Chi'Lantro

I experienced Chi'Lantro for the first time a few weekends ago with my boy Kevin and this weekend I introduced the homie Torre and my friend Aleise to it.

If more people don't know about it now in Austin, they will soon enough if I have anything to say about it.

Maybe I can get them to sponsor me.  Check out their website: http://www.chilantrobbq.com/

Here's the menu:

I usually get one Spicy Chicken taco, one Beef taco and Kimchi Fries (Fries with Carmelized Kimchi, Bulgogi, Cheddar Jack and Monterrey Cheese, Cilantro, Onion, Korean Peppers, Spicy Orange Sauce).  I know it sounds weird but I promise you, you won't regret it.  I gotta figure out how to get one of these up to the Dallas area.

The coolest thing is they do it all from a traveling truck so you can find out where they'll be on any given day or night by checking http://twitter.com/chilantrobbq or the Chi'Lantro Facebook page.

Here's some pics of the food I found on the net...don't knock it until you try it:

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Kimchi Fries

 I always manage to catch them at the corner of 5th and Colorado when I'm in Austin.

Teleras Bread, Korean BBQ Tacos, City Meat Market, & H-Town

This past weekend was a pretty good one.  I woke up Friday morning and decided I wanted to snag my latest breakfast addiction.  There's this place called Fuzzy's Taco Shop off of Abram in Arlington that I like to eat breakfast and lunch from time to time.  For the longest I'd been wanting to try one of their breakfast sandwiches because its on this bread called Teleras bread.  Well let's just say the sandwich didn't let me down.  Bacon, eggs, cheese, jalapenos and cilantro on Teleras bread with a side of Latin fried potatoes.  Doesn't get much better than that.  Took it back to my office and grubbed

Fuzzy's Breakfast Sandwich

I managed to make it through my day and left work around 3pm.  I ran home and played a quick game in my Orangebloods Online Dynasty in NCAA 2011 and then packed a bag because I was heading to Austin for the weekend.  Initially I was just going to ride down to Austin with my best friend Torre.  He wanted to go out and watch some DJ's mix in Austin because he's trying to get in DJing.  I ended up decided I'd just go ahead and drive myself because I needed to be able to get around and do a few things while I was back home.

Torre met me over at the crib around 6pm and as we got ready to hit the road I couldn't find my wallet.  I looked everywhere and it was nowhere to be found.  Where was the last place I saw it?  Fuzzy's.  I called the shop and they said they didn't have it.  I checked online and didn't have any new charges so I'd resolved that maybe I'd just left it in my office.  Luckily I had my CHL and a credit card so I decided I'd just go ahead and hit the road.

Once we got to Austin we chilled for a little bit before hitting the town.  I had to borrow some cash from my mom because where is my wallet?  Somewhere in Dallas.  Another really good friend, Aleise, decided she'd roll with us so we went to this spot downtown called Karma Lounge.  We've been going there for years now and are friends with owner so we always have a good time.  The scene has really changed in the last two years though and unfortunately not for the better.  All the same, my boy Donte was DJing that night so at least we knew the music would be legit.  At the end of the night when the clubs let out I wanted Torre and Aleise to try this spot I discovered with my boy Kevin last time I was in Austin.  Almost like it's straight out of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives was one of those truck stands.  This one was different than any other I've had: Korean BBQ Tacos.

Korean BBQ Tacos

 Now usually I'm pretty skeptical of something like this but as you can see from the line, it's pretty popular. We each had one beef and one chicken taco and I also had something they call Kimchi Fries that had some kind of spicy cabbage type relish and chicken on it.  Out of this world.  My poor camera phone image doesn't do it any justice.  All in all we had a successful night.

