I was wondering what is safe to order at a mexican restaurant, it is my second day and I am going out and I don't want to mess it up.
Thanks

Hey -
I get the chicken fajitas with no wraps, no rice, and no chips - I ask for extra veggies instead. Salsa is usually good too!

I'm no expert here, but I would say fajitas! I would go with the chicken fajitas, tell them not to use butter on the meat! I have worked in Mexican restaurants in the past and my bf owns one... They almost all BATHE their fajitas in this Parkay-type liquid butter. It tastes good, but that is not a good fat! Ask them to hold the rice and the cheese (the majority of traditional Tex/Mex joints use that mild shredded white cheese--turns out it's white American! Not a healthy or reduced fat option by any means!) and probably steer clear of the beans, too, as they're typically cooked with a pretty large quantity of lard. If they have black beans instead of refried, that will be your better option. I personally order 'chicken fajitas, no butter, no salt. Hold the rice, beans and cheese. Hold the tortillas. Bring the fajita skillet and the accompanying lettuce and pico de gallo. Sour cream on the side. And an order of sliced avocado." Then I make a salad out of it with the chopped avocado, pico de gallo, and a little salsa on top. I may be forgetting or omitting crucial details here, so if I'm forgetting something, I'll leave it to the more experienced chicks to step in with more suggestions!

I would avoid the beans (unless you know they are prepared without lard...which most restaurants use it), rice and any chips. Even on phase 2, I order chicken, seafood or veggie fajitas, extra pico and veggies, no tortillas, no sour cream, no cheese. they are really good and satisfying.

on phase 2, i order a skinny girl margarita with my tortilla-less fajitas.

Yup fajitas are best- I tell them light on oil and seasoning also

What I hate is when you say "no tortillas" and they bring it anyways- if I were rude I'd snap and say "I SAID NO TORTILLAS" lol. I just put it on the other side of the table and don't touch them

Some restaurants do great salads too- I ask for dressing on the side or for them to use half the amount of dressing

I'm no expert either but what about a chicken toastada? That is usually what I order and request no tortilla and extra lettuce but skip the sour cream and go light on the cheese. LOL, it usually arrives with the tortilla but since it is on the bottom, it is easy to ignore. I've also ordered the taco salad (chicken) the same way. Opinions?

Hmm, sounds good. I still prefer to go the fajita route because it's almost always exclusively white breast meat and you can control how they prepare it in the way of oil/butter/salt, etc. The stewed shredded chicken can be pretty high in sodium and is generally whole stewed white and dark meat chicken that's boiled to death, sapping out lots of vitamins and minerals from both the meat and the veggies. The process is removing breast meat for fajitas and then throwing what's left in a pot for hours to make stock for sopa de pollo and sopa de tortilla, then straining the stock and shredding the meat. I guess that process would also render out the fat though, so I guess the dark meat factor wouldn't be that detrimental.

I also like that you get more bang for your buck! For a couple of bucks more you can have more than enough left over for a doggy bag, And there are more veggies too. It's cooked quickly, cooked to order, and has more nutrition than boiled chicken, iceberg lettuce, and a smattering of tomato.

I certainly wouldn't call a chicken tostada or taco salad (minus the shell!) *bad* but I would think, IMHO, taste wise, value-wise, and SBD-wise an order of fajitas with extra salad in place of rice and beans would be better. Any other thoughts, chickies?

WOW! Thank you so much!