Casa Mexicana gets a face lift

If you're a fan of Mexican food in North Little Rock, you've surely noticed the slight relocation of Casa Mexicana in North Little Rock. For years, this local favorite has set back from the road near the intersection of JFK and North Hills. During that time, it's watched as the larger restaurant space just across the parking lot was occupied by one restaurant after another. Each has moved in, changed the sign, and shortly thereafter, closed shop. Finally, when the most recent occupant closed it's doors, Casa Mexicana decided that it's turn had finally come.

When Casa Mexican decided to move to their new location, they did one thing noticably different than the previous tenants- instead of just swapping out signs, they completely re-did the facade. As many different restaurants as have been in that building, the outside has remained largely unchanged. Until now. Standing in the parking lot of the new Casa Mexicana, you can barely tell that it was once a Dixie Cafe, a Buffalo Grill, and a Chinese buffet.

I had lunch at the new location last week. The first thing I noticed when I walked in is that it doesn't look as big on the inside as it does on the outside. This is because of the way the boothes are laid out. One layout remant from the original Dixie Cafe that has remained unchanged over the years is the closed off outer ring of booths. I suppose it was orignally meant to mimic a wrap-around porch, but as a more practical feature, it probably helps keep the noise down. It also allows Casa Mexicana to fit a lot of booths into the space without it feeling crowded.

In the middle of the restuaurant, somewhat closed off from the rest of the seating is a bar area. There wasn't anyone sitting at or behind the bar when I went for lunch, but I suspect it sees more action in the evenings and weekends when the booths start filling up.

There is also an outside patio area. I didn't have a chance to go out there, but it looked very nice. It's technically an outside area, but it's more closed off than an fully open patio. I like this, because you get the breeze and the open-air feeling without being too exposed to the elements. On my next trip, I may ask for a table on the patio so I can get a better look at it.

You may have noticed that I have yet to say anything about the food. This is because I think most people around here who like Mexican food are already well aware of Casa Mexicana's food. Personally, it's not my first choice for local Mexican food, but they're certainly above average and they have plenty of local devotees, as evidenced by their full parking lot every Friday night. If you've never tried Casa Mexicana, or haven't tried it in a long time, let their new location be a reason to give them another look. A good restaurant experience is equal parts service, ambiance, and food. At Casa Mexicana, the service has always been good, the food is better than average, and their new location gives them a definite bump in the ambiance. Whether you're a regular or a first-timer, stop by, check it out, and let me know what you think in the comments.

Check out their menu ahead of time or view their other locations at RestaurantCasaMexicana.com.

Dealing with Car Dealers

Finding a good car salesman is like finding a good plumber - you want someone you can call up without having to turn around and spend 3 hours researching what they just told you to find out whether you're getting screwed. Of course, plumbers and car salesmen have to make a living too, but I think it's possible to get a good deal that lets both parties keep some money in their pockets.

Usually, the dealership you end up at depends on what kind of car you're looking to buy. If you want to buy a Nissan, you go to the Nissan dealership. That means that even if you are willing to drive to Benton or Conway, you've probably got no more than 4 choices of where to buy. I, for one, don't like drive so far when there are so many dealerships right here in North Little Rock and Sherwood. In fact, there has only been one occasion when I disliked a NLR dealership enough to even bother driving over to LR. As a result, the sum total of all my serious attempts to buy a car are limited to three dealerships right along 67/167.

North Point Toyota
Every time I've going out looking to buy a car, I've stopped here. I keep going because I have such a high opinion of the Toyota brand. I think of Toyotas as being safe, fuel efficient cars that hold their value very well. I like some models better than others, but in general, I don't think you can go wrong driving a Toyota. In spite of this opinion and the number of times I've gone to this dealership (3-4) I've never owned a Toyota. Bear in mind that my most recent visit to this dealership was about a year ago before they moved to their new location and I don't know if there have been any changes to their management or sales staff. I do know that each time I've gone there, I've been drug into a long, drawn out process that is neither forthcoming or enjoyable. The sales people spend a great deal of time going back and forth to their sales manager and juggling every number at once trying to re-arrange things to get you to buy the car.

My most recent visit started because I was seriously considering buying a Tundra. I spent several hours there between a test drive, an overview of features, and lengthy discussions about financing, purchase price, and trade in value. The salesman spent too much time obsessing over a 4-square and kept trying to make me care about the monthly payment more than the overall price of the truck. They also kept insisting that if we took a promotional APR, the price of the truck would stay at MSRP, which is ridiculous. I finally left when after waiting 20 minutes for them to run a credit check and give me a specific APR resulted in the sales manager coming over to give me a range of rates that I could have gotten off their website. After I left, I got calls from three different people at the dealership promising to make me the deal of a lifetime if I came back by.

