RIVIERA — It finally happened.

MERCEDES — The plate with the shrimp and the rice and a passionate mix of cardamom and coriander and masala entices me into a sweet dream of memories.

McALLEN — Mikhuna, a Japanese-Peruvian restaurant in McAllen brings a one-of-a-kind taste to the Valley with a mix of traditional South American dishes and Nikkei, a fusion of Peruvian ingredients shaped by Japanese techniques.

MERCEDES — There’s just something about them.

McALLEN — I am usually not open to suggestions when it comes to these food reviews (just ask my editors), unless my girlfriend suggests that I take suggestions, in which case I will.

BROWNSVILLE — I know the meal will serve my appetite very well because I can’t find any place to park until I drive to the back.

Rock & Roll Sushi in Hidalgo is a small restaurant that offers good sushi at great prices. It’s an exciting spot for those observing Lent, or wanting to try something new in the Rio Grande Valley with a beautiful area surrounding it.

HARLINGEN — Fish swim along the walls and the music fills my ears as the waiter shows me to a table.

McALLEN — I don’t think that you can put a price on friendly service, and the folks at Azúcar Y Sal seem to have a monopoly when it comes to treating customers like family.

There’s the flashing of a sign across the dining room where the people and the meals fill the tables.

McALLEN — Walking into the Universal Market & Indian Restaurant you are instantly surrounded with traditional Indian aromas coming from the restaurant buffet and awestruck with the selection of food in the market.

BROWNSVILLE — The blue-green lights breaking through the cold and the wet of a January night beckon me into the welcoming warmth of a place thick with aromas and music of a faraway place.

McALLEN — Nak Won Jung not only offers some of the best Korean cuisine in the area but also gives customers a Korean authenticity upon entering the restaurant.

HARLINGEN — The quiet of morning greets me as I enter a dining room with tables filled by the breakfast hour.

EDINBURG — I was asked to do a sort of New Years Eve-themed review of a local restaurant. I was also told that I need to stop reviewing Mexican and barbecue restaurants.

BROWNSVILLE — Street tacos.

HARLINGEN — It’s a late Sunday morning and the cars in the parking lot announce the presence of many people in a popular restaurant.

McALLEN — I have been slighted.

MERCEDES — The chorizo and egg breakfast taco lays bare its charms, enticing me with its aromas and the memories of those aromas.

BROWNSVILLE — The papel picado hanging from the line across the dining area seems out of place in a quiet dining area where only one table entertains diners.

WESLACO — There is a scene in the movie “Tombstone” — arguably the greatest cinematic masterpiece of all time, starring Kurt Russell as famed lawman Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer as infamous gunfighter and subpar dentist Doc Holiday — that really resonates with me.

WESLACO — It’s early afternoon, and the fall colors drift across the walls and the windows and the glass doors.

McALLEN — I’ve been having trouble sleeping for the past few days, and unfortunately as I’m writing this there hasn’t been much of a change.

HARLINGEN — A joyously cool wind tussles the flags and the trees around the purple structure with the dashing signs.

This previous week was a doozy.

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.”