MeatFest at Boi Na Braza

Beth and I just got back from celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary at Boi Na Braza (http://www.boinabraza.com/). Now you would think that a guy like me would have been to this place before since I have lived about 3/4 of a mile from it for about 7 years now. But for whatever reason (mostly the money reason) I had not. Well, the money reason is still there, what with us being affected by the economic crisis and all, but this was our 15th anniversary. We didn't do gifts, so we threw a C-note at the dinner.

It is hard for me to put into words how I feel about a place that just parades hunks of meats on swords around the room, just waiting for you to turn your little "stop sign" over to the green side and try a slice of what that fella walking by in the gaucho pants is wielding. I like to think this is what chow time in heaven will be like. But I can't back that up with Scripture. I can always have Hope though, right?

We had the full course - salad bar, meat, and dessert. Here is my breakdown of it all:

Salad - gooooood.
Meat - goooooooooooood!!!
Custard - goooooooooooood!!!!

My wife is the BEST!!

Entry #3 - El Taco H tacos

Yeah, yeah, I know my last entry was about tacos. This blog will likely end up being heavily weighted (pun intended) toward Mexican food since it is my favorite. But these are tacos of a different variety. They are... tacqueria tacos. You get these at a place where English is a second language.

I knew that I would eventually be writing about El Taco H in Grapevine. Their food is really good. Everything I have had off the menu has been really good. Usually, I just keep it real simple and roll with three tacos. One carne(steak), one pollo(chicken), and one desebrada(brisket). $1.00 each will get you a double layered homemade soft corn tortilla meat holder and a big scoop of the meat of your choice. Sometimes I get tea, sometimes I get a green Jarritos drink. I don't know what flavor it is, but it is tasty, and all my non-English speaking friends are drinking it, so I will too. At the condiment bar you can pick up your choice of salsas, onions, cilantro, etc.

Today was a little different, though, which is what is spurring me on to log this one.

Today I met my good friend, Tim Harris, there for lunch. It meant alot to me that he would come out to meet me since it was 29 degrees and raining out. Tim, being the salesman he is, sold me on trying a dang quesadilla. I opted for the desebrada version. It was real good. Real simple and real good.

What else was real good was sitting at the table with Tim. First I got him with the "thumbs up" right as he was approaching the table, so he had to talk to God about our food for the both of us. That's when things began to pick up a little. No sooner had Tim amened us out of prayer time, he picked up chip #1, dipped it in the small bowl of queso, and began to transport the two to his mouth for processing when half of the cheese dropped straight to his shirt. Not that that is all that funny. But it is consistent for Tim and THAT is funny.

What is not funny is that my friend Tim has been affected by these nearly unprecedented economic times. Over a month ago, he got laid off from his job as a salesman. Pretty tough situation. He is looking for a job all day nearly every day now. In fact today after we ate he was going to take a test for a potential part-time job with the Census Bureau. One that would bring home a little extra dough.

I thought I would help him with a little role play. It went something like this:

(knock, knock)
D: Hello
T: How many people live in your house?
D: 4.
T: Thank you.

(moving on to the next house)
(knock, knock)
D: Hello
T: How many people live in your house?
D: 4.
T: Thank you.

(walking to next house.)
T: ok, 4 and 4 is 8. 8. Remember, 8.
(knock, knock)
D: Hello
T: How many people live in your house?
D: 4.
T: Thank you.

(walking to next house.)
T: ok, three 4's is 12. 12. Remember, 12.
(knock, knock)
D: Hello
T: How many people live in your house?
D: 3.
T: Thank you.

(walking to next house.)
T: ok, three 4's is 12. 12 and 3 is 15. Remember, 15.
(knock, knock)
D: Hello
....



If you can help my friend Tim find a job, he won't have to have these kinds of lunches with me anymore. Please help him if you can. He's a good'un.

Entry #2 - Taco Casa tacos

Taco Casa is fairly new to the Grapevine area. Actually it is in Colleyville near Glade and Hwy 26 in an old renovated Whataburger building. Look for the orange and yellow sign.
Very basic tex-mex fast food. Their tacos may very well be my favorite tacos anywhere, fast food or fancy place. They stick to the basics here… Crispy corn shell, meat and cheese. None of that filler like lettuce or tomato. Oh, you can find the “supreme” version of their items with the sour cream and black olives and such, but this plain old taco is a good. The chili burger with cheese is no slouch either. Those of you who remember Taco Patio from days gone by will remember it as the Gringo Burger with cheese.

An added bonus is that Taco Casa has sweet tea like my great-grandmother, Fairy Tomlinson, used to make.

AND all 4 of us can have a fun time eating out for about $15.

Entry #1 - My Mother-in-Law’s brisket

Brisket aside… If us protestant-types were to ever start “sainting” people, my mother-in-law Cheryl would be way up at the top of the Power Rankings. I have never met anyone that serves others from the bottom, actually the whole heart, like she does.

Now, to the brisket… it is always hot, always tender and juicy, and always has just the right amount of sweetness. It is a very simple food. She doesn’t trick it up at all. That would not be her style.

