Saturday, June 4, 2011.
Casa Garcia. Late Afternoon Show.
The start of my radio show today was moved to three, for some reason. That gave us time to have lunch. Mary Ann was up for anything I suggested, and Mary Leigh surprised us both with her flexibility in allowing Casa Garcia to be the venue. That restaurant is running commercials on my radio show, but I haven't been through a lot of the menu lately.
We began with the chips, salsa, bean dip (all free so far) and queso dip. The latter tasted good but started out highly liquid. As it cooled, it became almost solid enough to slice. I've never seen such a range in queso textures.
Already, Mary Ann was in an anxiety which would continue for days, as her dieting urges battled with her love of chips and dips. The diet lost today, but not by so much that it seemed worth worrying about, to my benighted male perspective.
Mary Leigh approached the place with an open mind. We used to come here a lot, but her allegiance has shifted to La Carreta, Casa Garcia's competitor a few blocks away. She joked about getting the Garcia Burger--her standard order in the old days. Now she is brave enough to get the flautas stuffed with shredded beef. She disliked them enough to quit after a few bites and return to the chips and salsa. They seemed okay to me but nothing special.
Even within her conflict, Mary Ann was happier. She indulged in a massive platter of chicken fajitas. She liked two things about the fajitas: a) the sizzle and flavor now, and 2) the prospect of adding quite a bit of the platter to her leftovers portfolio at home.
The blackboard at the entrance touted as a special one of my favorite dishes here: the steak Tampico style. It reminds me of a Cuban steak, but it needs to be seasoned better and grilled with higher heat. I think it also could use some kind of sauce. I improvised with a little salsa, and that worked. Meanwhile, the single cheese enchilada--a hallmark of el bistec Tampiqueno everywhere in Mexico--was right where it belonged, in a pool of ancho chili sauce on the side of the plate, between the beans and the rice.
I had some trepidation about the radio show that late on a Saturday afternoon. It was unfounded; we had a very active show. As often happens on WWL, when someone brings up a subject, all the callers after him stay with the same topic. This is harmless, usually. But the first caller asked about rhubarb pie. This triggered over a dozen other callers to relate their experiences with the pie and rhubarb itself. Most of them were from long ago and far away. In fact, a couple of emails came in on the subject. In the second hour, I decreed that no more rhubarb would be entertained, just so we could move on.
Speaking of moving on: all day long, including at the restaurant, I got around everywhere by walking. My scooter days are over--although I still need the thing to keep my balance. There are many muscles in my left foot and ankle that are not yet competent to handle the job properly. It's a more complex symphony of movements than we suppose. You can't know unless you've lost some of that ability.
Casa Garcia. Metairie: 8814 Veterans Blvd. 504-464-0354.
It has been over three years since a day was missed in the Dining Diary. To browse through all of the entries since 2008, go here.
