Fred's Texas Cafe

So I was out running errands on my bicycle today, yeah 100+ today, and I went into Fred's Texas Cafe at 915 Currie Street in Fort Worth to refill my water bottle.



I never made it out.

That sounds like a bad thing. Really, it was an awesome thing.

I've heard about Fred's for while now, but every time I've thought about trying them, they were packed (they do get packed). But I was running errands on my bicycle today and they brought me to Fred's just as the lunch hour started. Like I said, I just went in for some water. Then it hit me: The smell of Fred's burgers and their other foods cooking. You just can't walk away from a smell like that if you're anywhere near a mealtime.

Here it is, short and sweet: AWESOME burger, GREAT fries and COLDASS beer.




The burger tastes like it just came off the grill in the back yard. I got mine with cheese "all the way."  The toppings were fresh and crisp. The burger itself was just a little pink inside, just the way I like it. The fries are some of the best I've had. They are cut from whole potatoes with the skin on, and they "double fry" them to make them crispy on the outside, tender inside. And my coldass (their word, by the way) beer was only $2. With the beer, the bill came to about $12. A little pricy for just a burger I suppose, but it was worth it. (Actually, this is becoming pretty typical for the best burger joints locally.)

But that's only half the story. When I asked for the water, the bartender was friendly and gladly filled my bottle. Brian, the inmate in charge of the place, more than made me feel at home. When I decided to stay, I went out to lock up my bike and he followed me out and he asked a few questions about the bike. In general, everyone else that worked there was that friendly. I mean, they really love the place, so it pulls you in.

I wouldn't have minded staying longer, but the sun was hot and getting hotter and I had to pedal home.

Mijo's Fusion

Another bike date with the missus. This time we rode through Fairmount neighborhood up to Mijo's Fusion, a new restaurant at 1109 W. Magnolia Ave. in Fort Worth. They are in the space formerly occupied by Junsuree Thai restaurant (a favorite of ours). The decor inside the restaurant has been completely remodeled (yeah, it was kind of empty; we ate a late lunch).

Bailey's Bar-B-Que

I was out of town on business this week. I got back Thursday night and had Friday off, so I had a chance to ride around on The Whip for a longish ride (26 miles). I went downtown to see the new location of Trinity Bicycles... more about that later. I also had a late lunch at Bailey's Bar-B-Que. I've been meaning to go there for quite a while, but since they're only open for lunch, I haven't had a chance.

Bailey's is a unique little place. In the middle of larger buildings downtown at 826 Tailor Street, they've been serving barbecued brisket since 1931. I suppose this place has seen a lot of Fort Worth history.

Los Vaqueros in the Stockyards

You may want to peruse my previous review of Los Vaqueros.

If you get there by bicycle, you don't have feel guilty about having dessert. ;- )



Coincidentally enough, we ordered the same thing we ordered last time. I had the brisket tacos and Mrs. Doohickie had the veggie enchiladas.



Part of the reason I'm posting another review of Los Vaqueros is this: They are my favorite Mexican restaurant. Period. The reason is this: You know your Mexican grandmother? The one who cooks stuff that is so much more delicious than that Mexican food you can get in restaurants? Well, no, I don't have one of those either. But if I had a Mexican abuela, this is how her food would taste.

The beans are a treasure. The brisket in the tacos is unbelievably rich and flavorful. My wife likes all the different veggies in the veggie enchiladas. The food just tastes like mi abuela spent all day cooking just for me.

To add to the atmosphere, the wait staff really make us feel like family as well. There is a genuineness in the way they interact that makes us feel like they are there for us and just us. And they bring the food fast.

Oh, and since we did ride our bikes to dinner, we decided to indulge in dessert.



The sopapillas have a similar homemade essence to them. Rolled in sugar and just a touch of cinnamon, they come with honey, a strawberry glaze, and whipped cream. The amount was generous but we somehow managed to finish them off.

Shaw's Burgers and Shakes

I intended to do a breakfast ride but got rolling late this morning. So I rode over to the Southside, not knowing where I would end up, and decided to get some lunch at Shaw's Burgers and Shakes at 1057 W. Magnolia Ave, Fort Worth. It's not a huge place, kind of cozy. I decided to sit out on the patio.

City Pig BBQ

So I finally got around to trying a place I've passed probably a hundred times: City Pig BBQ at 2001 8th Ave. at Arlington in Fort Worth. They have all the normal Texas barbecue favorites, brisket and the like, but at a place named City Pig, you gotta go with some kind of pork.

