While we waited for our enchiladas and chalupas to arrive, the waiter across the room caught my attention. His face was familiar. I leaned toward Trudy.
“I think that guy used to work at El Patio,” I said.
She looked at him and smiled. Let’s just say that my reputation does not include great facilities of memory. Still, of all the things I forget (and there are many), faces is not one of them.
“It’s him, I know it’s him.” The shape of his mouth. His eyebrows. Something about his eyes.
It had to be him.
But years had passed. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there. (Why is that?) I could have been wrong. So I looked at him each time he walked by.
It had to be him. No maybe not. Yes, it just had to be him.
Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore. As he walked by our table, I reached out and touched him on the arm.
“Yes sir?” he said.
“Excuse me, but did you used to work at El Patio?”
His eyes lit up. “Just from 1981 to 2005!”
We introduced ourselves and shook hands. His name was Filipe. He told us about his years there, before he came to work here at his sister’s restaurant, Hecho En Mexico (in between long shifts doing microelectronics work).
He told us how he had started at El Patio washing dishes. And although he didn’t say it, I knew the progression, because we had seen guys work their way thru the ranks, there. From putting silverware on the tables to bringing out chips and queso to bringing out the food and finally to the main waiters. The guys there were long time employees, which is one of the really amazing things about that place.
“Did you make it to a red coat?” I asked.
“Oh yes,” he said. And then he explained how he had climbed as high as you could climb there, because the only other position was David Joseph, the owner. He laughed when he said that.
Austin has grown very large. Sleepy nearby towns have grown into the expanding city limits of Austin, becoming sizable cities in their own right. And Austin has become a metropolis. Just look at the skyline on the lake for proof. But sometimes, if you’ve been here long enough, small town Austin still shines thru.
