So when you talk about Mexican Food in the state of Texas, you have to be careful about what you are going to get. There is a real variety but the most popular in Texas is really Tex-Mex. What makes Tex-Mex different, we will start with the cheese and beef. Tex-mex restaurants love Queso, a melted cheese sauce that is either served with chips as an appetizer or is used excessively to cover a burrito or enchilada. Texans love to smother everything with queso and it is nasty, way too much for me. The second item that separates Tex-Mex from other regional Mexican food is the use of beef. When you order and enchilada with chili sauce (because you do not want all that queso) it is a red sauce with ground beef crumbled up in it. This is not the same as a green chili from New Mexico or even a red chili from Arizona. Beef also shows up in the ever-popular fajitas, sliced skirt steak grilled and served on a sizzling platter with lots of sides like guacamole, lettuce, pico, and you guessed it yellow cheddar cheese.
There are many different places to get Mexican Food in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area. I am going to rank them and try to be very specific about what you will find at each. In addition, I hope to be able to tell you about the margarita options at each as that is a necessary ingredient for a great Mexican Food meal. If you are interested in the Taco Tour be sure to check out my post DFW Taco Tour (comings soon).
1. Anamia's Tex Mex
Address:
98 Trophy Club Dr, Trophy Club TX.
Phone: (817) 601-1984
Website
Number of Locations: 6
Food: 4 Stars
Service: 4 Stars
Location: 3.5 Stars
Anamia's was one of the first Mexican Food places that I visited when we moved to the DFW area. Our realtor took us there one day as we were looking for houses. With six locations around the Metroplex they serve up pretty reliable and consistent food. Their most recent location is located in our community and so we visited there recently.
I got the combination plate, which provides a great variety of items and is guaranteed to fill you up. The combination plate comae with an enchilada of your choice, I always get a cheese enchilada, a tamale, and a crunchy taco. The chili sauce is typical Tex-Mex chili with ground beef.
The combo is so big that it takes two plates. The second plate has a ground beef taco with cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. The beef is well seasoned and it was a really good crunch style taco for a combo plate. It is nice that it comes out on its own plate because the shell stays crispy and does not fall apart when you lift it up.
Anamia's has a nice selection of different margaritas on the menu. This is the Pineapple Jalapeno Margarita which was a nice combination of pineapple juice and a mild jalapeno flavor. The heat profile was on the mild side, but the Tijan coated rim of the glass elevated the flavor profile as well.
Anamia's is also known for its tableside guacamole. We got it and it was very well done with all the freshest of ingredients. The flavors are much better than the guacamole that comes out of the kitchen in most Mexican restaurants.
2. Tommy Tamale Market and Cafe
Address: 1689 W Northwest Hwy, Grapevine, TX 76051
Phone: (817) 360-6385
Number of Locations: 2
Food: 4.5 Stars
Service: 5 Stars
Location: 3 Stars
I love tamales and I think that Tommy Tamales as the number one place in DFW for tamales. With two locations the story of Tommy Tamales is uplifting. Tommy started selling tamales out of his van, after a while he was able to open up a very small storefront in Grapevine Texas and would sell at the local farmers market. In 2018 he expanded his operations and has now built two storefront locations. Tommy is the most friendly and genuine person you will ever meet, and you are likely to meet him if you go into the Grapevine location during the day or early evening hours.
The tamales here are delicious and they have a real variety from pork, chicken, black bean, cheese with jalapenos, and a selection of sweet tamales with chocolate, pumpkin, and apple flavors. If tamales are not your thing they also have items like burritos and quesadillas so there are lots of choices.
One of my favorite items is the Tamale Pie. This is served in a bowl and starts with Fritos smothered in chili and then topped with the tamale of your choice. You can choose to get your bowl with one or two tamales depending on how hungry you are.
All of the tamales are gluten and trans-fat-free. In the market place, Tommy sells a variety of salsas and big bags of restaurant-style chips. Best of all you can take tamales how with you for another day as they are sold by the half dozen in vacuum packed bags so that all you have to do is heat them up in a pan of boiling water for 20 minutes and you can have great tamales at home.
I will be adding more to this blog post as I continue to eat my way through Dallas.
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