Is Amarillo Known For Tex-Mex Or Authentic Mexican Food?
So one thing Amarillo is really good at is having a plethora of restaurants to choose from.
Whether it's Italian, American, or something off the wall, Amarillo has somewhere for you to go.
The one cuisine we seem to have A LOT of though is Mexican...or is it Tex-Mex?
Well, it's kind of both. The bigger question is, which one is Amarillo most known for? A user on Reddit asked the question and it really got me to thinking.
First off, we have to figure out the difference between Tex-Mex and authentic Mexican. One user had mentioned that things such as yellow cheese, cumin, a lot of vegetables, and beef would commonly make it a Tex-Mex dish. Authentic Mexican dishes tend to use white cheese, corn tortillas, pork, and chicken.
That user seems pretty on point with their assessment. So with that in mind, we can take a look at the Mexican food here in Amarillo and start to try and determine if we're a true authentic Mexican kinda city, or if it's Tex-Mex that rules the roost.
We'll start with one of the newest restaurants to hit the scene here, Chuy's. They are clearly Tex-Mex, and they don't hide it. It's right there in the title of their name, so we can score one for Tex-Mex. Add Joe Taco to the Tex-Mex list, even though they're super delicious.
Other Tex-Mex restaurants in the area include Abuelo's, El Patron, Torchy's Tacos, Fuzzy's Taco Shop and Sharky's Burrito Company.
That's a lot of Tex-Mex restaurants and we didn't even hit on all of them. So how many authentic Mexican restaurants do we have in town?
We've got some great options in Braceros, El Tapatio, El Tejevan and El Manantial if you're looking for that true experience.
At the end of the day though, I feel like we've got far more Tex-Mex joints to choose from in the city and that I feel makes us a bit more of a Tex-Mex destination than an authentic one.