I might one day have the pleasure of counting driving off a lot in a brand new Toyota, but as long as North Point is my neighborhood Toyota dealer, I don't see that happening anytime soon.

North Point Ford
After my last fruitless trip to North Point Toyota, I ended up at North Point Ford. My father and brother-in-law have both purchased vehicles here and I found the dealership to be about average. They also used the 4 square, but obsessed over it a little less and mostly used it to display the numbers as we negotiated them. Our salesman went back and forth between his desk and the sales manager, but it never took more than a couple of minutes and I didn't feel like I was being jerked around. It was a holiday weekend, so there were a couple of Ford incentives going at the time in addition to the dealership offering a $500 gas card with every purchase. We wanted to take the 0% financing, but they still came down on the price after some haggling. Once I felt like we'd come to a fair price and good terms, I mentioned the gas card, which they suddenly insisted had been factored into the amount they'd take off the MSRP. I wasn't willing to concede that point, so they eventually added the $500 card to everything else we'd agreed on.

All in all, I expect there to be some haggling involved in a car purchase at any average dealership. There was some push and pull at North Point Ford, but I did feel like they were trying to con me and everything remained civil along the way.

Russell Honda
I bought my first car at Russell Honda right after I graduated college. At the time, I didn't have Honda high up on my list of prospects simply because I saw so many of them already out on the road. I wanted something more distinctive, but I went to Russell Honda anyway because at the end of the day, I know Hondas are good cars. Along with Toyota, I think a Honda is one of the best cars you could drive when it comes to price and quality. I understand that there are some luxury brands that could leave Honda and Toyota in the dust, but I'm not made of money.

During that first car buying experience, I went to the local dealerships for Mazda, Nissan, Toyota, Ford, and finally Honda. Being wet behind the ears, my dad went with me to help weed through the B.S. I got a variety of receptions from the salesmen at each dealership, and liked some vehicles more than others. After weighing a lot of choices and getting a feel for the driving experience in several models, I eventually decided that there was a reason I kept seeing so many Hondas on the road. After coming to this conclusion, I sat down with a salesman at Russell Honda. Surprisingly, he didn't start off by quoting me the MSRP and falling over himself trying to make sure I bought the car on the spot. He quoted me a fair price for the car right off the bat, told me the going interest rate, and helped me find a car with the features I wanted and in the color I wanted. Then he let me walk off the lot without a fight. I went home that day, did some more research online, and weighed my options. The salesman didn't leave me phone messages, but he was happy to see me again when I went back to buy the car. It was a painless process and I got a fair price without breaking a sweat.

Since that first purchase, I've gone back to that Russell Honda and and traded in that car. I always ask for the same salesman, Stan Wilder, and have recommended him to everyone I know who's in the market for a car. As a result, I've had two room mates and three family members buy new or used cars from him. Everyone I've talked to at Russell honda, from the sales staff to the service department is always helpful and curteous. They'll give you a good price and treat you like more than a dollar sign. And on top of all that, you'll walk away with a great car!

Conclusion
There you have it, my take on three local car dealerships. Ultimatly, I think the car has to come first. I would rather go through a few hours of a frustrating dealership experience if it means I get to drive the car of my dreams for the next 10-15 years. This is especially true if you have a good, trustworth repairman to handle any future mechanical hiccups. If that's the case, you can fight tooth and nail with a dealership, walk away with the car you want, and never have to speak to them again! For the time being, my first stop is still Russell Honda because they have good cars and they won't make you fight too much for a good price.

Keep in mind that the best way to get a good deal on a car is to be informed ahead of time. No matter how much you trust the salesman, don't take his word that something is a good deal. Do some research ahead of time, know what you're looking for and know what the going price is. I always make Kelly Blue Book and Edmund's my first stops when researching a car. Also, don't be afraid to walk off the lot and sleep on the decision before signing on the dotted line. Buying a car can be a high pressure situation and it's easy to let the shine of the paint get the best of you.

Junction and Big Dam Bridges

In case you haven't heard, there are two new ways to cross the river. This isn't exactly new news, but I recently had a chance to put both to use, so I wanted to share my impression of each one.