Magnolia Motor Lounge

This post was brought to you by Car Free Fridays Fort Worth.

I took a little ride on my off day. I stopped by the City Cyclist where they are busy as always. They got a nice letter from someone they recently sold an ICE recumbent bike to. Debbie said hearing from the customers makes it worthwhile. After chatting with the crowd there, I rode up the McCart corridor toward the southside. I wandered a block or two off my normal route and found some interesting neighborhoods. The most unusual thing I saw, a block east of McCart (this is the middle of the city, folks) was this little guy.



OMG, it's a teeny little horsey!

Rock Bottom

Ocean Rock redux

So today Mrs. Doohickie and I went to lunch at Ocean Rock... er, I mean Rock Bottom. It's a bit confusing; Rock Bottom just opened recently.



Before that, it was Ocean Rock.



We liked Ocean Rock. One of the things Mrs. Doohickie liked is they had a good Key Lime Pie. After checking out the menu for the new Rock Bottom, we saw they have Key Lime Pie on the menu and decided to try lunch there.

Rock Bottom has a decor very similar to the previous tenant; if anything there is a bit more pandering to the TCU crowd, both in what hangs on the walls and in menu items. The service was good- very attentive and several servers asked us if we needed anything even though we weren't their table. It was prompt too and the food arrived quickly. I had the Baja Fish Tacos.



They were excellent, with a great blend of flavors. Mrs. Doohickie had the Santa Fe Veggie Wrap, but had regular ranch instead of the jalapeño cilantro ranch dressing and a spinach tortilla instead of the jalapeño cheddar.



She liked her lunch a lot. The staff was totally cool about substituting for milder flavors.

Overall our experience was excellent and the food was great. I have two minor criticisms though: They were out of Key Lime Pie! That was the reason we decided to try them in the first place. (Oh well, I guess we'll need to go back for that another time.) Also, they had neither a lunch menu nor lunch specials. I usually don't pay $10.99 (not including drink) for lunch. The fish tacos were good, but equivalent level of food can be had elsewhere for less.

I mentioned the lack of a lunch menu to our server; I hope she passes the idea on to the management.

With just a little tweaking I can see Rock Bottom becoming one of our regular stops.

The Spiral Diner

A Carnivore's Guide

If you haven't heard, Fort Worth has a pretty good vegan diner. The Spiral Diner & Bakery, at 1314 West Magnolia Avenue, is the best choice for vegans in Fort Worth. Surprisingly they have what it takes to keep meat eaters happy as well.



The decor of the place is what you would expect for a hippie-vegan place. Kind of mid-20th Century shabby chic...



...on hallucinogens.



The wait staff are in character too, with tattoos and piercings and stuff. They are always friendly and make you feel welcome. This time around, Mrs. Doohickie ordered her usual- a Hummus appetizer and Sweet Luv’Us Hummus Wrap. I ordered the special which was a Meatloaf Dinner. Ermmmmm, I mean Meatlessloaf. Whatever.



The portions are surprisingly filling. They are also surprisingly realistic, even though they have no meat or dairy or anything like that. You can go meatless without hardly realizing it. One of my favorites when I'm not in the mood for the special is the Jamaican Jerk BBQ San’ich which, if I didn't know any better, I would think was made of real pork.

This is where I go off and editorialize a bit: I'm not vegetarian; Mrs. Doohickie is. When we go to a vegan restaurant, she orders something vegetablely. Her wrap had baked sweet potato, hummus, broccoli, cucumber, avocado, and salad greens. What I don't get is why some people try their best to make vegetarian food seem like meat. If eating vegan is so great, why fake it and make it like meat? I do appreciate it, mind you. Maybe they do it because they know there are mixed families and they want to keep the carnivores happy.

The Spiral Diner does this very well; I've never had a bad meal there. Oh... the other thing that makes me happy: They have an excellent selection of beers.



This time around it was Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. It's is a heavy, wheaty stout that will knock you on your can with 9% alcohol content. Delicious. Oh... and the ice cream is pretty good, too! So to sum it up, don't be afraid of the vegan food at The Spiral Diner, even if you'd rather just run out for some barbecue. Those crafty vegans are so tricky, you won't know you're not eating meat.

Pak-A-Pocket

I first learned of Pak-A-Pocket at 5512-D Bellaire Dr South (at the corner of Bryant Irvin) when I was working a short distance away. I went there a handful of times for lunch. Tonight I stopped in unexpectedly but figured it was a good opportunity for a review.

