I voted for BBQ Brisket, but I can't believe there isn't more votes for chili. That was a very close 2nd, and is extremely Texan.
Again, there simply aren't very many places that make a good chili. Heck, all I can even think of is JCI, and their chili is watery.
Are you kidding?! Man you don't realize how luck you are, I wish there was one in Houston...best BBQ in texas! Try out their super moist meant and the BBQ is awesome, little spicy with a tangy punch! Yummmm oh yea I voted Brisket but they are all kick *ss...when in doubt I go for MORE MEAT!
Rob Walsh did a six-part article in the Houston Press a number of years back on the origins of Tex-Mex, including fajitas. Link:http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/2000-09-28/cafe_3.html A few excerpts: Mama's Got a Brand-new Bag Mama Ninfa brings home fajitas By Robb Walsh Part three of a six-part series Did Mama Ninfa invent fajitas? Well, no, not exactly. In 1984 a Texas A&M animal science professor named Homero Recio was so fascinated by the fajita craze and its effect on the beef industry -- fajita meat went from 49 cents a pound in 1976 to $2.79 a pound in 1985 -- that he obtained a fellowship to trace the origins of the fajita. While the word "fajita" didn't appear in print until 1975, Recio discovered that the word was in use among butchers of the lower Rio Grande Valley in the 1940s. Fajita is the diminutive form of faja, which means "belt" or "girdle" in Spanish. Fajita refers to the diaphragm muscle of a steer, which looks something like a short belt. According to Recio, the originators of what we call fajita tacos were the Hispanic ranch hands of West Texas who were given the head, intestines and other unwanted beef cuts such as the diaphragm as part of their pay. They pounded the diaphragm, marinated it with lime juice, grilled it, then cut it up and ate the meat with salsa and condiments on flour tortillas, which became common in Texas in the 1930s. (Although the name fajita and the serving style are unique to Texas, a similar grilled diaphragm "steak" is also common in Nuevo Leon, where it is called arrachera al carbon.) The first commercial fajitas may have been sold by Sonny Falcon, the man whom the Laredo Morning Times called the Fajita King. Falcon sold grilled fajita tacos for the first time at an outdoor festival in Kyle, Texas, in 1969. He used only the thick, tender inner skirt flap meat. It was trimmed, butterflied and grilled, just as in the northern Mexican recipe for arracheras. But instead of serving the meat as a steak, as is the custom in northern Mexico, Falcon chopped it against the grain into bite-size pieces and served it on flour tortillas as "fajita tacos." A short time later, the Round-Up Restaurant, which opened in Pharr, Texas, in 1969, became the first restaurant to serve fajita meat. According to an article by John Morthland in Texas Monthly in March 1993, the concept of serving the meat on a sizzling platter with guacamole, salsa and flour tortillas was originated by the Round-Up's owner, Otilia Garza, whose restaurant is no longer in business. But the restaurant that is most closely associated with fajitas is Ninfa's. In 1973 Ninfa's began serving a fajita-meat dish called tacos al carbon, which it later trademarked as "tacos a la Ninfa." Sometime later, Ninfa's began to use the name "fajitas." The restaurant captured the spirit of the times, and Houstonians flocked to the tiny dining room. Ninfa's fajitas became a sensation that was imitated across the country. With no knowledge of the history or definition of the term, Mexican restaurants and their customers soon blurred the definition of "fajita." It now included any grilled meat served with flour tortillas and condiments. Soon chicken "fajitas" and shrimp "fajitas" (which might be translated as "chicken belts" and "shrimp skirts") began appearing on Mexican restaurant menus. The fajita craze caught on for a number of reasons: First, old-fashioned Tex-Mex had given Americans a craving for Mexican flavors, but the low-fat movement made many diners wary of lard-laden mixed plates. Grilled meats and flour tortillas were a better fit with the new diet. Second, the emphasis on fresh salsas coincided with the skyrocketing popularity of chili pepper-based ethnic cuisines. And third, fajitas seemed more authentically Mexican than Señorita Platters and the other Tex-Mex dishes that were making their way toward the bus tray of history. The fact is, of course, fajitas with spicy salsas and fresh flour tortillas didn't originate from Diana Kennedy's cookbook or interior Mexico. They came from those Hispanic West Texas ranch hands and restaurants of the Rio Grande Valley. It was more authentic, all right, but it wasn't authentic Mexican; it was authentic Tejano. "I grew up in the lower Rio Grande Valley," says Mama Ninfa. "I was just serving the same kind of good, honest food at my restaurant that we used to eat at home. Fajitas were an old family recipe." Cooking steaks or fajita meat on a backyard grill and serving the meat chopped up with condiments and flour tortillas was a typical backyard barbecue for Tejanos in the lower valley. Grilled meats are a tradition in northern Mexico as well. But the difference between Tejano cooking in the valley and northern Mexican cooking is the ingredients. Modern American beef, for example, is much more tender than the tougher range-fed beef across the border, so it lends itself better to grilling. In Mexico, cowboys had to pound and marinate the diaphragm muscle to make it tender enough to eat. Tejano butchers, on the other hand, were getting thick, tender skirt steaks from Midwestern meat packers that required no preparation at all. So in reality, it was the widespread distribution of American corn-fed beef that "invented" the fajita craze. FFB: I've never had good chili in Houston (other than in my own home), but I hear Armadillo Palace is worth a shot. If anyone in town can do it, Jim can.
But Texas food doesn't have to be what is cooked in restuarants. It can be what is cooked at homes, cookouts, and those famous chili cook-offs. I would think real Texas food should go beyond just what people can buy at restaurants.
Tough call between Brisket and Chili, but I voted Chili because half of the time I get brisket, it sucks. Though, I'd rather have good smoked Brisket than good chili. Damn, for some reason, I just got really hungry.
Yep, the BBQ is pretty good at Ruby's. And their Chili is amazing. But....if you don't like your chili REALLY spicy, stay away. Can you say Habanero?
[Peter is ordering from a fast food restaurant] Peter: Yeah, I'd like 6,000 chicken fajitas, please? Yeah, 6,000 chicken fajitas. Brian: And a supersized McBiscuit, please? I love Brisket.....but Fajitas are #1.
I know I'll get flamed for this, but I have yet to find any Tex-Mex in Houston or Austin that would compare with what Brownsville has to offer. Brownsville is where the REAL stuff is. The closest you will find to authentic Tex-Mex in H-Town or Capital City only comes in flashes. In other words, El Patio on Westheimer may have the best cheese enchiladas in town (and are the closest to the real thing), however I would not recommend anything else on the menu. Oh, and I don't care if Ninfa says she invented fajitas. Ninfa's sucks. The best fajitas you will ever have would be at Bigo's in Brownsville. They actually sell them by the kilo there. And selling by the kilo is HARDCORE!
Goode Co. is my absolute favorite bbq!! It has spoiled me because I don't think anything here in Austin compares... not ruby's or rudy's or county line...
I haven't read through this, but my favorite is probably just a good 'ole fashioned plate of BBQ Frito Pie.
