Steak Fajitas

The first time I ever had steak fajitas was in 1991 at a Chevy's Restaurant in Fremont California.   They were soooooo delicious.   Everything about Chevy's was good at that time.   The tortilla machine in dining area cranking out fresh tortillas, the hot, thin, salty tortilla chips, the fresh salsa, the margaritas, and the southwestern route 66 decor all worked together to make Chevy's my favorite restaurant of that time.   Chevy's has gone bankrupt since that time after selling out to Taco Bell in the 90s and then to various private equity firms.   I guess having an MBA is not nearly as valuable as knowing how to serve your guests when it comes to managing a restaurant.  

Well, I have never lost my taste for steak fajitas.    For a long time, I would make fajitas at home using a fajita seasoning packet to season the steak or chicken.   While the seasoning packet is better than no seasoning, its really not very good at all and I got to a point where I really had no desire to make fajitas at home. 

And after a particularly bad meal at one of the few remaining Chevy's restaurants, I had to be honest with myself... if I wanted good fajitas, I was going to have to learn to make them myself.

I don't know why I never looked into how to make fajitas before, but it finally dawned on me to look up some recipes for the marinade.   One of the keys is marinating the steak of chicken for several hours.  I since found a really good fajita marinade recipe on myrecipes.com.   The marinade includes lime juice, olive oil, garlic, cumin, salt, pepper, and worcestershire sauce. 

On Sunday, I cut the steak into 1 inch wide strips and marinated the meat for about 6 hours and then grilled the meat outside on a charcoal grill.   (BTW, why can't someone make a decent charcoal grill?)  The meal was delicious and we will have left overs for dinner tonight. 

One more thing... The steak fajitas were really good, but still did not satisfy my desire for the Chevy's steak fajitas I remember from 20 years ago.   After dinner I searched for the Chevy's fajitas recipe and found that Chevy's actually published a cookbook which includes their steak fajita marinade and that a lot of people have posted this recipe online.   Next time I make steak fajitas, I am going to try the Chevy's recipe.