In the epistle "Re: Arizona Trip" scribed 04-07-98 15:29,
Karen Wattie did thus proclaim to Larry Bolch:
Karen 
KW>  LB> The neat thing is that Spanish is very consistent in
KW>  LB> pronunciation. While living in the U.S., I had quite
KW>  LB> a number of Spanish speaking friends and while I did
KW>  LB> not learn to speak it, I learned HOW to speak it.
KW> 
KW> Japanese is the same way. So I guess I should get a phonetic
KW> listing somewhere so I don't embarrass myself in the restaurants,
KW> eh?  I won't know what I'm ordering as it is.  And it would be
KW> better if I don't have to point :)
Any cafe serving Nuevo south-western cuisine would probably have
menu descriptions of the dishes or the person serving you would
describe it. I don't recall EVER running into a surly staff. Lower
on the spectrum, your average local South West cafe will generally
have  familiar burritos, tacos and the like, using more blue cornmeal
as you go west. Phoenix probably has a monthly city magazine with
restaurant listings and recommendations as a guide.
Though one can find a wide spectrum of cooking in most towns and
cities, cuisine is quite regional in its origins. Dishes will vary
in recipe depending on the background of the cook, even though the
dishes may bear the same name - a source of fascination to fans
of South Western cooking. If you found a dish that drove you wild
in a cafe that tended toward a Chihuahua (the state - not the nasty
little dog) cuisine, you could expect it to be much less hot in a
Sonoran cafe, and much more elegant - almost Continental/French -
in a Mexico City-style cafe with upscale pretensions.
Add to this, that much of the South West was part of Mexico for many
centuries, you will find elegant Dallas cafes doing Nuevo based on
traditional elements going back to pre-Columbian times, others with
Tex-Mex menus which are pretty much like Taco Bell's menu and so on.
Much of the cuisine in the South West is native cooking that may
share ingredients with Mexican, but is uniquely US in origin.
Chili con Carne, for example, is NOT a Mexican dish - thoroughly
Texas and going back almost two centuries. In Texas it is never
made with beans - that is "Yankee Chili". It is usually referred
to there as "a bowl of red" and has a BIG cult attached to it. It
is the "National Dish of Texas" and borders on religious veneration.
I worked temp at Burroughs Computers while making my shift from
photography to acting, and once heated up my home-made chili in
the microwave in the lunchroom. As the smell drifted across the
room, all the chili-heads snapped to, and I realized I was in dire
peril of starvation as otherwise stiff and stuffy managers began
to drool and growl and shift menacingly in my direction. In Tejas,
a bowl of red is not to be confused with mere sustenance.
A person could pretty much order at random in most eateries and
probably enjoy what ever shows up. Don't waste time looking for
"authentic" cuisine - since it ALL is. It would be like wasting
time in Quebec looking for "authentic" French-Canadian, when there
is little else available. Quality may vary, but authenticity does
not. It is a living, growing cuisine and thus changing, adapting
and enlarging as cooks try new ingredients, or are influenced by
what they ate on their last day off. The food in a barrio cantina
is not any more authentic than that in a five star Nuevo restaurant
- just cheaper, plainer and probably more treacherous - along with
those who regularly patronize the place. Of course there are many
restaurants that cater to the day-to-day meat'n'taters crowd. They
are quite obvious.
Here a few of the basic code words (skipping most that can be
learned by a trip to a Canuck supermarket freezer section) and
a hint on how to pronounce them. 
These are Mexican or Mex-American - not Spanish - pronunciations.
Mexicans think Spaniards and Cubans talk funny. Somewhat like
Quebec patois versus the Academie Française - but with better
sense of humour.
For example, Mexicans pronounce "ll" as "y" - Pollo "poh-yo" while
Spaniards would say "poh-lyo". With a sharp ear, one can discern a
bit of the "l" sound on occasion by Mexicans - but it is barely 
there. "Z" is pronounced as "s" by Mexicans and "th" by Spaniards.
Cadiz is pronounced "Cadeeth" in Spain and "Cadees" in Mexico. 
Above all, no waiter expects you to be fluent in Spanish, and
certainly would not be critical of your pronunciations. It IS
the US and the waiter may be of English and Norwegian extraction
himself, with a year of high-school Spanish at the most! I might
add that the many Mexicans and Chicanos I knew, were among the
most gracious people I ever met anywhere. A good part of it may
be that insults are not taken lightly in these cultures, and so
are studiously avoided. Mispronouncing a word is NOT taken as an
insult as in some other places in the world.
Carne (kar-nay) - meat - generally beef.
Res (rays) - beef.
Puerco - (pwair-ko) - pork
Pollo (poh-yo) - chicken
Pescado (pays-cah-do) - fish
Cabrito (kab-ree-to) - young goat.
Queso (kwayso) - cheese
Chili (Cheelee) - any kind of pepper from your supermarket green
bell pepper to industrial-strength fire-breathing habanero chilis.
The cafe will be happy to tell you the level of heat in the dish
based on the chilis they employed.
Chili rellenos (ray-eenows) Mild, flavorful stuffed peppers often
served with a cheese sauce.
Con (kone) - with. Thus Chili con Carne is chilis with meat, and
Pollo con Queso is chicken in a cheese sauce.
Salsa - sauce.
Frijoles (free-hole-ays) - beans.
Refritos (ree-freetoes) - refried beans - inescapable, served with
just about every meal.
Tortilla (tor-tee-ya) - flat bread - also served with everything.
Mole (mow-lay) - thick dark sauce made with chilis, spices and
chocolate! Sounds a bit strange, but should not be avoided.
Chimichanga (Cheemee-chahngah) - deep fried burrito topped with
cheese sauce, chili sauce or both.
Tostados (toast-ah-dohs) - Crisp corn tortilla chips generally
served with salsa as an appetizer.
Fajitas (fay-heetahs) Marinated strips of charcoal grilled flank
steak, along with warm tortillas and many plates of ingredients.
Take a strip or two of steak, your choice of other stuff, wrap it
all in the tortilla and transcend mere earthly pleasures!
Menudo (may-noo-do) - tripe and hominy soup - a somewhat traditional
Sunday morning treat - since it is considered a hangover cure. Your
mileage may vary.
There is an excellent book - "The Food Lover's Handbook to The
Southwest" by Dave DeWitt and Mary Jane Wilan, filled with lore
and recipes. Also Chili Pepper magazine. Both are available in
Canada - I have seen Chili Pepper magazine on the neighborhood
drugstore's magazine rack.
There is always salsa and torillas in the fridge here and I buy
cayenne in bulk! As I finish this post, I will be fixing a quesadilla
(kay-sah-dee-yah) for lunch. Mexican cheese sandwich, basically. A
folded tortilla spread with salsa and a couple of cheeses, heated
until the cheeses melt and cut into wedges for eating. I find an
Inuit ulu to be the ultimate utensil for cutting both pizza and
quesadillas - go figure. Pick up the best of the culture where ever
I live! However, upon returning to Canada and seeing a bag of Old
Dutch Tortilla Chips, I 'bout collapsed into hysterical laughter!
larry!
... One tequila! Two tequila! Three tequila! Floor!
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