It’s no secret that Americans love Mexican food — Gustavo ¡Ask A Mexican! Arellano’s book Taco USA celebrated that aspect of the Reconquista last year.
But not all of the United Estates is created equal, and in some areas of the country there is a shocking Mexican restaurant shortage!
There are more Mexican restaurants than Italian bistros, Chinese kitchens, chicken rotisseries, or seafood shacks in the US. We’re talking about no less than 38,000 Mexican restaurants dispersed all across the American landscape (as of 2011).
Mexican restaurants have become popular across the US and it is not always related to the presence or absence of a significant Mexican community. While less than two percent of the North Dakota population is any kind of Hispanic, a full seven percent of North Dakota restaurants greet guests with sombreros and maracas.
We don’t know about the sombreros and maracas part (do the Italian restaurants feature serenading gondoliers and live foot-powered grape-stomping winemaking demos?) but it’s interesting to see where all the states rank.
Click here to rate your state with the ABC/Univision interactive widget.