“Tex-Mex — that’s one thing that I really really miss when I’m in New York. The thought of having to pay for chips and salsa is a crazy thing. You should just sit down, there should be a bottomless thing of chips and really good salsa and then your meal starts. This whole thing about sitting down and ordering chips and salsa and paying $5.00 for it is insane.”
—Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent)
If and when I leave Texas, this will be thing I miss the most. Not the brisket, no, but a plate of enchiladas, rice and beans, chips and salsa, and a cold Mexican beer. Done, as my former native co-workers would say, “Correct.” Served, with a towel or an oven mitt, and shout of, “Hot plate!”
There’s a reason ZZ Top used a Tex-Mex spread for the gatefold of their classic, Tres Hombres. (To quote Pusha T, “If you know, you know.”)
This might be the greatest album artwork of all-time. (The food came from a long-shuttered Houston restaurant called Leo’s. The back cover reads, “In the fine Texas tradition.”) In 2016, chef Tom Micklethwait recreated the meal, and ate it:
“Have mercy!”