No Soup For You!

Duncan Reynaldo is the Cisco Kid


From time to time we eat lunch at a place called El Charro Cafe. The original El Charro is downtown and has been there since 1922. Some time ago they threw in with a big restaurant chain and have opened several locations around town.

A charro (charra, fem.) is a Mexican cowboy, but not quite like the American cowboy. Charros train in horsemanship and roping skills. Their clothing tends toward the ornate and the traditional headgear is the sombrero. I think the Cisco Kid was a charro.

Most Americans tend to picture cowboys as guys who roamed the old west, getting into gun fights. We confuse a style of dress, with an actually occupation. A true cowboy is involved in the management of herds of livestock like, well, cows.

Around here Mexican restaurants come in many varieties and all seem to have a specialty. El Charro is famous for their carne seca, shredded beef, marinated and sun-dried, then grilled. What distinguishes their carne seca is the high-quality beef they use. El Charro also uses a lot of vegetables in their dishes, which isn't the norm in most Mexican restaurants and they emphasize presentation.

They also employ a chef, which for sure isn't a Mexican restaurant norm, at least in our fair city. In most of our Mexican restaurants, the only thing that ever changes on the menu is the prices.

I eat to satisfy my hunger and as an outlet for my nervous nature, I am not a food connoisseur. I don't eat any meat, except poultry and even that is becoming more difficult for me to choke down. My choices at most Mexican joints are beans, rice, cheese enchiladas, corn tamales and vegetarians burritos. Mostly, I judge restaurants on the quality of the service, which brings me to my point of the day.

When we go to El Charro, we are usually stuck with a particular waiter, try as we might to avoid him. He is a young, kind of muscular, Anglo guy, who apparently is operating on a word budget, because he doesn't seem to have many to spare. He has less personality than you would think possible. Trying to engage him in conversation is like trying to talk to the cop giving you a ticket. Throw a pair of reflective sunglasses on him and you wouldn't know whether to order a meal or step out of the car.

He reminds me of a foreign tourist armed with just a few English phrases.

May I take your drink order?
Would you like an appetizer?
Are you ready to order?
I'll take this when you are ready?
Thank you for coming in.

That seems to be his entire repertoire.

Of course it is possible but not likely that the Sneeds have offended him in some way and he is just pissed at us. Maybe back in the waiter's breakroom he talks about that family of a-holes that keeps showing up no matter how indifferent he is toward them. As I said, possible but not likely. It's definitely him.

In addition, he has this annoying quirk of not writing down anyone's order because he evidently believes he has a perfect memory. He happens to be wrong on that score too. He frequently screws up the order and when you point it out, he wordlessly takes away the incorrect dish and reappears later with the correction. Not a word of apology to be had.

Call me crazy, but I would figure that a guy working for mostly tips would schmooze the patrons some. But then I am not a professional waiter, so I might be wrong.

I suppose he could be doing some sort of sociological or economic research on the effect of indifference on tipping, or he may simply not give a crap. Some people just don't care that much about their job, at least that is what I've heard.

So, you are thinking why go back? The food is good and he has to get a better job eventually. Plus from time to time he isn't there, which is the old win-win.

Merle.







Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgemental and cranky


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