Joe T. Garcia's Mexican Restaurant Interview Part One

[BEGIN INTERVIEW: PART 1] [00:00:00]

Kirsten Ronald (KR): Alright, this is Kirsten Ronald, Andrew Gansky and Sherri Sheu. We're here with um-we're here with Lanny [Coughs]-excuse me-Lanny Lancarte, Joe Lancarte, and Jody Lancarte from Joe T. Garcia's.

It is Tuesday, Feburary 28th at 10:30 a.m. and this is our fabulous oral history. Are you gentlemen ready?

Okay, um so my first questions are just about the history of the restaurant in general. I know if you're looking at my sheet ahead of time so the first one is just very basic: can you give us the story of the restaurant, however you like to do the story?

Joe Lancarte (JL2): Well, uh, you know, uh, Jessie and Joe T. Garcia, who started the restaurant back in 1935 which is in the-if people are familiar with coming into the main dining room-it's just that front room which is really-in 1935 was really half that room-we only had six tables of four when we first started back then and it was just a small, little restaurant.

KR: Okay. Okay and then, keep going-what happened?

JL2: Okay, well and then beyond that-

Jody Lancarte (JL1): They had the grocery store.

JL2: Well, of course, yes and if you go beyond that uh they started the grocery store in 19-

JL1: Oh gosh, it must have been-

Lanny Lancarte (LL): Probably 1932.

JL2: '32-say between '30 and '32-somewhere in the ballpark, sorry I don't have the exact number uh- they started with just a little grocery store.

They used to serve a lot of people from the packinghouse. You know they would come in and everybody, you know buy lunchmeat, things like that, sandwich meats, you know and uh one of the packers, you know asked if she could make her-him something to eat if I'm correct. And and then she started making you know little items then and uh my grandfather said, "Well, heck, if you want to do that, let's just go ahead and open a restaurant." Which they did in 1935, which is that little front room.

And uh started with just that front room there. They opened up the banquet room which was the-well, of course they enlarged the front room, and then made the back dining room which you'll have to look at some of the old pictures and it had four long tables back then. And so that was back in the '40s.

So we didn't start adding anymore until the late Sixties and then 1970 when we started the patio.

The patio first started with just the front part which there was a small pool area there and the original reason the pool was built in 1970, was of course when we were kids we grew up here-you have to understand it goes back that we actually lived on premise back in the back and so this was also our home, besides being a restaurant.

So we wanted a pool when we were kids and so they built that and my brother, who has an unbelievable mind and that could just picture-Lanny-my brother here-who could you know I mean he is really incredible. I've always admired his uh way of thinking and how he can think so far ahead uh that he had this vision of "hey, let's not just not build this we can also make it into a patio" which we would serve parties and which is what we did.

Let me also include my brother David-my brother David passed away a few years ago-him and David worked together building the patio and uh they uh so we would serve private parties in the evenings when the uh you know the for the patio and then uh and when there wasn't any parties we would open it to the public.

There was such a demand for the patio uh we enlarged it and added in 1980 you know another section and and moved the parties in that area.

Of course, they just kept growing after that and more people wanted to book outside and we added more dining rooms until we finished everything in 1998 and finished the back part of the patio, which we can serve quite a number of people now in the dining areas.

KR: About how many people can you serve, if you have a full house?

JL1: Oh-

JL2: We can serve probably about a thousand people, somewhere in that ballpark. Yeah.

KR: Have you ever been that full?

JL2: There's no question we have. I mean, there could be two or three hundred people waiting in line for the patio alone without-not including-the inside, you know. So- so it's wonderful, yeah.

You know, what's so great and actually just the other day we had-it was raining and uh-or sprinkling may I say-and uh the patio was closed. It was a couple of Saturdays ago and they were out, in line, and waiting to come in, and had umbrellas. I mean...you know- when you see something like that, I mean it says a lot, you know, and I really mean that. I mean we, we really do love our customers and we appreciate that what they do to come and when they eat here which says a lot for us. And you can't help but appreciate that.

KR: Yeah, for sure, actually that is definitely not the next question on my list but that that raises a big question for me and-I'm curious-just how have the customers changed over the time that the restaurant has been open or since that you've been involved in it?

JL2: Well, what do you mean change? As in what?

KR: Well, have you noticed a different kind of clientele? Or, have you noticed, I know it has been expanding a lot, so I'm just curious who's been coming into the restaurant.

JL1: [Unintelligble]. We have multi-generation customers.

