Mex-Mex and New Mex-Mex

Fri Sep 15 03:16:49 UTC 2006

At 10:49 PM -0400 9/14/06, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>I just returned from Texas, where I will relocate. BTW, if anyone wants an
>apartment at East 57th Street and Third Avenue in NYC, let me know.
>...
>Maybe someone can check Nexis and Factiva for these Tex-Mex spinoff terms,
>both of which seem to come from Texas restaurants.

Interesting.  There seems to be an interpretive
problem arising from the fact that "Mex Mex" is
serving as a retronym for 'Mexican',
distinguishing it from "Tex Mex", but when
combined with the "New" meaning essentially (what
used to be called) 'Nouvelle', it produces "New
Mex Mex", which then lends itself to an alternate
interpretation in which "New Mex" (as in "New
Mexico") is a constituent.  Anyway, it's all good.

LH

>...
>...
>_http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/mex_mex_and_new_mex_mex/_
>(http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/mex_mex_and_new_mex_mex/)
>...
>
>Mex-Mex and New Mex-Mex
>
>"Mex-Mex" is simply Mexican food, a term that's a spin-off of "Tex-Mex." "
>New  Mex-Mex" is New Mexican-Mexican food.
>
>The term "Mex-Mex" may have been  coined at Pico's in Houston, and the term "
>New Mex-Mex" may have been coined at  Chuy's in Austin.
>
>
>_Pico's_ (http://www.picos.net/)
>TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY
>MEXICAN CUISINE
>Pico's  Mex-Mex Restaurant, with its innovative regional Mexican menu, is
>ideal for  satisfying those Mexican food
>cravings. Enjoy fresh seafood or spinach
>  enchiladas, pollo pibil (marinated chicken snuggled in banana leaves and
>baked  to tender perfection) or camarones adobados (jumbo Gulf shrimp,
>bacon-wrapped  and basted with adobo sauce).
>Relax on the palapa-covered patio to the
>music of  strolling musicians and enjoy a Margarita from one of the best
>selections in the  city. Discover Pico's Mex-Mex
> .discover the cuisine of Mexico.
>
>_Chuy's_ (http://chuys.com/phood.html)
>There are hundreds of details  that go into running a restaurant. But food
>gets our top priority. It always  has. Before
>Elvis' image was ever spotted on a
>Chuy's tortilla, before we  created a swirl margarita, we talked about the
>food we'd serve.
>We wanted to preserve the homey feeling of the way restaurants were in the  50
>'s. That meant creating a menu that reminded us of home. Which is exactly
>where we looked to find our tasty recipes. They
>came from friends and family who
>  created them from scratch, or had them handed down from family before them.
>Some  recipes originated in the Rio Grande Valley and the Davis Mountains.
>Still  others came from New Mexico. A few recipes we tweaked. Others we left
>alone. But  every ingredient had to be fresh. The results have been tasty ever
>since. Do it  for yourself. Do it for your stomach.
>
>14 September 2006, Austin  American-Statesman, XLENT (entertainment
>magazine), pg. 7:
>Chuy's: Can you resist a room covered in hubcaps in a restaurant  teeming
>with energy (from the dozens of University of Texas students willing to  wait
>more than an hour for a table on an average evening)? If not, this spot  will
>perk up your spirit and fill you with New
>Mex-Mex, a style of Mexican food  that
>features stacked enchiladas and green chiles-a sharp contrast to the
>traditional Tex-Mex menu found most places in town. 1728 Barton Springs Road,
>474-4452.
>
>_Google  Groups: rec.food.restaurants_
>(http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.restaurants/browse_thread/thread/15159943dea520ad/2db45c01454fbd4b?lnk=st&q=
>"new+mex+mex"&rnum=22#2db45c01454fbd4b)
>From:  William Watson
>Date:   Thurs, Aug 30 1990 9:51 am
>
>Some of my favorite "mexican" restaurants in  Austin serve New Mex-Mex food.
>  All of the locations of Chuy's have blue  corn tortillas, and I believe that
>they serve sopapillas as well. Manuel's in  downtown Austin also serves New
