Salsa

Do not buy the Italian rose refrigerated salsa. Gross

 

I think that's the stuff you can get at Sam's. If it is, holy hell, that **** is disgusting. It's like they chopped up some tomatoes and squeeze an equal amount of lime juice in it. Stay away.

 

It was at Walmart, so potentially. I ate 5 bites and tossed it.

 

We like Mark's a lot. I'm not a big salsa eater but my wife will go through at least 1 jar a week of Mark's medium.

 

I like to buy the fresh pico that HEB makes (in the produce area). Get the kind labeled HOT. Then I buy an ear or two of corn, a can of black beans, a jalapeno, limes and cilantro.

Roast the corn and shuck it. Combine the shucked corn, black beans (drained and rinsed), and the pico. Add lime juice, salt, pepper and cilantro to taste. I'll dice the jalapeno if there's not enough heat and add a little at a time.

Better than any salsa I've ever had... but it ain't "sauce."

 

Tried the raved about Arriba Hot and it was alright but nothing to write home about. It was definitely spicy to sit there and continuously eat, and I usually eat pretty spicy.

Also tried Hazelwood's habanero. It was gross - had a sweet taste but an oddly satisfying smokey hickory flavor to it.

All about

 

Recently tried the medium. They also had "Restaurant Style" but I don't know what that is.

It's good, very tomato-y. My wife liked that because it gives the illusion of freshness, which is nice when you're dipping chips from a bag into sauce from a jar.

Also had this recently. Red (medium) and green.

Green was ok, nothing amazing, but would have again.

Red was very good. Had a tangyish aftertaste which both the wife and I liked. Liked others have said though, it's really not spicy.

 

I can understand the fascination with Joe T Garcia's, because the location is magnificent. But that's where it ends. Probably the lamest Mexican food I've ever had at a restaurant in Texas, not counting one in Hemphill, TX I went to. That bottle you bought is probably exactly what they serve at the restaurant.

btw: does anyone else thing Rick Bayless' Frontera line has taken a noticeable drop in quality, in the past 2 years or so?

 

I like Pain Train's Perfect Hot salsa.

 

My current brand of choice is Clint's Texas Salsa Hot. Granted, I haven't tried all the store bought brands but this one is better than most. I used be a Texas Texas Salsa guy but they stopped carrying the particular one in the brand I used to get at my grocer.

 

I made the mistake of buying some HEB brand salsa that was sweet onion based.
Not a fan of sweetness in salsa.



However, this stuff is excellent.

 

Trader Joes has one called Fall Harvest, when I looked at it, I was like WTF? It has pumpkin, apples, and butternut squash in it; not typical ingredients of a salsa. Out of sheer curiosity, I grabbed one and have enjoyed it very much, surprisingly.

 

Joe T's has excellent atmosphere. Absolutely gorgeous place. But I wholeheartedly agree about the food - while I thoroughly enjoy their salsa, the rest of their food is just average at best. You go there for the drinks and beauty, definitely not the food.

I disagree about the store-bought Joe T's salsa though. We love the salsa at the restaurant where it's fresh, but it definitely taste different in the jar - Pretty sure they add some types of preservatives and it definitely changes the taste.

 

Hell on the Red use to be great but for some reason I have not bought it in a long time.