JL2: Right. Exactly. There's been four generations of customers as Jody says, of people coming out here. Uh, I'll give you a for instance. I had a gentleman, I remember it was one Christmas Eve and this gentleman stands up in the middle of the dining room and goes, in the middle of the dining room, "I've been coming here for over forty, you know, forty-five years! And every Christmas Eve." And then somebody else stands up and says "I've been coming in for thirty years," and you know, on and on and on as you can understand and you got to remember these people have been bringing their children bringing their children and bringing their children. That is wonderful. That is huge.

You, when I see a child, when someone brings in their, you know there was a waiter that worked here many years ago. He has three children, now, I said, he goes, "Hey, we brought the kids." I said, you got to understand, I love those kids for a lot of reasons but I mean those are our future. I mean they will someday be out here having dinner and bringing their family. And that's how you look at it, without a question.

KR: Have you seen the same growth in the people that you-that work here as well?

JL2: The same growth as in?

KR: As in, the same growth as in the same people coming back to work or like families working here and generations of families?

LL: Let me answer that. On that one, it would be like our kitchen staff which has been here-has been here-Juanito, our oldest one has been here probably almost forty years.

Uh, the majority of them have been here probably fifteen to twenty-five years, in that range of things. So, most of our people, especially those who have been with us for along time has been our kitchen staff, which has been with us forever. Our employees like the waiters and stuff most of them are working their way through TCU or through college and stuff like that and they're, they're-now actually we have in the last few years their kids since they were waiters. I'm hiring them as waiters here now.

So the guys that went through school, and everything else, so- we almost keep the same thing going in the generations in the people that work here as waiters. Their dads and or their mothers had worked here and know kind of the family real well and now they want their kids to go through the same thing, whether they're going through TCU or wherever. So we, yeah, it's a, uh uh it almost stays the same you, you know and uh, so-I drink beers with both of them, not really. Forgot. Cut that [Laughs]. I'll try. Anyway.

KR: Awesome.

LL: Talk to Joe. [Laughs].

KR: Sorry. [Unintelligible].

KR: Um, so I guess my next question in relating to the generational thing, can we talk about how you three got involved with the restaurant?

JL2: Well, how us three? Well, you have to understand that there's not just us three, you know, we have other siblings also who are also involved in the restaurant and my mom's always kind of, you know- again, remember starting back, let's go, well, let's say the Sixties you know, when the people who worked here were mostly family.

I mean, Lanny was on the- Lanny would know probably better where everyone was exactly, but you know Lanny was either on the register, he was on the stove in the kitchen. Of course at the very beginning the stove-my mom was on the stove, my grandmother, who rolled the enchiladas, correct me if I'm wrong Lanny, uh my dad who made the tacos and uh you know, sent off the tacos and the guacamole and all that and uh Lanny was up front and David was in the back room, he waited on tables, Lanny waited on the front room, and Zurella was also in there right?

But it was mostly you and David at the very beginning. And y'all were the oldest.

You know, obviously, well the older boys you know, the older children you know waited the tables. And as we grew up, you know, we waited tables also and progressed from there.

Uh, for myself, you know like I said, there was Lanny, there was David, and Zurella, there's myself Joe, and Jesse, Philip and Liz.

And you know we all did something, and you know I ran the register, Jody, she ran the register for years and besides as Lanny- ju- Without a question, let me say always, Jody's been like an older sister to me, without a question. I mean, I mean, she, I mean I think the world of Jody and I mean she's always like, "Hey, Joe you need to be doing this!" "Alright! Alright! Yes ma'am."

You know, and you know, whatever it took you know. You know, and I was very fortunate to grow up in a wonderful family and Lanny to guide us and everything and and send us in the right direction you know and but you know it is is great but it's something that you know you don't appreciate until you get a little bit older and realize what where you've been and what you've done and then you appreciate all that has come, too.

KR: Do you want to talk a little bit more about what that means?

JL2: What does that mean, oh, well you know uh, well-you don't-

I never really look at us as yourself here interviewing us today. And you know, we've been interviewed and had people come out and talk about us and now here, where, I have someone go, "well, I was in London" and and they were-brought up Fort Worth and we brought up Texas and Fort Worth and they thought Fort Worth: I ate at this little Mexican restaurant and dadada and you're like, well, they're talking about Joe T. Garcia's.

I never, you hear all these stories, from you know, and then celebrities coming out and they love to come out here and Owen Wilson, and I mean and Sebastian Cabbot, you know, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, I can't even name all the rock groups that have been out here and you know they could just be flying through and they stop and have dinner here. That says a lot about you know, we're, what we've accomplished. And, and, and that's wonderful. I mean, that makes you feel good, and that you just don't really, I mean I still look at this, this is still our home. This room that we're in, I mean this was one of the bedrooms here. You know, that now it's our office you know, and now, and uh, you just, uh it's wonderful to see uh what you just don't, I just don't see it as being a oh, you're famous and this and that. No, we're just plain old Joe T's on the north side. You know, I still look at us as a little bitty place even though maybe we're not.

