This was written by a colleague I worked with here in the Virtual Garage at Nissan. John Wisner. Thought this was pretty hilarious and sums up the work we do to the tune of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

That’s right everyone you can get yer very own bg3d swag with my face on it!  Today!

Some people around the office thought this was such an entertaining mug that I ordered nearly 12 of them. Your not limited there as you can get t-shirts, hats, ties and anything else with my “mug” on it. The latest request was for a Stein! So don’t delay and get your mug today!

#1

On the Border

Before our review of the place I just wanted to say thanks to Jack Dempsey at www.DempseyVFX.com for joining me every Monday to find the best Mexican restaurant in the area!

On the Border is perched up on a hill right in the heart of the Mexican district of Novi across from Taco Bell.

It’s got a bit of a Mexican theme, pretty busy more than half the tables are filled for lunch. They got some nice NEC TV’s in the bar area with a really thin bezel on them which gave them a great look. It looks like they had a few tables outside to sit at when it’s warm out.

Got sat, ordered some drinks and got some hot chips and these are like the big wafer chips. Tasted good and brought out more chips and salsa without asking pretty much.

They got a choose 2 for lunch so I usually get a hard shell beef taco and chicken enchilada. Recently I tried the beef enchilada and I liked it just as much as the Chicken one. They have good size portions and the food came out quick, even when they were busy.

Mexican Monday came twice one week and we chose to spend it at On the Border again because of Cinco De Mayo. We found out they had a party tent set up in the parking lot and had the Killer Flamingo’s playing all evening until 2am. So we went back again after work and had a couple of over priced cervezas for a drinking holiday that know one really knows what it’s for. There were a few people there that were havin’ some fun for sure. We didn’t stay too late, but I can imagine how sloshed some people got.

Anyways the place seems to have quite a bit going for it even though it’s a chain. It looks like they know what they’re doing.

You can take our word for it or try ‘em out for your self, either way, happy Mexican Monday!

Previous “Mexican Monday’s” to eat at in Farmington Hills!

#2

Border Cantina

This was on of the first places we went to for Mexican Monday. It was just an all around a good experience and inspired us to keep exploring for a better Mexican Monday in the Area.

They weren’t too busy, fast service, good free chips n’ Salsa, good prices, a decent Mexican atmosphere. It just didn’t quite make the number #1 spot for Mexican Monday.

Stay tuned for this Monday the 24th on our review of the best Mexican Monday restaurant in the Farmington Hills/Novi Area!!!

Next up the “#1 Mexican Restaurant” to eat at in Farmington Hills!
Previous #3 ROJO (that’s a soft “J”)

#3

ROJO

(It’s a soft “J”)

Rojo was our final effort on finding the best Mexican Restaurant for Mexican Monday’s and it definitely was the nicest place we visited on our quest. Although we feel that it just didn’t make it beyond the 3rd best place we had been.

Rojo is the blue building in the map above in the Novi Fountain Walk. Not the most Mexican themed but a a very modern and contemporary place. We walked in through the archway and was seated by the greeter. They weren’t busy maybe 2 other tables at the time. We opted for a table as the booths were super romantic for a couple guys eatin’ some Mexican on a Monday.

It just so happened that we got the lucky table with a plate stuck to the table from a piece of gum! Yeah how does that happen?! The Hostess/Waitress was super apologetic and moved us to a new clean table. No gum here. I guess normally they don’t offer free chips n’ Salsa but she got us some anyways for the little gum situation. Their Chips n’ Salsa was set up much nicer than the freebies at some of the others. You get your base salsa and a couple of bottles of hot sauce on the side to spice it to your liking’s.

Now what I didn’t expect was the price for lunch. I expected this place to be much more expensive than the other places we had been. In the $12 to $20 range for taco’s beans and rice and normally it would be during dinner. For lunch time they have some great specials. 6 different meals for 6 buks. That’s pretty good. Now normally you don’t get the free chips but hey it’s a good deal. And I think on Tuesday’s they have 50 cent Taco’s or something. So the price is great for lunch.

I thought the taco’s were good. The beef was better than th chicken, beans and rice were the best of the bunch I had. All in all it was a good place, just not the Mexican atmosphere you so desire on a Monday and no free chips so it ended up here in the bottom half of the top of the list with 3 or so stars out of 5.

Next up is #2 “Border Cantina”
Previous #4 El Nibble Nook

#4

El Nibble Nook

A little bit hard to find if your not sure where your looking. It’s just north or Pontiac Trail rd. on Haggerty.

Walking in the door there was a tiled fountain and an inside door to the right. It was a good Mexican Atmosphere with bright colors and a bar. We walked in and got sat right away, they weren’t busy. I think there was one other table eating.

I think our waitress was a little off that day but she took our drink order and got us some chips. They had a good variety of different Mexican dishes. I got 2 Taco’s, 1 chicken and one beef even though it wasn’t on the menu they still made it happen.

