Jimmy John's strategy for taking over a big chunk of the area sandwich game will soon move into phase 2.

A quick stop by the Hewitt shopping center currently anchored by Rosati's on Monday revealed several different crews at diligent work preparing the new Jimmy John's store to open. It appeared electricians were readying the drive thru menu, while Jimmy John's staff members were meeting inside.

Oh yeah, here's the important thing: a sign in the window announced that the Hewitt Jimmy John's store will open November 15, which is a week from today.

Something grabbed my attention last week. Something I think has the potential to be both a good bit of fun and a pretty good deal as well.

On Tuesday night, Power 108FM is launching an event called Flavor Fest at the Waco Convention Center. This is the first one and the local radio station has more than 40 restaurants signed up for booths from which they will provide event-goers with samples of food.

I used to be a football purist.

Maybe I still am. But, as recently noted, I'm broken up with sports and in no hurry to get back together.

I used to say, "give me football and you can keep all the marching bands and homecoming queens and parades and cheerleaders and everything else besides the actual football."

However, since I'm broken up with sports at the moment and have no desire to watch sports as a fan or spectator, I'm really looking forward to Baylor homecoming this weekend. (Upon editing of this blog, I realized this sounds like a knock on the Baylor football team. It's not. I'm just more open to hoopla and pageantry than usual).

The Castillo family has an idea that might be just enough of a twist to work

At 5 this evening, the restaurant formerly known as La Fiesta in Hewitt will officially become Cantina Texas — a sort of fusion restaurant that marries Tex-Mex staples with foodie culture. They're calling it "new Texas comfort food" and it includes things like chicken and dumplings, street tacos and a Lone Star Philly Cheesesteak.

In theory, Cantina Texas will continue to attract La Fiesta's loyal customers, while capturing a new audience that has been seeking its straight Mexican food and Tex-Mex elsewhere.

I ate a cheeseburger at lunch today.

This is not news or even interesting. Where I ate the cheeseburger might be slightly more interesting, but still not astonishingly so. However, my revelation about the cheeseburger just might resonate with some people.

Ever wonder what this blog is about? Is it a food blog? Is it restaurant news? What is he trying to do? Well, let me clarify.

I reserve the right to write about anything in this blog that relates in any way to dining out in Waco, and that includes writing about people whom I enjoy bumping into whenever I'm out and about.

Two of the people at the top of that list — actually, up to five people — are Brett and Emily Mills and family. Along with being friendly and fun, Brett and Emily combine their wealth of musical talent with an enterprising and unapologetic approach to Christian ministry.

I'm pretty happy that I write about restaurants these days, and not so much about sports.

I don't want to look at sports right now. Sports and I broke up over the weekend after the Rangers lost two heartbreaking games and, therefore, the World Series; the Red Raiders (and Bears) suffered humbling defeats and the Eagles squashed the Cowboys. Did you notice that? In order to list the misery of the sports weekend, I had to use a semicolon. A SEMICOLON!

As stated, I'm happy to be writing about restaurants. I'm even happier that we have so many people in WacoFork land writing about restaurants. However, instead of doing a top 10 list, I have to highlight one reviewer's opus that brought the house down.

I have a Halloween costume ready to go. Now all I need is somewhere to wear it.

If you would like to have Hank Williams Jr. wearing a WacoFork T-shirt at your halloween party, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and maybe I'll show up.

Short of that, I know about a few fun goings on this weekend and, of course, on Halloween night on Monday.

As a journalist, I'm supposed to be able to take a set of facts and put them in order of importance, which is called "inverted pyramid."

However, I have a set of news items related to West Rock Center in Hewitt and I don't want to be the judge of their levels of importance. Oh sure, I have an opinion, but I don't want that to get in the way right now. So I'm just going to spill these things out there and let you decide what's most important.

My boots crunched in the gravel parking lot, the cool October breeze blew across my face, carrying the aroma of steaks on the grill and I knew I was home.

I love Texas. Perhaps one of these days I'll live outside of this state again, but I'll never stop wanting to be here.

Few places, if any, embody Texas like the steakhouse in Bellmead called Lone Star Tavern. It's not just because the beer signs on the wall take the shape of our state. It's a little bit because they serve up chicken fried steak the way your mama would. But it's also because your filet or rib eye or chopped sirloin come with a tin of natural gravy, and because the juke box has a Johnny Paycheck record on it.