JL1: Well, the family still works. And that's I think one of the reasons people like us so much is that they want, they really get upset if they don't see a family member on the floor, in the kitchen, you know-when they call out here, they want to talk to a family member so they really are invested not just in the restaurant but in the family working in the restaurant.

JL2: Right.

JL1: We still actually work-it's not like he just turned around and handed it off.

JL2/LL: Mmmhmmm. Yeah.

JL1: The restaurant's doing good now doesn't mean we can hand it off because once we do that, it's over.

JL2: Right. On that side, there's always somebody-you will always see somebody like Jody was saying-there's always somebody on the floor, there's always somebody in the kitchen. Lanny's in the kitchen all the time as with myself. If he's not here, I'm here but him-Lanny and myself are always here. Always. And if I'm off, he's here. Vice-versa. I mean, but there's always a family member and you know, food quality, service, all that, is very important.

KR: Can you talk a little bit Lanny, about your experience growing up in the restaurant?

LL: Of course I can [Laughs]. Well, actually my experience is, it's not so much an experience as a work experience. It's a livelihood. It's been, I guess what my grandfather and my grandmother instilled-it's a passion, I mean, so it's more or less-it is my lifestyle.

I don't see it as work, I don't see it as., yeah, I see the employees as family. I mean, everything is um, it's a whole another world almost, you know. And um, huh? [Unintelligble].

It is home. It's uh, I mean, everyone's problems is here, we have like three hundred people that work for us, you know, and they all come, you know, asking, if they have problems, they always come to me, or if they, and this is all kinds of problems. Not just the money problems, but also emotional problems or problems with their family, or problems with their kids, you know, so I mean, it's, it's, everyday it's not so much you know the working aspect that I would say as it is keeping the harmony and everything together as a whole, you know. It's everybody working as one and stuff like that. So it's more or less-

It is an experience in life to me more, and it's it's my-our life, let's put it that way.

And uh, I don't really see as work you know, because everybody keeps saying, "when are you going to retire?" And "when am going to start working," you know? I just never have thought about it that way you know, and it's just that I can't see I mean the like I said the my grandmother instilled a passion in me-that's her picture right up there-and I've just always had it in me.

And uh, I think that's why it's been so successful because the family all has this passion, you know, for this this place. And it's not so much about the money because you know the money is, if it was about the money we'd be out in Puerto Vallarta [Mexico] you know, driving around, you know, if it was about that. It's not about that. And it's not about that. I mean, we're here twenty-four seven, seven days a week, and that's not exactly what you work to make a lot of money for.

You know, it's, you know, you have to, there's something else in there, and that something else is a passion for the business. And that's virtually all that I have for my life here. Back to Joe.

KR: Actually, I have one more question for you. I know.

LL: I'm sorry, yes.

KR: Can you talk about a typical day for you here in the restaurant? I don't don't know that most people who are going to be listening to these transcripts are gonna understand just how much work goes into running restaurants. So, I'm curious if you could walk me through it.

LL: Well, let's see. We get up early, get here early in the morning, you know, and first thing that we do is, I'm sorry, what?

KR: How early is early?

LL: How early is early? Well, we used to wake up at 5:30. Because, well, yeah 5:30. We both wake up 5:30, yeah. Uh, yeah you know-not together, separate houses [Laughs].

But anyway-anyway, so, and the of course at my [house?] we're early risers because we love to have breakfast in the morning, so, and that's actually-my day starts with that. We have breakfast every morning, like I said, we've been married forty-two years, we don't really see each other that much you know, we're pretty much apart most of the time.

So breakfast is actually our date hour. Everyday. So we say, we sit down we either talk about what's going on with the family, our personal lives, and stuff like that, get all that out of the way, or we don't say anything at all and just just relax, you know?

And uh, then after that, we come to work, Jody will go to the office up here on top and then I come up here and she'll go "Okay, keep going that way, keep going that way." Ahh-she sets my day for me.

So I'll take off and then we'll start off with the clean up crew and uh, we'll start off anywhere from the gardens to-the garden is massive-we start, we have a crew that goes out there and my grandmother was actually the gardener. She was the herbal lady. She knew, that's where I got my passion for the plants. I mean, she every morning, she gets here with the water hose cleaning all day, cleaning all her plants, so-so we do the same thing.

