By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files
LOCKHART, Texas - We'd been asking around about neat, tasty Tex-Mex joints to be found in rural Texas, and someone we trusted had told us about Mr. Taco over on busy Colorado Road in this Caldwell County town of some 11,000 country-looking denizens.
And there it was in its proud, but faded brown paint across the street from a business calling itself Kowboy Chiropractic. You get used to such ways of language in the outs of the Lone Star State., but that's a story for another day. Suffice it to say that Mr. Taco proved disappointing. It's an okay place for mediocre Mexican food, although, at $4.99, the plate of beef enchiladas wasn't all that bad.
Mr. Taco is saddled with the same thing that afflicts Tex-Mex joints that have been around for a few years; its waitresses are either aging, flawed beauties or young girls in need of a quick diet. The jelly roll is not on the menu, but you can see it on the employees. Not that the clientele we found was anything to call Hollywood about, either. Rural Texas, bless its heart, has the monopoly on fat Rednecks and Hispanic families with way too many brats in tow. Both were present when we bopped in for lunch on Thursday.
The jewel of the day, however, was a subsequent stop at Lilly's Bar a bit closer to downtown. There, it was the place's weathered, but still shiny linoleum floor and extra-high ceiling that welcomed us in from the blistering heat outside. Nothing like a cold drink in the middle of a day rivaling Hell.
Lilly Corpus Serna is the owner. She's been there 28 years and looks it.
But the lady is a charmer, as are the stories of the more than 100 elephant figurines she has on shelves behind the lengthy bar. Lilly'll talk your ears off if you ask about her menagerie. There's one someone brought back from Iraq and gave to her. Another is a miniature elephant some long-gone artist dropped off as his way of saying thanks for the many years of being served the national drink of Texas - beer.
As can be expected of bars, a litany of signs adorn the walls. No shirts, no shirt, no service, reads one, bras and panties are optional. Paintings of action-filled western scenes and proper Spanish women in full-dress hang up near the top of the wall fronting the bar. A dusty jukebox holding the music of George Strait and Little Joe Y la Familia stands at the ready.
You can walk in and think you've ambled into 1962 all over again. Most everthing is faded in the bar, including a pair of well-used pool tables at the rear of the place. They make hamburgers here, and they are supposed to be something else. Who knows; we'd eaten at Mr. Taco.
Drives off the beaten interstate always yield something new & different.
Lockhart is somewhat known for its BBQ eateries and to a lesser extent for its high school football team, the Lockhart Lions. Not much stands out, unless you count a fair number of aging, abandoned buildings in streets flanking the majestic, but gaudy county courthouse on all directions. Maybe there's a reason why these towns reach a pinnacle and then hang on to later die gracefully.
We have a long history of seeing these little towns rot and dwindle into communities of less than 10,000 residents. And you could say there's still a charm about them, but, the more you look, the more you see of what used to be...
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4 comments:
Mr. Taco, is not a very good mr. Taco, I guess. Well, I hate to say this but the best taquitos are in the Valley. Yesserriiee, right here in South Texas.
Good post, hey there are plenty of decaying towns in the Valley, Ed Couch Elsa is a good example.
I don't care if the cook's are hispanic or not, there is something different about upstate Mexican cooking and Valley Cooking. The Valley use too much grease. I eat oat meals, I gave up on tacos.
People that dont have anything else to do spend their days criticizing others. I wonder if they did something positive how much would their criticizing of life would change their attitudes towards it.
I "found" this blog through another blog and, I read some newspapers on line but every blog and newspaper opinion has nothing more than criticism. If WE want to change attitudes, what are WE doing about them other than criticize? If I look in the mirror and I see perfection, that is my first failure. As another anonymous wrote" he/she doesnt eat tacos but eats oatmeal, I, as a runner, eat oatmeal, fruit, vegetables and no red meat or softdrinks. It is a CHOICE, as you make the choice to eat greasy food at greasy spoon places.
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