Restaurant Review: Cinco De Mayo at Hacienda Don Elias

5/5/07 -- OKC, OK - Today is Cinco De Mayo (5th of May), a Mexican holiday which celebrates the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. A battle in which French forces were defeated by the Mexican army and temporarily delayed (by 1 year) in invading Mexico City.

Many people in America falsely believe Cinco De Mayo is Mexico's Independence Day.

To commemorate the day we decided to visit our favorite locally owned Mexican Restaurant, Hacienda Don Elias (HDE).

HDE is one of the few locally owned Mexican restaurants in Oklahoma City in which the food is not only authentic Mexican fare, but actually identifiable with a specific state in Mexico - Michoacán (translates: "place of those who have fish").

HDE opened in April of 2005 and is a bit off the beaten path. Located on SW 24th, between South Robinson and Harvey, you would never know it was there unless someone gave you directions.

The wife and I discovered this great little hideaway a little over a year ago and we have been regular guests ever since. Often we bring family and friends in hopes of spreading the word of this truly enjoyable restaurant.

We've tried about everything on the menu, and find we are particularly fond of the beef soft tacos (lots of cilantro, yummy!), beef tostadas (see photo above), enchiladas, and shrimp cocktail.

Family owned and operated, every meal starts off with homemade chips and salsa.

If you are visiting on a hot summer day, be sure and try a glass of their fresh cantaloupe juice, lemonade or even Horchata (a sweet rice drink).

An excellent complement to any meal is their made-to-order guacamole.

If you have room for dessert, you can't go wrong with the Pan de Tres Leche (3 milk cake).

Hacienda Don Elias

221 S. W. 24th St.

OKC, OK

405-601-9010

Hacienda Don Elias Review:

Service: 4/5 (Mostly young female Hispanic waitresses without much food service experience. Don't be in too much of a hurry as orders are made fresh to order.)

Atmosphere: 4/5 (Laid back, very clean, quite nice for the area and usually not crowded.)

Food Quality: 5/5 (The flavor and use of spices is truly unique with virtually every item on the menu from the chips to dessert being homemade.)

Price: 5/5 (Very affordable. Often the least expensive items on the menu are the most popular. Be sure and try the beef or pork soft tacos!)

Recommendation: Excellent authentic Mexican restaurant. No free queso or sopapias, but real food at a really good price.

TacoVille; Mexican Fast Food Hideaway in S. OKC

5/2/07 -- OKC, OK - I'm one that loves to eat at those out of the way tiny places that most people wouldn't bother to stop at.

I find these mom and pop type establishments are a real treat and the atmosphere often cannot be beat.

South Oklahoma City is literally overflowing with small locally owned restaurants.

One that I recently discovered is TacoVille.

Locally owned, I believed they opened in 1967, and have been serving up South OKC's best burritos, tacos and their signature hot sauce ever since.

I was introduced to TacoVille a couple of months ago, by my mechanic, and have made it a regular spot for a quick lunch.

TacoVille is located in a strip mall area in SW OKC where Newcastle Road and SW 29th intersect; 3502 Newcastle Road to be exact.

Looks to have originally been a small convenience store as an entire wall still contains a long row of refrigerated coolers full of soda-pop and beer.

I personally prefer the hard tacos and the burrito supreme. Their hot sauce is unbelievable and should be used with caution.

Speaking of caution; two words of warning.... One, the neighborhood is a bit scary (okay it's downright dangerous) and two, get there early as patrons tend to be lining up the walls at lunch waiting for a seat.

If you are ever in the neighborhood and your looking for an adventure, give TacoVille a try and you'll be hooked.

TacoVille Review:
Service: 4/5 (You order/pick up at the counter, but the mostly female staff is great.)
Atmosphere: 4/5 (Laid back, loud and packed with blue collar types.)
Food Quality: 4/5 (Hey, it's Mexican fast food at its finest.)
Price: 5/5 (Most everything on the menu is from $.99 to $3.00.)
Overall: 4.25/5
Recommendation: TacoVille is a great hole in the wall Mexican fast food treat.

Family Game Night; Skip-Bo anyone?

5/2/07 -- OKC, OK - Today's 'modern' family has replaced the 'family night' with takeout in front of the TV and individuals retreating to their room of choice in the house with little or no family interaction and reflection of the day's events.

In many ways my family is no different. Between work, school (all 3 of us are in school) and the never ending to-do lists, there seems to be less and less down time - let alone family time.

However, as I like to show in this blog, we make every attempt to make a family retreat out of simple things, like a visit to the zoo or a night out to dinner.

Another fun family tradition is 'game night.'

Game night for us can be duking it out blasting each other in rounds of Halo or Call of Duty (XBOX 360), or, more preferably a classic board or card game. Our favorite board games are Risk, Clue, and Monopoly. On casino nights we breakout the Roulette Wheel and/or go through several hands of Texas Hold'em.

