Well yes, I do consider being widely accessible as a measure of culture. Without arguing over exact establishments, I will say IMO El Chico and El Fenix do not represent good tex mex. They represent the chained version of tex mex (which isn't good in my book). This is what Dallas loves to do and a reason I don't think the food culture is very good here. It's always corporate, with an eye toward expansion. Good food cultures tend to be locally owned, chef driven. There are a few bright spots (Lucia comes to mind).

Are you from Dallas? If so, I think your bias is likely too strong to sense how good this food culture is. Everyone I meet that grew up here thinks it's a great food culture just because there are a ton of restaurants and they are mostly pretty good. But, coming from Houston/Austin, I see;

1) too many chains (not a problem alone, but generally correlates to poor execution/quality) 2) restaurants rarely change their menus (good chefs change their menus!) 3) lacking depth of cuisine (we're not as international of a city as we think we are: the ethnic food options are lacking, there are some and I've seen improvements but generally people just want more burgers and more steaks) 4) we are copy cats; if you travel to other cities with good food culture it's easy to see food trends a year before they reach Dallas - I think this is related to not being chef driven, our restaurants have executive chefs that design a menu once a year, they are not driving new trends)

> doesn't have very many Guatemalan spots

I know several in Irving and along Harry Hines/Denton Drive between Love & 635