Mexican restaurant tonight...what to order??

Taco salad minus the retried beans and fried bowl or the fajitas.

I always order fajitas and tell them to keep the tortillas. I've always done that though.
I eat the meat, the grilled veggies, the rice, the toppings veggies (tomatoes, lettuce) plus the cheese. I'll take a bite or two of the beans but don't eat much of those and I don't touch the sour cream but thats because I don't like it lol.

When I lived near this awesome hole in the wall, might fall down Mexican place in CT, I got this delicious garlic shrimp dish that came with rice, tomatoes, avocado slides, fried plaintains, cucumbers, and radishes. I'd eat it all except the radishes. It's one of two things I miss about CT

Are you going to a real Mexican restaurant or to a chain Mexican style restaurant? OK, I checked your profile. I doubt there is a real Mexican restaurant in Akron. If you can get real carne asada or chicken tacos on small 5" corn tortillas they are usually about 150 to 175 calories each with 9 to 10 grams of protein. The problem with Mexican style chains is that they use lots of fat of some sort in their beans, they add sour cream, they use flour tortillas, and the food doesn't taste right. It's like American Italian food that doesn't taste anything like food in Italy. As tat2cookie suggested, the fajitas in most chains are a decent bet. That way you can pick and choose your ingredients. My Friday dinner with my grandkids usually consists of 3 carne asada tacos and a Negra Modelo and I am under 700 calories. I am careful earlier in the day knowing how much I plan to eat with the kids.

Some Mexican restaurants douse the fajita meat and veggies in a bunch of vegetable oil when they put them on the grill. I saw a cook using a clear squeeze bottle to put the oil on at my favorite Mexican restaurant and he probably used 4-6 tablespoons of oil for one order of chicken fajitas. I ask them to prepare it light on oil now.

- Try soft corn tortillas instead of soft flour tortillas
- Use salsa, hot sauce or green chile instead of sour cream and cheese.
- Black beans over refried beans
- Nothing deep-fried. My biggest problem at Mexican restaurants are the complementary chips and salsa. I don't want to give them up entirely so I pull a set number of chips onto my plate and push the remaining chips as far away from myself as possible. I then load them up with as much salsa as I can. Salsa is low in calories, so fill up on as much salsa per chip to help feel more satisfied. Once I have cleaned my plate of chips, I don't allow myself anymore chips.
- One other trick that works for me but may not work for others is to ask for everything extra hot/spicy. I like very spicy food but, I tend to eat it more slowly than milder food. And if it is really spicy, I might drink more water and add to feeling satisfied.

look at their menu ahead of time online if you can. Helps with decision making when you get there

Whatever you want. And eat 1/2. Order a box with your order and when it comes shove 1/2 in the box. That way you won't feel deprived.

my local place calls it an especial de la casa numero 10.
2 fried chimichangas (i get one steak one chicken). comes with beans, guac, shredded lettuce, and sour cream. my wife never finishes her arroz so i eat that as well.
also goes down easy with a couple of house margs (upgraded to hornitos silver).

edit: and i mean the food goes down easy with a couple margaritas, not my wife. she just needs one.

If they have a "pescado veracruzano", it's usually a grilled fish with a tomato sauce. I get it with veggies and guacamole instead of rice and beans and it's very healthy.

MrM27 wrote: »

Mexican food. Eat the rice or tortillas. Just don't eat a ton. It's one dinner. All this no tortilla, no rice stuff is just sad.

Yeah I agree. It's pretty sad when you go to restaurants and end up eating stuff you could make easily at home, lol.