José R. Ralat 🌶️

East Texas Has Never Seen a Taco Joint Quite Like This Inside a wine-and-beer bar in Longview, Ki’ Mexico ETX dishes up tacos filled with New York strip steak and shrimp marinated in chipotle sauce.

Election coverage continues but hunger is forever. Take a break. Perhaps by reading this @texasmonthly.bsky.social story of a one-of-a-kind taqueria. www.texasmonthly.com/food/ki-mexi...

Thirty minutes ago as I was leaving my hotel in Amarillo and when the automatic doors opened I was greeted by the familiar aroma of my abuelo’s mountain farm: cow dung. The front desk clerk said the smell is from a ranch an hour away. I forgot how flat the Panhandle really is.

.@texasmonthly.bsky.social's best new restaurants list is out.
@paulaforbes.bsky.social nailed the finer details and overarching themes. And Restaurant of the Year! Huzzah. Go forth to read and eat, mi gente. www.texasmonthly.com/food/best-ne...

This Is the Burger Joint for Selena Fans In addition to offering the Selena Special, Country Burger keeps a collection of memorabilia in honor of the late tejano singer.

Anything for Selena, including burgers that have sustained generations & neighborhood HS kids caught skipping school. Read more by clicking on the link below. www.texasmonthly.com/food/dallas-...

Before Chips and Salsa, There Was Another Complimentary Tex-Mex Appetizer Many fondly remember the dish as a staple of growing up in Texas. There are still a few places that still serve it.

A nearly forgotten piece of Tex-Mex history revived. www.texasmonthly.com/food/what-ha...

Give this goodest boy a medal and a place on a podium.

Have We Underestimated El Paso All Along? The site of revolutionary ferment, intellectual tumult, and a radical ethic of caring, El Paso has always been a glorious mosaic.

Texas is unknowable w/o visits to El Paso. Perhaps the U.S. isn't fully understood w/o ELP. This review of El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory by @jazmineulloa.bsky.social fills it out. ELP is underestimated. www.texasmonthly.com/arts-enterta...

Omakase Isn’t Just for Japanese Food. Ask These Taqueros. Interactive, chef-driven, multicourse meals have boomed in recent years. They work just as well with tacos and Mexican food as they do with sushi.

I wouldn’t call taco omakases elevated. That word connotes that the object in question is lowly and requires cleaning up for public consumption. The taco needs no such thing. If done right, an omakase experience expresses the taco’s limber nature. www.texasmonthly.com/food/taco-om...

And the isolation compounds the impact.

Live Updates: F.A.A. Halts All Flights at El Paso Airport for 10 Days

The closure of El Paso airspace for ten days without a hint of a reason why other than the official statement is wild and crushing for the area. My beloved Far West Texas can't catch a break. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02...

Omakase Isn’t Just for Japanese Food. Ask These Taqueros. Interactive, chef-driven, multicourse meals have boomed in recent years. They work just as well with tacos and Mexican food as they do with sushi.

I’ve watched the growing popularity of taco omakases for years. They can be wonderful. They can also go too far. (I’m looking at you, Pujol.) Strap in for a couple of juicy quotes.

King Taco's original location could be designated a historic-cultural monument The Cypress Park restaurant is credited with defining LA's modern taco culture.

This would be a big deal, and I’d love to see it.

How ICE Enforcement Affects Restaurants, in Dallas and Beyond - D Magazine Hospitality means a warm welcome for all. Political extremists, and ICE, hate that idea.

Bravo, @reinhart.bsky.social! Dallas’ lone restaurant critic continues to stick the landing. Just say no to fascists. www.dmagazine.com/food-drink/2...

Your Mom Was Too Tired to Make Everything From Scratch. But Her Food Was Just as Good. Mexican Americans often have a nostalgia for the foods their matriarchs prepared. Those homey dishes have redefined comida casera.

Comida casera isn't what you think. www.texasmonthly.com/food/how-mom...

Who Is Still Crossing the Border? Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has boasted that border crossings have dropped to zero. That’s not true.

From the compa @jherrerx.bsky.social for @texasmonthly.bsky.social: "In the year since Trump has taken back the White House, border crossings have not stopped. What’s changed are the types of border crossings the Border Patrol is seeing."

What It Feels Like Getting Stopped by ICE My work for Texas Monthly demands hundreds of hours on the road each year. Being pulled over by immigration enforcement officers has felt like an inevitability for months.

I don't believe in destiny. I don't believe hard work is rewarded. We don't live in a meritocracy. But I believe in inevitability as the result of a series of variables of which one has no control. Being pulled over by ICE is example of chilling inevitability.

Thank you!

A playlist of post-rock and Grateful Dead is getting me through the day.

Why Mexican Coffee Is Becoming More Popular in Texas I took a trip to the heart of the country’s coffee-growing scene to learn more about the beans that turn into an easy-drinking brew.

It's cafecito time. May I propose you a brief part of your midafternoon break reading a @texasmonthly.bsky.social story about Mexican coffee's greatness from a coffee farmer's grandson?

By the time I realized what had happened, I was on my back. My right leg was angled behind me, and my right foot was floppy. I couldn’t feel it, except for the swelling around my ankle. The ancient, uneven volcanic-stone paving I had just slipped on was wet, full of patches of weeds and grass. Rain obscured my eyeglasses and slowly soaked my clothes.

"By the time I realized what had happened, I was on my back. My right leg was angled behind me, and my right foot was floppy. I couldn’t feel it, except for the swelling around my ankle."

Trips to Mexico are never boring. Sometimes a hospital is involved.

The 22 Best Taco Spots in Austin Specialized taquerias and modernist Mexican restaurants offer more choices than ever before.

Was it tough to compile more than ten? Whatcha got?

So much ouch.

Many of you have been asking how I shattered my ankled during a walk in Veracruz. Well, you can read the story in this week's @texasmonthly.bsky.social On the Road newsletter: link.texasmonthly.com/public/43174...

With 350 Varieties, Tamales Are as Diverse as They Are Delectable The iconic dish takes myriad forms, including a sixteen-foot giant (available across Texas) and a tamale sandwich.

It's time for tamales!

Chinese-Mexican Food Has Been Around for Centuries. A New Restaurant Is Introducing It to Texas. Birria soup dumplings and orange-chicken burritos are just some of the fusion foods you can expect at Dallas’s Dragon Casa.

Here's how Dragon Casa continues the legacy of centuries-old Chinese-Mexican food. Give it a look-see and share.

12 Types of Taquerias and How to Spot Them The vibes these restaurants cultivate, from the “South Texas diner” to the “Tex-Mex palace,” say as much about them as the food does.

Commit this handy-dandy guide to memory.

The 22 Best Taco Spots in the Rio Grande Valley Where to find the best examples of the region’s specialties, from mammoth breakfast tacos to old-school barbacoa.

Get thee to the RGV. You deserve the best.

I think about Russian sound poetry a lot.

There’s No Better Pairing for Holiday Tamales than This Cozy Mexican Drink Atole is often enjoyed hot during the holidays, but cooler variations make it a year-round treat.

"In Mexico and Central America, new mothers are given the drink, which is traditionally believed to help stimulate breast milk production. After a death, it’s often served to mourners during the nine days of praying the rosary."

There’s No Better Pairing for Holiday Tamales than This Cozy Mexican Drink Atole is often enjoyed hot during the holidays, but cooler variations make it a year-round treat.

Perfect weather.