Really, people are serious - and opinionated! - about their queso.
Growing up here in the Southeast - or at least, in Atlanta - I am used to the gooey, hot, delicious - and white! - goodness that I've always known as queso dip.
Something like this (but minus the japs for me) -
This is how I always assumed queso was at every Mexican restaurant, everywhere. Apparently, it isn't. As has been explained to me at The Restaurant, in at least some parts of the Southwest, "yellow" or "orange" queso dip - ie, made with different cheese than we use here - is normal.
Kinda like this version -
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| Heh. Ours is way prettier, but this perfectly captures the color! |
Honestly? I find the color off-putting. Now, I won't lie: if it's 11:45 on a Friday night and one of my tables is still sitting there chatting (we close at 11:30 but if you're there at 11:29:59 or before, and you stay - well, we won't in any way *encourage* you to leave; it's protocol, y'all!) and there's some "extra" queso in the back, and I haven't eaten in nine hours, or if one of the managers is nice enough to whip up some "crazy nachos" with all kinds of toppings including our queso - I am likely to indulge. And it does taste good. Most customers love it, even (especially our "Cowboy Queso," which includes steak and bacon - how good does all that cheese and meat sound, right?).
But I get asked at least a few times a week if we have the "real" stuff - ie, white queso dip. Alas, we do not offer such version. And I will make a confession: I go down the street to another Mexican restaurant when a real cheese dip craving strikes. Childhood conditioning? A penchant for white cheese of any kind? Just a love of cheese in general so I need to sample all kinds to satisfy my palate?
Probably doesn't matter, as there are all kinds of cheesy goodness in the world, whatever the color!
Long live le fromage (oops, I forgot I grew up studying French, not Spanish . . .)!
Whatever color you prefer, to eat cheese is to love.
Yours,
Love Bites,
Carrie Neal
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