Date Day at Efrain's

For the past 15 years, each week Will and I have put aside one day exclusively for the two of us which he calls “Date Day.” On that day for about 12 years we went to Efrain’s, our favorite Mexican restaurant, where we would sit in a booth, smoke, drink Margaritas, talk for four or five hours, and top it off with a splendid Mexican dinner. The restaurant is owned and operated by a family from Chihuahua, Mexico; the head cook is Noel (seen on Will’s left in the hat) who makes the best pork green chili (hot!) either of us has ever tasted, or could imagine tasting! Not to mention the menudo that taught me even tripe can be delicious when immersed in a broth made from the perfect combination of epazote, ground red chili flakes, oregano, onions and whatever else they put in there, served with fresh limes; their tamales, like everything else, are hand made fresh from old family recipes; their shredded beef in anything from tacos to enchiladas is marinated to perfection; their red sauce brings out the best of the ripened and dried New Mexican chilies. The place is always filled with Spanish speakers and the atmosphere is welcoming, festive, warm, and filled with the lyrical sounds of the Spanish language and Mexican music. Every single week, in a booth just up from ours, a local writer would come with his book and pipe for a few hours of solitary pleasure in their company. Over time we’ve gotten to know and love this family and it was a very difficult decision to move Date Day into our living room when a state wide smoking ban went into effect last year. On our last Saturday there Lucy, Noel’s sister, handed us two ashtrays as we walked out the door. “You should have these,” she told us, “as a souvenir of the good times.”

I cannot help wondering how many times this same scene has played out around the country where once the freedom to run one’s business as one sees fit brought people like us all together and was, frankly, good business for the owners. Efrain's did not want the smoking ban to go into effect for their business but had no say. Will, I, and others enjoyed Efrain’s because it was a place where we could sit all afternoon, talk, drink Margaritas, have a nice meal prepared for us, and enjoy a smoke in the company of lovely people. It was this combination that made it a perfect location and so we chose to do business there. Efrain’s once had many patrons just like us.

I will not defend the practice of smoking, and I do not have to. But, I will defend the right of individual business owners to make their own business decisions when smoking is involved because anyone can exercise their right not to frequent or work in such places. And while I understand the argument that workers ought not be exposed to smoking if they choose not to be, and that people often need to take jobs were ever they exist, I do not understand why a person does not have the right to open up a smoking establishment, declare it as such from the outset, and earn money where adults, involved in a legal activity, can come together in a social environment and exercise that right. In some places, for example, one can no longer smoke in a tobacco shop! The logic of this escapes me utterly.

But, I do go on and will give you, poor reader, a break from my rant, although I’d love to know what you think of all this fuss.