Mexican restaurants that serve bland food...

[Kern Dog]

Why is it that every Mexican restaurant serves food that is so damn mild?
Okay, maybe not every one but most that I have visited.
Richardsons in Phoenix knows how to make a spicy meal.
I've tried the corporate places....El Torito, Chevy's, Garcias...I have tried independents, almost all of the time that I ask them to spice it up, they mumble some bullshit about how they can't do it.
Why? Do all of these places buy prepackaged meals from one source and just heat it up?
I love a spicy meal. I am 99% white but I have always liked the stuff.
Do you think that these places are just playing it safe to avoid turning off customers? Are they just playing to their average customers that can't handle it?
You'd think that a guy in California could get a decent Chimichanga or enchilada.
Do I need to go to Texas to get a decent meal?

[XH29N0G]

I also wish there were more restaurants with different tastes and spice levels than the corporate/americanized versions.  I have been fortunate to have a local mexican restaurant appear (but I also went to a Cameroonian one) with a wide range of spices levels, and more importantly, dishes, some if which I didn't know existed.  That brought me back, and I spent my time working through the menu. 

I how you find one.  If lucky, they can be really really good and mix flavor with spice in ways that simply work. 

I'll come clean that I also like food from places that don't have heavy heat, but the sting of pepper always does something special.

[JB400]

Considering the fact that the restaurant has to cook to everyone's taste, it's easier and cheaper just to throw a bottle of hot sauce on the table.

[John_Kunkel]

  The obvious solution, season to your taste. 

[green69rt]

Why is it that every Mexican restaurant serves food that is so damn mild?
Okay, maybe not every one but most that I have visited.
Richardsons in Phoenix knows how to make a spicy meal.
I've tried the corporate places....El Torito, Chevy's, Garcias...I have tried independents, almost all of the time that I ask them to spice it up, they mumble some bullshit about how they can't do it.
Why? Do all of these places buy prepackaged meals from one source and just heat it up?
I love a spicy meal. I am 99% white but I have always liked the stuff.
Do you think that these places are just playing it safe to avoid turning off customers? Are they just playing to their average customers that can't handle it?
You'd think that a guy in California could get a decent Chimichanga or enchilada.
Do I need to go to Texas to get a decent meal?

Just checked your location because "location matters".  Being in central or northern Calif may have something to do with it.  I've roamed the US over the years and had a lot of what people call Mexican (called TexMex around here).  Worst I ever had was Florida( I guess catering to the older retirement crowd.)   Next worst was Idaho Falls Idaho.   Who would order that in Idaho??   TexMex in Texas and New Mexico is usually pretty good but also pretty mild or what I would call half-hot. You either have to spice it up, yourself, or go to a real Mexican place and order real Mexican.   I tend to like spicier food also, lived in Louisiana for years and learned to pile on the cayenne pepper. Ever have coleslaw with cayenne?  Yum.  Guess you'll just have to visit Texas if you want a little fire!

[greycharger]

When I lived in Denver, I would drive my Charger around drinking beer for something to do. I would get lost for short times, but it didn't matter. One night, I stopped at a large Victorian home turned into a Mexican food restaurant.

I had never heard of a Quesadilla, so I said, give me one of those. It was so good I wanted more before I had finished the first one, and ordered a second. Along with the ingredients, it was preparation that added to the flavors.

I thought I knew where the house was, and the next time I took my girlfriend out to dinner I looked for it, but I never did find it again.  

I have had quesadillas since then, but I have never found anything similar. The tortillas won't have the same crunch, or the meat and sauce will disappoint. I can't find the same eating experience, but I have never found an authentic restaurant either.

Not to hijack, but this made me think about the first Gyro I ever had. It was in a small prairie town with a College. A Greek immigrant opened a store and had a spit cooker to sear his old world recipe. The spit browns the spiced meat loaf kind of like the heals of a roast, and it was incredible. This dish is also something I have eaten many times since, but no one has ever captured the flavor experience of that guy's product.

It must be they are close to their roots. Corporate will read comment cards and despice if that's what people are saying. They can't cook to suit everyone as they would have to pay a decent wage to get that kind of help. I knew a restaurant owner who made his food strictly vegetarian, divided it according to demand, then added meat to the dish for everybody else. We don't get attention like that from a corporation

[XH29N0G]

I'll say the worst salsa I had was bought from a grocery store in northern germany.

[BrianShaughnessy]

I have my favorite southwest place in town that serves killer chilli,  wings and burritos.   Some of the wing flavors are hotter than I prefer.    I'm not a fan of hot & spicy.   It's not flavorful to me.
I used to go to 'wingfest' and see people eating these impossibly hot wings with their foreheads covered in sweat and faces turning purple.   Didn't interest me at all. I'm just a meat and potatoes guy.

I've had the best steak burritos in town...  I went last night    

[Kern Dog]

The presentation of it looks nice!

