When Dining At Mexican Restaurants, Avoid Making This Common Menu Mistake

Mexican has ascended to the top-tier of popular cuisines in America, but for something so popular, people still make a lot of mistakes and assumptions when dining at a Mexican restaurant. While diners in the United States are lucky to have access to the amazing diversity of cooking that our immigrant culture provides for us, Mexican food has become an everyday staple in a way it wasn't even a few decades ago. Along with Chinese and Italian, it is one of the most popular cuisines in the country, and tacos are as ubiquitous on menus as burgers these days. However, after stopping to talk with Chef Aarón Sánchez, the host and executive producer of "Talking Sabor", at the Nassau Paradise Island Wine & Food Festival, he tells us many people make the mistake of not moving beyond that and fully exploring the menu at Mexican restaurants.

According to Sánchez, "I think one of the things that people make the biggest mistake [with] is they go for things that are very traditional, whether it be an enchilada, tacos." Instead he notes that Mexican restaurants have a huge variety of dishes to offer, and lots of people are missing out by not trying birria or a mole they aren't already familiar with. Sánchez does note that restaurants can't possibly offer all of Mexico to you, saying, "sometimes the pressure of Mexican restaurants is to include all 32 regions of dishes, and you can't do that." Instead he thinks it falls to the customer to be a little more adventurous with what is offered.

As Sánchez explains there are 32 different Mexican states (including the capital area of Mexico City), and Mexico also has some very different regional cuisines that go far beyond fajitas and burritos. And even your standard neighborhood Mexican restaurant that isn't specializing in a regional cuisine will usually have something like tortas, spicy pork stews, or a seafood section of the menu filled with underrated Mexican dishes like chili-coated shrimp.

When we asked Sánchez about what he thinks people should try to break away from their standard order, he suggested something you'll find at most Mexican restaurants, telling us, "I think for me, it would have to say something like a good Chile Relleno." A stuffed, battered, and fried chile, the chile relleno you'll find at most American Mexican restaurants will be made with poblano peppers and filled with cheese. Sánchez of course explains that there are regional variations made with different peppers like Anaheim, and you can also find tons of different fillings including shredded chicken or ground beef.

Sánchez does admit that one thing that may scare people off from being more adventurous ordering Mexican, especially when it comes to hot pepper dishes like chile relleno, is the heat. In that case he simply recommends talking to your server before ordering to get a comparison, saying, "if you love Italian cuisine and you've been to Calabria and you love chili, because they have Calabrian chili, is that spice level something similar to that[?]" There are so many amazing Mexican dishes out there that any server should be able to point you towards something new that you'll love.