"Mayan Cuisine"

[infrogmation]

St. Augustine, Florida, is a pleasant town with many nice attractions. I was excited to see a restaurant sign reading:

CASA MAYA
Mayan Cuisine

Ah, what tasty Maya goodness would they offer? It had been too long since I enjoyed any poc chuc, pollo pibil, sopa de lima, tamales de venado... Would it be Yucatecan or highland Guatemalan Maya food?

Alas, none of that on the menu. "Mayan smoothies" with names like "Tulum" and "Coba" were. The only things I saw on the menu which looked like what I might find somewhere in Mesoamerica were the bean soup and the huevos rancheros. The menu offered a "Chicken Mayan Wrap". The picture on the menu looked like what other places call a "California Wrap". What is it wrapped in, I asked? No, alas, the answer was not a hand made maize tortilla. Flour pita!

False advertising!

We contented ourselves with good panini and gelato up the street.

Comments

[pentomino.livejournal.com]

Everyone in Arizona knows there's only two kinds of Mexican food: California and Texas. If there's cilantro in it, it's California.

I've lived in Phoenix all my life, and there are good Mexican restaurants, and there are jillions of Mexican people, but I really have no clue how to look at a menu and figure out what's authentic. All I know is that chimichangas were invented in Tucson AZ, and the tale about how a Mexican mother accidentally dropped a burrito in the oil and let out a Spanish swear word and had to cover for both mistakes.

It's a little embarrassing, because where do I take people from out of town when they come here?

[mshollie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the so-called "Mayan" restaurant left something to be desired for me, too. The closest I've seen to Yucatecan Maya cuisine was the late, lamented Psyche Deli. Goddess, but I miss that place...


If you want good Tex-Mex, try Austin. Don't know what's authentic or what isn't, but the food's good.


I usually go to Taqueria La Mexicana up the street if I need a good carne asada taco/futbol fix.

[infrogmation.livejournal.com]

Tex-Mex is its own style, with its own history and traditions. Yep, the places Bonner took us to that had been around for generations were authentic Tex-Mex.

I havn't had a chance to have any Yucatecan food in far too long.