Diversions BINGE

By: Craig Bidiman

Posted: 5/16/08

A few weeks back at our weekly Diversions meeting an idea was presented that the entire staff would go to a location and just eat. We would eat and discuss what we were eating and discuss whatever else stemmed from the meal experience.

At midnight on Monday, the Diversions staff met at La Conga on N.W. Fifth Street and N.W. Van Buren Avenue.

You may ask yourself, why would any group of individuals want to meet anywhere for anything intuitive at midnight on a school night? If so, then you have obviously never been to La Conga or its sister restaurants, Rigobertos and Muchas Gracias.

Open 24 hours a day, the restaurant provides quality Mexican food at a very affordable price for college students, especially nine college students like my staff.

We quickly learned that the furniture in the restaurant was not to be moved. It wasn't that the pieces were immovable, but that the members of the La Conga team just wished for us not to move them.

This was a problem.

The nine of us - Brianne Tedders, her fiancé Josh, Ian Grogan, Rick Crawford, Rachel Love, Evan Connet, Peter Banuelos, Jason Lusk and I - were forced to sit in a row, not in a roundtable affair as King Arthur would have intended for such an occasion. But we made do.

Through discussions of greatest "South Park" episodes, Rachel threw out "Marjorine" as her favorite. But I retorted that "Scott Tenorman Must Die" is obviously the greatest episode.

Through these oddball discussions, each member of the dining party threw out his or her thoughts on the hot eats they were consuming and had consumed.

Evan showed up late and started chowing down in an instant, discussing the highs and lows of horror films with Ian. His order, the No. 3 combo (two beef enchiladas with beans and rice) made him ponder his word choice.

Rachel, laughing at how long it took Evan to explain his inner feelings on his meal rang in on her carne asada burrito. "I found a couple pieces of fat I didn't appreciate," she said. "They will accommodate, though. I asked for onions, got onions."

The consensus was that the restaurant catered to even the pickiest of college eaters.

Brianne and Josh discussed their taquitos, beef tostadas and mixed burritos with a consolidated response.

So La Conga may not be the most healthful choice this late at night, but alas, we were embracing the heat of the night, burning the midnight oil.

Rick chimed in about his "OreBido," the menu's signature Oregon Burrito. Rick claimed that it made him feel strangely glad to be an Oregonian.

"It is truly the perfect combination of steak, cheese, beans and grease," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. "It is the perfect size and price for a college student."

Ian and his carne asada chips were next on the discussion block. Although they apparently kicked Ian's ass, he exclaimed that later would ultimately be no bueno.

"I do have enough for breakfast in the morning," he said, "I'll say that much about it."

Peter shed light on a delicacy he was pleased to see on the menu: lengua, or cow tongue.

"It was badass," Peter said. "It was just the right amount of chewiness. Some restaurants tend to get it wrong, but [La Conga] got it right."

Peter's fraternity brother, Jason, got the fish taco.

Ruben Casas ultimately showed late, flying in from California and joining the party halfway through Joe's second rant. He was clearly weirded out by the awkwardness of the situation.

Closing discussion consisted of simple requests to find bathrooms, of which there is only one - a woman's bathroom in the back of the restaurant. Great.

In my short time as Diversions editor, I have not found a staff this entertaining or a restaurant this tasty that also provides wifi! Whenever a dispute arose, I was able to jet over to wikipedia and learn which Kevin Costner films were worth ever mentioning in an article or countdown: none.

Craig Bidiman

diversons@dailybarometer.com