El Patio

I

Idahorn2

250+ Posts
When I was in school, '67-'71, we took our Mexican food mostly at El Patio. It is mentioned occasionally here, but not as often as I would think given its age, proximity to campus, and low prices. Ms Idahorn2 and I ate there after the Baylor game in '03, nothing seems to have changed.

I started going there because it was recommended by "Cousin John" who roomed with a good friend. John was a little wild and from San Antonio, but he said it was authentic. Not bad and it was cheap. I was never sure the crackers were all that authentic, but, on my Dad's (SA native) example, I always have them with chili, so who knows.

Not on anyone's greatest Tex-Mex list nowadays, I suppose, but I just wonder where it is in the current Pantheon.
 
in the current pantheon, it would be ranked dead last. a complete joke of tex-mex. an insult to anyone who knows anything about food of any kind. i want to say taco bell is way better, but thats really way too complimentary. jesus man there is great food here don't do this to yourself because you ate at some dump 40 years ago.
 
It was right near my then-girlfriend/now-wife's apartment, and we only went a couple of times total during school. It wasn't terrible, but there are just a lot better places around these days.
 
It's basic old school Tex-Mex. 30-40 years ago that's pretty much how every Mexican restaurant was, at least as far as I can remember. Stuff like fajitas and to a lesser degree, verde sauce and even chicken enchiladas didn't really start showing up on Tex Mex menus until roughly the early 80's. It was pretty much the #1, which was rice, beans, an enchilada and tamale (usually spelled "tamal"), or the senorita plate, which was a crispy taco and guacamole salad. Some places would combine the two and call it the Deluxe or Grande Plate or something like that.

And if the plate came with "queso" that usually meant a flat fried corn tortilla with melted cheese on top. If they put beans on it too, it became a chalupa.

Anyway, love El Patio for what it is. There aren't many of their kind left.

Oh yeah - do you still get the scoop of sherbet at the end? All the old school Tex Mex places gave you sherbet or a praline for desert whether you ordered it or not.
 
This is great for me. Opinions- new, old, sympathetic, and critical. I know El Patio isn't all that good and is pretty bland, but it is old school. If memory serves, and it rarely does these days, my Mom said she thought it was there when she and my Dad met at Dirty's in the Spring of 1940; so it may have been there for some time. She and I ate there in 1991 on our way to a semi-historical tour of South Texas.

We ate at a Mexican place in Harlingen a day or two later. I had my habitual combo plate and she ordered chicken in mole sauce. She'd lived nearly all her life in Texas (born near Santa Anna) and was a very sophisticated diner, so I figgered she must know what mole was like and didn't say anything. She'd never had it and could not eat it; so I had to trade her my treasured enchilada. I can't stand mole, but I was glad to eat it since I realized I could have saved us both the trouble by saying something.

That was a very instructive trip and we had a great time. Got to know her much better- it was the only time just the two of us traveled together on a longer trip.

She complained, in a bemused way, that my sister (an RN) was watering her cheap vodka so she would not drink so much. Her solution was to drink a few more screwdrivers every evening; pleased that she never caught colds. She had always taken pride in a totally unnecessary frugality. "Even cheap vodka doesn't taste like tapwater." Sorry for the digression.

Another place no one talks about much is The Hofbrau. To me it is another landmark, and the steaks are unique and very good in their own way. Certainly not a Peter Luger, Morton's, or Ruth's Chris, but, again, unique. Don't normally eat ketchup, but a little swirled in the grease left on the plate is fabulous with their big fries.

I am currently on a pretty strict diet, so my food memory may be a little sharper than usual.
 
Idahorn...

ate of Hofbrau a couple months ago. As with El Patio (atleast for me) both places are about the experience.

If I want a simple taco, enchilada,beans and rice there is absolutely nothing wrong with El Patio. I never understood why people didn't like the crackers, I thought it was unique. Put a little butter on them, dip in salsa, and voila!
 
El Patio is horrible.

Gakfoo is 100% correct. I can honestly say that I have never had worse food in my entire life. I hate the hyperbole that is normally on this board when it comes to restaurants, but I stand by that statement. El Chico is an order of magnitude above El Patio, and those that refuse to recognize this are in denial.

I used to eat Vienna sausages by the can. Thinking about them may make me reminice about my childhood. But I can gauran-god damn-tee you , I won't ever eat that **** again (barring some sort of nuclear holocaust).
 
Driving through Northern Maine a couple years ago, we got real hungry in a basically uninhabited area. Stopped at a country store/gas station; really all they had with protein was Vienna Sausage.

After a 20 year hiatus, they were pretty dam good. I didn't get all nostalgic about them the way I do with old-timey Austin restaurants; just wolfed 'em down. Had a big lobster for dinner that night in Olgunquit--it was much better.
 
This reminds me of the Matts El Rancho thread. Not in that El Patio is comparable to Matt's, but in the overall tone of it. El Patio is what it is. If you have the expectations and know what it is then you likely won't be disappointed. It is like someone said if you go to Haufbrau expecting Peter Luger then yeah you will be highly disappointed. If you go to El Patio expecting insert favortie TexMex then you will be disappointed. El Patio to some degree is not good. I won't go so far as to say it is El Chico or Taco Bell like, but in a weird way I like El Patio. It is old school, nostalgic Austin original. Time has passed it by to where it really can no longer compete with the great Tex Mex places, but to me it still serves a purpose. It is not my favorite place by any wild stretch, and I have not been there in more than 10 years. Still if I spent more time in Austin I would still visit it every now and then for old times sake.
 
My Grandpa used to take me there in the early 70's, and it was his favorite place.

And if you turn your nose up on the Vienna Sausage, I guess you don't fish much.....and no, hiring a guide to take you out for a few hours doesn't count as "fishing".
 
i love the place. my grandparents ate there once a week in college, my parents ate there once a week in college, and we eat there before every home game. no, it's not the best food in town, but the joseph's know us by name. .that place is an icon.

i could seriously crush some chalupa supremes with beef right about now...and a basket of the "big chips"
 
I'm sitting here laughing out loud re: Vienna Sausages.

I fish all the time with a group of true rednecks, and one of them always makes sure we've got plenty of, as he pronounces them......."Veye-anna Weenies".
 
Vy-eenies, saltines, red-rind cheese, and purple onion.....I've seen days working, fishing, and hunting when that's a banquet.

some of the roughnecks on our drilling rigs used to call 'em "monkey dicks".

"Any you boys got an extra sammitch?"
"Naw, but my ol' lady threw a can of monkey dicks in my lunch sack you can have."
 
Monkey dicks. Never called them that, but something like it crossed my mind and it must be about right. Next time I go after some steelhead, we'll have them along. We usually take sardines and saltines. Gouda would be alright too.
 
For a place to suck so bad, it sure does fill up during lunch.

Please tell all your friends, so I can get a table without the wait, and yes I do eat the sherbert.
 
"All the old school Tex Mex places gave you sherbet or a praline for desert whether you ordered it or not"

Always loved the free praline at El Patio when I was a kid
 
All I can say is I really can't believe El Patio is still in business. It might be the worst food I have ever paid money for. That sounds like hyperbole, but I really can't think of worse food.
 
Hit me.
bounce2.gif
 
Harlingen Mexican Restaurant--no idea whatever--this was about '91. Big white building, I think between two one-way streets.
 
I bet it was Palmetto Inn (now closed) which was really good. I think president Reagan ate there once.They had complimentary thick fried tortilla chips and salsa and that were awesome. I think there is still a Palmetto in South Padre Island.
 
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