June 30th 2011 Post

June 30, 2011

 

Hello Readers!  After a LONG absence, we have a few photos and a little news to relay.  First a few celebrity photos.

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Actor and Comedian Blake Clark from Such movies as: “Toy Story”, “Leatherheads”, “Mr. Deeds”, “Joe Dirt”, “Little Nicky”, and, “The Water boy”, among countless others and, TV series like “Home Improvement” stopped in to eat on May 4th. He was very gracious and took photos and signed autographs with all the staff.  VERY funny man!!

On June 17th we had a visit from local football legend and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Petersen  who also was nice enough to take time to sign autographs and pose for photos with the staff.

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It has been a FUN year so far!!  We have been very blessed and are thankful to all of you, our customers, for keeping us busy constantly. 

In the news portion of this post:  We are working on some new menu items that may appear as soon as late this summer!  More about that in a future post.  Also, We WILL be closing for vacation this summer!  The LAST day open will be Saturday July the 2nd and, we will re-open on Tuesday July the 12th.  We hope everyone has a safe and happy July 4th holiday!  Be VERY careful with fireworks since everything in East Texas is so dry.  We look forward to seeing all of you after vacation.   

July 2nd Post

July 2, 2010

Hello there!  Just a quick note to remind everyone that Little Mexico will be closed on the Fourth Of July ONLY. We will NOT be closing for the week this year!  We also wanted to take this opportunity to thank our loyal customers who voted for us in The Palestine Herald Press Readers Choice Awards.  We were voted best overall restaurant, best Mexican restaurant, and our longtime associate Carol Bayless was voted best waitress!  We are very grateful to all of you who took the time to cast a ballot and we will strive to be worthy of your confidence!  Just in case you miss the fireworks on the Fourth, here are some for you!

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We hope you have a safe and happy Fourth Of July Weekend and, we look forward to seeing you soon!

May 29th Post

May 28, 2010

Hello Readers!  As promised, we have the photos from the celebrity waiter event benefitting the Palestine Library.  If you made it to the event, you already know how much fun we had and, how hard the celebrities worked!  The celebrities really took it seriously and worked very hard to give their customers great service.  Everyone had a great time and ate plenty of Mexican food! Below are some photos from the event.

100_1397                   It all started with a pre-game briefing!

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100_1404  Judge Parsons gets some help determining which buttons to press! 

100_1406     Sheriff Taylor gets his customer’s food ready to go to the table.

 

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                       Doctor Wallis was a big hit with his customers!

100_1412Mayor Bob Herrington used a professional touch to serve sour cream!

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100_1415        The end of service for the night and a tired but happy crew!

 

As you can see from the photos, We had a TERRIFIC substitute wait staff who did an excellent job!  To see more photos from the evening, check out the Palestine Herald Press web site at www.palestineherald.com !  Thanks for stopping by!

May 14th Post

May 14, 2010

Hello faithful readers.  Those of you who have hung in there with us to see if anything new was posted….We salute you!  While there has been a great deal of normal day to day activity at Little Mexico over the past months, We have not had a lot to post that we felt was newsworthy.  It is “Prom Season”,however, and several of our employees enjoyed that High School “rite of passage” so, we thought we should share their photos with you.  In business news, we are now accepting phone-in orders!  You can place your order by dialing 903-723-3143.  Check back in with us after May 24th to see the photos from our “Celebrity Waiter” night to benefit the Palestine Library Friends.  There are sure to be some interesting photos of Judge Bascom Bentley and Dr. Thomas Wallis just to name a couple of faces to be seen waiting tables that night.  If you want to be a part of the fun, just come to Little Mexico on Monday evening May 24th starting at 5pm to see how well they do!  We are looking forward to it!  Okay, Here are the photos from Prom!  We will see you soon and thanks again for dropping by the blog!

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         Adriana and Kevi                        Amanda

 

 

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March 25th Post

March 25, 2010

 

Hello Again!  Well, it has been ONE YEAR since the fire.  It is hard for us to believe that it has been a full year since fire devastated Little Mexico but, 365 days have indeed passed.  As we go through our daily activities we reflect on what a strange year it has been.  The phone calls notifying us that there was a fire, standing there helplessly and watching as it burned, the months of waiting while investigators tried to determine the cause and then watching the contractors rebuild us.  The anticipation as re-opening day approached and the nervousness as to whether we were really ready after our long hiatus.  And finally, the incredible response from our wonderful customers who made us feel welcome back in such record setting numbers!  Below we have put a few photos of THEN and NOW.  We look forward to the next year with a much brighter spirit and, we hope to see all of you many times in the coming months.  Thank all of you again for your support and prayers.  See you soon!