Kimchi Fries

 The next morning came way to fast.  My dad is a morning person.  I'm not.  Ever since I was little my dad has always felt as if everyone should be awake when he is so he made it a point to be extra loud and wake me up.  This particular morning was a little bit different though.  My brother and I had been wanting to get my dad a new barbecue pit for a LONG time.  He really needed it because he loves to barbecue and well...this is what his old one looked like:

My brother found some guys in Houston that would make a pit the way my dad wanted it and do us a solid on the deal since it was a friend of a friend kind of thing so we made a family road trip out of it.  My dad, mom, brother and I piled into my truck and decided to hit the road to H-Town but not without first stopping at City Meat Market in Giddings along the way.  If you ever are near try their Boston Butt.  No pun intended.  We grubbed.

City Meat Market - Giddings, TX

The Menu

My brother ready to grub

Before

After

After we were good and full we were back on the road.  Had to make a quick pit stop at my favorite "store" - Buc-ee's.  I say "store" because it's a gas station, deli, sandwich shop, craft store and outdoors store all wrapped in one.  If you ever see one, stop.  You will not be disappointed.

Buc-ee's

 We got back on the road and finally made it to Houston.  We went straight to the place to pick up my dad's BBQ pit and the second we turned in there my dad started grinning from ear to ear.  His pit turned out to be a flat out beast.  The guys who made it were real cool and reminded me of just some good ole country boys from back in East Texas where my mom's side of our family is from.  We talked to the guys for a little while and finally hooked the pit up to my truck and made our way back to Austin.

My dad (left), folks who made the pit and my brother (middle)

Hooked up to my truck and ready to roll

Back in Austin getting it into the backyard was fun

 My dad through some meat on there for a test run and it turned out pretty damn good.  I'm just glad we cook put a big smile on my dad's face.  He's the hardest working person I know and rarely let's us do anything major for him so to allow him to be able to enjoy barbecuing the right way is priceless.  

I loaded up and hit the road back to Dallas so I could get home in time for the Cowboys/Bengals preseason game.  I'm not even a Cowboys fan but it was live football that I've been without for 6 months so I wasn't about to miss it.

All in all in was a very productive and personally rewarding weekend.  Teleras Bread, Korean BBQ Tacos, City Meat Market, H-Town.  Not bad at all.

-M.G.M.

No Shag On My Head

I try to get in the barbershop at least once every two weeks. Well. Let me clarify.

Usually I go to the shop on Thursday nights or Friday afternoons. Let me give you a brief run down about me and barbers/barbershops I've only let a few people cut my hair in my lifetime: my dad (didn't really have a choice), Larry Dibbles (college teammate - when I was a broke college kid there was nothing like a free cut), Jett (my long time barber in Pflugerville) and Chico (my barber in Grand Prairie). I'm real particular about who cuts my hair and I'm very much a creature of habit. When I first moved to Grand Prairie, I didn't get my haircut for almost a month because I wasn't comfortable with any of the barbers in the Dallas area. You won't catch me with a shag on my head. Yea - that picture below on the right - that's a shag worn by non other than OU-ex and Dallas representer Lendy Holmes. One of my old teammates Michael Huff (@Huffy247 on Twitter) has been known to rock one to this day. He plays for the Raiders now and if you ask him, he'll tell you he's "from the Crooked I" - you probably know that place as Irving, Texas.

 

I can't be THAT guy.  Nope.  I stick with the good ole taper fade.  At any rate, last night's trip to the barbershop was pretty uneventful.  I was able to pick up a couple of the latest DVDs that aren't supposed to be out yet (Kevin Hart's Seriously Funny and SALT).  That was the polite way of me saying I copped a couple bootlegs.  Chico was running a little behind today so I ended up sitting around for a good while before I got in the chair.  This too is a common theme in the black barbershops across America.
 
This trip's main topics of discussion were Shaq to the Celtics and how he makes them better (doesn't matter - as much as I hate to say it, the damn Lakers are going to 3-peat) and a conspiracy theory that the National Championship game between Texas and Alabama was fixed and that's why Colt McCoy couldn't return to the game.  Oh if you could have only been a fly on the wall for that discussion.  LOL.  I think I'm going to have to take my camera into the shop one day and do some videos....maybe that'll be what my shop blogs turn into.  We'll see.
 
