Editor's note: Updated June 2016
Nothing unites us Texans like our love of essential Texas foods. Just like cheese curds in Wisconsin or lobster rolls in Maine, our favorites are entwined with history and locale. Here, the influences run to Southern, Mexican and Western.
What follows are foods near and dear to Texans’ hearts, if not always their cardiologists’ hearts. They won’t necessarily make sense to outsiders, but we love ’em just the way they are.
Kim Pierce is a Dallas freelance writer.
Chicken-fried steak
The roots of this crusty, fried slab o' beef are fuzzy. One school argues it developed on the early range as a way to deal with a tough piece of meat by pounding it to tenderness. Dredging in flour and pan-frying, then smothering it with cream gravy made from the drippings, was satisfying and economical. Another theory holds that it's an offshoot of schnitzel, a specialty of the Germans who settled Central Texas' Hill Country. Either way, pan-fried is considered more authentic, while modern restaurants often take a shortcut through the deep fryer.
Where to get it:
There's a very good pan-fried version at Garden Cafe, 5310 Junius St., Dallas. 214-887-8330. gardencafe.net.
For deep-fried chicken-fried steak, head to Babe's Chicken Dinner House (find locations, all in the suburbs, at babeschicken.com), or sibling Bubba's Cooks Country, 6617 Hillcrest Ave., Dallas. 214-373-6527. bubbascatering.org.
Barbecue
Painstakingly slow-smoking beef brisket or pork ribs over wood-fired heat produces the apex of a food that predates history. Do not get a Texan started on who makes the best. Texans generally apply spice rubs and perhaps a last-minute mop, but purists don't add sauce. It is probably true that the Hill Country Germans helped perfect this delicacy with their knowledge of smoking meats.
Where to get it:
Pecan Lodge is Dallas' high temple of barbecue, 2702 Main St., Dallas. 214-748-8900. pecanlodge.com.
Or head to the Slow Bone, 2234 Irving Blvd., Dallas. 214-377-7727. facebook.com/TheSlowBone.
Chili
In his book A Bowl of Red, the late Dallas newspaper columnist and chili aficionado Frank X. Tolbert immortalized the chuck-wagon cook's dried-chile-and-beef stew. Real Texas chili contains no beans. Ever. Tolbert started the famous Terlingua Chili Cookoff and, with others, elevated the dish to competitive high art. Tolbert's daughter, Kathleen Tolbert Ryan, owns the family restaurant that still makes a killer bowl of red. An important chili spinoff is Fritos Chili Pie. The old-time Frito-Lay handout recipe calls for tearing open a bag of Fritos, adding canned chili and topping with grated cheese and chopped onions.
Where to get it:
Tolbert's, 423 S. Main St., Grapevine. 817-421-4888. tolbertsrestaurant.com.
AllGood Cafe serves Fritos Chili Pie, layering Fritos, cheddar and onions over a competition chili recipe. 2934 Main St. Dallas. 214-742-5362. allgoodcafe.com.
At Stampede 66, celebrity chef Stephan Pyles makes a playful version of Fritos-style pie. 1717 McKinney Ave., Dallas. 214-550-6966. stampede66.com.
Fried okra
Cornmeal-battered sliced okra is beloved across the South. "The reality is okra's such a prolific plant," says Southern Foodways guru John T. Edge, "and you've got to do something with it." In August, when other plants wither, okra throws off pods like confetti. Frying accomplishes two things, notes Edge: "It's a way of disguising the slime (which some people hate), or it ennobles the dish." Most restaurants serve boring, commercially battered sliced rounds, but you'll find an exceptional version at Ellen's Southern Kitchen.
Where to get it:
Ellen's Southern Kitchen is the place to sample hand-battered fried okra. 1718 N. Market St., Dallas. 469-206-3339. ellenssouthernkitchen.com.
Tex-Mex cheese enchiladas
Tex-Mex is a distinctly Texas regional cuisine, solidified as a unique style nearly 100 years ago in Texas' Mexican restaurants for Anglos. Authentic cheese enchiladas may be filled with a processed cheese (similar to Velveeta) or yellow cheddar and often chopped onions. The gravy must be a traditional, meatless, ground-chile-style "chili" gravy that was, in Texas food writer Robb Walsh's words, "a cross between Anglo brown gravy and Mexican chile sauce."
Where to get them:
Try the traditional red enchiladas at Matt's Rancho Martinez, 1904 Skillman St., Dallas. 214-823-5517. mattstexmex.com. See website for additional locations.
