Whenever I walk into a restaurant these days I feel compelled to comment on how many people it contains. If it is crowded I dramatically ask the Heavens, “Where is this so-called ‘bad economy’ about which everyone speaks?” Alternatively, if it is sparse, I marvel at how well the restaurant is surviving in spite of the ‘bad economy’.
The other night we walked into a popular Tex-Mex (whatever THAT is) restaurant to see this:
Now it can’t always be the ‘bad economy’ that results in a slow hour. So I searched high and low looking for some other reason as to why this place was so desolate.
It couldn’t have been the snakes slithering all over the walls…
or the oddly Italian-themed artwork…
and there’s no reason to dislike the 80s bands-inspired uniforms:
and so what if there are lizards on the ceiling that could drop into your plato Gordo at any moment?
and who doesn’t have a decapitated head out front?
And I’m pretty sure walking in twenty minutes before closing had nothing to do with it.
I mean, we’re talking about a Saturday night, people. Where IS everybody? I guess we’ll never know.
Our Rachel Ray Cookware Giveaway (sponsored by CSN Futons) has finally drawn to a close.
Congrats Carol! And thank you to everyone who played!
Everybody? Meet Butter Bean. Butter Bean? Meet Everybody.
Butter Bean is a Pygmy Goat. He’s a Pisces, likes walks in the park, sunsets and music that you can dance to.
He’s also litter box trained. Seriously.
He also likes this chair.
A lot.
If the chair falls over, he will complain at the top of his lungs until you prop it back up for him to climb back into. Butter Bean comes to us today by way of Melodie over at Laughing Duck Farm.
[…] few hours. They swung by our house afterward and we all hit Dos Coyotes for a late lunch. You know, the place with the decapitated head that I told you about last […]
I think the decapitated head would draw crowds so I really can’t figure that one out.
I knew I wouldn’t win that cookware! I just knew it!! I can’t believe you suckered me in at BlogHer by handing me that flyer thing and saying “Hey you could win this cookware if you visit my site!” You KNEW I didn’t have a chance – you made it sound like i would be like one of six people who entered and I WOULD have a chance…..geez.
Now then, how you can make it up to me? A Tex-Mex dinner while you’re in LA and a visit with that goat.
🙂
Can it be Tex-Mex if it’s not in Texas or Mexico? I doubt it. And I totally love love love the little pink panties dividing the post. They made me giggle. And the goat….litter box trained….Now that is cool!
I think it was the giant head and the critters. They do have an odd mix of decor. LOL.
But seriously, a litter box trained pygmy goat? TOO Cute. We had pygmy goats for a short while when I was a kid. It made no sense why but we did. And ButterBean is just precious.
love love love butterbean….
They’re all at home making Old ElPaso for the whole family for a total of $5. 🙂
i believe there has to one of those restaurants in every town…lol…well we have one! :)…
sigh….
i’ll dwell on the cutie pie goat..pottytrained you say? well now, you simply can’t get more mannerly than that!
At the mention of Tex Mex I covered my ears and shook my [vegetarian] head while moaning “no no no no no no” repeatedly….
xoxo
I’m not sure if a decapitated head is the best mascot for a restaurant, Tex-Mex or not. Seems unhealthy.
I always wanted a Pygmy Goat. I still do….
Hmmm… That empty? That might tell me a little something about the quality of the food. Just sayin’.
Stopping by from SITS to say ‘hello’.
Perhaps they don’t serve the hootch. I find anyplace without a liquor license to be in very low demand these days.
The head in front of the restaurant reminds me of Cloverfield or some other horror movie where the city gets consumed by a giant monster. I wouldn’t eat there either. I’d be concerned that it wasn’t really a restaurant but a bait trap for an angry beast.
If it’s called “Tex Mex”, I think that’s a pretty good indication that it’s not the real deal…
So I’m late for the pot giveaway hum… no extra pot laying around anywhere?… Did you check your Blogher suitcase? It doesn’t have to be Rachel Ray you know…no… anywho… 20 minutes before closing spells all kinds of trouble for you, saliva trouble! Which is the worst kind of trouble there is, really.
Tex-Mex is actually bad Mexican food.
I get nervous when a restaurant is empty. Makes me think something is wrong and I then I don’t want to eat there.
I love Butter Bean — he is a cute goat, I think all other goats look like devils!
Congrats to Carol on winning the Rachael Ray pans ~~ looks like Annette and I are BOTH loosers!!
I too share a dilemma – crowded places ensure good food but my dislike of people (all of them) means having to sit near them in order to eat it. Hmm. If by a stroke of luck this restaurant served good food AND was dead empty, consider yourself the luckiest girl in the world.
