We all enjoy going out to eat here at Lakeside—visitors, newcomers and permanent residents alike. The question is what and where? When I first arrived at Lake Chapala six winters ago, I played it safe and took most of my meals in the hotel where I was staying, only venturing out twice to try local restaurants. After all, I reasoned, who wants to risk Moctezuma's revenge or hepatitis B from those tropical drinks tourists are warned about?

Thanks to John and Rosemary Keeling, today's diners at Lake Chapala have access to a comprehensive restaurant guide that describes and rates over 100 Lakeside dining establishments and includes a dictionary to help decipher Spanish menus. I was impressed by the amount of useful detail the guide includes and the effort the authors obviously made in gathering and organizing the information.

For a mere $75 pesos, this guide should be the first purchase made by newcomers arriving at Lakeside, but I'm convinced this is also an essential purchase for everyone who lives here and enjoys eating out. Choosing a restaurant no longer needs to be a matter of word of mouth, third hand opinions and networking; we all have access to a well organized and up to date reference guide.