OK, I now have WordPress installed as my CMS on paco.org, and soon all content will more here.
If you’re looking for my portfolio, that page is still found here.
Soon I’ll incorporate a slideshow widget to handle the galleries:
KPICASA_GALLERY(LaVidaPages)
Now, with video!
The hail storm making its way through our neighborhood on June 14, 2012:
](http://i1.wp.com/lh5.googleusercontent.com/-0mssOGUA6FY/T6LU-n42FlI/AAAAAAAAMe4/p6-e7AXlp9Y/s945/BA9ACAB8-4B84-47DB-9496-43F721FFB886.JPG?ssl=1)Not much to say about the restaurant that is Tacos La Banqueta (formerly “El Güero”) in East Dallas. The menu, however, is a different story.
The taco shack is just that, a locale not much larger than your average storage unit. It seats maybe six customers in 50s-style cafeteria stools inside and there’s hardly any space left over for additional customers to come in and order. Outside there is a table, and if you’re lucky, three chairs. But watch your back, it’s in the parking lot.
I posted the picture above in Facebook and a friend asked where I would rate them on a scale from 1 to 10. Nine, I responded. Seven if someone brought them to the office and I missed out on the experience.
The offerings are your standard Mexican fare: Bistec, Al Pastor, Lengua, Chorizos, Tripa, Cabeza, Suadero and, as of recent, “Chicken.” If you’re new to street tacos, stick to Bistec (steak) and Al Pastor (pork). If you’ve walked joints like this before, don’t miss out on the Tripa (small intestine) and Suadero (Google it) delights. Down it all down with a Mexican Coca-Cola.
The default wraps are corn, although flour tortillas are available for an additional fee.
Tortas (sandwiches) and alambres (shish-kabobs) are also served, but I haven’t tried them yet.
Also posted on Yelp!: bit.ly/Vukps9
Chicken and beef skirt kabobs, or dinner+leftovers as we like to call them at home.
I’m not much of a cook, and the few things that I venture to try to prepare on my own I grill.
For the price of a single outing to a restaurant, a trip to the grocery store provides up to six meals that can help us save some dough… to maybe go out for dinner this weekend?
Saving money by cooking at home is certainly no innovation, but it seems that every time I do, I scratch my head and ask myself, “why aren’t we doing this more often?”
](http://i1.wp.com/s3-media1.ak.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/NXrXnmHnR5P2Ocek66EXTw/l.jpg)My wife and frequented the Ralph & Kacoo’s in Allen (Texas), but that closed in the last year, which is too bad because it was one of our favorite seafood places in the Metroplex. On a recent visit to Shreveport, we opted to dine at this Ralph & Kacoos.
Service was prompt at the get-go, and fairly efficient throughout, although my wife noticed other parties were served a bit slower. There was a surprise party at a separate dining area just next to us, and the closed door didn’t allow us to see how much staff was working the party.
We were used to freshly baked bread at the other location, but we got four hush puppies instead. We only ate two of them, but could have easily scarfed all of them and asked for seconds. But they were a meal all their own, and we didn’t want to spoil our appetite.
We’re familiar with the menu, and I was about to order the Mahi-Mahi when our waiter told us about the specials, and I quickly changed my selection to the grilled Red Fish with the jumbo shrimp served over dirty rice. My wife ordered a more familiar dish, the Crawfish Special, which is fried crawfish tails and crawfish etouffee over rice.
My selection was the catch of the day, so the price was more than $20. I got a generous serving and every bit of the fish was delicious. The shrimp could have been a meal all their own. The rice was tasty, and a good complement to the meal. My wife’s dish was as she remembered it from our previous visits to the old Allen location. Had we been there for lunch, we might have made four meals out of the two plates.
While the location is at a strip mall, it’s not a trashy hole in the wall. The place is fairly large and houses a gift shop as well as the restaurant. Our only complaint is that after dark, it was a bit confusing to find the restaurant because of conflicting signs and poorly lit streets.
We’ll definitely stop again the next time we’re in town.
Also uploaded to Yelp!: bit.ly/UC94cP
