Los Toltecos Mexican Bar and Grill
We
were very excited to go out on the night of Mexican Independence Day. (Wait...
Oh, sorry about that. Apparently I got that wrong.) We were very excited to go
out on the anniversary of the Mexican Army's victory over the French at the
Battle of Puebla on May 5th, because Cinco de Mayo has become a big thing in
the States over the years. Television networks have come to expect lower
numbers on the holiday, because people do go out drinking.
If
Mindy and I are anything, we are conformists, so we looked for a Mexican-themed
place to visit in Sterling, Virginia. Many other people felt compelled to do
the same. There were no spaces left in Los Toltecos parking lot, so we parked
across the street in the Safeway lot. (Yes, fellow Californians, they have
Safeway here. Our gift cards will be put to good use.)
When
we went inside, all the tables were taken. There was a pretty good throng
around the bar. Finding a place to stand where we wouldn't get in the way of
the wait staff was tricky.
We
overheard one couple as they arrived. The guy said, "Man, this is serious!"
And she said, "I told you." We're not sure if they actually went in,
because last we saw of them, they were still outside, possibly waiting for friends to swell the throng.
You
know those movies where a tremendous crowd drives a couple apart? Los Toltecos
was kind of like that, sort of, because I (Dean) ended up going outside to try
to talk to people while Mindy stayed at the bar to order drinks.
After
awhile, she got close enough to the bar to reach a drinks menu; she
looked for the margaritas (because, what with the
holiday and all, we had to order margaritas. I guess we could have bought
Coronas or Dos Equis, but we really aren't beer fans.) and ordered the Los Toltecas Original with a JalapeƱo Margarita for me. Her drink came in a red Solo party cup (the
kind you see in every teen comedy party scene since American Pie), and my drink came in a round goblet that seemed to
weigh as much as a small bowling ball.
While
she was waiting for the bartender to mix our drinks, Mindy talked
to the two guys who let her get close enough to the bar to order.
She asked them our weekly questions ("What makes for a good bar?" and
"What makes for a good church?"). Joseph said he values a patio because
sitting outside and drinking is one of his favorite things.
Sadly,
rain that evening was keeping everyone inside and adding to the claustrophobic
(though lively) ambiance. Joseph's friend Connor agreed that a patio was good,
but he felt something else was more important: "I would say good service,
but you expect that anywhere. So, I'll say a kind staff." He said that
kindness went beyond competent work to respect for the people being served.
As to
what makes a good church, Joseph* said there should be passion for individual
members of the church from everyone, not just leadership. That's the quality that
drew him to the church he attended in his teen years.
Connor
said that during his elementary years, he had attended a church and a private
school that had provided him and his sister (who had attended through high
school) valuable counsel for career goals and life beyond high school.
Meanwhile,
I was in front of Los Toltecos, hoping to talk to the exiled smokers outside,
where there were more reasonable sound levels. I chatted with Timur, who I think,
based on his accent, was from Eastern Europe. I asked what made for a good bar,
and he said, "I am debating the number one thing for a good bar between
the surroundings and the people, but I guess the people are part of the
surroundings so that would make it number one."
When
I asked what made for a good church, he gave me a bit of his background. His
mother is Muslim and his father is Christian, and he feels it is important to
learn about all religions so that one can make a sober judgment about faith. He
said it's important that a church is welcoming. But if they are judging you,
thinking you will go to hell if you don't join them, then they're not
welcoming. He compared judgmental people to a saying of his boyhood, "A
drowning animal barks loudest as it is about to go down."
A
friend of Timur's, Marjorie, came outside and graciously agreed to answer my
questions. She said a "Spanish bar" is quite different from an
American bar because it "gets crazy." She said that she could
"go to an American bar with my girls, have a drink and go home, that's
it." At an American bar you can smile at a guy, and it's just considered a
friendly gesture, but at a Mexican bar the guy will assume there's more to it
and may well hassle the woman who smiled. At an American bar there is respect.
She
said she was at Los Toltecos with friends; her sister is the designated driver.
She said her husband was not much of a drinker, so he was waiting at home, as
were her parents. She went on to tell me that she came to this country when she
was sixteen, and that she loves America. "It is the best country. You need
to work hard, but there is a time for fun, if you're responsible. If you don't
go crazy, you'll be happy."
She
told me that one of the things that she appreciated most about this country is
that it allowed her mother to have the heart transplant that saved her life.
Her mother went to the top of the list because she was a Christian woman. The
hospital didn't consider her religion, of course, but they did take into
consideration that she had never smoked and didn't drink. They considered her a perfect candidate. Her
family had been quite worried as the heart was flown into the Fairfax hospital during
a snowstorm that could have proved a deadly delay, but the heart arrived in
time. After only two weeks on the waiting list, the operation took place. Marjorie
said her mother had gone from 94 pounds to 140 (a more healthy weight for her),
and you could never tell by looking at her that she had a heart transplant.
When
I asked what made for a made for a good church, Marjorie said, "I like
Christian, not Catholic. I believe in one God." It was quite obvious she
was thinking of her mother's church.
On a
crowded bar night, it is ironically more difficult to find people to talk to
(we certainly weren't able to talk to a bartender or even any of the staff).
But we're glad that, at Los Toltecos, we found the really delightful people we
did.
*Joseph is a professional photographer. So Joseph, if you're looking at this, we hope you aren't excessively offended by the amateurish photo quality. Any suggestions will be most gladly received.
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