I went to the bathroom while waiting for the food and noticed a sign above the urinal. On that Wednesday they had a trivia competition at 7pm. I think it said it was free to enter and something like a $2000 Prize. So it sounds like they have some fun events going on.

They had good home made taco shells. The other people I was with had some California taco’s or something with shredded beef and they said those were really good. I didn’t get the shredded beef for some reason.

They also had a stipulation about 1 basket of free chips for 1-2 guests and 2 free baskets for 3-5 guests or something like that. We did get a second basket free because we had 3 people that day. Overall we thought it was pretty tasty and quick enough for lunch.

Next up is #3 ROJO (that’s a soft “J”)
Previous #5 El Patio

#5

El Patio

The place isn’t the most fancy and I think it had fold out tables and chairs.  Not a big deal.   Sat us quick, took our drink order and I think the tortilla chips hit the table as soon as we sat down.

About a min later they took our food order.  It actually seemed like someone walked out of the back with our food and met our waiter before he even walked away from our table after taking our order.  It was super hot and super quick even though they were busy for lunch.  Tasted good.

So ten or so minutes later we’re all done eating and cashing out.   Gotta say good lunch.  Just now what do we do with the rest of our lunch time!?

I gave it a middle of the road score with a two and a half  stars.

Next up is #4 the El Nibble Nook
Previous #6 Camilias “Authentic” Mexican

#6

Camilias Authentic Mexican

This place had a real Mexican feel. Walls were painted with that old stone look. We got seated right away and got our menu’s. We noticed on the menu that there was a piece of paper stapled to it that says “due to high cost of product (aka. Chips and salsa) We can only provide one basket of chips per two customers. Each additional basket is $1.99.” After laughing about that for a minute the waitress finally came over with a basket of chips and took our drink order.

We figured out what we wanted and began to wait for our drinks and the waitress to come back…

ok now here she comes, we order and hang tight… for another 20 er so minutes for the food to cook. Oh and they weren’t too busy. Maybe 3 other tables. We finally get our food and it’s good. Not great it’s good. So my buddy was kinda like ya know I would really like to get a refill. We wait… No waitress in sight…

Finally get a refill, finish our food, hang out for a bit, and the waitress show’s up and we ask for our bill. Alright we’ll give her a minute, she’s gotta add up all those numbers! So she finally comes back then takes off again. Seriously now I think she was in the back with the cook makin’ some extra special sauce or something.

We finally get up and go to the bar to pay, then take off. Overall the place wasn’t too bad just bad service, and seriously how much chips and salsa do people eat to put a notice on your menu for an extra charge for more chips.

Next up! #5 “El Patio”
Previous #7 “Ole Ole”

So I’ve been working at Nissan the last couple of months doing some soft parts modeling in Maya.  We had to get out of the building at least once a day because we don’t get windows in our room.   So on Monday’s we decided to do  “Mexican Monday” and try every Mexican Restaurant in the area excluding  the Taco Bells in such.  We found about 7 places around here. I’ll start with last place and work my way up.  As you may or may not know all Mexican food is essentially the same just organized differently.  So I usually just get a Taco and Enchilada to mix it up as much as I can.

#7

Ole Ole

We read the reviews on this place and they said it wasn’t very good.  So we had to go and check it out to see how bad it really was.  Pulling up, there weren’t any cars in the parking lot so we didn’t know if it was even open. The place was colorful on the outside and looked super fun! In the front window it said 99 cent taco’s so we parked and went in.  I think it’s safe to say this was a bar first and Mexican restaurant last.  I think the only thing mexican was the name and maybe a sombrero hanging on the wall. Only one other group was in there and the bartender sat us.  She was very nice.

Ordered a couple of Cokes and got some chips.  Which were hard as stone and the salsa wasn’t very good.  but eh they were free so heck.  We get our two Taco’s and side of beans and rice.  Which we find out it’s $3 for each side.   The taco’s were eh and the beans were not safe for human consumption.  Rice was dry and eh. 

So heck $9 later we cash out and what do you know the power goes out!  Yup! A big ol’ cook comes out of the back smoking a cigarette and is like “what’s going on?!”  We promptly walk out to the parking lot before anything else happens.  Driving away we see the cook standing outside staring at the electrical service plotting his strategy in getting the power back on. That was our Ole Ole experience.

Tune in tomorrow for #6 “Camilias Authentic Mexican” Restaurant on 12 Mile road and Haggerty

The NEWs from Brian Gottlieb on Vimeo.

The NEWs is also available on Youtube.

What’s going on in the world today! The NEWs has your report! Staring Clay Brown and Deckar McFinnigan.

This is a short Claymation shot in a day and edited in spare time over a few more days spread out over a few weeks.

Myself Brian Gottlieb and Mark Matta shot this in one night and later Michael Dragich helped with recording the voices. I used some Royalty free sound effects by Mike Koenig I found on the web. Thanks to everyone that put in the effort. I hope to do more Fun Claymation like this in the future!