Tacos in Texas

I thought I knew what tacos were before I moved to Texas. It meant food from Taco Bell, my favorite Mexican restaurant or the ones you made at home from the yellow box. But, I was so wrong. It wasn't until we moved to Texas that I learned what real tacos should taste like--and it's not "yo quiero Taco Bell."

Texas takes taco making and taco eating to a whole new level. The first thing I was introduced to was breakfast tacos. Okay, wipe out the image of Sonic's or McDonald's breakfast tacos right out of your mind. They take cardboard to a whole new level. Texas breakfast tacos are almost a religious experience.

The foundation of a Texas taco starts with homemade tortillas. That's right. Homemade. Fast food restaurants here make their tortillas from scratch. How do I know that? I see them plop out of the machine and right on the grill. Just as Krispey Kreme lets you see how their donuts are made, so do many Texas fast food restaurants. But even if you can't see them making it, it's easy to tell the difference between store bought and made from scratch. Taste a Texas flour tortilla and you'll never be the same again. Soft, substantial, light and tasty, these tortillas are good enough on their own to eat with a little bit of butter and nothing else.

The breakfast tacos here are filled with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, fried potatoes, ham, refried beans, cheese, Carne Guisada or brisket. That's right. Brisket. I bet you used to think that Brisket was something just for lunch or dinner. Not so. Texas takes its barbecue quite seriously (that's for another blog lol) and it's even hit the breakfast menus.

And what's strange is that it's not strange to eat brisket for breakfast. In fact, it's might tasty and quite affordable. For under four bucks you get a couple of tacos and some caffeine and you are set for the day.Tacos are eaten from morning to night in Texas. Fillings include fish, shrimp, chicken, beef, pork, vegetarian and everything else in between.

You get so spoiled here. Store bought tortillas will never be in your shopping basket once you've eaten the real stuff. I've even gone through the drive through at one of our local Mexican fast food restaurants and ordered flour tortillas to go (they sell them by the dozen here). I then went home and made my own enchiladas using their tortillas. Oh yeah, baby. Tacos in Texas--it's an experience you have to have first hand to truly understand.