Sombreros and Kilts

When Hurricane Katrina hit Gulfport, MS [It never hit New Orleans, but that's a topic for another article.], we had a house there about eight blocks from the water.  Our street dead-ended on the beach road and at that intersection sat our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Maguey.
El Maguey was already open when we bought our beach house and we fell in love with it the first time we visited.  The fact that they had really good margaritas didn't hurt.  Like many restaurants, we settled in with our favorite dishes and ordered the same thing almost every visit.  The owners were a Latino family that were active in the local community and had obviously been there for a number of years.  They had an established clientelle and numerous photos, clippings, and reviews framed and on display throughout the restaurant and bar.  Also in the lobby was a countdown-to-cinco de mayo clock that ran all year round.    The margaritas came out of one of those big machines like an Icee maker, but they were GOOD!

After a few months, a new building went up across the beach road from El Maguey's and about a block down the street. On the ground floor, an Irish pub opened called, "The Irish Coast". Step through their heavy wood door and step into a New York Irish pub. The architecture, furnishing, decorations, and bar all screamed "IRISH PUB" and of course they offered Guiness Beer by the pint.

During the summers, our granddaughter Chloe and daughter Jen would come to the coast from New Jersey to visit. They loved the beach and the ambiance of the area. Often, while my wife spent quality time with our Chloe, Jen and I would do a Gulf Coast version of a pub crawl. Usually it was just to the pub and El Maguey. In addition to being just a block away from each other, both were just eight blocks from our house. If we got too plastered, we could crawl home -- but that never happened!

Que hace ese tipo aqui vistiendo una falda escocesa?

The first year we were in Gulfport, my wife (Miss Bob) and I made the short trip over to El Maguey for Cinco de Mayo. Wow! The parking lot was jammed! There was over an hour wait for a table and we had parked so far away, we had to walk right past the Irish Coast. So..........we just went back there. A tradition was born. The entire time we lived in Gulfport, we always went to El Maguey on St. Patrick's Day and to the Irish Coast on Cinco de Mayo. Both businesses were destroyed by Katrina and as far as I know have never returned. Years later now, it's a story we tell frequently and enjoy reliving the memories.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Two days after publishing the above article, it appears that we've started a trend!

Check out the photo to the right. ===>>