Very interesting read as the season winds down.
I used to eat Mexican food at lunch in downtown San Antonio at least twice a week for about 7 years. Then a doctor told me my cholesterol was too high and I cut it out. Funny thing, I cut the Tex-Mex for lunch completely and it went down 80, seriously.
Anyway, for those of you with better genes that I, here is what I have:
Best enchiladas - Brown's on Hackberry hands down, if it is still there. Used to eat there once a week. Imagine this...a boat-like dish/plate that is filled to the brim with red enchilada sauce, so much so you cannot see the three gobs of cheese wrapped in pure corn tortilla awesomeness; and in the sauce are big chunks of meat, not ground meat, chunks of meat cut somewhere off a cow (I think). And to top it off (this I believe is what made the meal) they would heavily sprinkle the top of the boat with cheese and put it in the oven to bake. When you got the dish you could not touch it or it would burn your hand and the cheese on top was all melted and redish-brown on the edges, almost burnt. Not an onion fan, but mi compadre who dined with me at Brown's on a regular basis was and if you chose, the onions would come atop the boat in whole chunks, freshly cut. To top it off, the iced tea was served with Sonic style ice.
One thing I thought was interesting was the clientele. I concluded that Brown's, down the street from the Little Red Steakhouse, was a non-Hispanic people Mexican food place, because the only people I saw in there were non-hispanic people that reminded me of the people I grew up with at the bowling alley my grandma would take me to for her league. At Brown's there were always guys from the garage with their names on their chest and at least 10 people over 70 itching to light a cigarette.
I hope it's still there. The original owners sold it to a Hispanic family and it was still good enough I thought after the change. The strange thing was that the wife of the guy who had it when I ate there all the time was from Nebraska. She actually told me a good joke - What does the "N" on the Nebraska helmet stand for?
Knowledge
Best chips - Karam's. I think it is gone now, but I put at least 10 pounds on at this place. I would order the fajitas and just put the meat on the chips and douse with salsa. Never a productive afternoon back at work after a Karam's lunch.
Granger is right that El Mirador is very good. I heard they bring the linens out for dinner though, much different that the lunch crowd I saw regularly. More authentic, interior Mexican food. He also was partial to Rosario's, which I thought was kind of funny for this audience. Good food but let's just put it like this, you're not going to see many 6-man football fans at Rosario's.
Los Barrios is OK. Better atmosphere than food, but your car may get broken into. Same with La Fogata, great atmosphere, but food is inconsistent and very traditional interior Mexico, not Tex-Mex, and real possibility you will have a broken car window.
