Mexican Food for the Living?

Review of La Mision:

How to Stand out Among Multiple Mexican Restaurants?

Address: 935 N. Glenstone Ave., Springfield, MO 65802

Phone Number: 417-832-0032
Website: NA
Hours: Monday-Saturday: 11:00 AM-10:00 PM

            Sunday: 11:00 AM-9:00 PM

Price: Cheap, Dinner under $10
Full Bar: No

When I saw La Mision pop up, only a block away from another Mexican restaurant, I was doubtful. With some restaurants I get stuck in my ways. I had my cheap Mexican place, and I was happy with it. But adventure called, I suppose, or something akin.

Driving up, the place seemed established. There was a definite look, and the place seemed to have an identity. A group of us went on a Thursday at 6:00 pm, and found it fairly empty. The restaurant sat on a well-manicured lawn, and the interior design showed a rustic flair more sophisticated than your normal Mexican eatery. The tables were lit with candles and accented with flowers. The centerpiece was a bowl with an avocado and a lime, which impressed me by how well the stark minimalism worked. La Mision definitely had its charm. A woman stood behind us making fresh tortillas. The waiteresses wore ruffled shirts that seemed like a forced traditional look. Our service was quick and friendly. Most of the other customers were older, though they were also dressed casually. What our generation would call “Muzak” played, though the other customers seemed to enjoy the smooth jazz. It played at the right level, where it was heard but not spoken over.

We looked over the prices. La Mision has a large selection, and overall has the same prices as any other Mexican place. All dinner entrees are under $10. We quickly were given the standard chips and salsa to fill up on. There was a plate of tortillas on my side of the table, which honestly confused me. I thought they were just left over from the last customers. But the tortillas come free like the chips, so dipped in salsa they were tasty.

We ordered some appetizers. We decided on the guacamole and the shrimp appetizer. I would highly suggest the guacamole. The server takes the avocado and lime center piece on your table and whips you up a batch right there. The guacamole was nice and fresh and made to our accommodations.

The shrimp were much larger than expected. They were cooked in a light white wine sauce, which I thought a bit odd. The shrimp were well cooked, but not at all what I expected. They lacked the spice and umph that I expect from Mexican food.

We put in our orders: a chimichanga, a chicken enchilada, and tostada ceviche. I was surprised to see the ceviche on the menu. Though it is a classic dish, it is often missing from most Mexican fare. I figured it would be more expensive, but it was under $10 like everything else.

The food came out quickly on large white plates. Everything was laid out well, looking appetizing and appeasing to the eye.

The food, unfortunately, followed the shrimp appetizer. Again, there wasn’t any of the spice or flavor of Mexican food. The food was, dare I say, bland. I ordered the chimichanga because it is one of my favorite dishes, and relatively uncomplicated. The rice and beans on the side were fine, though the same as every other Mexican place. The chimichanga itself had little to offer. The cheese tasted like plastic. There wasn’t shredded beef inside but steak, chewy steak pieces that tasted like they had been frozen. I tried the chicken enchilada, again ordered for its simplicity. But alas, no zing. The sauce it was in was just red, with no taste. No tomato, no pepper, just existence.  

The tostada ceviche was the crowning surprise. It was set out modestly, just fish and tomato on three tostadas, a hard, flat shell, with lime slices on the side. The dish’s simplicity worked well this time, giving nice fresh flavors. However, like the tortillas, the server laid down the tostada ceviche and left. He offered no help on how to prepare the ceviche. Given their other items and the elderly customers, there should have been some explanation on how the lime juice cooks the fish and makes it safe to eat. Ceviche is relatively unknown in America, not to mention Springfield, Missouri.

We originally were thinking of ordering dessert, but after dinner we had enough. The atmosphere soars above what you would expect from the normal Mexican place, but it lost the life and flavor. La Mision might be a place to take your grandmother when she is in town, the one that needs an explanation between an enchilada and a burrito. The mood was nice, but the food was lacking and that is what everything boils down to.

My normal Mexican eatery need not worry. I will keep my business there.

Sequels for the Living Dead

In my previous blog I talked about the joys of Bioshock, but I mentioned its possibly superior sequel Bioshock 2. I will talk about how Bioshock 2 improves upon the first one, and try not to have a conniption fit about when Bioshock Infinite will come out (which has goddamn been pushed back to October 16 Goddamnit Goddamn). But Bioshock 2.

I will breeze a bit over the story of the first Bioshock since I have discussed it in a previous blog, but basically it covers the story of Rapture, an underwater utopia that went to an apocalyptic hell. You play Jack, a man who fell from a crashed plane and has to make his way through.

But in Bioshock 2, you are a Big Daddy (again, warning video is graphic).

The introduction starts in 1959, before the Jack character in the first game comes down. You play a Big Daddy guarding your Little Sister, Elenore. But at the end of the opening scene Elenore's real mother, Sofia Lamb, takes back her daughter and forces you to kill yourself. 10 years later you reawaken alive in Rapture. Someone has started stealing girls from countries surrounding the ocean and turning them into Little Sisters, pretty much restarting Rapture's horror and war again. You have to make your way through Rapture to rescue Elena, who is being held captive by her mother. Sofia Lamb is an ethical psychiatrist who filled in the void of power Andrew Ryan left open; she controls the splicers and starts harvesting of Adam again. She hates you and blames you for stealing her daughter from her.

There are several similar features that connect the two. You have the same splicer types from the first game, houndi splicers, spider splicers, leadhead splicers, and nitro splicers. There’s Adam and Eve, tonics, plasmids, weapons, cameras, turrets, robots, weapons, and the what not.

