Yul Lose

Don’t change it. Why would you need his approval?

7 1/2” barrels?

That’s another thing about Mexican restaurants out here versus Colorado or New Mexico they don’t serve sopapillas out here. Growing up in Colorado I remember sopapillas and honey were standard dessert items and they gave them to you with the meal.

Hey, Widder when you’re eating your Mexican food there in Tennessee do they serve flan for dessert?

We’ve got a little station that used to sell to commercial fleets only and then one of the sons took it over, remodeled, replaced and upgraded the tanks and pumps added a convenience store and auto parts and Uhaul and offers full service if there is more than one cashier on duty. I kind of like pumping my own gas and paying the cashier a visit, If you know what I mean.

I’m reading The Moonshine War by Elmore Leonard and it’s very good. Set during the prohibition in Kentucky. A little different from some of his other work but a page turner none the less.

Isn’t Oregon full serve everywhere? Didn’t they used to be?

Some authors I get hooked on and read many of their novels in a row. Some authors I have to take a break from such as James Lee Burke and his Dave Robicheou novels. Stephen Hunter, Elmore Leonard I cant get enough of.

IMHO, of course, Anaheim chili’s make the best chili rellenos. I don’t care for the rellenos that use poblano chili’s. Next comes the coating and the place that I liked used a coating similar to tempura only not crunchy, if that makes any sense. Next is what’s inside, only cheese is needed, again that’s my opinion. Some places stuff so much different stuff in them that you can’t enjoy the chili. Lastly the sauce and I like the green Heredez style. There’s a place about 1/4 mile from my house that serves chili rellenos but from one visit to the next you never know what you’re going to get. The closest I’ve found to the Estrada’s chili relleno was at a place called Rivera’s in Yuma, Az. The chili relleno was very close but they used red sauce instead of green sauce and would not use green sauce when I requested it. When I’m over at Yuma for the Prison Break match in January I visit Rivera’s as much as I can. My wife took some cooking classes at Estrada’s a few years ago and learned how to make the rellenos like they made them but it’s so much work she only does it a couple of times a year.

I don’t want to hijack Widder Mexican food anymore than I have so I’ll tell you about the ongoing search for the best chili rellenos. When I first moved here in 1988 there was a Mexican restaurant called Estrada’s. My future wife had been eating there for about 15 years before I met her and we both really enjoyed their chili rellenos. Occasionally she order something else but when I came in they wouldn’t even give me a menu because they knew what I’d order unless of course they were sold out, which happened occasionally. I got a couple of pards, Buck Garrett and Double Diamond, hooked on them too and about once a week we’d meet there for lunch and we’d usually all order the same thing, two chili rellenos ala carte. Unfortunately Estrada’s closed down last month because the owners sold the property the restaurant is on and retired, sad day for sure. Since then we’ve been to tow other Mexican joints searching for replacement chili rellenos. The first one that we tried had pretty good chili rellenos but they would not allow us to order them alacarte. We had to take the rice and beans also and that was way to much food. The second place sold them alacarte but they were nowhere near as good as Estrada’s and the first place that we tried. So we are still looking and to my surprise there aren’t that many places that serve chili rellenos according to their online menus.

I spent some time in Dallas back in 1984 and there was a Mexican joint called Benevidez that says they invented fajitas. That was my first and best ever fajitas and to this day I don’t know if they invented them but they were absolutely delicious. We’d hit that place at least once a week for lunch or dinner. Now for authentic Mexican food every Friday for lunch we’d cross the Trinity River and eat at one of my two way radio installers mothers home. Man did she put on a feed. Tamales, Lingua and Cabeza tacos and on and on. She got a kick out of us gringos wondering what we were eating, it didn’t matter, it was all good.

Fajitas aren’t really Mexican food, or so I’m told by a lot of Mexicans. They say they’re Tex-Mex, there’s a difference I guess. Out here you can’t even order fajitas in many Mexican restaurants. In Escondido alone there are nearly 100 Mexican restaurants and only a handful know how to make chili rellenos, many don’t even offer them on their menu. Widder have you had their dishes with tripe in them? Yuck.

Thank you, Kris, and congratulations to you too.

Didn’t you sing a song for awhile about yer affection for the Old 97? It’s good to see you back.

BTT.