And Rice
I live in the southwest U.S. which makes it easy to eat a lot of Mexican food, which I like. There was a comic I watched once whose routine included playing a waiter at a Mexican restaurant dealing with somebody new to the cuisine. They’d look at the menu and ask what a taco was. Tortillas with meat, beans and cheese, he’d explain. Well, what’s a burrito they’d ask. Tortillas with meat, beans and cheese, he’d explain. So they’d ask about a tostada and get the same answer. Like most of the best jokes, it was funny in part because it was largely true.
So how is it that within five miles of where I work there’s at least six different Mexican Fast Food chains? I asked God how the market could sustain them all and she told me they’re like a microcosm of humanity itself; while they’re all pretty much the same, they’re also all different, if you really look at them. Now being something of a slut when it comes to Mexican restaurants, I’ve eaten at every chain that I know of, so I had the information with which to think it through. There’s Taco Bell, which I’ve mentioned before; Taco Bell is to Mexican what McDonald’s is to American, it’s fast, consistent, and cheap (not to mention somewhat garish). Rubio’s differentiates itself as being the fish taco place. Sharky’s angles to be the healthy Mexican place. La Salsa shoots for authenticity and I think was the first chain to offer a salsa bar, way back when. Qdoba is a grill with a sort of haute tex-mex menu. And, finally, there’s Chipotle, which is all about getting to micromanage the construction of your meal.
All in all, there’s plenty of good stuff to choose amongst, even if it is mostly variations on meat, beans, and tortillas. And, hey, at least I’m rarely confronted with a teenage sales clerk asking, “Would you like chips with that?”
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