Ernesto's

I have to admit that I love Mexican food.  I am also picky when it come to my choice of mexican restaurants.  I judge them all by the quality of the salsa and chips they serve.  I guess I became spoiled years ago, because, my old neighborhood had the best mexican restaurant ever. It wasn't until the Old Salt took me to a mexican restaurant in Bull Head City, Arizona on our honeymoon, that my favorite was relegated to second place.  

When I first moved to town there were two Mexican restaurants.  Neither could compete with my old favorite but one was certainly better than the other.   About the time I met the Old Salt a third place opened up.   Shortly after that the more elegant and pricey of the first two places closed down. It wasn't long before another mexican restaurant opened in a empty store front beside our only supermarket.   

So we have three mexican restaurants in our small town.  Pretty extraordinary considering how few dinner restaurants we have to begin with.  Last week I was shopping with my grandson and decided to treat him to lunch.  Since tacos are one of his favorite foods, we went to the oldest mexican restaurant in town. 

Saying this is the oldest could be a stretch depending on how you define such things.  It is the oldest continuously operating mexican restaurant here.   Last winter, a wind storm took down the sign and it has not been replaced. I learned when we were handed the menus that the place had a new name and a new owner. That makes the third change for this restaurant  since I moved here.  

 

We quickly learned the new name "Ernesto's"  had only been official for a couple weeks.   

 We were greeted at the door by Ernesto himself who escorted us to our table.

 I only had to step through the door to see the place had a new look and a much cheerier atmosphere.  Ernesto was all smiles and so were his servers.

 

Gone were the blue cloud painted ceiling tiles, replaced by snowy white ones that seem to enlarge the space.  New window treatments let in more natural light.  The walls were transformed from a dirty beige to a bright sunny yellow orange. There was now apple green paint covering the dark stained trim of last year.  The restrooms also had a facelift.

I was delighted to see the tables and chairs had not been changed.  No two tabletops are alike and they were added shortly before I became housebound (by chemo) last fall.   The photos used in the above collage were taken at that time.  Surprisingly, Ernesto sat us at the booth with my favorite tabletop.  It is pictured above in the bottom right corner.  The only thing original to the restaurant I first visited twelve years ago was the paper mache parrot hanging on a perch near the back wall.  I have pictures of it getting more and more shabby over the years and now it had a brand new coat of bight colors.    

We had a very pleasant time in Ernesto's  and I'm happy to report that he has the best chips and salsa in town.  That alone will have me coming back as often as possible.  

I am linking to Alphabe Thursday where "E" is the letter of the week.  "E"  for Ernesto's.    Also linking  to Color Connection.