Mexican food in Atlanta sucks.

Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration.

Every Tuesday, my husband and I go out with his dad to a mediocre Mexican food place. It is a ritual. We are joined by family friends and occasionally my sister-in-law. I am sick of the place we go to. The food really isn’t that great and I’ve had everything on the menu that I can eat at least twice now. (Many dishes have loads of rice, and thus, I avoid them.)

Now, my Father-in-Law loves this place. It is quite literally on his speed dial before we are. Getting him to go anywhere else is like pulling teeth. No, that’s a lie. It’s worse- it’s like pulling fingernails.

Now, I love raunchy, cheap Mexican food. I love not being handed a spoon with my beans and only getting a stack of tortillas. I love not quite being able to identify the spices they put in the meat (and sometimes the meat itself). Some of the best Mexican food I’ve ever had came out of a hot-dog stand like cart down in Mexico from a toothless guy that I’m pretty sure was actually feeding me rat.. possibly pigeon. It cost me about a quarter American. Yum.

I suppose the problem is, the food I’m getting on Mediocre Mexican food night isn’t Mexican food. The salsa lacks flavor. The beans lack the lovely semi-sweetness that good black beans should have. The meat is a stewed mess. The tortillas make me want to weep like a niña¹, call up an abuelita from New Mexico and have her beat them with her marble rolling pin. The food is too clean cut. They don’t even serve tamales.

But, every week I go eat mediocre Mexican food.

On occasion, we can convince the group to go elsewhere: Barbeque, Greek, Pizza. But it is hard. And when we do go elsewhere my Father-in-Law has a sad and dejected look on his face for the whole night. A look rife with disappointment and sadness. And I hate that look. So, once a week, I suffer the food for the company.

Posted by Utopia at March 7, 2006 03:33 PM

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