The first bridge to be completed and the first one I got around to using is the Big Dam Bridge.

It spans the river from Murray Park on one side to Cook's Landing on the other. I got a little turned around the first time I went looking for it, probably because I'm not familiar with Cook's Landing. On the upside, I got to take a little driving tour of the business park going up down there. If you want to avoid the same type of meandering by actually looking at a map beforehand, there is one available at BigDamBridge.com.

The bridge got it's name because it goes right across the lock and dam at that part of the river. This makes for an incredible view when the dam is churning. You can stand right on top of the damn and see the water perfectly still on one side and wildly turbulent on the other. There is a little informational plaque part way across the bridge that gives some information about the purpose of the dam and how much electricity is can produce, so look for that if you're interested.

I've been to this bridge several times now and there always seems to be a good mix of people. Some people come for the view and stroll across while others jog for exercise. There are also plenty of people riding their bikes and walking dogs (although not at the same time). The bridge has a "lane" divider running down the middle as a reminder to observer a common sense flow of traffic, and it's plenty wide to accommodate visitors of any inclination, so come and enjoy at your own pace.

The bridge is longer than the span of the river to allow for a steady incline on either side. As a result, the walk up either side feels about as long as the middle section. Once you get right over the dam, there are a few seating areas that jut out of the way of traffic. This gives you the perfect opportunity to take a short rest or enjoy the view in either direction.

If you're into longer walking or cycling trails, the bridge connections trails on either side of the river so that you can actually ride all the way up to Conway and end up traveling about 100 miles if you did the entire circuit. There is a shorter circuit that takes you around to Pinnacle mountain and through the river market. Check out bigdambridge.com or rivertrail.org for a bit more information.

I've really enjoyed walking the bridge every time I've done it. I usually take my dog with me and it's just enough of a walk to get the day going without wearing myself out. There are also some picnic tables and fishing areas, around Cook's landing so you could make a day of it.

Until I went looking for the Big Dam Bridge, I didn't know where it was, but not so for the Junction Bridge. I've ever been anywhere near downtown, you probably know exactly where the Junction Bridge is. It used to be a railroad bridge, but hasn't been in working order for as long as I can remember.

Look familiar?


The Little Rock side starts just west of the amphitheater. From that side, you have to take stairs or an elevator up to the start of the bridge. This is because one section of the bridge is higher to allow barges to pass under it. Being a little higher up makes for a great view, but it's a little disjointed to have to take stairs up at the beginning, the back down halfway through. The first time I used the bridge through, I just went up to the raised section, enjoyed the view for a bit, then headed back down. This bridge is more useful for its scenic view and connection between the cities than for exercise, so having to go up and down isn't too big of a deal.

One thing that surprised me about the Junction bridge was how nice and clean it looked once you're on it. Looking at the bridge from the shore, it looks like the weathered, unused railroad bridge that it is, but once you're on it, there are trash cans, benches and plenty of lighting. While I'm glad the area is well-lit, there were a lot of bugs when I went at night, especially around and in the elevator.

With the addition of these bridges to the city landscape, there are now two new ways to cross the river. Each with it's own purpose and each doing a fine job of it. If you're looking to get a little exercise and enjoy some scenery away from the city, give the Big Dam Bridge a try. If you're looking for a leisurely stroll and a nice view of the city after dinner downtown, make your way over to the Junction Bridge. Just two more reasons to get out and enjoy the city. You're here, might as well make the best of it!

North Hills Animal Clinic

Last week, my dog got into a bit of a scuffle and we ended up having to take her to vet. Let me start off by saying that if anything requiring a visit to the vet happens between noon on Saturday and 8 a.m. on Monday, an after hours vet is your only option. Thankfully, there's one on Smokey Lane that's open the entire weekend. This is where we ended up.

I was afraid that the visit was going to cost an arm and a leg, but after the doctor had examined my dog and talked about what she recommended doing, they wrote it all up and let us determine which of the optional treatments we wanted to do. We crossed a couple of the items off the list to keep costs down, but paid to have her sedated, stitched up, and sent home with some antibiotics and pain pills. It ended up costing about $275 for the whole ordeal. I figure the only thing that would have been cheaper at our regular vet would have been the visit fee. For a visit requiring an examination, most vets I've been to charge around $35 whereas the after-hours clinic charged $69. I figure the extra $35 was worth the trouble of being able to get it taken care of right away. I think that the after hours visit fee doubles after midnight, so I'm at least glad we were able to avoid that.