We go through the whole patio and there's patches of of the patio that you can see, that Joe will show you later on where it has sidewalks-where her original sidewalks-her original little things that we left there just as a reminder, everywhere there's a little spot, a reminder of where she was.

And so, we clean the patio, we'll get the girls, then the girls come in. And the girls actually get here, the uh, prep girls get here 5:30 also.

And we'll start prepping. We got like eighteen prep girls that do nothing but slice, dice, and chop. All day long. So I mean we'll set all that into action.

Then it's getting the uh, uh party rooms ready for the parties of the day, you know?

And then it's getting the kitchens going, getting everybody staffed to where everybody is supposed to be. The busboys. And then comes eleven o'clock, and it's showtime!

You know, hoping that the waiters show up. They they are in college, so you know-[Laughs]. But anyway, the waiters will get here at the end and then it's we get started, we start our day right there. Start serving at eleven o'clock.

KR: And-after eleven o'clock? After lunch rush?

LL: It just keeps going, it just keeps going. We'll go through the lunch run and uh Monday through Thursday we'll close at 2:30, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we're open all day and those are just continuous what I just said. All day long, just like that.

At least on Monday through Thursday, we'll close at 2:30, take a little short break, and uh, like Joe works out in the morning when he gets up in the morning. Uh, my body can't take that, so I work out at 1:30, I work out after the lunch run.

So we, that's actually our downtime, we get, we just work out a little bit.

And uh then, we'll come right back and do exactly what we started again. Cater, everything begins, making sure the dining rooms are clean, making sure the patios are clean, making sure that everything is set up for the evening run, and we'll start again until the end. Then at the end of the night, then we got to make sure everything is closed up, locked up, sealed up and everything, everything is set and everybody is accounted for. And then-

KR: So what time at night do you usually get home?

LL: That all depends. It can, that can be anywhere from ten to two. Ten to one. It could be anywhere from there.

So the days are pretty long. You know, yeah. And sometimes, like I said, during the springtime, it's almost continuously. I mean, we'll start from the morning and we'll just run home, change clothes, and come right back until the end. I mean it's almost non-stop.

JL1: That's the nice thing about having so many family members. It's not just these two. I mean, they've got, we've also got two bakeries. Esperanza's, so we got two brothers over there running those two bakeries. There's two sisters. So they get them in-oh, sorry.

KR: We've just got-[Moves microphone closer].

JL1: Well, they, the sisters help too. You know, they get them in going, and so they, everybody.

If Joe's not doing his job, or Lanny's not doing his job, that means somebody over here has got to pick it up. And somebody. So it kind of goes in a little clock, everybody does their job and everybody gets off at the-you know-when they're supposed to. So that helps, you know, because it really is a family operation, you know, and that's the whole key to it. I think that's why people love to see the family here.

KR: Sure. Thank you.

KR: Actually, that-thank you. Hijack the rest of my papers here [Laughs].

Um, that actually brings up another set of questions I was hoping we could talk about which is all the various businesses you guys have that are not the restaurant? And, it.. sounds like there's quite a few of them. I mean, we got the bakeries, we got catering, could you maybe walk us through those too and talk about and talk about-is this a Jody question?

JL2: It's a Jody question. KR: Alright, let me get back over there.

JL2: She's good at that.

KR: Awesome. Thank you. Awesome.

JL1: Okay, so-

KR: Just hang on to it [Gestures to microphone].

JL1: We opened the bakery, the first bakery we opened, it was, I think it was in '87 or '88. And one of the main reasons we opened it was so that the mom wouldn't work as hard. Which was Hope.

KR: Mmmhmm.

JL1: And it was a real small little operation. Now it's the mini-mall [Laughs]. You know, it is! It's gotten huge! And it turned into the operation of a a, you know, wholesale bread, they do catering and they opened a second location up over on Southside. So this little-bitty non-stressful job she was supposed to be doing she turned into a major restaurant. Hope has a lot of energy. Always has.

KR: Sounds like [Unintelligible] settle down-

JL1: We do most of-the big events are done here at the restaurant. The bakery does do catering but we do I'd say ninety-five percent of the special events and the catering is done here on premises.

And so we've gone everywhere from New York to Florida to California, uh we do a lot of in, you know, Fort Worth, Dallas-area catering. And then we do a minimum on, say a Friday night in May, we may have fifteen to twenty events going at the same time.

KR: Oh my goodness.

JL1: It's a lot of coordination.

KR: Yeah.

JL1: A lot of writing, a lot of time on the phone [Laughs].

KR: Uh, could you talk a little bit-you got salsa in grocery stores now, too.