But besides the story, there are several upgrades.

HACKING: In order to gain control of robots, turrets, and security cameras, or gain entry to a safe, you have to hack them. In the first Bioshock, the game stops and you pretty much gain control of a machine though a game of Pipe Dream.  

But in Bioshock 2, you have a quick moving needle that you have to hit in the green area.

The game doesn’t stop, so you have to keep dodging attacking Splicers. You also get a hacking gun, so you don’t have to stand next to something to hack it. You can hack from afar.

Also in the first Bioshock, when you hack a security camera an alarm goes off after you stay in its sight for too long. Then flying robots with machine guns attack you.

In the first one, you are stuck with robots attacking you for 50 seconds while the camera is unhackable. If you can find a robot shutdown panel the robots will stop, but you have to find it and they are well out of your way. In Bioshock 2, as long as you can hack the camera, even after the security alarm went off, the robots will stop. After a few failed hacked cameras, you really start to appreciate this difference.

GAME PLAY: In the first Bioshock, one hand holds your gun and the other one controls your plasmids. You switch between the two hands using the two triggers on the controller, but you can only have one hand onscreen at a time.

In Bioshock 2, you get both hands up and out. This immediately comes in handy because the main way of defeating Splicers is to immobilize them with a plasmid, and then shot them with one of your weapons.

LITTLE SISTERS: In the first Bioshock, your interactions with the Little Sisters are pretty small. You learn about their experimentation and see their orphanage, but you only spend a moment with the actual girl after you kill her Big Daddy. The choice of harvesting or rescuing the girl happens quickly, and you don’t have much reflection upon it until the end.

In Bioshock 2 you have to hold onto the Little Sisters, literally carrying them on your back. You use them to gather Adam from the various corpses splayed around Rapture.

Splicers attack while the Sister is gathering, so you have to guard her like a real Big Daddy. You have several traps you can set up to protect her from Splicers.

You get more Adam than in the first game, but you have to stay with the Little Sisters. They stick with you through large chunks of the games, even waiting for you at Vita-Chamber where you respawn after you die. They talk to you, giving you compliments when you play good like “Daddy, you always protect me from the monsters” or “I’m going to tell the other sisters I have the best Daddy”.  If you are evil, their words will break your heart: “Uh-Oh, Daddy’s home. I’ll be good, I promise” and “You’ll never hurt me, right Daddy?” Harvesting the Little Sisters affects you more in the second one.

WEAPONS: You get most of the same weapons in Bioshock 1 and 2. There is the standard machine gun, shot gun, and grenade launcher. You know, your regular video game fare.

Bioshock 2 starts you off with a much better opening weapon. In the first Bioshock, you pick up the first wrench you come across and just smack it around. The simple wrench only works as a bludgeon, and you quickly move on to the more complex weapons.

In Bioshock 2 you start off with a Drill, which is a very impressive weapon. It works well as a large bludgeon, but with fuel you can simply drill through flesh in a symphony of gore.

It is a weapon you use throughout the game. With later upgrades, the Drill can even deflect bullets.

Bioshock 2 has better weapon upgrades. The first Bioshock only has two weapon upgrades for each weapon, one for increased capacity and one for damage. Bioshock 2 has three weapon upgrades, and the third one has a special quality. For the Drill it is the bullet shield and for the shotgun it is electrified bullets.

ENEMIES: While Bioshock 1 and 2 share most of the same enemies, Bioshock 2 has some new surprises. There are Big Sisters, what happens to a Little Sister who grows up.

The Big Sister attacks after you either harvest or save all of the Little Sisters on the level. They move swiftly and shriek at you, throwing things with psychic powers. They act on pure, irrational rage and are some of the toughest opponents in the game.

SPECIAL TWIST: One of my favorite things about Bioshock 2 is the part where you play as a Little Sister. You see the world of Rapture as they do.

The Little Sisters have psychological work in their brains to ignore the horror of Rapture, seeing a bright shiny world full of pillows (non-Adam corpses), toys (guns), and snazzy, tuxedo-wearing gentlemen (Splicers). They see the Adam ridden corpses as angels,

instead of damp, rusted walls they see instructional posters,

and the Little Sister's eyes even show how they see you.

Overall, Bioshock 2 enhances the Bioshock franchize, but the first one does have a few things that are better about it. I like the story in Bioshock better, especially with its big twist. I always have a soft spot in my heart for beginnings. I also enjoy the two different endings of Bioshock, the good ending and the evil ending, versus the two similar endings of Bioshock 2.

Also, Bioshock has U-Invent machines.

The U-Invent allow you to collect random bits of junk around Rapture and turn it into high quality weapons, like automatic hack tools, antipersonnel bullets, new tonics, and grenades. I honestly missed these vending machines in the second game; to have these items you had to just hack more safes.

Overall, the people at 2K games did an incredible job of revamping and starting a Bioshock franchise. They kept all the things people liked in the first game, but improved upon it. You get to learn the backstory of how the Little Sisters and Big Daddies came into being, and where your character came from. You get an expansion on the Bioshock story, including an Amusement park covering how Rapture began. You even get to walk around outside in the ocean, picking up Adam infused slugs. The game picks up on the plot of the first, but advances it into an incredible father and daughter story full of jealously, love, redemption, and forgiveness. It also adds a multi-player online option with plenty of games you can play against other Bioshock fans.

You cannot miss the first Bioshock for the continuity of the story, but also because it is still an incredible game. I find Bioshock 2 the better game, the one I keep returning to. But maybe Bioshock Infinite will be better. Maybe. But the real apocalypse will probably come first.