8 iconic Tex-Mex restaurants in North Texas

DALLAS — Texas is renowned for its barbecue scene. But let’s be honest, the local cuisine we likely eat the most here in Dallas-Fort Worth is Tex-Mex: Enchiladas, fajitas, rice and beans.

I mean, we literally invented the frozen margarita.

Tex-Mex is an absolute staple of the North Texas food scene. And just giving you a peek behind the curtain here, whenever we do a story about a Tex-Mex restaurant opening, closing or moving, it’s almost always among our most-read items on WFAA.com.

So now feels as good of a time as any to list some of the more iconic spots in North Texas. To be clear, this is NOT a ranking, nor is it the end-all, be-all of Tex-Mex directories.

Chances are, your favorite Tex-Mex restaurant is the one closest to your house. But these are some of the more well-known in North Texas:

No restaurant in Fort Worth has more name recognition than Joe T. Garcia’s, which opened as a sandwich and barbecue joint in 1930. Joe T.’s, as it’s colloquially known, ultimately became a go-to Tex-Mex spot for anyone visiting the Fort Worth Stockyards. The restaurant’s famed garden patio, which opened in the 1960s, might be the best place to find a celebrity in Fort Worth: Billy Bob Thornton, Harrison Ford, Matt LeBlanc and Miranda Lambert are just a few who’ve made recent stops at Joe T.’s. The enchilada dinner, nachos and margarita are among the favorites.

The history of El Fenix goes back more than a century to when founder Miguel Martinez opened the Martinez Cafe at the corner of Griffin Street and McKinney Avenue. Martinez soon expanded the cafe into a full-fledged restaurant and renamed it El Fenix. More than 100 years later, El Fenix still has locations across North Texas — and that original flagship restaurant in Downtown Dallas is still in operation.

“Mi Co’s” history in Dallas goes back to the early 1990s, when Bob McNutt, Ray Washburne, Dick Washburne and Michael “Mico” Martinez started the popular concept , opening the first Mi Cocina in the Preston Forest area. Mi Cocina has since grown to more than 20 locations, most in North Texas, but there’s also one in the Tulsa and Houston areas as well. They have all the staples of Tex-Mex on their menu, from chile con queso to brisket tacos and enchiladas. And, of course, the famous Mambo Taxi drink.

Mariano Martinez’s Hacienda and La Hacienda Ranch restaurants have been staples of the North Texas restaurant scene for decades, going back to the early 1970s. But Martinez’s claim to fame is something much colder: The frozen margarita. 

He invented it.

Back in 1971, after opening night at his first location, guests complained about the consistency of the margaritas. Some were cold, some were too melted, as Martinez tells it. He tried to figure out what went wrong and then had an epiphany thanks to another iconic Dallas brand: 7-Eleven.

“I stopped at a 7-Eleven,” Martinez told us in 2021, describing a night of dejection 50 years earlier. “I said, ‘You know, if I had a package of gum and coffee, I’d be OK. And that’s when I saw the Slurpee machine.”

“And the light bulb went off,” he told us in 2021. “And I said, ‘Aye caramba….that’s a great idea!'”

Indeed, it was.

Los Vaqueros has been in business for more than 40 years in the Stockyards but it’s most known for its decades-long run at the historic D. Hart & Sons building. But last year, the restaurant announced that it reached an agreement to sell the building with plans to move down the street to the Stockyards Event Center at 2507 Rodeo Plaza.

The new location isn’t far away, but it’s a bit smaller, occupying 8,000 square feet compared to 34,000-square-feet at the old location. But it’s still the same Los Vaqueros menu customers have come to enjoy over the decades.

When a U.S. president loved your enchiladas, you officially qualify for iconic status. The Original Mexican Eats Cafe opened in 1926 and became a favorite of Elliot Roosevelt, the son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Elliot even brought FDR along for a visit one time, and apparently, it went over well.  

In 1936, The Original added the “Roosevelt Special” to the menu in honor of the president’s favorite meal: A cheese enchilada with chili, one beef taco and one bean chalupa. 

The Original left its longtime location on Camp Bowie Boulevard back in 2023 but still operates at its location at 1400 N. Main St. in Fort Worth.

Like The Original, Pulido’s is another longtime Fort Worth Tex-Mex restaurant that closed a  location in 2023. The good news here is that the restaurant was revived in 2024 under new ownership, the Westland Restaurant Group. Pulido’s, founded by the Pulido family in 1966, remains in operation at its Pulido Street location off University Drive and Interstate 30 in west Fort Worth. They also have a location in Hurst at 1224 Precinct Line Road.

Manny’s is just good, solid Tex-Mex. With four locations, including two in Dallas, Manny’s is younger than the rest of the legends on this list. Manny Rios, a former server at Mia’s in Dallas, opened Manny’s Uptown Tex-Mex Restaurante, in 2005, according to the restaurant. The original restaurant, which was actually located in Uptown, shut down a few years ago, but the locations in Lakewood, Far North Dallas, Sachse and Heath are still going strong.

Which ones did we miss? What’s your favorite Tex-Mex restaurant? Email us at josborne@wfaa.com.