JL1: Yes. Lanny's brother David, the brother that is deceased, he started the salsa business. And it started out, he would just go from this little grocery store to this little grocery store and get them in.

And before he died, he had us in Target, Kroger, uh, Wal-Mart, yeah the Wal-Mart's the big one, Sam's. And so we were in quite a few of the big ones. And it was just David walking in, and he had a personality that was bigger than anything you've ever seen.

People loved David. And so he's the one that really that really got the hot sauce to be what it is today and you know he's dearly missed. I don't think Hope has ever gotten over his death. That's, you know, it-when you lose a son and no matter how old they are.

And uh, but he uh, so now the hot sauce is just doing great. I mean it's, and it's good. The product is really good. We have a really good product in it. He developed that recipe and he just did a great job.

KR: [Unintelligible]. Do you think at all that like getting the hot sauce into grocery stores do you think that that had to do with the Joe T. Garcia's name?

JL1: Oh yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It had to do with the Joe T's name, but it had to do with David walking in going, "You really need our hot sauce!" And also, it had to do with the taste.

KR: Uh huh.

JL1: So the taste had a lot to do with it.

JL2: I remember the Fort Worth Star-Telegram did a taste test, there was a hundred and something hot sauces.

JL1: Yeah.

JL2: And Joe T's won.

KR: Come [Gestures to Jody].

JL1: And there was the one that does the "Best Hot Sauces in Texas" or something like that. And I think they-they were so shocked because we outdid Pace and-

JL2: Everybody.

JL1: All these other ones on taste test.

JL2: Yeah. That was pretty cool.

JL1: Mmmhmm.

JL2: I don't know what we did with that chart.

JL1: Yeah. That's David had-Yes, and they didn't have-

JL2: It was in the paper. Yeah.

KR: Mmmm-let's see. Oh, and Lanny, are you the one that does the traditional Mexican cooking? Or the catering? Is that you?

LL: Are you talking about my son?

KR: Is that your son that does that?

LL: Yeah.

KR: Can you talk a little bit about what he's doing?

LL: Sure. [Laughs].

KR: You're passing me off to Jody again.

LL: Of course. [Laughs].

JL1: Now, are we talking about-

LL: Yeah, which one are you talking about?

JL1: Are you talking about the restaurant or the new one, the new-the one that went to the CIA [Culinary Institute of America]?

KR: Actually, I'm going to pause this for just one second.

LL: [Gestures to Joe]. Go back inside?

JL2: Alright.

JL2: You all have anything else you need to ask?

JL1: Oh, I'll call you later [Laughs].

KR: Okay, are we losing, are we losing Joe? Are you sticking around?

JL2: I'm sticking around.

KR: You're sticking in? Okay. I need to figure out something I need to ask Joe, so I don't use too much more of his time. Can you talk to me about the history of the political involvement of this restaurant in Fort Worth? That seems like a good Joe question.

JL2: What do you mean by political involvement?

KR: Well, we found a lot of stuff about having Democratic conventions here, having various Democratic events here. Look at you guys, you guys are so funny.

JL1: Well, we do special events, that's the reason.

KR: And, and we also found some stuff that sounded like from before your time, too, so just, we're just curious.

JL1: Oh yeah, Joe T. was the political person, and it's so funny because when we talked to his mom and his aunt, and we were like, how did he get to know all these people, you know, and you know it was like the president of Mexico. And we're talking about a Hispanic man back in the '30s.

That's just unheard of, but he had a lot of political connections, everyone in Fort Worth. When he died it was like, we had all the Moncriefs there, Mr. Bass, I mean, the older Mr. [Perry R.] Bass, Mr. [Sid] Richardson, and all of them, they were just like, they were shocked.

But he had the David [Lancarte, his grandson] charisma, you know the same, that, that overpowering, that bigger than life personality.

And I think a lot, we try to stay, and this sounds horrible, very non-political, because we will take Republicans' money and Democrats' money, it doesn't matter, we are, we do not discriminate against anyone.

But when the Democratic, they had the big convention, they came out here. Hilary Clinton had her big party out here.

When they had the Republican Convention, back, was it in the '80s or '90s, they all bussed them over here. So, but I think, it's not just because, you know, I think they know the restaurant will draw people in, and so when they pick the restaurant, it's almost a strategic move-well we're going to the restaurant because we know we can sell more tickets.

And so, Kay Granger has a party out here every year, every year, and has for years. She has a big fundraiser out here. But we get tons of political parties out here.

KR: So you're not calling them? They're calling you?

