El Tapatio

We stopped at one of my favorite Stillwater restaurants for dinner: El Tapatio. I almost never come here for dinner. After all, if you are going for cheap Tex-Mex, you go at the cheapest time. So usually I come here for a 4.69 lunch of tacos, beans, rice, chips, and salsa. And El Tap is the perfect place for a quick lunch. You can get in, get seated with a "Hey amigos. Follow me.", order the Speedy Gonzalez, get your food, eat, and pay the bill in under 20 minutes. The atmosphere is upbeat and energetic which brightens the day up a bit around lunchtime when I am contemplating the evening of homework stretching before me. The booths and tables and even the walls are brightly painted with calla lilies and parrots and donkeys and the green plants that sparsely decorated El Tap a few years ago now nearly cover the ceiling. The waiters work fast and efficiently, if not always particularly graciously. If you ask for a straw it appears in seconds, but don't expect the waiter to bother standing around chatting with you. The most incredible example of El Tap's efficiency is how your food is brought to you. If there's only two of you you won't see it, so try going with a group. One waiter will bring out something like a dozen plates at one time with no tray. He'll have his arms covered in an oven mitt and the plates just lined up from his hands to his shoulders.

Anyway, I enjoy all this excitement at lunchtime and usually prefer a more mellow pace in the evening. But what's life without a little variety so I branched out today with a shrimp chimichanga at El Tap for dinner. It did solve my hunger issue, but I think I will save El Tap for lunch next time. While there I saw a flyer for a Latin Dance this Friday. The flyer was in Spanish so I'm guessing it is a really Latin dance. The details are in the calendar on the right.