Luis Jr.s!

The fact that my mention of the shocker got my blog a lot more traffic and comments for the day just goes to show how truly elitist my friends and I are. Also, the following review of the new Luis Jr.'s proves the brave anonymous commenter's point yet again. It's true, Luis Jr's is much too elite for all but the most shitty and snobby, but I'm going to tell all you poor saps who can't make the cut just what you're missing.

I got very excited when we rode up and saw the cute Luis Jr.'s neon sign. You enter into a foyer with three mini-fountains. Class. The design of Luis Jr.s can be summed up with the word: Mexicanese. That is, they kept most of the elements of the former restaurant, Tokio, such as the light wood and the booths with roofs over them that are reminiscent of a Japanese restaurant, and then they added some art that was in the old Luis'. I really missed all the pictures of Luis Sr., but I understand that it was making his family sad to work with hundreds of pictures of their late father. They put up a few discrete pictures in the bar area, but it's not the same. Inexplicably, there was no local media covering the grand opening. Where was the governator? Where was Mark S. Allen? Where was Betty Vasquez? When we first entered, I saw a lady that resembled sweaty Betty and I thought for a moment that she really was there, but this woman was much too young (and if anyone ever tells you you resemble a young Betty Vasquez, believe me, that's a compliment). The service was definitely off last night. We had to wait quite a while for someone to take our order, to get our food, etc., but this was OK and completely understandable because the place was packed with loyal customers. Things were even getting kind of rowdy by the time we left at 8:00 because there is a side party room and servers were continually carrying trays of tequila shots in there. We ordered a pitcher of margaritas, and they tasted pretty caustic. No fresh lime had even gotten close to these things. They tasted like perhaps someone had added a soupcon of bleach to the mix to spice it up. Nevertheless, they were cheap and I was Drunk with a capital D by the time we left. The chips seemed slightly different to me, thicker and not as crisp, but the salsa was the same. Michael and I ordered our usual, the chicken soup with fresh, homemade flour tortillas. The prices don't seem to have changed, and the soup and tortillas is still a bargain at 2.95! The soup was delicious!! Miller got an a la carte chicken taco and carnitas tostada, which he said were good. Some of the waiters that we know and love were there, including the guy with the grey ponytail, but I noted with concern that the tall waiter was not there. I hope to see him in subsequent visits. All in all, what with the camaraderie of all the returned customers, and the glow induced by the crapload of cheap tequila, it was a magical evening.