Paco & John

Back in my heyday of dining at every taco cart, hamburger joint and catfish barn I would show my friends different places and every so often I got a peculiar response. One or two of the friends who were told about a secret little restaurant or a small dive, would get all excited until they actually saw the place. I think they wanted a dive that had been commercialized and cleaned up. Like a Margaritaville bar on a beach in the Caribbean. For all of those people, I have a compromise.

I'll give you Mexican food, prepared under the careful review and coordination of a talented cook and a French chef, if you'll eat it in an old gas station that still has the wall of refrigerators on one side. Deal?

So, you faux-adventurer, get your Eddie Bauer Expedition loaded up with plenty of gas and update your GPS for a "crazy" trip into dive territory. Don't forget to tell somebody where you're going in case you don't come back....

On 8th Avenue, just south of Rosedale (west side of 8th), sits an old gas station with no pumps. Bernard Tronche, of Saint Emilion fame, and his long-time friend have converted this old store into one of my favorite new places in Fort Worth and definitely one of the best deals. After providing high end French food for his West side peeps (holla Bass family!!), Bernard decided it was time to provide the rest of us with some of his delicious fare. But of course, nobody is going to go to a gas station to eat snails, so he took the care and skill used in preparing high quality French food, and made high quality, yet affordable Mexican food.

Paco and John's has traditional and authentic Mexican dishes (no ground beef enchiladas with velveeta sauce). You can order a traditional street taco, the enchiladas of the day, tortas, one of the daily specials and many other items. I have now been for breakfast and lunch (the only times they're open right now) and can honestly say that after you go, you will all ruin this place for me because I'll never be able to get a table again.

The inside has obviously been worked over a little since it was a convenience store. There are no more shelves or aisles. The area where the clerk used to stand, clutching a shotgun, has been replaced with a kitchen area which is open to the restaurant, and then there's the French guy standing there. That's new. But the refrigerators on the back wall are still there and they pull double duty of storing supplies and showing off the bottles of coke. Yeah. Bottles. So, those of you on our faux-adventure, you can tell everybody how quaint this place is based on my description.

On to the food.

The chilaquiles at breakfast came in a bowl and were a deep rich red color, topped with perfectly prepared strips of steak. It was hot and spicy, but not enough to make you stop eating. And, in a surprising twist to restaurant dining - the portion size was not overdone to compensate for lack in flavor. I also have to comment on the coffee. They may not use a fancy coffee, but it tasted good and it came in a nice clean mug so I felt like I was getting something high end. A breakfast for two with coffee for both including two orders of chilaquiles was about $15.

I have also been several times for lunch. In those trips I had a salmon torta, a beef fajita taco, flan, and the pork carnitas torta, in order of awesomeness. For those of you on a health binge, get the salmon torta without mayo and don't eat your fried potato sticks. Or go somewhere else. The bread on the tortas is soft, the salmon was well prepared and the portion is large enough to fill you up but not so large that you go nap at work. The beef fajita taco was also delicious with onions and bell peppers in a soft tortilla.

I don't recall eaitng a lot of flan growing up, but I had it when I was joined at lunch by my friends, the brunette bombshell and his wife, Tara. The brunette had the taco plate and he said it was delicious though he refused to share. Tara had the enchilada plate and confirmed what my previous visit with my long haired friend said, "this is so much better than my friendship with you." Fair enough. I don't come with a side of rice and beans so how can I argue?

All of the food I have had at Paco and John's has been expertly prepared and delicious. I thought the carnitas on the torta were a bit greasy but according to the brunette, on a later visit, they weren't as greasy on the tacos so maybe it was just that day. It has also been reported that the queso poblano soup is delicious. You can tell that the restaurant takes pride in its food and is working to draw you back. Plus, for all of you on the faux-adventure, its clean.

So, its a dive because its in an old gas station, except that its been remodeled to look lovely on the inside; the food is delicious and very well prepared, but its a version of Mexican street food; and its run by the chef of the top Fort Worth French restaurant on the west side, but its just south of downtown. Oh, and there's almost no parking so you feel like you're going to a special place that's always crowded.

If you've been reading this blog for the past 20 months and have sat on the sidelines about visiting some of the places because you're scared, don't be scared now. Your friends will think you went to a cool dive, but you'll secretly know that you went to one of the best new restaurants in town.

I have heard they will be extending their hours at some point to include dinner, weekends and a brunch. Right now its BYOB but they may be selling drinks soon.

Paco and John, Mexican Diner is lcoated at 1116 8th Avenue, just south of Rosedale. Parking is scarce. There is a convenience store that sells beer immediately to the south of the restaurant so stop in there for beer or wine first.

