This list is a transcription of notes I took about Mexican restaurants in Oklahoma City in 1983.  The full list includes restaurants I copied from the telephone directory (and which were listed as “Mexican restaurants” in the yellow pages).  Star ratings are for the ones I visited.

Oklahoma City had a much greater percentage of one-star and two-star restaurants than other cities included in this series of historical posts.  In this respect I think Oklahoma City was actually representative of most cities in the United States at the time.  It had more Mexican restaurants than most cities, but to me the quality seemed much lower than in Texas and New Mexico cities.

Some of the one-star restaurants had pure Anglo style food that did not even rise to the level of the Tex-Mex served at the majority of restaurants.  There is term which is now used called “Okie-Mex,” and I think this also would describe most of the Mexican food in 1983.  I did find some restaurants on the south side (Capitol Hill) that served more authentic Mexican food, either exclusively or in addition to the Tex-Mex menu.  I remember Las Rositas as having some dishes I had found in El Paso at some of the better restaurants there.

I remember A&T Garcia’s as being the best Mexican restaurant in town, and this seemed to be a combination of California and New Mexico style Mexican food (with red and green chile used in place of the brown gravy-like “chili” used in Tex-Mex restaurants).  Mostly, though, I thought they just had better quality food.

The difference between 1983 and today for Mexican food in Oklahoma City is striking, and I would say authentic styles of food are prevalent in the central and south areas of the city.  A large number of restaurants serve Aguascalientes (Calvillo) style food, although many also offer American style dishes on the menu.  You are probably more likely to find truly authentic food if you go to a take-out restaurant, taco truck, etc. than in a sit-down restaurant where they serve you at the table.

In the lists I made for Austin and Albuquerque, I could see how the regional Mexican styles which had developed in the area (Tex-Mex and New Mexican cuisine, respectively) had seemed to make the population more accepting of authentic Mexican food which came along later.  Oklahoma City did not have its own regional style of Mexican food, but early restaurants such as El Charrito made Tex-Mex the preferred style here.

The more authentic Mexican food served in a number of restaurants now may be largely due to an influx of immigrants from Mexico, but a large number of long time residents have become fans of this food as well.  In these and other ways I think Oklahoma City is very representative of a number of U.S. cities.

My goal for this article is not only to provide nostalgia but also to allow trends to be observed about how Mexican food has changed in the U.S. over a relatively short period of time.

RATING RESTAURANT ADDRESS PRICES COMMENTS DOWNTOWN A&T Garcia’s 409 W. Reno Exp Chicano’s 1203 W. Main Chuy’s 401 W. Sheridan Delgado’s 1135 N. Hudson La Roca 412 S. Walker Very Exp Too expensive Que-Pasa 100 W. Main Yolanda’s 1021 N. Western Exp Fairly authentic NORTHWEST Casa Bonita 3601 NW 39 Chi-Chi’s 4239 NW Hwy Exp Don Serapio’s 11109 N. May Exp El Chico 2226 N. Bdwy El Chico 2909 Paseo Exp El Chico Villa Prom El Chico 6014 N. May Exp El Fenix Quail Spgs Mall Very Exp El Zocalo 4600 W. Reno JC Garcia’s 3000 W. Britton Rd. Exp Las Chalupas 825 NW 23rd Mod Last Cafe of San Jose 2625 W. Britton Rd. Exp Too expensive Monterey House 4533 NW 39th Mod Nino’s 6509 NW Hwy Exp Papagayo’s 12100 N. May Taco Palace 4200 NW 39th Mod CAPITOL HILL Chi-Chi’s 1024 SW 74th El Chico Esplanade Shopping Center El Rancho Sanchez 5804 S. Western El Chalan 3325 S. Robinson Mod La Roca 948 SW 36th La Roca 333 SE 29th Mod  Changed to Mino’s Las Rositas 2608 S. May Mod Los Tacos 1311 SW 44th Los Trillo 2608 S. Robinson Mi Tierra Cafe 1412 S. Walker Mod Open weekends only Monterey House 705 SW 59th Ninos 7220 S. Walker Exp Ninos 5425 S. Penn Pablo’s 1408 SE 15th Exp Too expensive Pancho’s 5733 S. Western Pizarro’s 2908 SW 59th  Out of business Tacoville 3502 Newcastle Rd. MIDWEST CITY & DEL CITY Casa de Zamudio 6308 E. Reno Chi-Chi’s 6100 Tinker Diagonal Del Taco 4320 SE 15th El Chico Heritage Park Mall Hacienda Hernandez 4733 SE 29th Hernandos 11211 NE 23rd Pancho’s 1224 S. Air Depot EDMOND Acapulco 400 S. Bryant Mod Pepe’s 1701 S. Broadway Mod MOORE La Roca 111 S. Broadway Moore’s Little Mexico 1743 N. Broadway NORMAN Border Crossing 606 W. Main El Palacio 120 E. Main Mod Johnny’s Mex Food 1118 N. Berry Taco Fiesta 2110 W. Lindsey Zamudios 428 W. Robinson YUKON Poquito de Mexico 422 W. Main Mod Enchiladas excellent. Tacos & hot sauce are lousy TUTTLE Cisco’s Tacos 813 Main AREA WIDE Taco Bell 13 locations Taco Bueno 12 locations Taco Mayo 5 locations Taco Tico 5 locations

	Very Good.
	Good.
	Fair.
	Poor.