Some Things Just Aren’t Meant to Be

So I just got back from a flying visit to DC.  Among other things we had really good Mexican food (twice, but that’s a story I’ve already told over at The Whine Sisters)  And that somehow lead to a conversation about finding Tex-Mex in the city.  And at the time we smugly answered that although initially we dispaired of finding anything even remotely authentic, we wound up stumbling across a great little place on 53rd that was owned by a fellow Texan.  A divey little place it was our go to  for a greasy Tex-Mex fix.   So this weekend, we headed out, mouths watering-dreaming of queso and margaritas.  But what we found was a completely new menu.  All of it fat-free and lo carb.  Seriously, in a Mexican restaurant.

Now I’m all for eating healthy. And I’m the first to admit that I should do better.  But when I go out to eat I do not need the “Carb” police.   And especially not at a Tex-Mex restaurant where flour and corn tortillas are the staple of the menu.  So needless to say, hearts broken, we left our once wonderful hole in the wall, and desperate, headed for another place nearby that we often passed but had never tried.

Turns out for good reason.

This restaurant is located in the basement of a building in a row of three restuarants that it turns out are all hooked together.  But by the time that we realized that the Mexican restuarant was actually also a Mediterranean and Chinese restaurant, it was too late.  Really, really too late.  The food was not even remotely Mexican.  Seriously, except for the, thankfully, full carb chips, it was pretty much like eating frozen food straight from the grocery.  The salsa was tomato soup with a few peppers.  And the enchaladas were lost underneath the grated lettuce and drizzled sour cream.   While everything was edible, it was nothing even remotely like anything I’d ever eaten in either Texas or New Mexico.  And frankly I suspect nothing like anything southwestern on either side of the border.

There was also no liquor license–so the dream of a margarita vanished along with my desire for yummy greasy lick the plate Tex-Mex.

Lesson learned–no more experimenting.  We’ll just make do with the lovely interior Mexican places and save the good stuff for when we next head home.

If you know of a great place to get Tex-Mex in Manhattan–please let me know–we’re desperate!