JL1: They're calling us. We don't, we hardly ever cold call anyone. I can't remember ever cold-calling anyone.

JL2: They've always just called and booked out here. They've always called us. We don't know they're coming until they call.

JL1: Yeah, we don't.

JL2: Did you mention Hilary Clinton?

JL1: Yeah, they called us. I was running the front register, and this was back in the '70s. And I looked up and there were all these long-haired people in line, and one of the guys walked up and said, "Where can we park our limo?"

And I thought, well, who is this? And so I went and got, I don't know if it was you [Lanny] or if it was David, one of the boys and I said, "I don't who this band, I don't know who these people are, but they're somebody," and it was Fleetwood Mac.

And that's when they were in the heyday, and so they were standing in line and trying to get in, so [Laughs].

And we had one time they called and they kept wanting to know, where, what was his name, Mac Davis, he was the singer, and I said, "Well, I don't think he's here," and I'd say, "Has anyone seen Mac Davis?" and all of a sudden he was sitting in the front dining room, going, "Here I am."

So, you know, they just walk in and we've just never known. It's the same thing with the political people. We don't know-Walter Mondale came out here one day. He was out here just sitting in the dining room eating dinner, you know, and Bill Clinton, and-

LL: And Walter Cronkite-

JL1: Yeah, oh, and Bob Shieffer has a party out here ever year with TC journalism, and he brings all the big journalists and everybody out every year, and he has done that for years. It's every spring he does it.

KR: Do you remember, or do you know of when there might have been a shift from it being very small to becoming this thing that people come to as a tourist attraction almost-I'm sorry, and I don't mean to say tourist attraction if that's not what you want to talk about, either.

JL1: Yeah, when we first got married, so I'm going to go back to 1970, the only reason you came to the north side, it wasn't the stockyards, it wasn't, you know, the cool place to be. The only reason you came to the north side was to come to Joe T's. That was it, because the stockyards were too dangerous, and it was just, not a great-but you know, that's back in the '70s, that's before your time. We'd get in trouble if we even talked about coming to the north side, and I went to North Side High School, but you didn't come down on the north side [Laughs] unless you went to the restaurant. That's the only reason you came.

When we first got married, they would line up every day-this was back in the '70s, and we weren't very big. We added the patio August of 1970, and it has just, I can't remember when it's ever been slow at the restaurant.

Where's wood? Knock on something, yeah. [Knocks lightly].

You know, it's one of those, we've always had that constant flow. People just like the restaurant-it's fun, you know.

It's home, it's laid back, we're laid back, we just, you know, we're not pretentious at all [Laughs].

KR: Clearly [Laughs].

Um, well I guess, let me see. In keeping with that, though, again, I'm curious, are there any events or groups that you do seek out to host here? You just really don't bother, you don't have to any more?

JL1: No, they call us. We start booking about a year in advance.

KR: For how big of a group?

JL1: What month? [Laughs]

JL2: Well, they're all sizes. The biggest was that Republican Convention.

JL1: Yeah, we had like 1500.

KR: When was that, the Republican Convention, Joe?

JL2: What, '85? Yeah, because they were shuttling from Dallas, and they just had buses going nonstop. But weren't they doing the busses? They would bring people, drop them off. And they had buses going back and forth. There was more than just one bus. And as they were dropping off people, when they were done eating, they were ready to go, they would take them back to Dallas. It was just going back and forth. It was an all day event, yeah, that was pretty cool.

KR: Well that's interesting, so they were only, again, they were only coming to the restaurant, and then they were leaving Fort Worth?

JL1: Yeah, that was it.

JL2: We were their destination. It was from Dallas to here to eat. Yeah, it was really pretty cool.

KR: Then I guess, um, so, on a slightly different note, moving away from customers and more into the supply relationships that you guys have, have you had long-term relationships with any of your food suppliers?

JL2: Uh, yeah, Ben E. Keith, is probably without a doubt probably our longest we've every dealt with-

JL1: And then Lone Star Electric-

JL2: And then Lone Star Electric who does our electrical, yeah, but we've known each other, for instance, she mentioned Lone Star Electric, we've done them for, we've known them, god, since I was a little kid, and then, you know, again when that changed hands to somebody else, and we've known them, so we've being business with them for over fifty years. And Ben E. Keith, I can't even count how long, we've been doing business with them forever.

JL1: And that's what Lanny just said, when he was eleven, he would get the old truck and go to the back way and drive down to get the produce and come back. That was a different era, I mean you couldn't do that now, but-[Laughs]

LL: There was no traffic back then. There wasn't.

JL1: And it was to buy from Ben E. Keith.