My dog spent most of the evening sleeping off the medicine, but at 2 o'clock in the morning, I woke up to the sound of her moving around more than normal. I got up to check it out and she'd managed to remove the stitches. Her wound was now completely open again, so I begrudgingly drove back up the clinic, fearing the charges that might be incurred. I called ahead and the doctor was waiting when I got there. They stitched her back up, sent us home with an e-collar (aka "cone") and only charged us $28. I don't even know what the $28 was for, but was just excited the fee didn't include a staggering charge for dragging the doctor out of bed.

Let me just pause here to say that my dog did do well with the e-collar at first. Initially, she refused to walk anywhere. She hadn't yet figured out to keep her head elevated, so the front of the cone kept dragging on the carpet and she didn't know what was going on. I'd also find her standing still staring at walls, for what reason I don't know. After a couple of days though, she was running around the yard and jumping up on the bed like nothing was going on.

They told us at the after hours clinic to take our dog to her regular vet after a certain number of days to have the stitches removed. About a year and a half ago, North Hills Animal Clinic became our new "regular" vet. We switched from another vet when I found out that I had to have an updated rabies shot in order to register the dog with the city. Our vet at the time wanted to charge a $35 visit fee in order to give the dog a $15 shot that would take less than a minute to administer. So I called around and North Hills Animal Clinic had no problem just charging us for the shot. We've been going there ever since.

When we went to N. Hills Animal Clinic to have the stitches removed, we saw Dr. Willman. She got all the information on what had happened and what treatment had already been done, then she took the stitches out and sent us home with some more pain pills to help with any inflammation. I was probably in the office for at least 20 minutes, and we even spent some time talking about tick treatment. In the end, in spite of the fact that the visit had lasted a while and they hadn't done the initial work, they didn't charge us anything! Even the pills were a free sample they had. Maybe they don't even charge office visit fees and I just think I keep getting off easy, but whatever the case, I couldn't be happier with them and the way they've taken care of my dog. The office staff is always friendly and helpful, and Dr. Willman is great. She obviously loves her job, loves animals, and knows her stuff. I never want a reason to make a special trip to the vet's office, but for those times it's inevitable, I'm glad to know the staff at North Hills Animal Clinic is there to help.

Mi Burrito II

Last Saturday night, I made my first trip to the new Mi Burrito in Sherwood. It's in the old Mazzio's building near the Neighborhood market, if you're not familiar. Apparently it's not the first "Mi Burrito" as their sign actually reads "Mi Burrito II". I couldn't tell if the "II" was Roman numerals for 2 or an 11, so there is somewhere between one and ten other Mi Burritos somewhere out there.

When we got there around 7:30 on Saturday, there were only about four other groups of people seated, although one group had 6 people in it. I was surprised to see so few people on a Saturday night.

Decor/Layout: The walls had been painted bright colors, in glorious contrast to the white ceiling and trim. It was lively without being garish. There is a small bar area in one corner and booths all around the outside walls. The entire center is tables with no partitions or half-walls to break up the area. The booth I sat in had a big lump in the middle of the seat, so I sat a little to the side. The tile floors are no doubt easy to clean, but when the person bussing tables came through with a push-cart, the sound of the dishes rattling as the cart bumped along the tile was distracting.

Prices: I thought the prices were about average. I didn't notice the lunch menu, but my Chimichanga dinner was $7.25. I can't find a menu online, but two dinners (One chimchanga and one Mi Burrito) plus two frozen margaritas came to a total of $28 before tip.

Food: I tend to judge Mexican restaurants on two criteria: 1) Rice and beans 2) Chimichanga. I realize this may be neither scientific or fair, but the Chimi is almost always what I order when going to a Mexican restaurant for the first time. As for the rice and beans, those are the staple sides, so if they can't get those right, it doesn't bode well for the rest of the meal. At Mi Burrito, the rice was good, but the beans were a little runny. The flavor on both was good, but I would have preferred the beans to be more substantial. I got the chicken chimi and it was very good. It was cooked to a perfect golden brown and was just crispy enough. My companion had the Mi Burrito dinner and had no complaints. The chips and salsa were tasty, but we only got one bowl between us, so we kept bumping chips.

Bar: We didn't sit at the bar, but the drink page on the dinner menu had lots of varieties of frozen and mixed drinks. We both ordered a frozen margarita. I got peach and my dinner companion got a specialty one whose name I can't recall. Mine didn't have a very noticeable peachy flavor. The specialty one had some sort of extra alcohol added and ended up being MUCH stronger than my peach one was. I'm not sure what the price for each one was since the ticket was hand written with no breakout on prices, but the total for both drinks and two dinners was $28 before tax.