>Mex-Mex cuisine. I suspect that New Mex-Mex is  also served elsewhere in the
>country.
>
>_Google  Groups: rec.travel_
>(http://groups.google.com/group/rec.travel/browse_thread/thread/a1566b65cac37994/68db91c8a9151824?lnk=st&q="mex+mex"&rnum=387&h
>l=en#68db91c8a9151824)
>From:  William Harriman
>Date:  Sun, Jun  19 1994 10:16 pm
>
>While in Houston put these two restaurants on you list,  both are resonably
>prioops that was "priced" , offer good value and are among  the best in they'
>re class.  Pico's (2 locations) offers fantastic Mexican  food, not the usual
>Tex Mex but food with wonderful sauces that they prefer to  call Mex Mex.  For
>barbeque in Houston the standard is Good's Barbeque - it  is excellent and
>probably without doubt the best in town.
>
>_Google  Groups: houston.eats_
>(http://groups.google.com/group/houston.eats/browse_thread/thread/bc6627763c83f8ea/9183c9207383383d?lnk=st&q="mex+mex"&rnum=3
>46&hl=en#9183c9207383383d)
>From:  TruskiDo
>Date:  Tues, Jun 4  1996 12:00 am
>
>In article <31B49ECD.5... at nettap.com>, Sudeep  Dhillon
>writes:
>>Have you tried ZuZu at Champions  and FM 1960.  Great casual food.  I was
>>amazed at the quality  of the food you get for $5-6.  Not a casual sit
>>down resturant but  more like Jason's deli where you go up and order the
>>food.  Does it  qualify for NuMex
>This debate really puzzles me.  I consider "New Mexican" to be stuff  like
>green chiles, pozole, and blue corn tortillas,
>etc. which is available at  Mesa
>(for the most part). TexMex is enchiladas, tacos, etc. ZuZu's is "New  TexMex
>" for lack of a better name-fresher, more authentic Tex-Mex sans Velveeta
>sauce. And then there's "Mex-mex" (coined by Pico's) which is more authentic
>mexican (also available at Merida).  But I gues the phrase "NuMex" is
>puzzling because I don't know if it means New Mexican or New "Tex-Mex."
>
>(Trademark)
>Word Mark FRONTERA MEX-MEX GRILL
>Translations The  English translation of "FRONTERA" is "border".
>Goods and Services IC 042. US  100 101. G & S: restaurant services, namely
>restaurants specializing in  Mexican cuisine.
>FIRST USE: 19960101. FIRST USE IN
>COMMERCE: 19960101
>Mark  Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
>Design Search Code
>Serial Number 74693342
>Filing Date June 26, 1995
>Current Filing Basis 1A
>Original Filing  Basis 1B
>Published for Opposition March 12, 1996
>Owner (APPLICANT)  Sanchez, Norberto INDIVIDUAL MEXICO 5060 North Royal
>Atlanta Road, #30 Tucker  GEORGIA 30084
>Attorney of Record James B. Middleton
>Disclaimer NO CLAIM  IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "MEX-MEX GRILL"
>APART FROM THE MARK AS  SHOWN
>Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
>Register PRINCIPAL
>Live/Dead  Indicator LIVE
>
>(Trademark)
>Word Mark MEX MEX
>Goods and Services  IC 029. US 046. G & S: Canned goods, namely, vegetables,
>mushrooms. FIRST  USE: 20041212. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20041212
>IC 030. US 046. G & S:  Canned Mexican-style food, namely, salsa casera,
>namely, chopped chile and  tomato sauce, green
>chile sauce passed through a mill,
>mole in adobo, namely,  mole in seasoning, diced nopalitos, namely, cactus
>leaves in oil and in natural  form, liquid red chile sauce, liquid green chile
>sauce, mole paste, green mole.  FIRST USE: 20041212. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE:
>20041212
>Mark Drawing Code (1)  TYPED DRAWING
>Design Search Code
>Serial Number 76315689
>Filing Date  September 21, 2001
>Current Filing Basis 1A
>Original Filing Basis 1B
>Published for Opposition October 8, 2002
>Registration Number 3087895
>Registration Date May 2, 2006
>Owner (REGISTRANT) Herdez S.A. de C.V.  CORPORATION MEXICO Corporativo Cinco
>S.A. de C.V. Monte Pelvoux No. 215, Col.  Lomas de Chapultepec Delegacion
>Miguel Hidalgo C.P. 11000 MEXICO
>Attorney of  Record Kristina M. Foudray
>Type of Mark TRADEMARK
>Register PRINCIPAL
>Live/Dead Indicator LIVE
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org