March 2008 Issue

Waypoint Cantina & Southwest Grill offers a unique menu and a nearly limitless variety of tequilas and wines to an increasingly hard-to-please customer base. Not what’s expected by the “Oh-my-god-not-another-Mexican-restaurant” crowd, the ambience and creative variety on the menu are unmatched anywhere in or near Del Rio.

The famed Bassmaster Elite Tournament is coming back to Del Rio, and Del Rio’s own bassmaster and fishing tournament advocate, Ron Castle, gives compelling reasons why folks here should better understand the magnitude of the fishing phenomenon on Lake Amistad.

Susan Ridgeway has an enviable, premier baker’s reputation in Del Rio, with works of art coming from her kitchen in both flavor and presentation. A native of New Zealand, Ridgeway just returned from a family reunion in the Pacific Island nation where she has a sibling rivalry to see who makes the best Pavlova, the national dessert. A blend of simple ingredients, decorated with fresh fruit, yields a decadent confection that’s hard to put down.

Small businesses comprise a chunk of the uninsured population in Texas. The nationwide crisis is most dire in our Lone Star State. Stat sheets on the subject play on our reputation for having and doing everything big—not excluding our rate of uninsured, which sits at 24.5 percent, according to the Texas Hospital Association. How does it look for West Texas, San Angelo, and Del Rio?

Fiesta Brava Weekend is nearly here, and event organizers in Ciudad Acuña have made big plans for the popular series of Friday through Saturday activities. Running Las Vacas is the centerpiece, but for a real taste of Mexican culture, you may want to consider the hospitality offered at more tranquil venues for food, beverages, music, and celebration.

Amistad National Recreation Area maintenance chief Ben Ruston calls on a personal history of can-do infrastructure fixes under the most demanding conditions to care for facilities and roads on the sprawling reservoir unit of the National Park System. Engineering skills, tried and tested in Middle East combat, give Ruston unique perspectives on keeping things moving.

As with many Texans, Candyce Garrett has had her brush with the law in New Mexico, but she lives there happily nonetheless, working on monumental artforms when weather on the high desert permits. During the winter, Garrett sculpts massive granite pieces on the family ranch south of Sonora, keeping company with her mother, Rosemary Whitehead Jones.