Julia’s Mexican Restaurant

Food Guides

Guides to Mexican food, drinks and ordering, written from the kitchen at Julia's Mexican Restaurant in Houston. What the dishes are, what the words on a menu mean, and how to order well.

Mexican Food Guides What Is Cochinita Pibil? Spanish pig, Spanish orange, indigenous seed, Maya pit. Slow-cooked until it falls apart and served with sharp pink onion against it.
Mexican Dining Guides Why Rice and Beans Come With Everything Beans are indigenous and ancient; rice arrived with the Spanish. The real reason both land on your plate, and why the complete-protein line is shaky.
Mexican Food Guides What Is Guajillo? Long, smooth, deep red and mild. The dried mirasol that gives birria, adobo and pozole their color — and that almost no menu names.
Mexican Food Guides What Is a Quesadilla? One folded tortilla, a melting cheese, a griddle. Why the American version is so much bigger — and why Mexico City makes you ask for the…
Mexican Dining Guides Mexican Food in Houston Street vendors pushed indoors in 1901, Molina's in 1941, fajitas in 1973, and a regional scene that widens with every wave of arrivals.
Mexican Food Guides Tierra Caliente Food, Explained A hot, dry region across three Mexican states, and a cooking tradition built on dried beef, eggs and chile. Almost invisible outside Mexico.
Drink Guides Mexican Bottled Drinks, Explained A cola in returnable glass, a hard-bubbled mineral water, and a fruit soda. What the three bottled drinks are — and why the cane sugar story…
Mexican Food Guides Serrano vs Jalapeño Same flavor, different heat. Thin and pointed is the hot one; thick and blunt is the mild one — and the mildest serrano beats the hottest…
Mexican Food Guides What Is Mexican Vanilla? An orchid from Veracruz, pollinated by one bee, held as a Mexican monopoly for three centuries. Why it tastes spicier and why it costs what it…
Mexican Food Guides Cajeta vs Dulce de Leche Same method, different milk. Cajeta is goat's milk and tastes tangy; dulce de leche is cow's milk and tastes rounder. Neither one is caramel.
Mexican Food Guides What Is Nixtamalization? Cooking corn with lime is why tortillas smell like corn and why masa holds together without gluten. The process under most of the menu.
Mexican Food Guides Mexican Herbs Explained Cilantro fresh at the end, Mexican oregano dried into the base, epazote cooked into beans. Four herbs, four jobs, and no clean substitutes.