Great. Now I want guacamole.
And I’d go get some, if it weren’t for this “bad economy.” Which, today, just translates to me being too lazy to drive to the closest On the Border restaurant.
I think the head fell on them!
I don’t like having Tex-Mex in Florida. I think it should be called Fla-Mex here.
If you’re going to offer sweet tea – pronounced swaytay then it’s not Tex anymore.
Now about the lack of customers on Saturday. It has to do with the economizing with the laundry and days of the week panties.
Love Butterbean! He can come sit in the Mister’s Lazy-Boy any time
Oh, yeah. I love Dos. That was one of my favorite places when I was in Davis, too. When they opened the second one in the South part of Davis I was very happy because it was within walking distance. I’m not sure what is up with the decor in that Sacto one, though.
Oh, this makes me miss my little goatie girls! I never thought to provide them with lawn furniture. They would have loved that.
It’s mexican food for me today cuz, I’m a gal of ritual and habit and Tuesday is always Mexican food day. Don’t know how I’ll last 3 more hours till lunch, though.
Think I’ll have to go for the quesa dia with all the chips and guacamole and cheesy lardy goodness.
I’m a little peeved that I didn’t win the cookware. Not that I ever cook, but it would have been lovely hanging on the pan rack.
I love Tex-Mex, no matter how strange the decor is! But Butter Bean is what made my hear pitter patter with joy…seriously, I think Maybeline is long over due for a brother or sister…Do cats and goats get along? lol
I so want a baby goat so I can call it Butter Bean. “Butter Bean, come for your supper!” “Butter Bean, fetch the paper!” “Butter Bean, stop goring Aunt Lucy!”
Cute.
That goat is litter trained? Hilarious. And the restaurant? No words except I love your brand of funny!
I’d be wary of restaurants with no customers… they look like they could be the opening scene from a mad slasher movie.
WTF is up with that place? I have never seen anything like it! Also, love Butter Bean. One day I WILL have goats…two Boer goats to be exact.
I was pretty convinced (before even scrolling down) by your first pic that this was Dos Coyotes, but then knew without a doubt by the second pic. Dos Coyotes was one of my favorite old haunts in Davis!
OK…why have I never been to your blog before? You’re practically my neighbor! I’ll be back. 🙂
~Keri
WHAT! Did you not even eat there? It’s summer time and Dos Coyotes has a fantastic Mango and Grilled Chicken Quesidilla!
They have fantastic food, salsas and everything is freshly prepared – i was never bummed.
I am not sure what it is about Sacramento area – but in most outlying areas – all life started to leave around 9pm. SO sad.
I miss those yummy food places we dont have in the midwest.
oh the Dos, cali’s excuse for Tex-Mex. But I do love the corn tortilla.
Me thinks it was the lame selection on the jukebox.
Nah I don’t think it’s the closing time that did it. The sign says border cafe’. Are you sure they didn’t all cross the border to beat the curfew? he he.
Love the new little bloomers as the signature. cute!
Having worked in a restaurant during high school/college…I have to wonder if on Saturday night, 20 minutes before closing…had they already cleaned up most everything? Were they inwardly groaning when you walked in? Were they hoping to get out early that night?
lol!
I can only imagine my mother trying to order from the back of a tee shirt.
“Um, what comes in the Beefy Tee platter? Chicken?”
Decapitated heads are always a selling point for me.
I like my flautas with a side of decapitated head. Looks like a winner to me!
What Wendi said.
Except I don’t own a truck. Would you settle for a ride in my red Nissan Altima? The license plate says “WEIRDOS” so you should feel right at home.
Chiva, baby. That’s Tex Mex.
My grandmother had a killer restaurant. She could Tex Mex the hell out of anything.
Mmm. Lard.
Excuse me, I’m off to heat up a tortilla.
Awww, butter bean.
Decapitated heads or not, nuttin’ is coming between me and mis margaritas.
Sllllllllllurrrp.
AHHHHHH!
20 minutes before closing might have something to do with it…if I was a cook or dishwasher, I’d have turned out the lights on ya! Or, I’d really, really want to.
Drat!! I so wanted those pots and pans. Maybe next time!
Congrats CeeCeeBlogger!
I love the cute goat in a chair. That’s adorable. 🙂
First and foremost what time was it? 1 a.m.? I haven’t been in a resturant in the last 60 days that didn’t have 5 bazillion people in it. Doesn’t anyone cook?