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February 15th Post

February 16, 2010

 

Hello everyone

Sorry it has been such a long time since we posted.  We have been staying very busy and we have all of you to thank for that.  We can not believe how wonderful the response has been to our re-opening after the fire!  It seems that every day we are hearing from our customers that it is their first visit back since the re-opening.  We are extremely thankful for every single person that visits and, we hope that all of them enjoy the experience!  We have been taking carry out orders again if you walk in or come to the carry out window.  We hope to have the phones turned on for phone in orders within the next couple of weeks.  Things will truly be back to normal when that happens!  The photos we have for you this time include the wedding rehearsal dinner of one of our ex-employees that worked for us when she was in high school several years ago.  We were delighted and honored that she chose to celebrate with us!  There are also a few pics of the recent snow event here in Palestine.  Our customers that night started a snowball fight in the front parking lot!  What a rare and pretty sight, though it proved to be short lived, and caused some problematic driving conditions the next morning!

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Here are the Bride To Be and one of her best friends when they worked for us in 2003 and Today!  Not much has changed! 

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                        THEN                                               NOW

CONGRATULATIONS TO KELI AND AARON FOLEY!

Now a few snow pictures!

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Our employees just could not resist going outside!

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Well, that’s all for now!   As always, if you have a special event that we can help with or publish for you, just let us know!  Thanks for visiting and taking the time to read this!  We hope to see you again soon!

January 16th Post

January 16, 2010

 

Hello again!  Well, it has been quite a while since our last post.  As you know, if you have had an opportunity to visit, we are still very busy.  It is beginning to slow down somewhat though.  The big news is that we are now taking to go orders if you are in the restaurant.  We hope to be able to take orders over the phone by the beginning of the month.  The recent sub freezing temperatures put a real test on the new insulation and heating systems and everything worked well.  We did find a few air leaks around some of the windows but, they were re-caulked and that solved the problem.  Every week there are people coming in for their first visit since the re-opening and remarking on the great job that our contractors did.  We think so also!  If you have not been in yet because of long waiting times, now is your opportunity!  The waiting times have decreased dramatically now and, between 2:30pm and 4pm most days there will be no waiting!  As promised, below you will find photos taken between Christmas and New Year’s day of one family’s visit from their son who was home on leave from the Middle East.  We were glad we could be open and be a part of their holidays!

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If you have a family event that we can help you celebrate, we are happy to oblige!  Just let us know and we will gladly post it for everyone to enjoy!  Until next time, we look forward to seeing you and serving your Mexican food needs!

December 21st Post

December 21, 2009

 

Hello readers!  Well, it has been a long dry spell!  We are sorry to be so long between posts but, if you have visited, you know how wonderfully busy we have been.  This post ,as promised, has photos of kids in p.j.s after riding “THE POLAR EXPRESS” at the Texas State Railroad.  We also had a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus and there are photos of delighted kids to show you.  This post also represents a significant change for us.  For so many months we have been keeping you updated on the rebuilding progress and the re-opening.  We will now shift gears to highlight our customers and events in our community that involve Little Mexico.  We will try to keep it interesting and fun though we probably will not be posting as often.  As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions and, we hope to see all of you in person as often as possible!  Here then are the photos from our favorite time of year.  We wish all of you the Very Merriest Christmas and a blessed new year.

Just a quick reminder:  We will NOT be closing for the holidays so bring your family members to enjoy some non-turkey with us!  We will only be closed on Christmas day and New Years day and we are closing after lunch on Christmas eve.

 

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For more information on THE POLAR EXPRESS visit their website here: http://www.texasstaterr.com/

Now “Santa’s Visit”

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100_1270Santa Gets A Little Help With His “Naughty and Nice” list!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

December 1st Post

December 1, 2009

Hello everyone!  Well, it has been two weeks since we re-opened and they have been the most incredible two weeks we have ever experienced!  Thanks to all of our wonderful customers, we have SHATTERED all existing records!  Our collective nightmare was that, when we re-opened, no one would come.  That fear has been more than allayed.  We are soooooo very thankful that you, our customers, have had patience with us throughout this arduous rebuilding process.  We hope that those of you who have already visited have had the dining experience you remember and that, those of you yet to visit, will find us to be what you expected.

Now, as promised, in no particular order, here are the people that we have to thank for the excellent rebuild job!

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HARRIS BUILDING COMPANY

Paul Harris

Our general contractor

Trust us when we say that there is no job too big or small!  His standard is nothing less than PERFECT!  What a Great guy to work with.  If you need something built or remodeled, you can find NO ONE that will do a better job and get it done on time!

Drew Wommack

Architect

Mr. Wommack created the copious number of blueprints necessary for the rebuild.  Whether you simply need an elevation drawing or a complete set of prints with millimeter precision, Drew will hook you up!


McCloud Construction

Steel contractor

Don and his team of welders can build ANYTHING you need made from steel!

Turbyfill Machine Shop

Barry Bedre and the crew at Turbyfill will create whatever you can dream up!

Twitchell Masonry

If you need a wall repaired or built or any other concrete block or brick needs, Mike is the guy you want!

Cooper Plastering

If you want the very best in stucco or exterior plastering, including custom color matching, contact Ross Wilson.

Carlos Lara Painting

All of the furniture refinishing as well as ALL of the interior and exterior painting including wood and metal painting was handled by the man we referred to as “Paladin” a reference to the character from the old show: Have Gun Will Travel.  He truly is the fastest gun in the west!