The other night ,while enjoying steaks and great conversation at my uncle's home in Edmond, we were exposed to the apparently popular card game Skip-Bo.

Skip-Bo is by the same people who brought us Uno.

Skip-Bo quickly had me hooked (maybe that is because I won the first hand!).

The other day I bought a deck of Skip-Bo cards at Target to add to our growing collection of board and card games.

Last night we decided to play a round (about an hour with 3-players, 30-cards each).

It was close with Vickie leading most of the game. However, in the final stretch it was Vickie and I with one card left (Devin was still sitting on about 9 cards).

That's when I decided to play dirty and offered Devin $10 to set me up to win (I had a 7 card left and I needed him to play his 6 and stop there). Devin, being a teenager and perpetually on the search for money, gladly sold out his mother.

The most memorable parts of the game where the friendly jabs back and forth and a tussle that erupted when Vickie rescinded a placed card and we invoked the "a card laid is a card played" chant. To no avail though, as mom bullied her way. The best part though is that the tirade was caught on tape! Possibly to be posted in the near future.

If you know of any other must play games, let us know in the comments section.

FYI, you can find Skip-Bo cards at most any toy retailer or on Amazon for about $7.

Well, since I seem to like to post reviews, here goes it...

Skip-Bo
Price: 5/5 $6.99 - $16.00 (depending on where you buy and if you go for the board game or card only version - no difference in play)
Age Suitability: 5/5 Game says 7yrs and up. That may be true, but I'd say 10 and up.
Playing Time: 5/5 Takes us an hour for 3-players with 30-cards each.
Learning Curve: 4/5 Easier to understand if someone explains it. I found the included instructions confusing. A person can explain it in about 5 minutes.
Fun Level: 4/5 As far as card games go it has a good mix of luck and strategy without having to put too much brain power into it.
Recommendation: I highly recommend this card game for families with wide age ranges that want an easy to setup and play game that can go from shuffle to victory in an hour's time. Perfect game to take on vacation or trips to the lake!

Weekend Wrapup; Festival of the Arts, Zoo & Yard Work

4/29/07 -- OKC, OK - Today marked the final day of the 40th annual Festival of the Arts in downtown Oklahoma City. So, naturally we had to take it all in.

Saturday we spent the entire day catching up on yard work and relaxed that evening in front of the television watching Blood Diamond(4/5/).

We woke up bright and early this morning with a plan to take in an early movie in Bricktown, lunch in Bricktown to follow and then desert at the Festival of the Arts.

To our disappointment, there was not a single movie playing at the Harkins Bricktown Cinema 16 that either, one, we wanted to see, or two, was family appropriate (we are pretty strict on what we allow our 15-year-old son to watch).

Whatever happened to the summers where you could always count on a family friendly movie by Steve Martin, Robin Williams or the like? Today the movie choices are one extreme or the other - either too young (Meet the Robinsons in Disney Digital 3-D), or, too adult (Vacancy).

I like to always check the website Kids in Mind when deciding on a movie that is appropriate for the family. While I don't always agree with their reviews, I like that they tell you exactly what to expect as far as nudity, sexuality, violence, etc.

With our movie plans no longer a go, we decided to just head to the Festival of the Arts.

We got to the fest about 10am. There was plenty of parking within a short walk and the temperature was about 70 degrees.

Thousands attend this 6-day event that celebrates the visual arts, performing arts and culinary arts.

While attendees look forward to the returning artists and vendors, one guest that seems to always make an unwanted appearance is the rain. This year was no different, with the first half of the festival a virtual flood.

When we got there we bypassed the culture and headed straight for the cuisine.

All together we shared a chipotle burrito (3/5), fried dill pickles (4/5/), funnel cake (3/5), sweet potato fries (4/5) and fried peaches with ice cream (3/5).

With full bellies we perused the artist's tents.

To be truthful, I usually see very little that is in my taste or budget, though I am often drawn to the photography and I particularly like Burt seabourn's paintings.

By noon it was getting hot and we had, had our fill of food and festivities.

With an entire day ahead of us we decided to take in the Zoo. As always it did not disappoint; The grizzly bears were cooling off in the water, the gorillas were playing and the big cats were basking in the sun.

Later we enjoyed steaks, strawberry shortcake and a few rounds of Skip-Bo at my uncle's in Edmond.

All-in-all a very good weekend indeed!

This will mark our first family review of a great state annual event experience;

Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts
Atmosphere: 4/5 (Very festive and family friendly atmosphere. Very clean and safe.)
Value for the money: 4/5 (Admission is free! Food is the average cost and taste for this type of event.)
Fun factor: 4/5 (Whether or not art is your thing, there is something for everyone, young and old alike.)
Overall: 4/5
Would we return: We do every year!