Second Love the 1/2 Italian 1/2 Mexican. Wouldn’t that be Ital-Mex?
Thirdly how cute is Butter Bean?
Butter Beans has a playmate, it is so funny watching them fight over that chair and pushing each other out playing King of the Chair. My husband and I while visiting the farm spent 30 minutes watching them fight over that chair.
That’s not a decapitated head. It’s a butter sculpture.
Thank you for making Butter Bean a star!It has gone to his head,he is demanding a new lawn chair,err I mean throne!~Melodie
The important thing to know about Tex-Mex, if my research so far is any indication, is the prevalence of cheese. Lots of it. Heaps of it, spilling forth as so much manna from Heaven.
Like the Texans on here have mentioned, you really ought to get down here to Austin for a proper Tex-Mex meal & margarita; I’ve not met a restaurant elsewhere up to the task / cholesterol content.
congrats to the winner!
lol @ the “dead” restaurant… you crack me up..
and butterbean? i wanna keep him!
Congrats to Carol! GREAT GIVEAWAY NGIP! Thanks.
And we do the same thing in restaurants– judge the economy by the number of patrons. Fortunately, lately restaurants have appeared to be a little fuller….. although I haven’t been in a TexMex place. But when a restaurant is totally empty, I usually take it as a sign and hightail it outta there.
xo
The severed head? Also more Romanesque than either Texan or Mexican.
I could eat my weight in chips and salsa at those places. And I like my margaritas on the rocks with salt…
Butter bean is the best goat name ever.
but how were the enchiladas? you DID have enchiladas, right? RIGHT? my hubby’s from texas and i am fairly certain that the enchilada is the official mascot of tex mex food.
Tex-Mex – aren’t those the little mints that come in a plastic dispenser box? Yeah, they come in lime, orange, and mint…right?
Shade and Sweetwater,
K
Damn. Next time I throw REAL panties.
I was dragged to a similar restaurant in Houston while on business. There was a blur of guacamole and a very deep sleep at a Hampton Inn afterward. Probably because the margaritas came in cups the size of my head.
Ahh Carol you lucky gal you! My goats don’t get their own chairs. They have to settle for hay stacks to stand on.
Congrats to the winner. Gotta love a high livin’ goat!
Maybe people got tired of eating snake and gecko.
CONGRATS to Carol! The random number generator clearly could sense that Rachel Ray annoys the living heck out of me and opted to give the pans to a less biased soul. (I mean, imagine if I had the living heck annoyed right out of me each time I cooked a meal? I’d be utterly heckless!)
I seriously want either a pair of pygmy goats or pygmy sheep for our back yard. Well, for all of our yard. I especially seriously want a couple for times like right now, when I’ve just spent the better part of the past two hours sweating my expansive rear off pushing our old-n-decrepit lawnmower back and forth and back and forth. (None of that fancy-pants diagonal pattern mowing for me, thankyouverymuch. I do horiz or vert only. Can’t have my yard putting on airs, now can I?)
Hubby, alas, is very anti-pet farmesque animals. This despite being married to a woman who grew up on a farm full of sheep AND goats. He’s a city boy, and a wimp. (He also doesn’t mow the lawn….)
LOVE Butter Bean!
Oh, and your Bejeweled Blitz prowess? Chartreuse with envy, madame!
So you scared everyone away, huh? Hmmpft, it sure looks like it. 🙂
Actually I didn’t really read much of the post preceding the giveaway part, in which I learned that I lost…
…again. I’m such a loser. First, you crush me at Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook and now this. Thanks a lot!
heh, a popular new pasttime is ‘butter bean tipping’ where you sneak up behind the chair, give it a push then run away fast hahaha !
stupid random number generator.. (grumble)
Chuys in Austin for the win!
http://www.chuys.com/location.html
Tex-Mex… so good it needed a class of its own.
Congratulations, Carol! I didn’t want that stinkin’ cookware ANYway. Because I have Butter Bean. Yes, I will be taking Butter Bean home with me and making him a little bed and shredding carrots for him to eat and he can keep his chair and I will even buy him his own litterbox so he doesn’t have to share with Gus and Pru.
So I’m a winner, too.
You’re one of THOSE people who show up when they already have things put away. I’m pretty sure you got your food spit on! LOL
holy cow 600+ entries!?!congrats ceecee….
Twenty minutes before closing time? I bet they were thrilled to see you!
As a Texan, I guess I’m obligated to say something like “get your ass down to Austin and I’ll show you what Tex-Mex is, darlin’.” Then we go for a ride in my truck.
But I could just say that I like the goat instead, right?