You see, I was riding my bike home from work, and a front blew through. Rain? I can handle that. Lightning? Well... maybe if it's not too close. When I was within about a block of Pak-A-Pocket, I decided it was too close (in fact it was lightning on both sides of me, not a good sign).

So I stopped in at Pak-A-Pocket, called my wife to let her know what was going on, and had dinner. I had a shawarma gyro (that's what it's called, although in my mind the name is redundant).


Order at the counter

All the food is good at Pak-A-Pocket. They will pack just about anything fresh and delicious in a pita and serve it. They have good hummus too. And if you don't want the pita, they'll make a salad with the same great stuff. They've been there 24 years, so they know what they're doing. The prices are very reasonable and the service is prompt and friendly.


Unique decor

Like I said, I had the shawarma: Great seasoned meat, tucked in a pita pocket, with tomatoes and onions and a cucumber sauce. Brilliant in its simplicity, and Pak-A-Pocket's version is both delicious and satisfying (i.e., fills you up).


Forgive me, but I ate the pickle & took a bite of the pocket before I remembered to take a picture of it

The weather was still threatening so I had some of the homemade pita chips. They are awesome.

But the story doesn't end there. While chit-chatting with the proprietor Imad, we realized that we live fairly close to each other. I called my son a couple times to have him check the weather radar, but it was a hard read: The storm was literally forming over me and wasn't moving in a clear direction. Imad graciously mentioned that they close the restaurant at 7 pm (it was already 7:10) and if I wanted, he could give me and my bike a ride home in his van. I took him up on his offer, which was a good thing because we saw several close lightning strikes on the way home. He dropped me right off at my driveway, and then he was on his way home.

So hats off to Imad and Pak-A-Pocket. Great food, great prices, and super-great service!

Los Vaqueros in the Stockyards

There are a lot of good Mexican restaurants in Fort Worth. It's hard to pick the best one, though, because they are all so excellent in different ways. Los Vaqueros at 2629 North Main is on the short list for sure. It is, in my opinion, the best in the Stockyards area.

From Main Street, it looks like an old warehouse.



Even from the parking lot, you might not be too sure about the place.



The restaurant has an odd balance of formality and familiarity. I get the feeling of an honored guest being received in someone's home, but after being seated, I feel like I'm being treated like long, lost family.

We enjoyed our drinks over complimentary chips & salsa. My margarita was excellent. I ordered the special- brisket tacos, and Mrs. Doohickie ordered her favorite- veggie enchiladas.

Although this is clearly a Mexican restaurant, there is an old Texas feel to it. This particular Friday, a three-piece combo was playing. At first I thought it was a mariachi combo, but this evening Texas swing ruled.



They played acoustic guitar, fiddle & bass, wandering from table to table. The table next to us had a young couple, a set of grandparents, and a baby boy. They sang (what else) "Mommas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys." For us, they sang the Bob Wills standard "New San Antonio Rose."



Every restaurant has its downside, and for Los Vaqueros, it's that the food takes a little longer than you think it should. We know this, and when we go there it always seems like we have time to burn. This particular evening we were both dealing with tough weeks at work, and the time spent hanging out, chatting, listening to the music and just people watching, was just what we needed to relax. Then our food arrived.



Mrs. Doohickie is a vegetarian, so she is picky about her veggie enchiladas. The enchiladas at Los Vaqueros are perfect; they are not an afterthought but rather a feast of squash, zucchini, onion, red peppers and mushrooms wrapped in fresh tortillas and topped with a sour cream sauce with a citrus twang.

There is a lot of good stuff on the menu at Los Vaqueros, but lately I tend to opt for the special if it sounds at all good. The brisket tacos were a good move. There were two big tacos with all the fixins, and where most brisket tacos have chopped or shredded meat, these tacos had cubes of brisket about 3/4" on a side, tender chunks of succulent meat (okay, that sounds like an exaggeration, but if it's true, it's true!) The meat was complemented by feta cheese for a great flavor.

One thing I needed to add to this post.... many dinner entrees are under $10, and the most expensive item on the menu is under $15. This place is affordable.

In short, yeah, it takes a while for the food to get there, but trust me, it's worth the wait. And if you are out on a date or socializing with a large group, having to wait a bit for your food isn't necessarily a bad thing.

After dinner we wandered back to our car which was parked at the other end of the Stockyards. To end the post I'll just share a few views on our way back to through the Stockyards.

