By Marcus McDaniel | Alumnus

Editor’s note: The following Lariat Letter was written in response to Tuesday’s column entitled Waco serves Tex-Mex, not true Mexican.

Yesterday, an article was published about Mexican food in Waco but then proceeded to mention a handful of places well within the Baylor bubble. I graduated from Baylor in 2006 and stayed in Waco for another 13 years until I moved to Austin in 2019. Articles like this continue to further the stereotype that Waco has nothing to offer Baylor students, when even a cursory Google search would have pulled up an incredible number of local Mexican places. An even better article would have profiled a few of the small businesses that have been around for years in Waco, serving a wide range of Mexican food from more Tex Mex-style to more authentic.

During my time in Waco, some of my favorites were El Norteño on Texas State Highway 6, El Charro Tapatio on Waco Drive & 17th Street, Las Trancas on Waco Drive & 25th Street and the chicken truck on 18th Street & Dutton Avenue. We called it “chicken truck” because we never could remember the name, but it served mostly pollos asados wrapped in foil and served with corn tortillas, rice and beans. El Norteño has these incredible puffy tacos, El Charro Tapatio has an al pastor plate and Las Trancas had some delicious tacos.

The last sentence of the article — “… hopefully we will see more genuine cantinas and taco stands establish themselves in Waco very soon” — is incredibly astounding and makes it evident that the author did not pierce the Baylor bubble and drive even the shortest distance into a city that has so much to offer Baylor students.