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Lightfoot Carpet One

Duane and his crew not only handled all of our flooring needs (including floor tile in our great new bathrooms) but, also did ALL of the tile work including the walls of the bathrooms.

Cooper Plumbing

Jerry and Gerald Cooper handled all of the complex re-plumbing needed to install the new equipment as well as re-install the fixtures and sinks when the walls went back up.  Great Job!

No leaks!

Custom Crete

Gary Keener is the man to call if you are trying to salvage concrete that is worn and tired or, if you just want a new look!  He offers a variety of methods for refinishing and refurbishing old concrete or custom coloring new concrete slabs.


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J.P. Mannix Electric

What can we say except: SUPER!  If you have followed the blog all these months, you already know how many hours Randy and Pat devoted to this job and have seen photos of the top quality work that they did for us.  For any electrical contracting needs, don’t hesitate to call them.

Randy Mannix

Low voltage and custom stereo, pa, and phone systems.  If you need a PBX system for your office or, just want your t.v. sound to play all over your house and yard, Randy’s the guy to call.  He and Jim Thornell will hook you up!


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Lightfoot A/C and Refrigeration

Al Lightfoot and his team of professional refrigeration technicians will be able to take care of ANY cooling needs that you may have from high volume commercial A/C to giant walk-in coolers to your home a/c repair.  you can count on a job done right when you call them.

Vaughn Construction

Concrete contractor

Call Terry Vaughn for all your concrete needs big or small.


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Rudd Contracting

Ken Rudd and his crew designed and constructed all of the miles of piping needed to build the fire sprinkler system installed at Little Mexico.  If you want to STOP it from burning:  Call these guys!

East Texas Alarm Company

Contractors for security and fire alarm systems.

J.W. Reneau Roofing

Contractors for our new energy efficient and maintenance free membrane roofing system!

Kirby Restaurant Supply

Contractors for all of our new kitchen equipment, vent-a-hoods, stainless steel sheathing, dishwashing equipment, and most of our small wares.

Grazziano Roofing

Contractors for the Spanish clay tile roofing that looks so nice on the roof above the porch and the roofs above the back doors.

Garland Insulation

Contractors for the high efficiency and fireproof foam insulation.  They do houses too!

East Texas Fire and Safety

Fire suppression systems for your business or home.  These guys installed the high tech fire suppression systems above all of the kitchen vent-a-hoods at Little Mexico as well as providing portable fire extinguishers throughout the building.

Doug Baker

All of the taping and bedding and texturing done in the dining rooms and kitchen area was done lickety split by these guys!  If you need to get a wall ready for paint, contact them!

Mike and Roger Hamby

Two of the most creative and professional carpenters we have ever met!  They are truly artists with a tape measure, saw, and hammer(or nailgun).  If you followed the blog, you saw many pictures of their efforts.  The results speak for themselves!

Texas Cash Register

TCR provided Little Mexico’s new ALOHA order entry and tracking computer system that will expedite your orders from the server through the kitchen and to the table.  They also handle video surveillance systems.  Whatever your business needs, retail or point of sale, Steve, Ryan, Wayne, and Anthony at Texas Cash Register have you covered!



We have come to the end of the official list but, we cannot fail to mention the work of Janet Staples who is responsible for the repainting of the murals on the back walls.  Our customers have commented over and over these past two weeks about how great it is to see the paintings on the walls.  Though the originals were destroyed in the fire, Mrs. Staples has done a wonderful job of creating  new ones to grace our dining rooms for generations to come.  We are thankful to have found such a talented artist to help us out!  We also must again thank our friends at 5J Trucking for their invaluable help both in the de-construction and re-construction of Little Mexico.  We sincerely apologize if we have left anyone out.  Rest assured that we appreciate the contributions of EVERY individual and company that played a part in getting our doors back open!  This includes our local suppliers such as Braly Builders Supply, McCoys Building Materials, and Lowe’s!  Whenever possible, we and our contractors tried to purchase locally.

In Later Posts:

Santa Pays a visit to Little Mexico, photos of kids in their p.j.s after riding the Polar Express.

See you soon!

November 21st Post

November 21, 2009

 

 

Hello everyone!  We finally got a few hours to give you an update and post a few random photos from opening day.  There are even a few cell phone pics in here!  We are so very thankful and humbled by the response from our extended community that words cannot express our gratitude.  We hoped that people would have patience with this long process and that, when we opened, they would still come back.  We NEVER could have expected the response that we got!  We love all of you and are so very grateful for your support, thoughts, and prayers throughout our time of rebuild.  This week has been literally like finding long lost family members!  As time permits in the coming weeks we plan to post a “contractor page” so you will know who we thank for the incredible rebuild job that has been done.  We also want to acknowledge the terrific job done by our local firefighters and the professionalism and cooperation of our city government and officials.  We again want to remind you so that you can plan accordingly that, we WILL NOT be closing down for the holidays this year.  We will be closed Thanksgiving day, Christmas day and, New Years day only!  Hope you enjoy the photos and have a blessed and safe Thanksgiving day !

 

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100_1239Our Very First customers!  

 

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We look forward to seeing you soon !!!!!!