Honestly, I am not sure what she does to her brisket to make is so good. In fact, I have never even seen her in the act of cooking it. By the time I get to the family gathering (on our long trek from South Grapevine to North Grapevine), it is already on the back of the stove, covered in foil, so the potato casserole can have a little oven time. A potato casserole that will have it’s own entry in this log somewhere down the line.

This sounds corny with a capital “K”, but I really think the secret ingredient is L-O-V-E.

My hand (or fork really) at this blogging thing

I won’t go on and on about how I thought through starting my own blog and the high level decision making process engaged in order to pick out a blog site to host it, but suffice it to say that it took me minutes to birth this idea.

So, here is what this little slice of internet heaven will be about… Food I like. That’s pretty much it. Whether it is home-cooked or restaurant made… white tablecloth or greasy floor… family recipe or mass produced… if it’s good eatin’, it could find it’s way to the my little journal here on the wide wide world of webs.

I am not a food critic, so you won’t find me writing about food I don’t like. Besides, I am not a writer, so if I am going to be spending any time at all writing about something, I have to be highly interested in it. So it came down to writing about either a)Jesus, b)being a husband/dad, c)playing guitar, or d)food. The interweb has plenty of people expressing all kinds of opinions about all these, and food I that don’t like doesn’t meet the one requirement.

All that being said, my opinion is just that, my opinion. I am not saying any food is the best of it’s kind, only that it is food I like.

I hope you enjoy my ramblings. I will try to post often. I will also try to include some good grammar and lots of funny in each story.

Peace.

Ring Of Honor BBQ

*** Randy White's BBQ on Midway Rd. in Addison is no longer open ***

First, let me preface this story with a little information. Before 9:30am this morning, I had spilled coffee on my shirt no less than nine (9) different times. My boss Justin can confirm that number.

So, in my white golf shirt with brown coffee colored polka dots, I leave for lunch with my friend and boss, Justin, to meet my good friend Tim Harris at Randy White’s BBQ on Midway Rd. in North Dallas. Justin and I arrive at the restaurant a little before Tim, so as we wait for him I walk around looking at all the pictures of Randy, Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, Bob Lilly, et al, that are hanging on the walls. If you know me at all, you know that the Cowboys of the 70’s are a special team, from a special time in my life. Troy, Emmitt, and Michael have a special place in my memory, but that place is nothing like the one that holds Tom Landry’s team.

Off into dream world I go, which is not good for someone with an short attention span like me. As I walk up the wait-line, while still looking at pictures, to the place at the meat block where your order is taken, I see a gray-haired man in the corner of my eye that makes me pause. I think “that’s Lee Roy Jordan!” (In case you don’t know, he was the linebacker who was the anchor of the Cowboys Doomsday Defenses I & II in the 70’s and a member of their Ring of Honor.) So I immediately turn to greet him, and am stopped mid-turn by… Randy White! Lee Roy’s successor at linebacker, Hall of Famer, Ring of Honor member and local BBQ proprietor. He has on a sleeveless shirt and he is RIPPED and HUGE. At 50+ he looks like he is still in good enough shape to strap on some shoulder pads and pop some leather on the gridiron.

I froze.

It is pretty much a haze from here on out, but the following is a rough transcript as pieced together from memory and eyewitness accounts:

Derek: “Heeeey!! Randy! How you doin’ man!!” (shaking the Manster’s hand)
Randy: “Hey man! Good!! How you been?”
Derek: “anddddddddddddddd…uhhhhhhh…” (extending my hand to Lee Roy)
Lee Roy: “Hi, I’m Lee Roy Jordan” (extending his hand to shake mine)
Derek: “Yes, yes. I know you are Lee Roy Jordan.”
Lee Roy: “I was hoping I didn’t scare you with this big knife.”

(we all look at a common folding lock blade knife he was showing Randy)

Derek: “…..” (you can hear crickets through my retarded blinking and smiling)
Derek: “Hey Randy, goooood barbecue man!”
Randy: “Thanks man. I think we do a pretty good job here.”
Derek: “…..” (blinking, smiling)
Derek: “Oh yeah, and gooooood football too.” (a million great memories of these two guys swimming in my head and this is what I say to them??!!)
Randy: “I bet that was a pretty cool time when you were a kid.”
Lee Roy: “Yeah!”
Derek: “You know I was just looking at that picture of Coach Landry and Roger over there and thinking about what a magical time that was for me growing up."
Lee Roy: “Yeah! It was a lot of fun for us too!!"
Derek/Randy/Lee Roy: “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA aaaaaaaaaaaah…”

At this point Randy and Lee Roy are looking at me kindly, like they have forgiven my stupid “gooooood football” comment and the 9 coffee stains on my white golf shirt and are wanting me to stick around and hang with them as an Honorary member of the Ring of Honor and eat some smoked meat. They were my friends.

I froze.

Then I sllllooooowly turned to the guy cutting meat…

Derek: “I’ll have the Manster please. Chopped and a hot link.” (my whole body is on fire now)

Aaaand… scene.

After placing my order I turned and look down at the cashier where my boss, Justin, is all hunched over, dry heaving because he can’t breathe because he is laughing so hard.

Later he said that that whole scene made me look like Ruprect from the “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” movie.

Go Cowboys!!