My wife & I were traveling to South Padre Island for our Spring vacation, & on our way through San Antonio we had arranged to meet friend’s for lunch. They had suggested Mamacita’s because it was easy access off I-10, & they knew I always seem to manage to get myself lost on the freeway system through the city, so we agreed to join them there.

This is a nicely furnished establishment, very pleasant atmosphere, & we were seated at an accommodating table upon arrival. We all ordered Top Shelf Margarita’s to start things off, & I have to say that they were very good, so good I had two! The chips & salsa was okay, not too spicy, but I like it spicy, & they also served some kinda Guacamole that tasted very odd to me, not in any way like what I have ever had before, but eatable.

Before we ordered, I was forewarned by my wife that we were about to have “Tex-Mex”, & just to be on the safe side, order something pretty basic or I might be disappointed. We are from New Mexico, & I truly love Mexican food, but up to that point I have never really had Tex-Mex before.

My wife wisely ordered tacos, & I thought to myself that they couldn’t possibly wreck Chimichunga now could they, so I took a chance that. After all, Chimichunga is basically a flour tortilla stuffed with beef or chicken, deep fried, & served with beans & rice, but I knew something was unusual when I requested the entree to be smothered in Green Chile, & the waitress looked at me like I had just spoken a foreign language to her. She said, “It’s has Ranchero Sauce, will that be okay?” I said, “Sure, I guess so?” Not having the slightest clue what Ranchero Sauce was.

The meals arrived, & the dish looked strangely unlike any Chimichunga entree I was used to encountering from home. “Oh well”, I was hungry from the long drive, so I dug in. I took one bite, my taste buds went into instantaneous severe trauma, & I about up-chucked ! “Oh my gawd, this is absolutely horrible”, I thought to myself, but I didn’t want to embarrass my friends, so I struggled through a few more bites, after all, to send the meal back might hurt their feelings. My wife immediately noticed that I wasn’t enjoying the meal because I usually clean my entire plate & end up finishing whatever is left of her meal as well. Honestly, I never have endured a meal so bland, it tasted like a shoe covered in cheese.

After we said our fair well’s to our friend & thanked them for picking up the tab, we returned to our RV, & my wife said, “I warned you, but did you listen, of course not.” And to make things worst, even with as little as I managed to consume, I ended up with indigestion for the duration of the trip to South Padre Island.

To sum it all up, I feel very lucky to live New Mexico, & to be blesses with the authentic Mexican food we have in abundance here. Needless to say, I will never order Tex-Mex ever again. I guess if you have never truly enjoyed authentic Mexican food, Tex-Mex might taste good to you? But for me, “There no place like sweet home New Mexico”...