At any rate, I'm fresh and clean again and people shouldn't mistake me for Wolverine anymore.  But you definitely won't find a shag on my head anytime soon. In fact - not neva!
 
-M.G.M.

Sunday NFL Ticket - The Myers Way

I go through this every single year with DirecTV.  Same song and dance.  They go up on their prices for Sunday NFL Ticket.  I threaten to cancel.  They give me all kinds of discounts.

This year was a tad different - initially.  I found out DirecTV was changing the Sunday NFL Ticket package to remove SuperFan and make it one package.  Really what they did was remove the online viewing part of SuperFan, renamed it “To Go” and put everything else (Red Zone Channel, Game Mix, Shortcuts and HD) into the base package.  What's all that mean?  A renewal price of $300.  Most people would feel like this is ridiculous to pay but the way I look at this is as follows: $300 divided by 17 NFL weeks equals a little more than $17 a week to be able to watch every single NFL game from the comfort of my home, on my computer and/or on my BlackBerry (which will be extra cool when I cop this new BlackBerry Torch when it comes out next week).

Now for a fantasy football geek and football addict like myself, $17 a week is pretty damn good if you ask me.  That being said, mama didn't raise a fool.  I used to be embarrassed when we'd go places and my mom would complain about poor service to get a discount at a restaurant or electronics store.  The apple didn't fall far from the tree though. Take too long to bring my food out at a restaurant if you want to. "May I see your manager please (after the food is delivered of course)?"  I did the same thing with DirecTV...again...this year.

A couple months ago I signed up for DirecTV's Whole Home DVR Service.  This was the final piece to what I needed to keep me from going to UVerse.  Well I've been having some problems with my service and I used that as an opportunity to haggle DirecTV some.  The key to this is when you call, ask to directly speak with Customer Retention.  Skip all the other stuff.

I explained how I've been a loyal customer for years, paid the premium to have the Whole Home DVR Service and that service isn't working properly and how I needed to be compensated in some fashion or - and this is the key - I'll cancel my subscription and go to UVerse since they already have my phone and internet business.

At that exact moment it was like the gates of heaven opened up, choirs started singing, birds started chirping, the stars got a little brighter...you get the point.  The rep immediately started typing away and said she would give me $20 off per month for 6 months (the duration of football season).  Let's do the math: 6 months times $20 per month equals $120 off.  $300 initial price minus $120 equals $180 for the Sunday NFL Ticket.  $180 divided by 17 weeks of the NFL season equals about $10.50 per week.  Pretty good huh?  Most people would stop there right?

Not Cheryl Myers' son.

I continued to explain how I had friends who were just now signing up for DirecTV that were being rewarded with package deals as new customers and yet each year my bill continued to increase as a loyal customer.  Again I hear her typing away and next thing I know she comes back saying I'll get an extra $10 off my overall bill (equates to negating the $10 per month HD service fee) for the next 24 months and after that, if I call again, they'll give it to me for another 24 months.  Well for the NFL season, that now takes me down to $120 for Sunday NFL Ticket.  $120 divided by 17 weeks in the NFL season equals me watching EVERY SINGLE NFL GAME for a whopping $7 a week.

So if any of you are looking for me during this NFL season on a Sunday I'll be in my Man Cave...well...pretty much all day.  I'll go to the 7am service at my church and from noon until about 10pm at night I'll be in the Cave with my remote in one hand, a drink in the other, laptop to follow my fantasy teams progress at my side and some food nearby.

Oh...and I forgot to mention...someone is coming out on Friday afternoon to fix my problems with my Whole Home DVR service.  A service call usually runs $44.99.  "But mam...do you realize how flawed it is that I have to pay to have one of your employees come out to fix something that I'm not responsible for its technical flaws?"  More typing.  Response: "As a valued customer Mr. Myers, we'd be happy to provide with this service free of charge."  Worst part about all this?  I'll probably call back in a few days and see if I can get them to knock another $5 or $10 off a month somehow.  Why settle right?  Worst they can say is no.

Yep.  Cheryl will be proud when I tell her about this one.

-M.G.M.