KR: Who is Ben E. Keith, I'm so sorry.

JL1: Oh that's one of our food suppliers. That's the big one.

KR: Okay. And how do you typically find suppliers if they're not the longer term ones?

JL1: They usually seek, they usually come out here and talk to Joe-well, Joe does all the ordering, so they usually, they kind of seek us out. You know, we don't really go and look.

JL2: People are always coming and trying to get our business, and there's suppliers, and they're always trying, you know, they want it. But you know, I've always been a loyal person as well as they are to us. They're so good to us, and you that back in return. They treat us well, so you know, how do you leave someone?

JL1: And they deliver daily. We don't have freezers.

JL2: Right, right, exactly.

JL1: We don't have any freezers. So they deliver daily to us so that everything's fresh daily. We don't have freezers and we don't have microwaves.

KR: Wow-I don't know who would be better to answer this question. Can you talk about what it's like running such a huge restaurant with what sounds like a pretty limited menu, like operationally?

JL1: It's very limited.

KR: Yeah, I'm curious, like, what are the special challenges that would be involved in setting up your restaurant that way?

JL2: Well, I mean, there's different challenges. Jody has her challenges, I'm sure of it, as in when these parties call, like, "Hey, where am I going to put them?" and so forth like that. And challenges for me and Lanny is also, you know, what do we have coming in that day? You know, we may know what parties we have coming in, but you never know how many, you know, what you're going to have in walk-ins, that you're going to have come in, pretty much.

Lanny and Jody are real good, they keep pretty much track, "What did we do the year before?" 'Course you always want to know, you gotta know, what's going on in Fort Worth. You have to. Not just in Fort Worth, as in far as now that we have the Cowboys stadium that's down the road, you know, if they have an event there, it will affect us.

Any college events, we get a lot of that, football events, and so pretty much your challenge is, as in Jody mentioned earlier, we do everything fresh daily. We literally cut everything fresh daily, and we have no freezers, like she said. So we don't want anything really left over, you know.

So, you know, that is your challenge, because everything we do, everything that I purchase, you know, everything is quality, I don't try to go cheap end. I don't try, I think if when you start cutting back and you try to go cheap, then you cut back on your quality and what you're serving your customer.

JL1: People notice that here. If the enchilada even looks different, if it's rolled different, you're changing the restaurant. You're trying to change, you're trying to change. Because we should be closed, if you really think about it, in this day and age, we should not be open, with marketing and all of this stuff that they do.

We don't have menus. We have two dinners to choose from, and we don't take credit cards. We should be closed. We should not be, you know, in business.

But people relate to that. They like the limited menu. They can come in, you can have enchiladas or fajitas, you can have nachos or no nachos. You can have margarita, beer, or whatever. But, you know, that's it!

LL: So that is our biggest challenge, is not to change.

JL1: You know, to keep it, and to keep the quality good so that when Mr. Smith, who's been coming out here since the '40s, can come in and go, you know, 'I want one enchilada, rice and beans,' and it tastes the same as it did when Mamasuez [Jessie Garcia] was rolling it.

KR: So how have you guys resisted the temptation to change, or have you?

JL1: We opened the bakery-

Well, the brunch menu's different. And at lunch, we do do a menu at lunch, and we do brunch on Sunday, but one of the main reasons we opened Esparanza's, they have a menu that's fourteen pages long, but then if that doesn't work, they just throw it out. They're not tied in to the concept we are.

They can do anything they want to there. And so they have an extensive menu, and if something doesn't work, they can take it-could you imagine if we tried to take off enchiladas here, or if we tried to take of the nacho, it would, oh-but there, if it doesn't work, you take it off and try something else.

KR: That's fair, cool. Thank you-.

Oh my goodness, you know, you guys are such speedy talkers, this is fantastic. One of the things that we would love to do is walk through the restaurant, and if you're willing, we'd love to see the kitchen, just to see how you guys operate-

JL1: Yeah, because it is such a family style.

KR: Yeah, and we would love to see that, so I'm not going to ask you questions about that here, if you don't mind taking us through downstairs. But, I guess-

JL2: So we're done here [Laughs].

KR: [Laughs]. My last question is, do you have any questions for us? Or is there anything that people always ask you that we didn't ask you? Or things that you wish people would ask you, and then we never do, or we haven't? Or are you just so done [Laughs]?

JL2: I mean that's a tough question, myself. I don't know. I mean, if anything, one thing is, we just hope people really, that they see how hard we work, and how hard we try to put what we put out on the table, is try to give the best that they could ever have. And that is no question, we work very hard to do that. And, hopefully they see that, and by Lanny and myself and the rest of my family, and you know the hours we put in and everything like that is to, to show them that what our grandparents, and how hard they worked, and then our parents, and you know, to keep that generations going, to show them, that, you know, hey-

JL1: You're not going to let them down.

