It was an Albertsons; now, it’s Fiesta south. It seemed as though the entire Fiesta corporate staff was there, checking out inventory and pricing and asking customers whether there was anything that they wanted to find, but didn’t. Fiesta southside will be open from 6 am to midnight, not around the clock. This new Fiesta, on the IH-35 frontage at Stassney, devotes a great amount of space to its in-house tortilla-making but in general has a less Latin flavor than the Fiesta north. There’s a very decent selection of Dickies work trousers. The extensive produce section is watched over by a fine selection of pinatas, including the classic globes with tasseled horns, in two sizes. There are fresh coconuts and there’s watermelon cut into selections of smaller portions of several types. I was happy to find two kinds of serpentines (those paper streamers that spiral out when thrown and that are always shown in the movies when an ocean liner comes in to the pier) and also my favorite small-sized play money. In the housewares department are stocked two sizes of comales (cast-iron griddles, good for pancakes or tortillas). The bakery had pan dulce, teleras, bolillos, and pan frances. For fans of the telenovela, TV y novelas has always been easy to find and lately H-E-B has begun to carry TVnotas quite regularly, but TV y mas has been elusive, but Fiesta has it. There were two kinds of live music while we were there (Mariachi Gavilan and Ramon D. Torres), and I believe there will be live music at least through the weekend. At Pleasant Hill library there was a bold western kingbird, and on Circle S Road there was a dead skunk to be seen (and smelled). We had intended to have lunch at La Fuentes, but it was very, very busy and so, taking the afternoon off, we’re getting a head start on slow-roasting the beautiful and reasonably priced spare-ribs acquired at this new southside market.