The Weekly Reekie Guide to Eating Mexican Food at Drag-and-Drive Events
Written by Matt Reekie.
Sourcing decent food during a drag-and-drive is fraught with trouble. That’s why the sketchy-looking Mexican joint with steel bars on the windows may be your best bet. I know that sounds counterintuitive, so let me explain...
It can be a hassle trying to find somewhere good to eat, even at the best of times and in the most densely populated areas. Eating poorly is almost par for the course when you’re on a road trip, let alone a drag-and-drive, where the locations are remote and time is never on your side.
For the record, this is not a place we would choose.
Now, first let’s acknowledge that some folks are perfectly okay eating hotel buffet for breakfast, track food for lunch and drive-thru for dinner every single day. Some folks can live on a diet of Jack Links, Doritos and Sprite. Some folks can down a Taco Bell burrito and not shit liquid for the next 10 hours. I’m not one of those folks. In fact, I’m jealous of those savages with their mighty constitutions.
I’m a weakling by comparison. I need decent fuel or else I don’t run right. And, as I’ve come to discover through quite a bit of trial and error, the most decent fallback option for lunch or dinner when traveling throughout America is the local family-run Mexican joint. This is based on general factors such as nutritional content, value for money, standard of cleanliness, freshness of ingredients, speed of service and likelihood of parking.
Sick Summer merch rolling out. Tell ‘em where you’re going by wearing the dang shirt!
It’s hard enough getting through a week-long drag-and-drive without having to worry what your stomach thinks about it. But unless you prioritize eating well, it isn’t going to happen because there’s too much else going on and fried food is everywhere. This is why I’ll always seek out those mom-and-pop-style Mexican spots. You know the ones. They’ve got generic names like La Cantina or El Sombrero, and for decor they’ve got brightly colored walls decorated with neon beer signs, hand-carved and painted chairs and tables, and a piñata or two hanging from the ceiling. They can be found in all parts of the country and they’re often open longer-than-average hours. They offer real food with fresh ingredients at reasonable prices. Or at least in most cases they do.
Google Reviews is the quickest and easiest way to assess your level of risk before chowing down at any restaurant, but let’s say you just happen upon one of these Mexican joints in the wild, you can usually tell from the outside whether it’s a good spot or not. There’s a certain homeliness – but not quite down-homeliness – to the authentic ones that distinguishes them as being perfectly run-of-the-mill and trustworthy.
Immediately rule out any Mexican joint that’s trying to appear fancy as that’s what’s known in the biz as a ‘fucking rip-off.’ Likewise, forget about anything “fusion” related. Any attempt to break from tradition in this instance can only end in tears. On the flipside, avoid any place that looks like a wannabe Taco Bell, and approach food trucks with appropriate caution.
Stick to your stereotypical Mexican joint serving standard fare and frozen margarita specials and you won’t go far wrong. Among the reasons are:
A) Although each one is different, all their menus feature the same basic dishes, so you pretty much know what to expect.
B) The simplicity of Mexican food means there’s not much scope for the kitchen to botch things.
C) You can usually count on your meal being served relatively quickly, which is important when you’re in a time-crunch.
D) Fajitas never fails.
As for the aforementioned sketchy-looking Mexican joint with steel bars on the windows, we ate there during Drag Week last year. I can’t remember where we were and I don’t know the name of the place because the giant sign out front had completely faded away, but Sick The Mag editor Luke Nieuwhof assured me we would be okay. We convinced Tom Bailey and Steve Morris in the Sick Seconds Camaro to pull into the same dusty parking lot.
This is the place. Fine dining on the road takes a sixth sense.
The dilapidated one-story brick building with heavy bars on the windows looked more like a biker gang’s clubhouse than a fine food establishment, but we decided to take a chance after noticing the number of customer vehicles parked outside. There was just enough to give the impression the place was popular without seeming like it was going to take forever to get served.
We figured that if this Mexican joint situated in the backwoods built on the edge of a dustbowl with zero signage to attract passing traffic could still pull a crowd at lunchtime on a weekday, the food just had to be good. We figured right. The fajitas were to die for and luckily we didn’t have to. When we walked outside, Jeff Oppenheim was just showing up - renowned drag-and-drive cuisine expert.
If you want to stay Sick, eat well, friends.
