I Remember Landrums!

I was thinking about painting some little Mexican figures, folk-type, on a wall the other day. Don't worry, I'll never do it, I'll just think about it.

But it made me remember Landrum's Restaurant of Brownsville, Texas, my home town.

Landrum's was a restaurant of some elegance, there on Levee Street downtown.  It was in an old historical building, which all the downtown buildings seemed to be. Outside its style would probably be described as New Orleans style...white-painted brick colonial building. The inside walls were of brick, also, painted white also.

Landrum's had a great menu and we all thought the food the only place comparable to my mama's good cooking.  They had some things that my mama never served at table, like ham steak with grilled pineapple and melted cheese.  Well, yummo. I thought it was delicious.

Landrum's had "Mexican food," of the style now known as Tex-Mex--fried corn tacos, enchiladas, beans and rice.  All the dishes were delicious. The style of cookery has been refined into "Nuevo Leon" style Mexican food, and I still love it best of any Mexican style food. Meat, beans, rice, chiles, barbecue, goat if you will. There at Landrum's it was simplified to ground beef or steak. None of this Sinaloa-Michiocan style.  Just the real stuff. The flavors were right!!!

There was also good seafood to be had at Landrum's, most of that in the American manner. Mexican shrimp cocktail hadn't been served in the good old USA yet.  I love Mexican style shrimp cocktail but I love American style too.

Well as usual I got sidetracked onto the food. But my point in remembering Landrum's is that the walls were adorned with hand-painted humorous folk paintings done in oil by "Mrs. McGonigle," the mother of a friend in school.  Mrs. McGonigle was an accomplished architect and artist and her contribution to the decor of Landrum's was incomparable. 

Does anybody else remember those paintings? I wish we had some photographs of them to remind us of how darling they were.  YAZZYBEL