Let me know what you think.

Taqueria San Antonio

Note:  Taqueria San Antonio has changed names since the date of this review.  The food may have also been changed.  For further information continue to check back for updates.

Have you ever had one of those moments when you think of something brilliant and you intend to publish it to the world, knowing full well that everybody will revel in your epiphany? Sometimes you get so excited thinking about the joy and happiness you will spread to others and just know that this is going to be the information that will save somebody's life. In a modest way, I like to think I save a life with every post. Somewhere, across this great city, somebody is sad and hungry and would end it all but for my suggestion.

But alas, other sources have sucked the joy out of my life. It's like that Superdrag song - who sucked out the feeling. I'll tell you who. The Star-Telegram. The Fort Worth Weekly. And apparently everybody in the world. Despite my knowledge of this place back when I reviewed Taqueria San Luis, I had not eaten there until recently. And now my stories of greatness will fall on "i told you so" ears.

Well, I'll tell you anyways. Taqueria San Antonio is a Mexican road side cart, in a building and it serves a variety of meat options in a number of edible containers. They have tacos, enchiladas, gorditas and probably tortas. I had the chicken in peppers and onions in a gordita and one of the beef options in a gordita. I think there were three or four options but I was so enchanted with the fact that the enchiladas were made when you ordered them that I forgot the details. The end result - a delicious meal. The bread of the gordita was the perfect thickness with enough lard to keep it moist and it neatly contained my greasy meat options.

Everything tasted so fresh and it was so surprisingly clean that I decided to take Mrs. FWHITW for some breakfast burrito fun. The burritos were delicious and they had a brilliant combination - eggs and pico combined. And unlike other places in town, they didn't use a pico scent to flavor their eggs. The burritos were a great price and they were the perfect size. It was like being in Mexico. Except I've never actually had a breakfast burrito in Mexico. And there was no Moctezuma's revenge.

So, despite the fact that everybody already knew about this place, and despite the fact that I'm bringing you nothing new, I went and wanted to tell you all about it. I would still put some other burritos up against the Taqueria San Antonio burrito, but the variety of options in the eggs, the variety of meats for lunch and the authenticity of this place gives it an edge.

If you want to go, Taqueria San Antonio it is located at 7905 Camp Bowie Boulevard, on the south side of Camp Bowie, next to the Jack In Box, just west of Cherry.

Pho's Little Saigon

When you think of Saigon, your mind no doubt goes to the one part of the Fort that screams Asian influence....Ridgmar Mall. Just north of Ridgmar Mall in some shopping center is a little jewel of a place, named Pho's Little Saigon. A commentor recommended this place a long time ago after my Pho-Nam-enal review. As promised, I listened and went to this west side favorite.

I have to start off by saying that I have never been in Vietnam while US jets fly low over head, with a radio playing the latest American classics and interrupted only by Robin Williams yelling at me. For that matter, I have never been in Vietnam. But this is probably pretty close to what it was like being there during the Vietnam War, except that you'll most likely, not die. As you sit in the dated, obviously Asian decorated restaurant, Flo Rida rhythmically tells you about the boots with the fur and all of a sudden the peace is broken as a jet roars over the restaurant to land at the nearby runway. It's all about ambiance.

One thing I love about hole in the walls is they way they get by with basic stuff. For example, the menus look like high school book reports with the same little binding you used when you needed to cover for your lack of substance. Luckily these menus aren't covering for anything. The food here is terrific.

Unfortunately, larb is not on the menu, but they do have a delicious beef on vermicelli, beef fried rice, beef pho, and shrimp spring rolls. My favorite so far is the beef fried rice, which sounds dull, but its very "better than whatever your blog is touting". Plus its huge. So you can share it with your neighbors. The pho was good but personally, I'm a Pho-Nam fan and I refuse to change. The beef on vermicelli is very popular among people I know, but I enjoy the other dishes more.

Take that's for whats its worth - you can trust people I know that you should most likely doubt, or you can order what I have had. Which will only increase your trust in me. And my power over you.

Pho's Little Saigon is very good and despite the fact that there are only two waiters, you generally get your food the same day you go. If you attempt to locate this place, look for an "Import Liquor and Tobacco" store. It will be near that. I'm not sure how that's helpful. So here's the address: 6942 Green Oaks Road.

If you've been, let me know what you think. If you haven't been, then give it a try. Do not try the "Good Morning Vietnam" bit when you go. Nobody laughs and your coworkers begin to judge you.

This post was made in quasi-tribute to Robin Williams.