Author: John

I enjoy travel, sports, music and anything else that jumps up at me for the moment, which is why I blog. There will be lots of travel posts, pictures and our videos as well as a smattering of sports and humor. I enjoy promoting Canada and am unabashedly a proud Albertan

Raíces Restaurant In Mazatlán, A Review

As we do from time to time, we make our way down the Centro area of Mazatlán. Today we, or more specifically Lori, were on threefold mission. First lunch, then looking for an object at Michaels Gallery and third, an ice cream cone.

Step 1 was to grab a pulmonia for transport to the Centro area. Somehow this turned into me getting a haircut, funny how that happens. Anyways, slightly delayed we found our chariot and headed down to Plaza Machado. This central square is a major heartbeat in this city. Circled by boutique hotels and fine dining, mixed in with some pizza places and many vendors, it is a wonderful thing to do on a beautiful afternoon and a great experience at night. It and the surrounding streets are beautifully lit and filled with music. There are many shops and bistros and stunning buildings and interiors.

On this journey we decided to lunch at Raíces De Mar Hotel which has an outdoor restaurant. It specializes in Mexican style dishes and is reasonably priced. For ourselves, we started with Lori having her favourite tool to judge a new place to us, a margarita on the rocks. As I had tested several locations over the past few days, I opted for a cappuccino. They passed our test on both beverages.

Photo by Is It Possible To See It All
Art Gallery Photo by Is It Possible To See It All

Now to the food. I chose the Al Placer Shrimp Tostada. A light lunch, listed as an appetizer. Shrimps, cooked and fried, red onion, Persian cucumber, cherry tomato, toasted tree chile, clamato, avocado, lemon juice, pepper and watermelon relish. It was great, ate it a bit quickly, it was just that good and only 150 pesos.

Lori contemplating the menu.

Lori had the Zarandeado Shrimp al Caimanero. This consisted of Zarandeado style shrimp served with mashed potatoes and garlic thyme roasted vegetables, watermelon radish and coriander. The vegetables served were green beans, broccoli and zucchini. She was satisfied with her choice. This was more of a meal and was priced at 320 pesos.

I would recommend Raíces to anyone wishing to try some Mazatlán cuisine without being to adventurous. One of many fine restaurants that both circle the Plaza and are scattered on the streets nearby. Mazatlán has over 4000 restaurants with many types of cuisine and every price range. We are rarely disappointed.

As for the rest of the day, the items we were looking for were nowhere to be found at Michaels. Counting the other locations, she cleaned them out of this particular product series. And we did get some cookies and creme ice cream cones at a place near the cathedral.

Concha Y Toro Gran Reserva Carmenere 2020

Photo by Is It Possible To See It All

This superb example of Chilean wine is a must. The grape is grown in the Cachapoal Valley in Chile. An affordable Gran Reserva at an average price of $21.46 CAD, it is rated as 4.0 by over 800 users on Vivino. This app is worthy of a download as it gives you valuable information on a wine by just taking a picture as it sits on the shelf of your favorite wine store.

Not light, not to bold. I’d say a very traditional wine. Leans to the smooth side, almost silky and is reasonably dry. There is definitely cherry and some oak. We see this as a fine complement to salmon or pasta, and would not be out of place with a nice ribeye steak. Best served at 15 degrees C, I would serve to anyone at any time with any meal.

Canada’s All Time Top Songs – #98

At 98 is a signature song from former Sweeney Todd singer, Nick Gilder. The track is Hot Child In The City. Nick was born in London, England in 1951 and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia.

His music career began as the singer for a group called Sweeny Todd and had a major hit while with them, “Roxy Roller”. After that success, Nick left the band, going solo and signing a record deal in the USA. In a strange twist, when Nick left the band, his replacement was a young Bryan Adams. That deal spawned the featured song, “Hot Child In The City” which hit number 1 in both Canada and the USA.

Riding the success of his new solo career, he won 2 Juno Awards (Canada’s Grammys), Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year and Single of the Year. He also won a People’s Choice award in the USA. Other than North America, the song did not have much success internationally and did even chart in the United Kingdom.

This song was the high point of his vocal career. He never again charted in the USA and had only a few songs chart in Canada.

He did have success as a songwriter as well, penning hits for diverse artist as Pat Benatar and Bette Midler. He is still touring in Canada and now lives back in Vancouver.

The Best Cover Song Of All Time – Round 1

It’s time for a new series, the greatest cover song of all time, and you get to pick it. This will take a while, based solely on the vast amount of existing covers. After extensive research, I have developed a list that will keep us on track, create some surprises and greatly expand our respective musical IQs. How this works is I will pit 2 cover songs against each other. You pick the one you like best, and the winner will move on to the next round. On to the music!

Fiona Apple’s iconic cover of the great Beatles song from 1969. Her version was recorded in 1998 as part of the soundtrack for the motion picture “Pleasantville”.

