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Amy's Grill in Patty's Place


gringal

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Actually, I was going to Amy for burgers and chile with my wife and some friends. I was under the impression that she was open on Ocampo at noon, Sundays. We arrived to find the door open, workers cutting tile and the place looking terrible; definitely not ready to open. It was just a few minutes before noon, so we hung out briefly and then left.

Does anyone know if I was wrong about the Sunday hours?

Carnivore,

I was responding to Canamex in the post above.

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Actually, I was going to Amy for burgers and chile with my wife and some friends. I was under the impression that she was open on Ocampo at noon, Sundays. We arrived to find the door open, workers cutting tile and the place looking terrible; definitely not ready to open. It was just a few minutes before noon, so we hung out briefly and then left.

Does anyone know if I was wrong about the Sunday hours?

Carnivore,

I was responding to Canamex in the post above.

Definitely closed on Sunday's. Amy is serving food in an already established business "Patty's Place" which is more like a bar. The work you saw being done is in preparation for the rainy season. This is a business run by Patty and Amy is serving her burgers and Faye's awarding winning chili, and the physical condition of the building is Patty's responsibility. After Amy left Armando's location she set up at this place cause she needs an income and there was not another location for she and her Mom to move immediately. They are still working on finding a more permanent location.

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I was craving a burger after hearing all this talk so I went by on Saturday early afternoon and found the place crawling with workers sawing and working away but they did not appear to be open.

I'll try some other time.

Valerie :)

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You're kidding, right? J-M is closed, darn, it has the best pizza in town (IMHO). Darn! Well, if it is gone, then we Westies would welcome Amy and Faye. BTW - the burger place next to Casa Del Waffle is also gone - so that's another location - maybe with abetter kitchen.

I wish the J-M couple well, especially witha baby on the way in August.

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The snowbirds have flown north and many locals are at the beach. Old expat residents are not going out as much in the warm season, at least not in the noonday sun. So, many eateries are suffering badly from a lack of customers and an increase in spoilage and waste caused by being ready, but not selling all they bought; a double whammy. Several go out of business every year in this slow season. This year is particularly bad, as the lake is low, folks in the USA seem either frightened or broke and Canadians have gone home to insure that they retain their health coverage.

On top of that, everyone seems to think they can run a restaurant and that all expats are rich and eat out daily. Wrong! But, that is why Ajijic, especially, may have more restaurants per capita than any other place I can imagine. It is a Darwinian situation; survival of the fittest, not necessarily the fanciest. I do not envy any of them.

As such, Amy and others like her, may be exercising caution in considering any new venture. It would probably require enough reserve to survive a year with a red bottom line, while trying to build a business in the face of so much competition. Everyone else is just trying to hang on and those who do not own their physical locations are doubly challenged.

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That is exactly what I meant by my last sentence in the post above. As a landlord, who may own several locales, sees a decline in income, it is not unusual for him to raise the rent on any tenant who seems to be enjoying good business. Many drive their tenants out with this practice and find themselves without a tenant for the next very long time. I guess it is part of living in the moment, but not looking forward after considering details and consequences. But then, I suppose that things would be different if Mexico had really long, cold winters.

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Amy is working "against all odds" at Patty's and has little or no chance of replicating what she and her Mom had accomplished at Armando's. This is a terribly slow time of the year and as Amy herself has said: the current location is just a temporary arrangement until they are able to come up with a better plan. A visit to the current location would likely make anyone understand why a move has to be priority. After the last fiasco which has so severely upset so many of Amy's clientele I'm very sure that she and her Mom are going to be extremely careful in seeking out what I'm sure they will want to be their "last" relocation.

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We frequently drive past that large, beautiful ex-furniture showroom building on the north side of the carretera in Riberas del Pilar. It has lots of parking out front, gate to more in the back and would make a spectacular restaurant. It has two floors and could have living quarters upstairs. It has been vacant for quite a while and I do not know if it is rentable, or for sale. Of course, owning the building is the only way to prevent a landlord from raising the rent as soon as he sees the opportunity; an act that seems to be a local habit.

Of course, that place is so large that one could turn it into a food court and supplant several other restaurants. Probably not practical here, though.

At the other end of the scale is the location between Panino and SuperLake, where Shwarmex was located. It is much too small, for sure, but the location does have parking in the evening.

The new mall????? Lots of parking there.

Just rambling ........

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I'm crossing my fingers for the Villa del Arte location. I'm picturing colorful umbrellas out front with al fresco dining. Most of all, I'm picturing my favorite dishes produced by Faye and Amy. Good luck, gals. Let's hope the next move will be the best and last.

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Ajijic is the most important location for the "snow bird" clientele as many who visit during the winter here do not have cars. Riberas or San Antonio are simply not practical. An honest lease with an honest landlord, (proven over time through reputation) will be of most importance. Yes, there are a couple of Ajijic locations that could be considered close to "turn key" where a huge expenditure would not be required. The former Riberas furniture show-room that's mentioned in an earlier post would command not only a "huge" rent but would take an astonishing amount of money to turn into a restaurant. One would never want to even remotely consider doing that unless they owned the building. Take a look a Ajijic's most successful restaurant - Ajijic Tango. Count the number of seats. Yes they are virtually full most of the time; certainly during the winter months, but now there's frequently a few empty seats even though they, fortunately, cater to both Mexicans and Expats. That's the way it is here and Ajijic Tango has probably best "set the bar" in that those considering the opening of a restaurant would likely be best off considering a maximum seating capacity of certainly not greater than the restaurant that's consistently doing it best. (A.T.) Again, the most desirable location would be one that is as close to "central" as possible.

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Central, great, but the centre can't hold all that many restaurants and snowbirds invariably have friends who invite them to go by car further out. Maybe it's better to go a bit further out for a good experience.

Villa del Arte: just why is it that it doesn't rent or sell? Is he asking too much? Because it's very very common in the big cities for chefs like Daniel Boulud, Susur Lee, David Chang - to partner with other chefs to create their food havens and heavens. Why can't that happen here? Why couldn't Amy and Faye, for example, partner up with others to serve creative, good food in a building like Villa del Arte?

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