Two good choices!
My best local Mexican food memories are from the 50's. My family would go to a little dive at Central & Buckeye called the El Rey Cafe. I still dream of their tacos! It's long gone. I think it's now part of a parking lot for St. Anthony's Church.
I grew up near the original Garcia's at 35th Avenue & McDowell. It was a hole-in-the-wall. The bigger one at 35th Ave. & Encanto was built much later by the Garcia family after their non-compete ran out with Famous Restaurants, Inc.-- the company that bought them. Then the Garcia kids opened up Julio G's-- named after their father. The parents did very well in the sale, seen tooling around in his & her Rolls.
It's easy to discount Garcia's and Macayo's as merely big chains, but both are still using most of their same old family recipes from when they were Mom & Pops. I know. I ate there then...and occasionally now. (I work across the street from the original Woody's Macayo on Central, south of Indian School)
All this talk has made me hungry! I may have to head to La Fonda-- a pretty good AZ-style mom & pop at Scottsdale & Shea.
