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The name El Arroyo should be familiar to people from Austin. The owner of the Houston restaurant, Lee Wilson, told me he is friends with the owner of the Austin chain. When the property at 3100 Chimney Rock became vacant, Lee decided to open a restaurant/bar and see if he could stir the night life a little bit.
He had no idea that a lot of dance students were taking classes just two blocks away.
For my part, I remember driving by the location when the former restaurant closed down. I was a little disappointed since I had enjoyed the food there, but that is life. When I saw the four large statues going up in front of the building, I guessed someone was putting in a Mexican restaurant. The new name, El Arroyo, helped confirm that conclusion.
I never found a reason to stop by until Mary Frometa sent an email to her fans, announcing that Mary's Band would be playing at El Arroyo. The announcement was such a last-minute thing I wasn't able to arrange for any of my friends to meet me there, but it had been a while since I heard Mary's Band, so I needed a fix. Besides which, I had just started organizing the interviews for this Web site, and I thought I should get some pictures of the band.
Lee Wilson was at the restaurant that night, enjoying the band. His son and daughter were also there, as were a lot of other people. My server, Daniel, took my order and came back to talk a little bit when he saw how interested I was in the venue.
You see, my friends and I have been searching for a new Wednesday night venue. Sure, we have fun at Elvia's, but we're not getting the same crowd we used to get at Ringside in Sullivan's Steakhouse. Now, I suppose some of the old Ringside dancers still go there for the JazzRockWhatever nights they have now. But mostly the old crowd has drifted in different directions.
Lee came over and introduced himself to me. He also introduced me to Ray Lee (yup -- they share names). They want to bring El Arroyo into the spotlight as an up-and-coming venue, but they are still making plans. I pointed out that the floor would be a deterrent to serious dancers.
Which is not to say that you cannot dance on the floor, but I didn't think many women would want to be spinning on it. Since Mary's Band would be playing at El Arroyo a few more times, I decided to persuade some friends to come check out the floor.
Well, two weeks later, I finally got about 20 folks to show up -- which is pretty good, especially for a Thursday night. Sadly, the senior dancers walked across the floor, said something equivalent to, "No way," and headed out the door.
I stayed around with about ten other people and enjoyed some dancing with less experienced students. I danced in several parts of the restaurant. The hardwood floor on the walkaround section that leads to the bar is the best dance spot (and several people actually danced beside the bar). I know flooring is expensive, but even Elvia's floor didn't elicit a collective rejection like this one.
On the other hand, every time I have eaten at the restaurant the food has been good, the staff was friendly, and they were playing a nice mix of Salsa and Merengue CDs. The ambience is relaxing, colloquial, and open. This would be a great venue for parties -- in fact, one night, a Sweet Sixteen party was held there, with about 50 girls.
Time will tell whether El Arroyo makes it. If Lee follows through on the plans he outlined for me, I think he'll bring in a good summer crowd with some great bands.
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