Saturday, October 23. Steak And Eggs At La Carreta. It's our family's last full day together before the kids' fall break ends. Fall break? I don't remember that when I was in college. I don't even remember a spring break, and that's almost like Christmas now.
I thought I had a radio show to do, but I must have read the schedule wrong. I was free to join the other three for lunch. Suggestions? I heard someone say something about Mexican food. I need to pay a visit to Casa Garcia, for which I am doing radio commercials for the fist time in some years. Mary Leigh put her foot down. La Carreta or nothing, she said. Eighteen years old, and already accustomed to getting her way with everything. Mary Ann went along. The girls have spoken, and not even Jude's weaselshit could budge them.
Our last lunch at La Carreta was not very good--the first time we'd run into that. That was many weeks ago, and even though La Carreta was in our high-frequency rotation, we haven't been back since. Amazing how a single bad experience sours you on a restaurant.
Things were much better today. We began with the usual dish of queso with chorizo and several carafes of salsa. (Mary Leigh comes close to drinking salsa straight. The spicier, the better. She got that taste in her mouth when she was only seven or eight.)
I went after a dish I didn't remember seeing here before: steak and eggs. Eggs in Mexican restaurants are always much better than one expects. This was, too. It was a couple of fried eggs atop rice and beans, with grilled skirt steak, pico de gallo, and avocado slices. Sort of like tacos al carbon, plus the eggs. The beef was unusually good--juicy, marinated in something interesting. It was this very beef I found wanting last time we were here. I guess that time was an anomaly.
I don't know why I was eating at all, after that feast last night at Ruth's Chris. The kids, I understand. How I wish I could eat like they do and remain slender! I think Jude may be even slimmer than Mary Leigh, but that's probably because all he does is work. Except for a batch of popcorn with a movie in the living room later, we didn't eat again, that was for sure.
La Carreta. Mandeville: 1200 W Causeway Approach. 985-624-2990.
