Naked Posole

I stopped by for breakfast on another occasion and was told the breakfast plates, which are listed on the menu at $3.25, were all on special for $1.99. So I got the huevos con chorizo plate, which was tasty, although I found the sausage a little gristly. The homemade flour tortillas, hand-cut fried potatoes and smooth refried beans were all spectacular. The waitress, a young hottie from Uruguay, brought me a condiment I had never seen served with a Mexican breakfast before: Heinz ketchup. I put some warm red sauce on the plate for my chorizo-and-egg tacos and some ketchup for the fried potatoes. It was a unique experience.

Houston taquerias all have their specialties. At Laredo Taqueria on Patton, it's the awesome calabacitas; at Gorditas Aguascalientes on Bissonnet, the chilaquiles rule; so far, the posole is my choice at Taqueria Mexico, but I'm still working my way through the menu. Judging by the food I saw on other people's tables, the Hispanic blue-collar clientele seems to favor tacos al carbon with hot sauce and cold beer for lunch.

So on a recent lunch visit, my dining companion and I gave the tacos a try. The lunch special gets you three double corn tortilla tacos filled to overflowing with well-charred beef -- it appeared to be fajita meat. My companion said the meat was very flavorful but incredibly tough. I challenged her to count the number of times it took her to chew a bite.

As I recall, health authorities used to say you should chew each bite of food 30 times for proper digestion. It took my lunchmate 76 toothstrokes to get through her fajita meat. I figured she was exaggerating, so I took a big bite of the taco myself. It took me 73. Good exercise for your jaw muscles, I told her. Besides, as anybody who has spent any time in Mexico can attest, tough beef is pretty typical Mexican food.

Taqueria Mexico is frequented mainly by Hispanics. I have never seen it reviewed or mentioned in any publication. But there's a famous interior Mexican restaurant a couple of blocks down Bellaire that's been written about extensively in the local and national press. Pico's Mex-Mex, whose clientele is mainly gringo, has been lauded by the Houston Chronicle, Gourmet magazine and Texas Monthly for pioneering "authentic Mexican cuisine" in Houston.

I love Pico's. It has a way with that quintessential Tex-Mex cocktail, the margarita, that barrio taquerias can't touch. But if you're looking for huevos con chorizo on a weekday morning, a bowl of posole on the weekend, or simple, honest Mexican food at bargain prices, I suggest you skip the "authentic Mexican food" at Pico's and go eat with the "authentic Mexicans" at Taqueria Mexico a few blocks down the street.