It's been a while now but Key West no longer numbers Taco Bell among it's fast food eateries. I never did bother to note it's passing, largely because I am not fond of the food. However some of my colleagues in Police Dispatch mourned the loss of "Taco Hell" as they called it.
I acknowledge that residents can't be eating specialty foods in expensive restaurants all the time so let me say I would be bereft if Miami Subs and Outback were to close, among other inexpensive eateries. Taco Bell? Hell no. The fact that it has stayed unoccupied for so long is not a good thing.
When Belen came back from her most recent trip to Cuba she brought her brother-in-law a gift up to Dispatch as we exchanged shifts. Belen has permission from the Treasury department to visit her relatives on the island, the one we white people can't visit legally until President Obama buttons up his courage and opens travel up for everybody. (Can you tell I am resentful?). What on earth, I wondered, did she bring Noel from Cuba? Noel visited his relatives a few years ago and still shudders at the memory of his one and only trip. "Mud huts and outhouses" he mumbles still awed by the poverty he could so easily have been born into, as he fires up his kindle for another night in dispatch. The gift itself wasn't that interesting- it was a bottle of salad dressing from The Olive Garden in Miami. Lots of islanders crave an Olive Garden in Key West, and Noel loves the dressing: "I bathe in it!". Islanders might also start craving fresh doughnuts. The one doughnut chain couldn't survive without illegal immigrant labor and they got shut down once too often. Now it's going to be pizza. More pizza. 
I remember the old Key West Diner next to the doughnut shop. It used to serve an all you can eat breakfast buffet that kept me feeling full all day while I was out on the water captaining boats. It's been closed for ages. I think Wilma did this place in around 2005. 
I like the plaster pineapples on the roof.
Given that these places have been closed for a while one might wonder what prompted me to put this essay together now. My favorite barbecue place has gone, that's why. 
Mad Dawgz at Mile Marker 21 on Cudjoe Key has gone and left behind a few weeds and some good memories. 
The signs are still there.
The last I heard they were planning summer music to pull people in but I guess it was too slow to keep them going. Quelle drag.
The other closure just half a mile down the Overseas Highway surprised me even more. 
Coco's Cantina has been a staple on Cudjoe for a long time but they too are gone.
Their menu was eclectic, mostly Cuban with occasional Nicaraguan or Thai thrown in as the staff came and went.
Now Coco's is an empty building and a pile of junk piled up in the parking lot by someone who apparently had to clear the building in a rush.
I wasn't a regular there but the food was okay and the take out Thai food was great while it lasted. My wife is very fond of Thai food. Mostly though they served Cuban meals.
Now the door is barred and the lock drilled out. I guess the closure was sudden and perhaps not friendly.
Happily the Sugarloaf Food Company is only closed for vacation.
I suppose a slow economy makes everything harder for small business though I can't say of course if the economy is the reason for the closures. Sometimes it's just time to close. Which is shame. I will really miss the barbecue.
I acknowledge that residents can't be eating specialty foods in expensive restaurants all the time so let me say I would be bereft if Miami Subs and Outback were to close, among other inexpensive eateries. Taco Bell? Hell no. The fact that it has stayed unoccupied for so long is not a good thing.
When Belen came back from her most recent trip to Cuba she brought her brother-in-law a gift up to Dispatch as we exchanged shifts. Belen has permission from the Treasury department to visit her relatives on the island, the one we white people can't visit legally until President Obama buttons up his courage and opens travel up for everybody. (Can you tell I am resentful?). What on earth, I wondered, did she bring Noel from Cuba? Noel visited his relatives a few years ago and still shudders at the memory of his one and only trip. "Mud huts and outhouses" he mumbles still awed by the poverty he could so easily have been born into, as he fires up his kindle for another night in dispatch. The gift itself wasn't that interesting- it was a bottle of salad dressing from The Olive Garden in Miami. Lots of islanders crave an Olive Garden in Key West, and Noel loves the dressing: "I bathe in it!". Islanders might also start craving fresh doughnuts. The one doughnut chain couldn't survive without illegal immigrant labor and they got shut down once too often. Now it's going to be pizza. More pizza. 
I remember the old Key West Diner next to the doughnut shop. It used to serve an all you can eat breakfast buffet that kept me feeling full all day while I was out on the water captaining boats. It's been closed for ages. I think Wilma did this place in around 2005. 
I like the plaster pineapples on the roof.
Given that these places have been closed for a while one might wonder what prompted me to put this essay together now. My favorite barbecue place has gone, that's why. Mad Dawgz at Mile Marker 21 on Cudjoe Key has gone and left behind a few weeds and some good memories. The signs are still there.
The last I heard they were planning summer music to pull people in but I guess it was too slow to keep them going. Quelle drag.
The other closure just half a mile down the Overseas Highway surprised me even more. 
Coco's Cantina has been a staple on Cudjoe for a long time but they too are gone. 
Their menu was eclectic, mostly Cuban with occasional Nicaraguan or Thai thrown in as the staff came and went. 
Now Coco's is an empty building and a pile of junk piled up in the parking lot by someone who apparently had to clear the building in a rush. 
I wasn't a regular there but the food was okay and the take out Thai food was great while it lasted. My wife is very fond of Thai food. Mostly though they served Cuban meals.