Or get a more stylish, uptown version at Fernando's Mexican Cuisine, 4347 W. Northwest Highway, Dallas, 214-351-9010. 4514 Travis St., Travis Walk, Dallas. 214-521-8600. fernandosmexicancuisine.com.
Chile con queso
Often referred to more simply as queso, this runny yellow dip for tortilla chips is made with processed cheese. The basic, home slow-cooker recipe involves Velveeta, canned Ro-Tel brand diced tomatoes and green chiles, plus sausage, if we're feeling ambitious. Restaurants usually add green chiles or jalapeños. Chile con queso's fate was forever sealed when ballpark nachos were invented in 1973 at Arlington Stadium, the Texas Rangers' first home field.
Where to get it:
Gloria's, 600 N. Bishop Ave., Dallas. 214-942-1831. gloriasrestaurants.com. See website for additional locations.
Brisket tacos
This more contemporary essential Texas dish combines, as Walsh puts it, "Texas barbecue and Tex-Mex taco truck cooking." Take a warm corn or flour tortilla, add smoked or slow-cooked brisket and the toppings of your choice. Chopped onions and cilantro are typical, as is pico de gallo. Truth is, Texas is crazy for all soft tacos, 24/7, not just brisket tacos. Some of us even start the day with breakfast tacos. (Fried tacos — that's another topic.) Think of tacos as Texas wraps.
Where to get them:
Avila's Mexican Restaurant, 4714 Maple Ave., Dallas. 214-520-2700. avilasrestaurant.com.
The revamped, longtime chain El Fenix does a good job, too. 1601 McKinney Ave., Dallas. 214-747-1121. elfenix.com. See website for additional locations.
Pecan pie
Texas is one of four major pecan- growing states, and pecan pie is held in such esteem that it's the official state pie. Now-pricey pecans once were so cheap and abundant, writes Ellise Pierce, author of Cowgirl Chef: Texas Cooking With a French Accent, cooks would make two pies at a time.
Where to get it:
Consider the amped-up Drunken Nut, a bourbon-pecan pie with a shortbread crust, at Emporium Pies, 314 N. Bishop Ave., Dallas. 469-206-6126. emporiumpies.com.
Or for a classic version, try Sissy's Southern Kitchen and Bar, 2929 N. Henderson Ave., Dallas. 214-827-9900. sissyssouthernkitchen.com.
Tortilla soup
When Dean Fearing was executive chef at The Mansion on Turtle Creek in the 1980s, he developed an upscale take on classic tortilla soup, which has its roots deep in Mexico; it remains on the menu at the Mansion Restaurant. The celebrity chef now has his own restaurant, Fearing's, in the Ritz- Carlton, Dallas, where he still makes his signature chicken-chile-tomato-based version with crisp tortilla strips.
Where to get it:
Fearing's (or the adjacent Rattlesnake Bar), Ritz-Carlton, 2121 McKinney Ave., Dallas. 214-922-4848. fearingsrestaurant.com and ritzcarlton.com.
Dr Pepper
Texas' answer to Coca-Cola was invented in 1885 at Morrison's Old Corner Drugstore in Waco, according to the Dr Pepper Museum website. More than 100 years later, Dublin Dr Pepper, made at a bottling plant in tiny Dublin, Texas, became a modern cult classic, sweetened with cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup. That's not on the DP website. The Dr Pepper Snapple Group parent company in Plano sued (it's complicated) and, as of 2012, Dublin Dr Pepper was no more. Texans mourned, but they still drink their pepper-upper.
Where to get it:
Dublin Dr Pepper is no longer available in restaurants and stores, but you can buy special edition Dr Pepper made with cane sugar (it's the one sporting a "made with real sugar" sticker) at Central Market, 5750 E. Lovers Lane at Greenville Avenue, Dallas. 214-234-7000. centralmarket.com. See website for other locations.
Frozen margarita
Dallas restaurateur Mariano Martinez invented the frozen margarita in 1971 in a desperate attempt to bolster business. "I stopped to get a cup of coffee at a 7-Eleven, and I saw that Slurpee machine," he told The Dallas Morning News in 2011. "The entire concept hit me at one time." The original margarita machine from Martinez's restaurant, Mariano's, resides at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Where to get it:
The original Mariano's in Old Town is gone, but you can find a frozen margarita at just about any Mexican restaurant with a bar. Ojeda's Mexican Restaurant makes an exemplary one, and at a good price. 4617 Maple Ave., Dallas. 214-528-8383. ojedasdallas.com. See website for additional locations.
