are probably some good burritos to be had, and the style may very well straddle the border. I wouldn’t turn down an otherwise awesome burrito just because it’s not native to that part of Mexico.

You nailed it, I'm sick if tex-mex here in US. anything authentic is what i want. In my travels i realised any authentic cooking is great no matter what part of the world! Thx

 

[miserkris]

Where do authentic locals eat?

Well, you might be surprised at how many head for Burger King, Dominos, or Hooters.
.

It's their way of exploring other foods lol. I'm sad America spread its junk food all over

 

[Snoweman]

I think Tex-Mex is a lot like Italian food in the US.

I've had really ****** Italian food in Italy. Chef Boyardee would have been a major improvement to the dish I had in Milan. It was gawd-awful horrible. I also had a damn craptaular pizza on Lido, outside of Venice. That one, I kind of blame on myself. I saw a delicious looking sausage pizza next to me, and I ordered the only sausage pizza I saw on the menu. Please, please, please never order a Vienna pizza on Lido. Yup..., it was Vienna sausages on the pizza (and not lumped, spiced beef). It was just about as bad as the service.

I've been to Italy four times. By no means I would consider myself and expert. But, I think my (asian) wife can cook Italian dishes better than some of what I had in Italy.

 

[El Graduado]

Dandy, I wasn’t talking about the Spanish who immigrated to Texas from New Spain in order to displace the indigenous peoples there and colonize the land for Spain. Nor was I talking about the Mexicans who moved into the Mexican province of Texas and became Texicans before the Texas Revolution. Not many of their recipes stood the test of time, and you would be hard pressed to name one. I’ll bet you could count on one hand all the restaurants that were in Texas in the 1830s. I was talking about the 19th and 20th century Mexican immigrants who started “Mexican” restaurants in Texas and laid the foundation for Tex-Mex. Now, Mexican immigrants who had restaurants in Texas and other parts of the US are returning (I know of three) and opening restaurants in Cozumel with their new, American take on “Mexican Food”.

As an aside, I recently traced my family back to Mexico in the first quarter of the 1700s. They later became Texans not by them migrating, but by the BORDER migrating. Living in the Mexican province of Chihuahua, their ranch became part of the Mexican Province of Texas when a large part of Chihuahua was sliced off and incorporated into the Mexican Provence of Texas. When Texas revolted and gained independence, they became Texans, again without moving. Then, in 1845 they became US citizens, once more without moving. None of their recipes came down through the family, unfortunately!

 

[lionfish-eater]

There is a restaurant in the Mercado that serves Lamb tacos on Sunday mornings. They start cooking it on Saturday night. The lamb is locally raised and as fresh as it gets. The location is easy to find. It is in the northernmost and westernmost corner of the Mercado. Sundays only. I order them with sunnyside up eggs and let the yolks mix with the lamb.

I strongly suggest the sopa de carne at Dias 100% on 30th. Not on the menu, but ask for it.

El pechugon potatoes are great, all due to the Schmaltz.

 

[El Graduado]

My favorite salsa in the Atlanta area is at either..., or at Pappsitos (definitely Tex-Mex for this one).

Now there is an authentic Tex Mex restaurant! It was started and still owned by the Greek-American Pappas brothers from Louisiana. I used to sell them old Mexican photos and antiques for their restaurant decoration, as well as old French/English advertising signs from Quebec for their Cajun Pappadeaux restaurants!

I wrote a guide to Spain that is still in print. I wrote it because so many Americans told me how bad they thought the food was in Spain. I dedicated half of the book to explaining where to eat and how to order because so many American tourists ate at the wrong hours when nothing good was being served, or at the wrong kind of place, or ordered the wrong items because they didn't understand what was authentic and readily available.

I think a similar restaurant guide to Cozumel is overdue.

 

[lionfish-eater]

If meat and chicken isn't your preference, go get a green drink from Mr muscle man on 20th.

Or head to the 25 hour bar and get a real green drink

Or Hemmingways: