food is good

I had a favorite restaurant. Had. Teresa's Cafe in Indio California. We would drive well over an hour, often into the sweltering 110 and above heat just for lunch.

I am a Mexican food snob but this place was epic. You know the antiquated idea of a grandma slaving over cast iron, stirring food made from complete scratch, with a secret ingredient...total love and devotion for the food at hand, and the tradition and process of making it, like her grandma taught her? Yeah. It was that kind of place. Lardy beans and rich but simple flavors that were like a giant embrazo, a hug on a plate. Total comfort food.

Sadly, the recession hit and a generations old restaurant, Teresa's, shut down. I have not been satisfied since.

But I did have a good burrito this week, miles and milesfrom Teresa's. It was not Teresa's. I hope to some day fill the hole from the loss. But....the chile relleno burrito...satiated me. It as said was not Teresa's. But...it tasted...decent. good enough that I will go back.

So since my Teresa's craving is yet to be fufilled, I decided to crave the burrito since it, well, exists. But my husband wasn't in the mood for it. We went to the in-laws and my brother in law brought home some fusion food leftovers...Korean-Mexican. Ok I am actually bot a fan of Korean. Sorry folks. And I had Korean at a place in the bay area known by Koreans for their food...the kind of place where nothing is in English and you just point to order, eat, sign the check...all without language. But...my love of food (and hankering for Mexican) got me interested enough to try it.

Sheer disappointment. Not that I wanted Korean flavor but it didn't even have a Koreanflavor. And Mexican? Please folks. Taco Bell flavors are not Mexican. They are an insult. The food had that old stsle super greasy carnival food taste. Totally the food you want at 2am in college, drunker than a skunk. But that's not me. And four tons of cheddar cheese is not mexican food folks. Gimme that panrla, queso fresco, or cotija. But cheddar? No. Not Mexican. Basically it was a lump of flavorless fried cheddar with bits of bland chicken. Like an over fried Taco Bell quesadilla.

So I am still on the quest to replace Teresa's. My mom and husband need Teresa's, too. Even some oil magnates from the Middle East have bragged about Teresa's. So the world is not complete without Teresa's