Gen Mex
Definition: Generic Mexican. Remember that Jim Gaffigan joke about every
Mexican dish being essentially the same thing, just with a different name?
Right here.
Defining restaurant: Cactus Cantina in DC’s Cleveland Park
Iconic dish: Nachos blanketed with orange cheddar
You’ll always find: Laughing hordes of happy-hour drinkers
Salva-Mex
Definition: The classification for a great many Washington-area Mexican
restaurants: Mexican food cooked by Salvadorans. Heavier and less bright
than regional Mexican.
Defining restaurant: El Tamarindo in DC’s Adams Morgan
Iconic dish: Carne asada, slathered in butter before coming to the table in
a sizzling cast-iron dish
You’ll always find: Plantains and pupusas in addition to fajitas and
burritos
Cali-Mex
Definition: Mexican food by and for Californians. Looks like the real
thing, but you won’t find lard in anything, and no dish or sauce has too
much body—ideal for a culture that worships thin.
Defining restaurant: Surfside in DC’s Glover Park
Iconic dish: Grilled-fish tacos
You’ll always find: Surfboards on the wall
Tex-Mex
Definition: Foodies like to sneer at it, but this is an honorable cuisine,
a melding of two cultures to produce a third. If you dislike Tex-Mex, it’s
probably because you’ve only had bad Tex-Mex. There’s just not a hell of a
lot of the good stuff around here.
Defining restaurant: Austin Grill in Silver Spring, Alexandria, Springfield, and
DC’s Penn Quarter
Iconic dish: Texas chili
You’ll always find: Frozen margaritas
Regional Mexican
Definition: Just as regional Italian bumped aside red-sauce Italian a
decade ago, regional Mexican has, in the food community, replaced Tex-Mex
as the genre that defines the cuisine. Think salty cheeses, toasting of
spices for moles,and lots of herbs.
Defining restaurant: R&R Taqueria in Elkridge, Maryland
Iconic dish:
Chilaquiles
You’ll always find: Mexican women doing the cooking
Hipster Mex
Definition: See Regional Mexican, only presented as if it were a night out
at an avant-garde black-box theater.
Defining restaurants: El Chucho in DC’s Columbia Heights, Bandolero in
Georgetown
Iconic dish: Cross-cultural tacos filled with foie gras or
lobster
You’ll always find: Tattooed cooks and servers