The back side of the Cowtown Colliseum


The "green room" for the rodeo


"You ready for the rodeo tonight, Henry?" "Yep."


Front view of the Cowtown Colliseum


Looking down Exchange Street toward Main


Stockyards Station... the old pig and sheep pens converted to shops for the tourists. Yes, a train still comes in there; it runs from the Stockyards up to Grapevine

Food Reviews on Doohickie

Pork Torta at Mijo's Fusion

So you live in Fort Worth and don't know what you want to eat? I can help! I've been compiling posts that contain food reviews (sometimes the reviews are buried in stories about bicycle rides). I've tagged all these posts with the food tag and broke them down into breakfast and dinner (which includes both lunch & dinner actually). Oh, and there's beer, too!

All food reviews
...All breakfast reviews
......Rosebud Cafe June 25, 2010
......Our Place Restaurant June 5, 2010
......Ol' South Pancake House May 14, 2010
......Dixie House Cafe Apr 16, 2010
......Montgomery St. Cafe Feb 5, 2010
......Paco & John's Mexican Diner Jan 27, 2010
......Galligaskin' Submarines Nov 25, 2009
......Paris Coffee Shop Nov 16, 2009
......Esperanza's Sep 22, 2009
...All lunch and dinner reviews
......Mijo's Fusion April 27, 2012
......Bailey's Bar-B-Que March 2, 2012
......Shaw's Burgers & Shakes Jan 7, 2011
......City Pig BBQ Oct 29, 2010
......Magnolia Motor Lounge Oct 1, 2010
......The Spiral Diner and Bakery June 4, 2010
......Pak-A-Pocket June 2, 2010
......Los Vaqueros in the Stockyards May 28, 2010 & December 30, 2011
......Yucatan Taco Stand Feb 27, 2010
......Momma Mia's Jan 22, 2010
......Cousin's Barbecue Jan 8, 2010
......Benito's Jan 2, 2010
......La Familia Oct 18, 2009
......Buffalo Bros. Mar 22, 2009
...All beer reviews
......Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout June 4, 2010
......Shiner Smokehaus Sep 2, 2009

Yucatan Taco Stand

Mrs. Doohickie and I have recently discovered Yucatan Taco Stand at 909 West Magnolia in Fort Worth.

I really like this place but...

It is noisy and it isn't cheap.

You don't get ripped off and there are definitely some bargains on the menu, but this isn't Taco Bell. I wish the noise level was a little less. This tends to be a place where it's hard to have a quiet conversation because you find yourself talking over the din. There, now that we've got that out of the way, let's enjoy ourselves.



There's nothing to be done about the noise (which actually is a problem at many restaurants these days). As for the price, the ambiance is upscale and the food is very fresh and high quality, and you pay for it; it's as simple as that.



Upon entering you go to a counter to place your order, get your drinks, and then you sit where you want. There is a bar area, a dining room and outdoor seating. All the areas inside are non-smoking, which is nice for this non-smoker. Once your food is ready they bring it out to your table.

Mrs. Doohickie is a vegetarian, and there are enough veggie selections to keep her happy. This visit she had the Latin Vegetarian Mix-Mex Grill



...and I had a Tempura Fish Taco and a Special Ground Sirloin Taco. Each was a handful!



I wouldn't quite use the word gourmet, but this food is very good, very fresh, well-prepared and well-seasoned. If you know to expect to pay a little more than you would for Taco Bell, and that people like to talk in here, you'll enjoy your visit.

Momma Mia's on Magnolia

Mrs. Doohickie and I both arrived home from (different) business trips this evening at dinner time and decided to try the new Momma Mia's Italian Grill & Pizza at 1000 W. Magnolia in Fort Worth. Several months ago, one of our favorite Italian restaurants, Palermo's was at this site but they closed and Momma Mia's remodeled the place. Gone are model train tracks near the ceiling. Gone also is the bar, and the liquor license (replaced with a service bar) and the stage in the middle of the dining room. Also, the entrance was switched from the west dining room to the east dining room. Palermo's was a bit odd in some ways, but we liked it. The Lobster Ravioli was my wife's favorite.

Moving on, the place is now Momma Mia's. They've been open about 2 weeks now. They've had a location on Belknap Street for much longer than that, so they should know what they're doing. We were looking forward to trying them out. The newly remodeled restaurant is laid out a little better now, and has been redecorated as unambiguously Italian. My son pointed out the irony that one wall which had replaced an older wall had been painted to make it look old.... why not just keep the old wall?

