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Street Gourmet L.A. Confronts Blog’s Confounding ‘Best Mex’ List

Awesome!
Awesome! Photo: The Culinary Geek/Flickr

If you caught Refinery 29’s list of the “60 Best Mexican Restaurants” in L.A. back in September, our deep condolences for the precious moments of life that you’ll never get back. The list was largely a re-fried review of some of the most disappointing tortilla-slinging tourist traps in town. Today Los Angeles Mag’s Mex-pert, Bill Esparza, points out that not only demonstrated questionable to bad taste, but it was also often inaccurate. Though he’s late to the party, who doesn’t want to hear the writer who beefs with Rick Bayless beat up on Refried-ery 29’s recent calamity?

“Tex-Mex is not Mexican,” Esparza writes, taking issue with the pick of Marix, before reminding Refinery 29 that both La Cevicheria and the dish it suggests there are actually Guatemalan. Recommended classics at Cafe Habana “are neither Cuban nor Mexican,” he asserts, hitting the nail on the head when he points out, “You know there’s something wrong when Rosa Mexicano makes the list and the Oaxacan mainstay Guelaguetza is listed in ‘other notables.’”

Throwing MexiCali into an alleged group of “hawkers of pocho cuisine,” Esparza warns his readers: “You can use Refinery 29’s line-up mostly as a list of where NOT to go for authentic Mexican cuisine in L.A.” Estamaos en acuerdo.

Refinery 29’s “60 Best Mexican Restaurants” List is All Wrong [Digest]

Street Gourmet L.A. Confronts Blog’s Confounding ‘Best Mex’ List