El Paso Mexican Or Other Food

[DallasJayhawk]

I'm traveling from Dallas to El Paso for a conference with husband and kids. We've never been to West Texas, so I want to feel like we "experienced life" there. I'm talking about good (gluten-free) Mexican food. Can anyone recommend some local restaurants -- fast food or sit down? I would like to know what ya'll eat there.

Thanks!

[larry mac]

Wish I could tell ya something, but I've never been there. Every time I thought about driving to El Paso, I quickly said "no thanks", it's halfway to California. Flying is the way to go.

I have been to plenty of other border towns however. And as a lifelong mexican food lover, I can say that we have some of the best tex-mex right here in the metromess. Nobody beats Dallas/Fort Worth for shear numbers of excellant tex-mex restaurants (IMO). That being said, you shouldn't have any problem finding good tex-mex in El Paso, the problem is finding gluten-free tex-mex anywhere. Wheat flour seems to be the common thickener used in most of the chili con carne sauces. That rules out the beef and/or cheese enchiladas (my fav). Also, the sour cream sauce always has wheat flour so we can't have sour cream chicken enchiladas. Of course it goes without saying the beef taco/enchilada meat may have (probably has) wheat flour in it. Then the chips and crispy tortillas are probably fried in contaminated oil. Now someone said the refried beans may have wheat.

It's really a nightmare, and yet I haven't gotten sick yet eating in a mexican restaurant. I mostly stick to nachos and margaritas. Sometimes I'll have crispy chalupas with chicken, beans, lettuce, tomatos, and the fixins, sour cream, guacamole, salsa etc.

If you want to experience "real" mexican, just pop in to any of the hundreds of taquierias in the Dallas / Fort Worth area, or the food court in a Fiesta Food Mart. They always use those little white corn tortillas for tacos (they eat soft tacos). You may find them a little on the greasy side though.

I just spent 9 days on a Tequila Tour. We went to Guadalahara, Tequila (the town), and Arandas. I never once uttered the words gluten-free. Ate at all kinds of strange places. Ate some street vender food. Never got sick. They use only corn masa to make their tortillas. You see them making the tortillas all over every morning. Never once saw a flour tortilla. What a great experience.

Anyway, sorry I couldn't be more helpful. Have a nice trip and good luck.

best regards, lm