So Long, Mama's

Well, as we all know, Mama's is gone...but also not quite gone.  The kitschy dive with the fantastic bean burritos (and superior salsa) is no more.  Thursday was the last day.  I was there.  In fact, I went there nearly every day for their final two weeks.  It's funny, whenever I'm traveling in some other country, the only thing I crave is Mama's.  That's the truth.  I had to get my fill before they went away.  I loved that place.  I liked the people who worked there.  And now it's gone.

Sure, it's not authentic.  It never pretended to be.  They served the kind of hearty "Northern Mexican" fare that I grew up on out in the burbs.  It was almost like home cooking.  It was always kind of heartwarming to see tourists experience sensory overload when visiting the place for the first time.  My first visit was in 1978.  It was very much like it is now.  Or was.  Sorry.  Back then, Belltown was a pretty sketchy place.  The restaurant and the neighborhood scared me.  The restaurant became an institution and the neighborhood became the drinking playground for people from elsewhere.  I'm really glad that Mama's didn't change, because it reminded me of the Belltown that I moved into.

I'm not sure how to further eulogize a place that anchored the neighborhood.  Only today when I started to feel hungry, I automatically thought about getting a burrito down at Mama's.  Yeah, that's not an option anymore.  Well, I'll just say goodbye to Mama's and thanks.

I was lurking in the bar all night.

Elvis decor...

I drank a lot.  They ran out of Rainier, so I had to finish off with Corona...

I love this old photo of the creepy kid and the dog.  Who are they?  How did it get here?
It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a flour tortilla.