Anyway, on to the meal: One thing I liked about Palermo's was having a nice glass of wine with dinner. That now requires advanced planning at Momma Mia's since they are now BYOB. I ordered the Veal Marsala; my wife ordered Salmon Piccata with Penne Pasta, and my son had the Shrimp Scampi. While we were waiting for our food, my son mentioned that he ordered the shrimp because that is his benchmark dish to rate an Italian restaurant. I feel the same about the veal.

With our drinks we received yeasty, garlicky rolls that didn't need butter to make them taste fantastic. The salads were standard appetizer salads. I ordered the house vinaigrette which was okay but not great. When the meals were delivered, I found the Veal Marsala to be perfect. A nicely seasoned sauce over tender veal cutlets.

My wife, however, found the salmon lacking. It was a generously sized serving, but it was dry and overcooked. The penne pasta was also on the "dry" side. Her whole meal could have used more moisture. My son was similarly unimpressed by the scampi. He said the seasoning didn't taste right for shrimp; it would have been more appropriate for steak, and it was also overcooked. He said it started out bad and got worse with each shrimp and he left two. Thinking that shrimp is too expensive to leave behind, I tried one and he was right, it was dried out and terrible.

To make things worse, an older lady who was apparently the manager or owner asked how things were and we replied, "Not good." She wasn't listening because she just smiled and continued on through the dining room. It was hard not to feel a little insulted by this. And since she kind of blew us off the first time, I didn't try to talk to her about the poor food. We just paid and got out of there.

To summarize: Momma Mia's is a typical mom & pop restaurant with cheesy Italian decorations and great Veal Marsala, but don't order anything that will be broiled unless you like your food dry. Oh, and expect to pay about 20 or 25% more than you did when it was Palermo's.

Cousin's Barbecue

I did 14 miles of bicycle errands today, starting out at 16º F (my coldest temp on a bike) and a 15-20 mph headwind on the outbound leg (note the flags standing straight out from the poles):



I rode my Schwinn Cutter single speed. The balaclava worked fine. I had to expose my nose when it got too foggy and cover it up when I got cold again.



What did I wear? From the bottom up, two pairs of socks, leather shoes, bike tights under jeans, a t-shirt, turtleneck, sweatshirt and nylon windbreaker, wool gloves with mitten caps (pretty cool actually- they are gloves that have exposed fingertips, but also have mitten caps you can fold over the fingers to keep the wind off), balaclava and helmet. I could have used a hat on top of the balaclava for the upwind portion of the run. Errands included going to the doctor's office to get new prescription scripts (we have to do mail-order under our new insurance), a trip to the eye doctor, and lunch.

I had barbecue. Talking about eating barbecue in Texas is like talking about breathing. You just do it without thinking about it. In Fort Worth there are several options that people argue about as to which is best, including Railhead, Angelo's, Riscky's & the best from my side of town, Cousin's.

Today I had beef brisket lunch at Cousin's Barbeque. I went to the original location on McCart at Westcreek.



Like most barbecue joints in the area, you order off a big menu at the front of the line and the service is cafeteria style.



Sushi chefs have nothing on barbecue carvers. Stay outta the way of that knife!



I ordered the sliced beef brisket barbecue plate. At Cousin's it comes with two sides and Texas toast. The pickles are from the condiments bar.



What can you say about barbecue? From what this yankee has learned since moving to Texas, traditional barbecue came from a desire to feed a bunch of ranch hands with the cheapest cut of meat available. The brisket is generally a stringy muscle that can be tough if not cooked right. But if it's slowly smoked, it comes out mouth-wateringly good, and so tender it practically melts in your mouth. I like Cousin's because the meat is so tender. Also, the barbecue sauce is tasty without being too strong. They definitely do it right.

Every barbecue place in Fort Worth has its niche. Railhead is a "see & be seen" place; Angelo's is old school. Riscky's is where the tourists go (they are downtown). Spring Creek is the "McDonald's" of DFW barbecue with lots of locations around. To me, Cousin's is barbecue that's cooked for the locals, without pretense. It is excellent and I highly recommend it. If you need a second opinion, ask Mrs. Doohickie's dad. Last time he visited we took him to Cousin's; he couldn't get enough of the stuff and we had several meals there. Cousin's truly is one of the barbecue icons of Fort Worth.

