Oscar2
May 28, 2009, 3:21 PM
Post #1 of 3
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I awoke early this morning anticipating taking my 23 year old son to the airport on his first 30 day 12 country European vacation/tour. He’s had his own tax business since he was 18 and had a banner year. I was proud and happy for him and in many ways gives back to me something a dad needs once in awhile telling in so many ways, its good.
After bidding him adieu, I left the airport and since I was alone I decided to visit/ease-drop on an old neighborhood that in the last 50 some odd years has become a completely Mexican occupied city. I was getting hungry for breakfast and didn’t know exactly where to start looking for the kind of food I had a hankering for, so I decided on the following: Chorizo con huevos, arroz y frijoles con salsa en el lado y un cafecito con leche….Ahh!
So, not knowing exactly where to go, I punched my GPS system for Mexican restaurants and boy, did they pop up. So, I remember 53 years hence I had a girl friend named Lupe, and low and behold, a restaurant called Lupitas came up and off I went within a mile from my current location.
The neighborhood had gained 53 years more seniority then its prior 50 years hence. As I drove around wide-eyed, not knowing exactly what to expect, what phased me the most was its signs of age and more important shades of Mexico’s barred windows and doors where a striking familiar presence of another country down south.
I looked for Lupitas Restaurant while following my GPS through what seemed like a neighborhood now being overgrown by scattered old industrial warehouses and various graffiti ridden, tattered buildings with rust for paint and bits of dry grass in small front yards due to water shortage. It was, what it is now, as it was, what it was, way back then, used and lived in, in its own fashion!
My GPS turned me into and through an obscure worn out industrial climate, and as I strained to find Lupitas, a barred, white washed, very old, tattered, small wooden single story building, almost missed, took my attention, and yes, this was Lupitas Restaurant. I drove by very slow, looked real hard and surprisingly the little place was packed with patrons. At 9:45 in the morning, this was a good sign. There was no parking in front, so I parked around the corner.
When I opened the well-used squeaking door, I sort of captured the essence and aura of Mexico because everyone in this humble little restaurant was Mexican. From the simple, old tables and chairs without table cloths to the cafecito the owner-waiter brought me, I had been transported to a place only my heart and I know why it felt so good. The place had no shortage of customers and the prices were very telling of perhaps why.
It seemed like nothing in their extensive menu was over $4.55. Except for their larger combinations, which were $1.00 more. I ate vey comfortably and that aura, that Mexican thing made the food even taste better. I paid my bill, left my propina and as I walked out. As I exited, a very Mexican, very darks skinned, wrinkled, gaunt older man walked out behind me. At the street corner signal, we talked. I mentioned how crowded this restaurant was and in sort of an accustomed response, he said, “Si es comida de casa, por eso tienen muchos clientes.” It’s reminiscent and like saying, yes it was delicious because it's just like down home!
(This post was edited by Oscar2 on May 28, 2009, 5:31 PM)
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