Exposed

Aw, man! Taqueria Patzcuaro was featured in Kyle Wagner’s recent Post article about Denver’s best green chile spots!

They know me there. No, really - they start making my drink when they see me walk in the door. The waiter comes by to say hello and confirm my order. He doesn’t ask me if I want a menu. He knows I don’t want or need a menu. I’ve been ordering the same thing for the last ten years, and he knows it as well as I do.

My drink: the icy-sweet, delightfully fruity cantaloupe liquado

My plate: the smothered bean burrito with cheese, lettuce and tomato

Taq Patz is five minutes away from one of my old jobs, and five minutes away from one of my old residences. I used to go there all the time, for a couple of years. It’s more than 20 minutes away from home now, but I’m still there at least once a month.

I’m, well, I am who I have always been: the girl lunching off-hours alone in the window booth, nose in a book. To me - such a treat! In ten years, only one waiter - and he was a neophyte - has ever asked me, “So what are you reading?” What part of me reading did you not understand? No. The regular waiters are consistently polite and efficient, and bring me a straw without being asked, without ever intruding on my space.

I have so much love for this experience.

Darn you, Kyle Wagner. Your brand of recognition is guaranteed to clog the joint with noisy groups of people who’ll linger over the menu, not knowing what they want. And that will only embolden Taq Patz to raise prices further. When I started going there, the smothered bean burrito was a mind-bogglingly reasonable $1.85. I could manage the burrito, the liquado and a generous, thanks-for-not-bugging-me tip for five bucks.

Aw, man.

I’m only kidding (mostly). I’m glad for them to get the recognition they deserve. Go, Taq Patz!

Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for my favorite-most-familiar restaurants in this town, like Taqueria Patzcuaro, to name my signature dish after me. I don’t order the same thing everywhere I go, but at any given restaurant, I’ve worked out the Preferred Daughter special, if you will. And I’m a Denver native. There are restaurants I have been frequenting for more than a decade. It only seems natural that a restauranteur might name said dish after this loyal, enthusiastic patron with excellent taste.

I guess, like with so many things, apparently, first I’ll have to earn a book award.