Top 10 Comfort Foods, Mexican-Style

1. The Pancho Grande Platter at Los Comales: A juicy sirloin steak accompanied by a giant crispy chile relleno brimming with gooey white cheese, flavorful red rice, real refried beans, and all the housemade tortillas you can eat.

2. Campechana to Die for at Acapulco Video: A huge beer glass filled to overflowing with the freshest squid, shrimp, oysters, and octopus in a piquant sauce of tomato juice, fresh onion, avocado, cilantro, jalapeños, cucumber, Tabasco, and fish stock.

3. Spicy Lamb Stew at La Borrega del Oro.

4. The Calabacitas Plate at El Jacalito: Tender pork and green squash stewed in a flavorful broth of tomato, onions, and black pepper.

5. The Migas at Janitzio: The cheesiest around, best washed down with a fruit liquado.

6. The Shrimp à la Veracruzana at Las Palomas: They’re excellent and accompanied by the most flavorful rice in town.

7. The Gordita Plate at Mi Rey: Two huge, crisply fried corn pockets stuffed with fajitas, carne guisada, or picadillo.

8. The Monday special at Amaya’s Taco Village: Three corpulent enchiladas filled with tender chunks of stewed chicken, napped in adobo sauce, smothered in yellow cheese, and liberally sprinkled with fresh chopped onions.

9. The House Specialty at Al Pastor: Spicy marinated pork, served in nachos, tacos, quesadillas, and enchiladas.

10. Sonoran-Style Chile Verde at El Rey: A mild green chile stew loaded with lean and succulent chunks of pork, served in a crisp taco bowl or wrapped in a burrito.

This article appears in 2000.

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MM Pack is a food writer/historian and private chef who divides her time between Austin and San Francisco. A regular contributor to The Austin Chronicle and Edible Austin, she’s been published in Gastronomica, The San Francisco Chronicle, Oxford Encyclopedia of Food & Drink in America, Nation’s Restaurant News, Scribner's Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, The Dictionary of Culinary Biography, and Southern Foodways Alliance’s Cornbread Nation 1.