Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
Due to a mix of geographic isolation and Hispanic heritage, the food is a redolent, sumptuous mix of north Mexican cooking and Southern home cooking, giving area dishes a very rich, heavy and spicy character. Sometimes the menus are in Spanish.
Tex-Mex, Mexican, and Southern cooking are what this region does best. In general, steer away from East Asian; stick with items like country-fried steaks, barbecue, and Mexican dishes like burritos, asado (a tangy dish, often pork, cooked in oil and ground-up chiles), chiles rellenos (raw green chiles that are stuffed with meat, cheeses, and spices and then baked; can be hot or mild), and barbacoa (slow-cooked beef seasoned with tangy marinade). (Note that some barbacoa is actually from the head of the cow [called barbacoa de cabeza].)