Overall impression: The food was good and the atmosphere was agreeable. It's convenient location may be enough to get me back for another day, but with the wealth of excellent Mexican restaurants around town, if I had my choice, I'd probably head to El Porton or end my long hiatus at Casa Mexicana.

Morningside bagels in Maumelle

Last Saturday morning, I was out towards Maumelle so I decided to stop in at Morningside Bagels. I've always thought it was a shame that there aren't more bagel shops around Arkansas. Maybe there are more than I know about, but Morningside was the first bagel shop I've ever been to in Arkansas. I heard there used to be one out around Bowman but no more. In any case, I took the opportunity to stop in and try it out.

They make their bagels fresh every morning, and even have a glass window overlooking their baking area so you can see it firsthand. Check out their website to see a fully menu, but they have 17 different kinds of bagels ranging from plain to spinach parmesan. They also have 5 different kinds of cream cheese, plus peanut butter, honey, jelly, or even lox. They even have breakfast sandwiches (on bagels, of course), soups, and basic latte choices.

We got there around 8:15 on a Saturday and although there were a steady stream of people through the door and the drive through, nothing seemed hectic or rushed. Everyone there was extremely nice and helpful.

I started off by ordering an Everything bagel with vegetable cream cheese and my companion got spinach parmesan with plain cream cheese. I also had a hot chocolate. Both bagels came out perfectly toasted and generously schmeared. I got to try the spinich parmesean and it was very good without being overpowering. I ate the bottom half of my everything bagel first and it was delicious. The vegetable cream cheese was actually much better than I expected it to be. I would definitely order that again. When I got to the top half, I got to taste the "Everything" part of the bagel. Everything bagels are usually my favorite kind of bagel. They're topped with a mixture of all the toppings that get put on the other bagels, so there's usually poppy seeds, onion, sesame seed and whatever else. At Morningside though, they have a salt bagel that's topped with big pieces of salt (not sure if it's kosher, sea salt, etc). I like salty, but the addition of salt to my everything bagel kept me from being able to taste anything else, including the vegetable in my vegetable cream cheese. If I go back again, I'll definitely skip the salt or everything bagel.

Before we left, I wanted to split a chocolate chip bagel with chocolate cream cheese. I love chocolate, so I didn't want the chance to pass by without trying that. I already had my hot chocolate, but I was still waiting for that to cool down, so I ordered the bagel. It came out very quickly, and was fairly good. The cream cheese with chocolate mixed in was an odd combination, but I suspect some people might like it. I probably wouldn't order it again.

Overall, my experience was good enough that I'll definitely stop in again if I'm out that way around breakfast time. If you like bagels, stop in and give it a try. It's a nice departure from the usual donut choices that usually dominate the weekend breakfast circuit.

Google Streetview comes to town

On March 27th of this year, Google added Street View data for Little Rock and surrounding cities. According to Wikipedia, it covers the following cities:
* Alexander
* Benton
* Bryant
* Cabot
* Carlisle
* Conway
* Greenbrier
* Heber Spring
* Jacksonville
* Mayflower
* Maumelle
* Pine Bluff
* Searey
* Sherwood
* Stuttgart
* Ward
* White Hall
I think that's a pretty impressive coverage area for an initial offering. Some roads are missing, especially newer subdivisions, but most of what I've looked for has been available.

If you're not familiar with Google Streetview, it's basically another layer of information that's been added to Google Maps. Before, when you looked up an address on Google maps, you could either use a satellite view, a street map, or a combination of the two. Now, they've added Streetview, where you can actually view a three-dimensional picture of the area. You can see anything that would be visible from the road. When you have the StreetView activated, roads that are covered are highlighted in blue.

To gather all the data, they got cars equipped with cameras on top and drove all over town. Then Google complied that information so that when you look up an address, you can view what the camera saw when it drove by. Once you're looking at an area, you can use arrows to move down the street or scroll the camera view in any direction for a better look. I'm not sure when the data was collected, but gas was $2.59 at the time:



The one complaint I do have is one I also have with google maps. The location you're at when you pull up an address is not always right in front of the address. This means that if you search for an address, you might have to move down the street a couple of houses to see the one that's actually at the address you entered. The service is still wildly useful for all sorts of things.