Salsa Mora's Café has gone

When I got acquainted with Joe, my best friend here, who drives a VÍA bus route that runs up and down Zarzamora Street on the Westside, I would simply ride his bus along the street to converse, whenever time permitted. It was then that I noticed that at the corner of Zarzamora and Durango there was a Mexican café with the name Salsa Mora's. Cute pun-type name! (Be aware that in Spanish the "z" is pronounced "s" and you'll understand the pun employing the street's name!)

After several months I decided that it was time to go in to Salsa Mora's and see if the Mexican food were as good as the name was cute. And thus I discovered that the café was owned and managed by Rudy Zamora! I had worked for Rudy a couple of times when I was a waiter at Jim's Restaurant and he an assistant manager. And now he had his own eatery! On the Westside, no less!

Just knowing the manager/owner would have earned points for Salsa Mora's, to me. But the food wasn't bad; it was typical of locally-run (v. chain) Mexican café fare. Another "plus" were the many paintings by José Villarreal, a Westside artist. Many of his paintings depicted life on the Westside. My favorites were "Las Mañanitas de Mi Madre" which showed a characteristic abuelita ("Granny") smiling out the screen door of her Westside home at a mariachi band serenading her, and an untitled painting simply showing a typical Westside cottage or casita decorated for Navidad ("Christmas").

This past Sunday (the Sixth) I chose to eat Sunday dinner at Salzamora's (Rudy's re-spelling of the name), since I hadn't eaten there in a few weeks. Am I glad I chose to eat there! As soon as I entered, I noticed the walls were bare of Villarreal's paintings and it otherwise looked comparatively barren. Then I saw Rudy and approached him. He told me that this very day was the final day for his café.

When I asked him why, Rudy replied, "Because I'm starving here! When I bo't the place I gave myself three years to make a success of it [and it hadn't happened]."

This analysis took me by surprise, because whenever I'd eaten at the café it was busy. (To be honest, I usually ate after church on Sundays, but I had been in a couple of times on weekdays, too.) Nevertheless, Rudy made it clear that he just wasn't drawing a clientele except at midday on Sundays.

Alas! I shall miss my friend Rudy. And I shall miss eating at what had been probably my favorite Mexican restaurant/café here in San Antonio. I pray Godspeed on Rudy and blessings of success in his next enterprise.