I tried making a Rubios sauce for fish tacos one time, but the mayo in it was too weird. I went back to plain sour cream.

Chipotle is delicious and many of their items are ethically sourced or vegetarian- and vegan- friendly. Can't say that for any other tacqueria on my block.

I, like most Californians and southwesterners I guess, can only scratch my head at the Taco Bell /Chipotle discussion.

Count me as a Southerner who never eats at those establishments. In my relatively small town we have at least 4 mexican restaurants, 2-4 taquerias (can't remember which are just tiendas), and 3 tex-mex places, too. And I'm not counting Qdoba or Chipotle in those numbers.

Believe it or not, some of the best Mexican I ever had was in Troy, North Carolina. For realz.

We do have a lot of the Mexicans here.

On the plus side, I'm drinking soda from a fabulous Halloween goblet I got for 62 cents at the grocery store when I picked up my lunch sushi.

Ooo, which one? I got an awesome "vintage vampire movie" mug at an auction, but some lady offered me $20 for it (I payed $12) b/c her daughter would love it so much. I found out through research it originally cost $2 at Kroger's! But there's not one around here so I haven't checked to see if they had them this year.

I like Moe's Southwest Grill, myself.

Shrift, I can be there between 5:15 & 5:30.

Ooo, which one?

Harris Teeter. They always have those ones with the spiders on them that look kind of like they have jewels on them (but it's really just paint) and the stem and bottom of the actual glass is all painted silver. So mine is silver with spiderwebs and a spider with a red body. I've been coveting them since I was in high school.

Crap, I was all excited to go to the supermarket (for meat muffin ingredients!), but now I have to wait for FedEx to come back. They came this morning, but left because my name wasn't on the mailbox. Seriously, FedEx??

Heh. You don't find endearing the idea of JZ calling and crooning, "How's my meeeeeat muffinnnnn?" at you?

I ran this through the Endearment-o-meter and I'm afraid it's trending negative.

What distinguishes fast food with a Spanish accent from fast food chains of Mexican food?

I grew up eating a lot of both, and the best I can say is that it's like watching a white actor try to play an ethnic character. It just isn't quite right and seems to be food made from watered down stereotypes.

Given that I will occasionally eat at Del Taco or Taco Bell or the like, but I just don't really consider them mexican food. If someone says "Let's run out for Mexican food" I'd never suggest Taco Bell.

Naugles was purchased by Del Taco back in the late 80's I believe.

It was. Senor Naugles was played by the guy who played Harry Mudd and he died around the same time. There was much sadness.