[4cruzin]

Yeah We have 4 or 5 Mexican places near me here in Michigan and I won't go to any of them . . terrible.  I also like a little spice in my food to liven it up . . but the problem as stated is they try to appeal to the majority which is not spicy but . . . the hot sauce they put on the table isn't spicy either IMO.  Problem I see . .  and not to fault them . . but they are all about the Benjamin and not the quality.   

[odcics2]

Best Mexican food I ever ate was in Toluca, Mexico.
I worked there in 2007 as part of the
Dodge Journey launch team.

Wasn't spicy at all. Now, "Tex-Mex" is spicy.

Personally, I like to taste food.
Too much spice doesn't allow that. 

[Kern Dog]

I can see that.
Food that is hot just for the sake of being hot does not interest me. It needs to have flavor.
I posted this topic on a few other sites and have learned an interesting fact: Genuine Mexican food isn't as spicy as I expected. I stupidly assumed that it was hot because I have worked with many Mexican guys that liked to eat the hot peppers with their lunch.

[b5blue]

You are getting meals out of the Sysco trucks. https://www.sysco.com/  Even many mom/pop restaurants use them, bland middle of the road institutional products. Ever see the gallon cans of gravy, corn, beans? 

[Kern Dog]

Wow...That would explain it. Standard, generic food products from a factory to the dinner plate with no creative input from the restaurant ?? 

[gtx6970]

Well, I live in Tucson AZ. and have experienced this bland food thing more than once.

Simple rule, dont eat there again. Keep looking and trying new places .

I will say the best carne asada burrito Ive had so far since moving here has been off one of the local food trucks

[Ponch ®]

You need to try the hole in the wall places or trucks.

The corporate places and even the gringo friendly "taco Tuesday and margarita" independent joints aren't it. If they use sour cream and shredded cheese on their food, it's no good.

[Kern Dog]

But I like shredded cheese.

[b5blue]

Sorry but pre shredded cheese has wood fiber added to stabilize the shred.   

[Kern Dog]

?

[XH29N0G]

But fiber is good for you.  Isn't wood fiber also in whole wheat bread?  At least that's what my dad told me when I was a kid.

[b5blue]

Husk from the shell of grain, kinda like the shell of a nut. My son would get tummy aches from lactose in products so I had to read all labels. I found "whey" in Vienna Sausage and some hot dogs. (As in "Curds and whey.") There is stuff in our food where you never expect it. (Not that it's bad, just odd.) 

[green69rt]

Just checked a loaf of whole wheat bread.  Cellulose is one ingredient.  So cellulose from where?  When I was in college (decades ago)  it was a big deal to read the ingredients list on prepared foods.  So reading the label of Cool Whip, back then.  There was NO food in it, all whipped up chemicals!  Ethylene glycol (edit: propylene glycol) was one.   Anti-freeze!  I have learned since then that PEG is used in lots of foods.

Little off the original post but fun.  I still like TexMex and there are some good places in Houston.

[John_Kunkel]

Just checked a loaf of whole wheat bread.  Cellulose is one ingredient.  So cellulose from where?  

"Cellulose is an insoluble, non-digestible, food ingredient. It is a glucose polymer with varying chain length and is derived from cell walls of plants and some algae. Cellulose is the most abundant organic compound on earth.

•Cellulose is commonly used in foods and bakery formulations as a source of dietary fiber or to improve their texture.

•It is also used as a bulking agent in low-calorie and gluten-free baked products."

[b5blue]

sawdust yummy

[green69rt]

Just checked a loaf of whole wheat bread.  Cellulose is one ingredient.  So cellulose from where?  

"Cellulose is an insoluble, non-digestible, food ingredient. It is a glucose polymer with varying chain length and is derived from cell walls of plants and some algae. Cellulose is the most abundant organic compound on earth.  ( sounds like straw to me. )

•Cellulose is commonly used in foods and bakery formulations as a source of dietary fiber or to improve their texture.

•It is also used as a bulking agent in low-calorie and gluten-free baked products."

[greycharger]

Decades ago, somebody made a steak from tree cellulose. mmmm-boy.

Since we are talking odd additives, I like Whey. It's a cleaner source of protein. I used in in mass quantities when I was powerlifting and had to eat 8,000 calories a day to maintain weight. Now I fatten on air. Soy beans are okay, after your body gets used to them, but whey is a better.

If you know someone who is not eating enough or lost interest, I recommend Smoothies made with Whey. A lot of people use Ensure to supplement a diet, but it gets its protein from soy, which to me, has a ill taste and causes farts. In the days of Stay Hungry, soy was all we knew. The gym stunk.

Ice cream, whole milk, egg whites, fruit (canned or fresh), whey (about 50% protein by weight), a dollop of good oil, and a big dollop of honey. It tastes good and has a lot of nutrition; it's easy to eat which means you might eat more, and whey is more gentle on your guts. A shot of Baileys in it is good sometimes.