HARLINGEN — There’s a rumbling, a stirring and an excitement in conversation over a noon meal that brings freshness and lift after a rather dismal morning.

McALLEN — María Cruz - Plant Based Cuisine is strange, but in a good way.

BROWNSVILLE — There's a hot stretch of road along a less traveled part of the city where a small restaurant grabs my attention with its bright yellow facade and colorful signs.

WESLACO — My editor, Mark Reagan, has been nagging me about going to review Teddy’s Barbecue since he read about them in the “failing New York Times.”

McALLEN — This sweltering, unrelenting triple-digit heat calls for something ice cold.

HARLINGEN — On a slower part of town away from the busier places sits a restaurant that can appear invisible by its permanence.

McALLEN — My editor suggested that I write a review about a barbecue restaurant, but then my girlfriend said that she wanted something different.

OLMITO — Ramen noodles.

McALLEN — Apparently, my reviews have become too predictable.

HARLINGEN — There’s a power in the presence of age, in the continuity of the past extending into the moment with an anticipation of tomorrow.

MISSION — Good dining experiences can create unforgettable experiences in the same way a bad experience can ruin a day — it’s in the way that the quality of the food and the service wields a transformative effect on our minds and moods.

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — Got shrimp?

McALLEN — Taquerias Tlaquepaque Hnos is an unassuming restaurant sandwiched in between a slew of other businesses at a small plaza on North 10th Street in McAllen.

BROWNSVILLE — A pirate with a wooden leg greets me the moment I walk into Captain Bob’s Seafood Restaurant.

SAN BENITO — Pappasito’s Smokehouse And Then Some sits on the corner of East Stenger Street and East Milam Street in a building that for many years housed the Diamond G Food Store, a staple for many San Benitians throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s.

HARLINGEN — The city streets have entered the dead zone of the hot mid afternoon, and I find refuge in the colorful dining room of Taqueria El Buen Pastor.

SAN BENITO — I’ve been out driving throughout the day, my trips taking me several times through the center of the city.

BROWNSVILLE – There’s a small seafood restaurant along the farther reaches of town, where cars along a busy thoroughfare have already broken away to their separate destinations.

WESLACO — There’s nothing better than a Sunday breakfast of chorizo and eggs and fine coffee — except breakfast in the company of others.

WESLACO — A boy in a starched shirt cuts eagerly into his soaked pancake, speaking quickly to his parents eating slowly for the joy of the moment.

HARLINGEN — I step into the peaceful diner and look over a blackboard covered with the house specials.

BROWNSVILLE — A blue marlin dives toward a table of diners; its flight frozen in mid-air by a taxidermist.

HARLINGEN — I step out of the November cold into the warm restaurant and wait for instructions.

HARLINGEN — It’s a Tuesday night at La Playa Mexican Café, and the warm lights spread from the ceiling and fall onto wooden tables and tiled floors while country music fill the dinner air.

MERCEDES — The first time I’d heard of the legendary Hot Cheeto pizza from Moran’s Pizzeria, I was on the phone with my soon-to-be girlfriend.

SAN BENITO — It’s late afternoon. The mood at Calaca’s Tacos and Beer is quiet and refreshing.

EDINBURG — The writing on a wall when you first enter Anita’s Cafe reads, “Overthinking will destroy your happiness and your mood.”