There's a New Kid in Town

Cantina Laredo. "Cantina Laredo is to Mexican what P.F. Chang's is to Chinese." That's what the Ft Myers News-Press said, and I think fairly. The new, downtown Fort Worth, Cantina Laredo is in the old BankOne Building, now The Towers condominiums. The interior design is upscale with mid-tone woods, black iron and copper facades. It works. The tables are solid wood and very handsome. The bar is the first thing you see upon entering, the dining tables are to its side and back which keeps it from the big hall feeling of many restaurants. I like that, too. We visited the restaurant on a Tuesday night around 6:30 and it was about one third full in the restaurant but a full bar business. I had been to the Cantina Laredo in Grapevine for a Christmas Party a few years ago but I don't remember it being as well designed as this nor as formal; it's not for summer-casual walk-in crowd.
The food is very good Mexican with large portions. Scratch that. Very large portions. My son had the beef fajitas and said they were better than Mi Cocina's. I tasted them and agree. The meat is tender, cooked perfectly and very tasty. My wife and I had the Manzanillo, which is two chicken enchiladas and a taco al carbon with rice and beans. It's a lot of food. By the time the en- trees arrived I told the waiter to box-to-go one of the Manzanillo plates. We did have the guacamole appetizer.We all requested the baracho beans and they were not as good as they should be. I love whole beans cooked with a little beer and bacon but these seemed fresh from the can. No texture, no beer taste and no bacon or ham. They also offer refried and black beans. The chips are excellent, the salsa is the warm variety like Blue Mesa, spicy but not too hot. The guacamole is fresh and made at the table, again similar to Blue Mesa. The tortillas were warm and very good. Our tab for 3 with drinks (no alcohol) was $60 including the tip, but we ordered the less expensive items on the menu. Chicken mole's and fish dishes are approaching $20 each. Will I go back? Yes. Are the fajitas as good as Pappasitto's? They just might be. Cantina Laredo is a welcome addition to other downtown restaurants like Mi Cocina's and P.F. Changs. It is a franchise and one of about 30 in the country.
Of the 5 good chain-Mexican style restaurants in Fort Worth I would rate the Cantina a close second behind Mi Cocina's. Followed by Pappasittos, Glorias, and Uncle Julios.
http://www.cantinalaredo.com

Think You Can Make a Better Burger?

If you think you can make a better burger than the next guy, enter Emeril's and Good Morning America's, "Best Burger" contest, next year, this year the contestants have been narrowed down to five with the winner being picked Friday. The recipes and a chance to vote are available on the ABC news site. And there's a Cypress, Texas representative:
News story: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Recipes/story?id=3462979&page=1

I Read the News Today Oh Boy . , .

Fort Worth Star Telegram. August 8, 2007,
Front Page:

756.

Barry Bonds, on the evening of August 7th, surpassed Henry (Hank) Aaron's home run record set in 1974, which was the record of Babe Ruth set in 1935. The baseball viewing public, for the most part, sighed.
I have no animosity towards Mr. Bonds and the other doped up players who have changed what baseball statistics mean, it's just that when one man passes another man in accomplishment you want the "passer" to be doing it the way same way the "passee" had to. That's the American way. Hank Aaron couldn't have weighed 175. Bond's artificially weighs in at 225. And it's muscle, the kind that gets so big the bones can't handle it and break under the load. Read the Star Telegram Sports section for 8/08/07. Look at the statistics. The home run stats skyrocket when Bonds ballooned up on steroids. Is that fair to Aaron, Ruth and Mays? I think not.
Who is to blame? Bonds? Baseball's Bud (get a spine) Selig? TV money? You and "win at any cost" me? I don't know, but deconstructed baseball statistics tarnish the history, record-keeping, and charm of the game, and something ought to be done to correct it.
My childhood hero was Willie Mays. The best all around baseball player -- ever. If you were starting a team and told you could have any center fielder in history, you would pick Mays. Willie got to 660, all time. The steroided, muscle- bound players diminish what Willie did, and Hank, and Babe. Baseball fans love the numbers that are a part of the mysterious attraction of this game, 60. . . 61. . . 714. . . Aaron passed it fairly to 755, Bonds didn't at 756. Football's different. Basketball's different. There is nothing akin to the numbers and statistics in those games. What's their equivalent to our beloved ERA, Won/loss, batting average and home runs? Tony Romo's quarterback rating? It's just not the same. Now the numbers that we love, in the game we love have less permanent meaning.
The picture above is of my three boys who were with me when Sosa hit 600 at the Ballpark in Arlington, just last month. I hypocritically cheered for him, he was a Ranger rookie and loved by the fans, but all four of us said the same thing. It was a great moment in sports but it wasn't without a sense of "it shouldn't be this way". Sosa is as jacked up as Bonds. Maybe it's just the imperfection of the world within the game I love that is hard to accept. But for me, the Great Game has had a bad day.
For the record:
Here's how the record now stands:
Bonds - 756
Aaron - 755
Ruth - 714
Mays - 660
Sosa - 604