291420 Thu Jan 02 14:24:27 -0800 2003 14 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1585514 So I live in restaurant hell. I understand that. But does anyone have any scoop on why all the terrible Mexican restaurants (which is all we have) have EXACTLY the same menu? No matter the name, El Jalisco, Monterrey, El Chapala, El Chili Rojo...it's all the same horrible stuff. 100 different choices on the menu and all of them basically the same. Sometimes I'll try a new place and maybe it has one little change up (example: watermelon aqua fresca or green salsa along side the red)...but everything else is the same old stuff...same greasy rice...same gooey white cheese-food...right down to the Speedy Gonzales lunch special. Is there some kind of franchise that these places buy into? How do they all wind up with the same menu? Is this a Southern phenomenon only? Anyone familiar with this? Thanks. Thu Jan 02 14:24:27 -0800 2003 0 danna 1 1585548 The deal may have something to do with the people who eat there. My parents, who are fond of Mexican food (it is their ethnic food of choice), order among three different items that are standard on the menu of these places. They have done this all my life, probably several times every month. They never seem to get tired of beef enchiladas, and tamales. So for a restaurant to offer more items that won't sell... As for me, I have just about graduated from "sit down" mexican restaurants. The problem is they cater much more to middle america than, for example, taco stands. So when I want to get mexican food that I can remember having eaten the next day I try the kind of places where there are actually Latin American immigrants eating, where you can get organ meats, posole, or food that you don't know what it is if you don't speak spanish. To appease my parents however it is enchiladas made with domestic cheese and beef strips brought ceremoniously on a cast iron platter. scott Thu Jan 02 16:27:26 -0800 2003 1585514 0 scott duncan 2 1585551 I certainly agree with you on the "whys" of awful Mexican. What I really want to know is the "hows" of it. How can they all be EXACTLY the same? I wonder if some food conglomerate like PYA not only supplys the (cans of) food, but also menus and prep instructions. BTW, I actually found a Mexican rest. that did not fit the mold once. I communicated strictly by virtue of college Spanish. It was pretty good. It folded immediately. Thu Jan 02 16:34:49 -0800 2003 1585548 0 danna 3 1585576 They are all serviced by a giant underground kitchen somewhere near Topeka, Kansas. Thu Jan 02 17:27:01 -0800 2003 1585551 0 dave good 4 1585599 The enchillada sauce is made in Peculiar, Missouri. Thu Jan 02 19:26:38 -0800 2003 1585576 0 Jim H. 1 1585624 Unfortunately you are right. Mexican food joints in America (not including the gourmet or very upscale places) tend to all be the exact same thing. Loads of shredded cheddar or jack cheese, shredded iceberg lettuce, cubed tomatos, goopy re-fried beans, mexi-rice with the obligatory frozen peas and carrot cubes mixed in sporadically.... and gazillions of corn and flour tortillas in various guises.... However, the good, refined, authentic preparations of real mexican food don't sell much to the average American John Q. Public who thinks Taco Bell is real mexican food. Personally, (and I live outside New York City) i have only found one or two Mexican restaurants that even moderately pique my interest. The rest are all crap and slop. Check out the cookbooks of Rick Bayless, he is an excellent source of real mexican food ideas and a wonderful chef. Oh and by the way... talking about "the same"... how about CHINESE restaurants? :) Thu Jan 02 21:04:09 -0800 2003 1585514 0 sethy 2 1585681 >>Oh and by the way... talking about "the same"... how about CHINESE restaurants? << My theory is that there is one company that prints menus for Chinese restaurants, and all the restaurants buy basically the same one. You know the one I mean, the double-wide white sheet with the "Lunch Specials" printed on the back. Fri Jan 03 08:58:15 -0800 2003 1585624 0 Guy 3 1585684 Actually, they also sell the menu with the red cover, too. It's the same company that sells those light boards that have different dishes depicted as all looking alike, ie, nasty. Fri Jan 03 09:19:55 -0800 2003 1585681 0 ironmom 4 1585753 >>It's the same company that sells those light boards that have different dishes depicted as all looking alike, ie, nasty.<< Yes, EXACTLY!! And the lightbulbs for those boards must be pretty unreliable, as several of them are always out. Fri Jan 03 13:26:47 -0800 2003 1585684 0 Guy 3 1585722 LOL Fri Jan 03 12:03:46 -0800 2003 1585681 0 sethy 1 1585639 There are standard restuarant food suppliers. A nameless restuarant I frequent has restuarant trade magazines in their magazine rack. It is shocking. People who sell things like chicken breasts with grill marks for that charbroiled look. These magazines are responsible, I suspect, for many of the food trends. I mean, here I am scarfing down pork bellies and reading this trade mag discussing the popularity in upscale restuarants of pork bellies. The link below is to a trade magazine that lists suppliers by cuisine. So THAT's why, IMO, so much restaurant food is the same. There's lots of chat about how to suck the last dollar from your customer. Here's a link to an article about flavored coffee: http://www.restaurant-marketing.net/magazine/September02/entrees_3.html I was searchng the web once during a discussion on fried fair food and found that there are standard suppliers to fairs as well which is why you can find the same stuff mostly at any fair. Link: http://www.mediabrains.com/client/FoodServic/BG1/subcategory.asp?SessionID={7E052AEB-66EF-47F0-9A4A-1CBE6CD48774}&ct_categoryID={0F728777-3BA0-4E65-8B1D-EA53BF4073A9} Thu Jan 02 21:52:42 -0800 2003 1585514 0 Stanley Stephan 2 1585680 Thanks. I'm enlightened and grossed out at the same time. BTW, on my most recent foray into a standard Mexican eatery on New year's day (nothing else open), there was a mentally challenged teenager dining w/ his Dad. At one point he announces, quite loudly, " tastes like dog food, dudn' it, Dad?" (no response) "Dudn' it? Dudn' it?" Fri Jan 03 08:39:52 -0800 2003 1585639 0 danna 1 1585658 Perhaps they all seem and taste the same because they are all owned and operated by related family members. In the restaurant world cooks, waiters, bus boys, dishwashers all have relatives -- many, many relatives. So when someone quits or just disappears these guys can have several relatives ready to apply for the vacant position. A lot of small Mexican restaurants are family run, sometimes the kids, the cousins, aunts uncles, brothers sisters need to branch out on their own. More importantly, a lot of these restaurants offer what sells and what satisfies the perceptions of the local community. It doesn't have to be good and it doesn't have to be authentic, it just has to sell enough to pay the bills, the rent, put gas in the car and food on the table at home......... Fri Jan 03 00:25:28 -0800 2003 1585514 0 Gayla 1 1585777 Hey, Danna - Next time you have to go to Northampton, drive an hour and a half north to Saxton's River, VT, for some real Mexican. I stumbled across this place a few months back and posted to the NE board (link below). I've since been back for dinner once and breakfast twice. Had the Chiles en Nogada for dinner, which was delicious, but couldn't talk my companions out of the burritos (they were excellent burritos, but still...). On my breakfast visits, I've had the Huevos Rancheros (like none I'd ever had before) and Chilequiles with scrambled eggs (a heaping pile fit for a Hungry Man, and I ate the whole thing). I've conferred Exquisite Dive status on the joint. Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/158746#853311 Fri Jan 03 15:11:04 -0800 2003 1585514 0 GG Mora 2 1585989 Thanks, GG, that was a great post. Mon Jan 06 09:46:44 -0800 2003 1585777 0 danna