JL2: We're not going to let them down, exactly.

KR: And Joe, I'm sorry, I've got one more question.

JL2: And what is that?

KR: For your kids and your grandkids, what do you want to see them doing as far as the restaurant goes? And for all of you, for sure.

JL2: Well, I don't know, I mean, Jody I don't know if you have an answer to that.

JL1: Well, we have, we're the oldest, so we have the oldest kids. My oldest daughter is going to be 40. So, we're the old ones of the family.

My son has his own, he started working here, he went to TCU, worked here, went to the CIA, opened his own restaurant, you know, so. My daughter works here, and she's taken-when I had the health problems, she stepped right up took over for me. Joe's son works here. He's a manager here. And we have nieces and nephews that all work here. And we hope, we pray, that some of them step up, and go, "You know what, I want to put those hours in, I want to do what they did to keep the restaurant going," and I think there's going to be a few of them. Not all of them. We have one that's going to be an attorney, we have another one that's going to go to medical school, and one wants to be an oil and gas guy, so, then there's some of them that, you know, have really enjoyed working in the restaurant. I mean, my daughter loves working in the restaurant, you know, but it's-we hope that some of them step up, because you gotta want to work in a restaurant. It's long hours.

KR: Can I ask what your daughter does in the restaurant?

JL1: She does my job.

KR: Does she really?

JL1: When I was out, I didn't even walk in the restaurant for about six months. And I worked seven days, and you know, I had people calling me at the hospital when I was there and they wouldn't let them talk to me.

But she has been doing all the special events. And kind of being, we're kind of like traffic cops-'This is where you're supposed to be at today, this is where you're supposed to be at today, and this is what we've got going on for the week.' And so she really stepped up and walked right into it, so we're hoping that-.

I really enjoyed not having to work all the time anymore. It's been nice, I've never done it, so it's been kind of nice [Laughs].

KR: [Clears throat]. Excuse me, my voice is going. You've been in the restaurant since you guys got married pretty much, right?

JL1: You, it was about three months after we got married, and either you worked in the restaurant, or you didn't see him.

So you came to work. And you worked on the cash register, I waited tables, I worked in the kitchen, I ran the cash. Mostly I waited tables and ran the cash register, and then I started working in the office back in the '80s, and that's when, the really early '80s, when we started really getting the special events started.

Late '70s, early '80s, and by the mid-'80s it was going full steam, and I was in the office, and you know, and then I'd work at nights, when my kids turned into teenagers, so I started staying home at night.

KR: [Laughs]. I'm sure that was fun.

JL1: Well they came to work with us. When they were little, Lanny's grandmother kept them, oh, forever, and then Lanny's mom kept them, so you came to work with your kids.

KR: Did everybody do that?

JL1: Oh, Kelly, well I think ours were the oldest, and so, they really were babied and we'd bring them to work, people would call and want to have dinner with Kelly, and you know, and Lanny [Jr.] fell in love working in a restaurant and he has his own restaurant now. Yeah, it's fun.

KR: And do you know, you don't have to answer this, but you do know if anybody, has anybody expressed interest in taking over some of your, I mean beyond your daughter working with you, has anyone expressed interest in taking over for the next generation yet?

JL1: Well, they're all pretty young.

KR: How old are they?

JL1: Well, most of them are college age. I mean, like I said, ours are the oldest. We've been married 42 years, and so, you know I think Joe's next is the oldest and he's still in college.

KR: So it's a while.

JL1: Yeah, they've all got a while to go. I think the oldest one's 25, and she's going to travel a little bit. But she's been working in the restaurant for 2 or 3 years as a waitress, but she does want to travel a little bit, before she really settles into a real job, because she knows what happens. Once you really say, "Okay, I want to do this, then you are, then you're going to do it."

KR: Yeah. Awesome. Thank you.

JL1: You're welcome.

KR: Lanny.

LL: Oh, I'm sorry.

KR: [Laughs]. Is there anything you wish we had asked you? Or anything you'd like to add?

LL: No. Thank you.

KR: [Laughs]. Okay. Awesome. Well, thank you guys very, very much. This has been a real pleasure.

JL1: Oh, you're welcome.

LL: Thank you for thinking about us.

KR: No worries, and again.

JL1: What's it for? I forgot.

Andrew Gansky (AG): It's for Foodways Texas.

[END OF PART 1] [42:08]