Tex Mex Enchiladas appears as a signature dish in 1 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Tex-Mex cheese enchiladas · Austin
Austin's Tex-Mex enchiladas are corn tortillas rolled around shredded yellow cheese, blanketed in chili gravy or salsa roja, baked until the cheese pools through to the plate, served with rice and refried beans.
Tex-Mex took shape in San Antonio's chili queens of the 1880s and spread to Austin via mid-20th-century combination plates. The chili-gravy enchilada (no tomato in the sauce, just chili powder, cumin and beef stock) is a distinctly Texan creation that Mexican-Mexican kitchens never plated. Matt's El Rancho (founded 1952 in downtown Austin; moved to South Lamar in 1986) is the canonical Austin Tex-Mex room; Fonda San Miguel runs an interior-Mexican refinement of the form on North Loop; El Naranjo plates a regional Oaxacan version. The combination plate (two enchiladas, rice, refried beans, guacamole) is the Austin lunchtime baseline.
Where to eat in Austin:
- Matt's El Rancho
- Fonda San Miguel
- El Naranjo
- Pueblo Viejo (Riverside)