Archive for November, 2007

Sometimes murder can seem like an awfully great idea. It usually starts out innocently enough. A quick thought of how you wish someone would just go away. Then thoughts can expand a little bit, with plans involving big money payouts from life insurance all the way to framing someone else for the deed. Big budget movies are dreamed up by moguls who have no other fantasies left to them other than the forbidden ones. Whether they publish their ideas as a made for TV movie on the Lifetime network, or as a big budget production scheduled to hit the big screen next summer. Sadly it proves that we all dream of murder… even the best of us. I am sure even Mother Teresa kept a little abridged shit-list under the folds of her habit. A little list of names she would catalog through whenever her anger rose beyond normal levels. Each name with its own personal torture and or dismemberment to be savored as the name is read aloud. It probably gave her a happy joyful feeling as she daydreamed of their individual demises at her own hands or at the hands of justice in general. Sometimes even fashioning little effigies that she would cackle with glee over as they burned. Imagining the screams of her enemies as they are turned into ash one by…. Umm, but I digress.

Sometimes murderous thoughts can hit you at the oddest times. Like being stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on a sweltering day in August. There you are minding your own business, listening to the radio and cursing lightly under your breath when some idiot pulls up alongside of you along the median in an attempt to pass you. You clench at your wheel and grit your teeth as your mind wonders if they have the insurance to cover the body and paint job for your car. Ever so closely, they are edging their Mom-mobile (aka Mini-van) between you and the wall. You think you can hear a light scraping noise as they scoot up closer but you aren’t quite sure. If it wasn’t hot enough before it just got a lot warmer. The lady driving the behemoth between you and the dividing wall leans over to look at you with a grin and a wave as she passes, at which point you black out.

When you finally come around you are sitting in a squad car with your hands fastened behind your back in handcuffs. There are about twenty squad cars blocking the movement of traffic down to one lane (as if the minivan torn to shreds by human hands and scattered about the highway didn’t create an obstacle enough).

Before this becomes you, maybe it’s time to have a nice relaxing late night romp in Big D.
At three am in the morning there aren’t a lot of places to go grab something to eat unless you are one for those commercial all night diners.

However down on lower Greenville Ave. there is the perfect late night restaurant for the rest of us.

La Casita,

a late night Mexican dining establishment. Conveniently located just a little south of various drinking establishments located along the strip at 1908 Greenville Ave.

If you want to experience La Casita at it’s busiest, hit it right after last call on Friday or Saturday nights. For a great meal with a low volume atmosphere try a weeknight around 3 am (except for mondays, when they are closed). You just might be the only one there.

The place is tiny and rather crowded, so much so that it can remind you of a flea market. Inside it’s bumper to bumper with tables and chairs, soft lighting, and a large mirror along the back wall to give the feeling of depth in such a tiny crowded space (or it could just remind you of the seventies).

However the food is very worth these small inconveniences. The owner of the establishment is a wondrously sweet woman that places love on every single plate she prepares. She is your hostess, your waitress, and more often than not your chef as well. The fair is exquisitely done Tex-Mex food. Mexican home-style cooking that will have you waking up in a cold sweat at 3 am with a Jones for her cooking.

I personally recommend everything on the menu. Her tacos al carbon are very tasty, as are her enchiladas. One can never go wrong with her carne aside, but ask if it is available before you order. If you are in the mood for something simple and yet so divine add a cheese taco to your order, you will thank me. Most dishes usually range under 8 dollars. The meal is done with love, and it shows in every bite.

La Casita, Dallas’ own cure for the beast that rages within us all.