We're perhaps not alone in declaring that we go back a long way, the Fat Cactus and us. What drew us to this scruffy but extremely popular watering hole when it first opened its doors back in 1998 was not the Tex-Mex fare - in fact, we still don't know our enchiladas from our quesadillas - or the idiosyncratic cowboy kitsch but the fact that the guy who opened it was our old mate, the late and great Dave Karpierz.We first got to know Dave when he ran Maria's, a Greek restaurant on Dunkley Square, in the Gardens. We don't remember much about Maria's but we do fondly recall those long evenings there sailing three sheets to the wind: Dave did the pouring and we did the rest.Then Dave upped sticks for Mowbray and it seemed that a little piece of Dunkley Square rolled over and died.The Cactus, however, very quickly became a Little Mowbray institution and the jugs of frozen margaritas and tequila white-outs the stuff of legend. Despite the urgings of the friendly bar people, we have, however, yet to summon up the courage to take on The Iceberg, a house speciality - a half-litre of beer with a great chunk of frozen margarita floating in it. Perhaps, though, if we were a bit younger.Dave sadly passed away last year after succumbing to cancer. Although he went on to open branches of the Cactus in Woodstock, joining the Albert Road gentrification, and in Gardens, he'll always be associated with the original. The good news is that very little has changed in his absence. It still feels as if he's about to pop around in the next five minutes. What's more, they're still playing his mix-tapes, too. This is not a bad thing. When last did you hear Bob Dylan's Visions of Johanna in a Cape Town bar?The evening traffic in Durban Road has got worse. Again not a bad thing, since it's a good excuse to hang around a bit longer.47 Durban Road, Mowbray, 021 685-1920..