Now the door is barred and the lock drilled out. I guess the closure was sudden and perhaps not friendly.
Happily the Sugarloaf Food Company is only closed for vacation. 
17 comments:
Mr Conchscooter:
I like Taco Bell but we don't have any here. We have to travel south to Bellingham to savour the delights of a delicious burrito. But we have Tim Hortons doughnuts, too bad for you . . . only in Canada
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
We had our share of empty storefronts and buildings. However, recently we have gotten a whole new crop of restaurants here in Fort Myers and Cape Coral.
Good to see empty storefronts getting things in them. Here is to hoping they are tasty.
May you get some new ones as well that are tasty.
Eating at restaurants down here will make you fat or broke or more likely both. Annie's Organic Buying Club has been a lifeline for us, although we still have nights that we just don't feel like chopping and cooking veggies (one might call these "Slice Of Paradise nights" because 5 Brothers Two closes so darn early). It is difficult living very close to Square Grouper as it is among the more enjoyable ways to get both fat and broke.
I think most American's are prohibited from travel to Cuba. Not just "we white people." Strange comment.
I never became a big fan of Taco Hell. Our favorite Mexican eatery is family owned and they close occasionally for a vacation. I say "Good for them", except on a night when I had my heart set on one of their sanchos and found out they were closed.
If you want, maybe I could Fed Ex some "Delano BBQ" down to you. Remember that place? We used to have an old guy here that cooked up some mean BBQ out of what was essentially an old beat up mobile home. The cleanliness of the place was not impressive, but the BBQ was to die for.
Time marches on. Hopefully someone else will open up a new BBQ place so you can get your "fix".
Mr. C.S., I do not blame you and all your it's for its, for Anon's misuse of apostrophe.
This post smacks of Buffalo to me..We Buffaloians still mourn the loss of certain eateries and landmarks 40 years removed..some still give directions using landmarks that dont exist..Its funny to me that this isnt just a Buffalo thing...I used to think we were the only ones that did such things..
Buffalo Bill
Succesful restaurants make a mark that's for sure. Delano BBQ refers to a corner of Wichita we visited last summer. Buffalo is where Bill lives, poor man and Cindy is with the grammer police. Thank god someone else notices this stuff.
If strange comments aren't to your taste Anon you'd better move on. By the time riepe, blame it on buffett, and Jeffrey have wrangled your ass, you will feel hard done by and go home walking with a limp.
As to the embargo I think it is stupid and pointless and motivated only by the political power of right wing Cubans in Miami whose influence is waning as they slowly die off. That Cuban-Americans can violate the embargo which is in place to "support" them is just icing on the cake of political foolishness. That I speak of myself as a white person is my way of poking fun at people who fear and loathe immigrants (me), Spanish speakers (me), union members (me), government employees (me), atheists (me), fag lovers (me), and elite intellectuals (me, please!).
Strange comments are welcome as long as you don't start picking on each other.
Dear Conchscooter:
Taco Bell is to real Mexican food what a bucket of shit is to triple distilled English gin. It has beren 90 days since I ventured into a fast food joint, but longer since I ate at Taco Bell.
In these parts, Taco Bell is generally coupled with Kentucky Fried Chicken... And that stuff isn't much better.
West Chester is unique in that it is surrounded by great restaurants, many of which are ethnic in nature. I recently had cold, hacked hare with chilis at a Chinese place in Exton, and a seafood salad with grilled squid tentacles over in King of Prussia. And as bad as things are, you can still get Ipswich clams over at Ludwig's Corners (as well as five different kinds of Oysters flown in daily).
There is a phenomenal Mexican joint on the other side of West Chester that looks like a real dump. Don Gabriel's. The food is to die for. And there is a hot new Mexican joint with a roof top bar in West Chester where I wouldn't stop to piss on the outside wall.
I can hardly wait for you to get here. I am going to take you to an Amish strip joint. You can never tel when he dancers will take off their bonnets.
Why don't you ride up here on that scooter? It will make better reading.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Interesting enough, Buffalo has the International Center for Studies in Creativity (who would have thunk).
http://www.buffalostate.edu/creativity/
Neat city when you get past the rust belt mentality people want to put on it.
Nacho Bell used to be a mainstay in my college diet. Nowadays it is a stop gap.
I like Taco Bell. Sad for the closing of Manny & Isa's in Islamorada, but hope Craig's in Tavernier is still open -- fish sandwich served on wheat bread, yum. Also miss Dennis Pharmacy. Sigh
The joke in my corner of the world is that Taco Time (a localized version of a sort-of national chain not owned by Yum! Brands) uses actual food in their offerings, while Taco Bell is... well... uh...
__Orin
Scootin' Old Skool
"Tim Hortons... too bad for you . . . only in Canada"
Actually no, they've invaded the northern US now too (mostly eastern). I actually saw an episode of The First 48 where the detective from Rochester, NY was carrying around a familiar looking "double double".
D
As far as I know Craig's is doing fine.
It is rather sad that Canada's claim to fast food fame is a doughnut shop. They do have universal health care and civility but not a lot of brio.
The Keys Piano Bar has closed for good.
Bummer.
Bummer indeed. I forgot tot ake a picture fo taste of greece which has also closed. Mind you nothing much seems to last at the location. My wife likes Greek food. Or did.
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