After lunch I went over for a visit at City Cyclist, by favorite LBS (local bike shop) which is in the same shopping center as Cousin's. I got to see a happy customer buy a Biria Classic Dutch bike. Her exact words after she finished her test ride were, "I'm in love!"

Finally it was time to head for home. I was freezing when I started. The homeward portion of the ride included a tailwind and getting home was a breeze.

At Last, Benito's

Back in September I set out to Benito's for breakfast, so I ended up diverting to Esperanza's. It was only after I got there that I realized they open at 11 am during the week (and 10 am on weekends). Today, Mrs. Doohickie and I went to grab some lunch at The Spiral Diner, but they were packed so we diverted to Benito's a couple blocks down at 1450 West Magnolia Avenue, Fort Worth.



The one thing that always puzzled me was all the Mexican blankets in the windows. Why didn't they want us to see inside? It turns out it has more to do with blocking the sunlight. From the inside my camera still sees the south wall as solid white,



...although in reality the lighting was fairly even and pleasant. Mrs. Doohickie is a vegetarian so she ordered spinach and cheese enchiladas. They come with a hot sauce but she asked that they leave it off. I ordered Combinación #3 which was one enchilada, one tamale, and one soft taco. The ordering was a little iffy in that we couldn't quite tell how well our waitress spoke English. She answered our questions... we think, and did our best to order. In other words, this is an authentic Mexican restaurant. Luckily the menu was bilingual. The meal came with tortilla soup,



...which was delicious. Mrs. Doohickie's only complaint was that without the sauce her enchiladas were a little on the bland side (but then again, she didn't want spicy hot). My meal,



...was tasty. The taco was your basic taco (I ate half of it before I took the pic... duh!), the tamale was HUGE, and the enchilada was great- it was a cheese enchilada topped with chile meat, with cheese over the whole thing. I think that was my favorite part. The total bill was about $20 including tip.

I would highly recommend Benito's, especially if you have out-of-town guests you'd like to take for good Mexican food. Even though there was a bit of a language barrier, we felt very much at home.

BABBLE Ride, October 17

Yesterday, the newly formed and loosely associated group known as BABBLE had its first ride. BABBLE is Bicycle Authors, Bloggers, Boldfaced Liars and Exaggerators. It was formed by a number of bloggers who write about cycling in the Fort Worth and Dallas areas. We thought it would be cool to get together and take a little ride, have a little lunch, and make up a funny name for ourselves.

We met at the Texas & Pacific Rail Station Park & Ride lot at the south end of downtown Fort Worth. There are about a half dozen of us, so we weren't expecting much of a turnout. Word got out on some other local blogs and message boards, though, and we ended up with lots of unexpected riders- almost 20 of us!


Chris of Pondero blog ponders the collection of bikes.


This is Frankenbike, the creation of Steve A of DFW Point-to-Point. This bike is far uglier in person than than I would have believed from the pictures I've seen. ;-)


Chris's Homer Hilson, on the other hand, is gorgeous.


Mounting up!


This is Rose; her propulsion was provided by her dad, chimericslashes.


Artsy bike picture.


Another one.


Finally we begin.


A motley group.


First stop: Panther City Bicycles.


Refreshments available include Fort Worth-brewed Rahr beer on tap.

Onward we go.


Oops! That was a quick light!


Another stop for the BABBLE posse...


...at Colonel's Bicycles near TCU.


BABBLErs gawking around in Colonel's


Riding near Colonial Country Club.


Getting on the Trinity River Trail at Overton Creek.




We got off the river trail at Trinity Park.




Cutting through the industrial area that leads to...


...La Familia for lunch!


Wish you were here, R A N T W I C K!


The enchiladas were excellent!


A great time was had by all! BABBLE founders include Chandra (Green Commotion, bright yellow shirt), Steve A (DFW Point-to-Point, blue shirt), Myles (Rat Trap Press, red shirt), me- Paul H (Doohickie, next to Myles), then next to me Chris (Pondero) and Reed (ChipSeal). I regret to say I'm not too good with names, so several of our new friends will have to remain nameless for now. Maybe on the next ride I'll be better with names. I also regret that I missed the rest of the ride; I had to get home for another appointment and left the group after eating lunch. I took more pictures of the ride; you can see them here.

If you want to see what happened next, check out some these accounts of the ride:

DFW Point-to-Point
Rat Trap Press
Pondero
Fixed Dallas Twitter
Onespeed Dallas Twitter
fixedminusdicks Twitter Pics
Suburban Assault