Skinny Love is a cover of Bon Iver’s original from 2007. She recorder her version in 2011.

Both songs are excellent, this should be a close one.

The Voice – A New Series – The Intro

Have you ever wondered what happened to that voice, the one you liked in season something? Did they continue their careers, or fold their tent and join the labour force? In this series, we will touch on some of the over 1000 contestants that have appeared in this franchise, at least the American version. I hope you find this interesting. I follow independent artists and offer support wherever I can. Most of these artists, who have continued, are basically independents. I found a list on Wikipedia and will use a random number generator to tell me which artist I will follow up with. I will also attempt to make contact and hopefully produce an interview. There should be some interesting conversations.

Canada’s All-Time Top Songs – #99

After a Visitor break (some old friends from Saskatchewan on their way to the Chepe Express) and a bit of a cold, maybe CoVid, I will continue to move forward to where I left off; here is 99 on the top 100 list. I have also added a few notes as an upgrade. I think I was in a hurry when I did this one. As for the Chepe Express, we plan on that one next year.

At 99, we present “We Run” by Strange Advance. A Vancouver new wave band, they formed in 1982 and were almost immediately nominated for a Juno (Canada’s Grammy) as the most promising band in 1983. We Run was taken from their album, “2WO”, and released as a single in 1985. It reached number 28 on the RPM pop chart. The band never made strides outside of Canada. In addition, they were mostly a session band and apparently had never played live before 1985.

They released 3 albums overall and essentially went dormant after releasing the 3rd in 1988. There is talk about a new album being released shortly.

There is more information on that release and the band overall at their website.

https://www.strangeadvance.com/

Gringo Lingo in Mazatlan

I promised to do some restaurant reviews and figured I’d start with the new addition to the Gold Zone, an old favourite starting up again in the same Gold Zone location as it was before.

Yes, Gringo Lingo is back. It’s not quite what it was, but it is open and is making strides towards being a significant player in the area. Our experience there was good; the staff was terrific and seemed to be enjoying themselves and working to make being there a memorable experience. I mean, how many bars/restaurants start up random line dances. It was the Macarena, but I’ll forgive them.

A highlight is the terrific happy hour, every day, from 4 until 6, on vodka, rum, tequila and gin. This includes margaritas, so all is good. A round looks like this;

What 8 margaritas look like from above.

As for the food, let’s say it will not be Michelin quality. The menu appears to be a work in progress, but the staff knows it and can assist with any questions. It was served hot and promptly. It is a good bar and grill style and did not disappoint. We had the Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti, the BBQ ribs and the fettuccine. No major complaints, although the ribs weren’t a hit with my partner. We will return before too long and will attend their happy hour occasionally.

The Menu

All in all, it was a good experience, and I would recommend giving it a try.

Canada’s All-Time Top Songs – #100

I’m revisiting a few old posts to kickstart a series I never finished. As a lover of Canadian music, I found a list of the top 100 Canadian hits. The song holding down the 100 spot is by Honeymoon Suite. The original post continues with a few tweaks below.

Back in the hair band days of the 1980s, Honeymoon Suite was a card-carrying member of the genre. Formed in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in 1981, they had a string of hits on Canadian radio and had some success in the USA market. The band’s name and the place they formed share a connection, which is very witty. Their big highlight was performing the title track for the movie Lethal Weapon.

Love Changes Everything was released in 1988 and is on their album Racing After Midnight. The song reached number 9 in Canada, 13 on the US Rock and 91 on the US chart, all by Billboard. The band is still recording, and its latest release was in 2019, with a new album coming on February 16, 2024. The album title is “Alive”.

Get ready to rock to a live version of the tune; live is always the best.

Remember to support independent artists; you never know what you will find.

To see and learn more about this icon of Canadian rock, hit the link. https://honeymoonsuiteband.com/

The Best Canadian Bands 147 – Thor

I decided to start a new series, sort of. I did something similar a few years back, but my urge to put stuff on paper (paper?) dissipated. Now, I am once more giving it a go. I have a sense of music patriotism and tend to want to highlight Canadian music. Might it be because I’m a Canadian?

To begin, I found a list. It is a living document with additions and deletions, so the rank number is a moving target, more of a placeholder for now. The point is that they are bands from Canada. You may end up surprised that some of your favourites are here and are from Canada. 

First up is Thor. I am unfamiliar with them, but I’m going with the list and will likely find some bands I will love and some, maybe not so much.

Thor is a heavy metal band from Vancouver, BC. They have been recording since 1973 and have released 28 albums and 6 EPs. Their most recent release was in 2021.

As you can imagine, the band has undergone many changes in 50 years. Their Wiki page contains a full listing of past and present members. Lovers of the genre will likely know of many of them and the long list of guest artists appearing on their recordings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_(band)

I added the song “The Ultimate Alliance” from their most recent album, “Alliance.” I may not be their biggest fan, but I always enjoy and respect the talent it takes to become a recorded artist with a strong following.