Casa Gomez

I have to be totally honest- Anytime I walk up to a restaurant in a strip mall, the warning bells start to sound. Casa Gomez (House of Gomez for those of us that didn't take Spanish) proved to be a very nice surprise.

The good: The food had great flavor. The chips and salsa were excellent; guacamole was only ok. I had the Cancun steak and shrimp and I personally could not have done it any better. If this rating were based on the shrimp alone, we'd have our first 6 fork rating.

The bad: The service was ok. I think it was probably the son or nephew. There were 6/7 tables so he didn't have an issue serving us. I kept looking for his white napkin and bow tie but didn't find it...

The ugly: If you've seen the old tv show Mel's diner, then you have a good sense of what this place looked like. The plaster was falling. Booths were small and had that old pleather look. The entire place was about the size of our garage; ok maybe a little bigger but you know what I mean.

Margaret and the girls had a good dinner as well. If only the decor were nicer. If only the place wasn't so small. If only the waiter spent less time preparing his fantasy football draft roster. If only I continued playing baseball instead of switching to basketball... oh wait a minute, wrong blog.

3 forks it is.

Until next review... Duane

School Has Started

Not sure if you were aware but Margaret and I were concerned that Kali and Melia were going to lose their spots in the local elementary school. They were at a summer girl scouts camp the first week of school and, as the school secretary told us, "California law is they are not enrolled if they don't show up the first day of school. You run the risk of losing your, yada, yada, yada..."

Well, all's well that ends well.

Melia--My new school is fun. I've made a lot of new friends. We get to chose what to eat for lunch and the food is good. My teachers name is Mrs. Filan and she is very nice to me. We do math and science and we play games and do P.E. We play kick ball and capture the flag. The games are different every time. That is what my new school is like.

Kali--My first week of school was fun. We did lots of stuff we wouldn't do at our other school. Lunch was also better. I'm not saying I don't like our other school, but I like both.

(Yes they did write these paragraphs under duress. I can be an ogre...Duane)