'El Patio,' Iconic Austin Eatery, Closing After 65 Years

AUSTIN, TX — Walk into the iconic El Patio restaurant off Guadalupe Street — serving up popular Tex-Mex fare for the past 65 years to a loyal clientele — and you're suddenly transported back in time. Sadly for its regular patrons, time has run out for the Austin fixture after its owners' decision to retire and close the place in early August.

Fans of the dining spot at 2938 Guadalupe St. learned the sad news of the imminent closure on Tuesday. El Patio's operators — the children of first-generation Lebanese-American founders Paul and Mary Ann Joseph who founded the place in 1954 in a building constructed in 1930 — have called it quits as they seek a reprieve from the punishing demands of the restaurant industry through retirement, as Renee Joseph Downer, the original owner's daughter told Patch.

"It's sad because these customers are like family to us, and we're going to miss them very much," Downer said, noting she broke the news to the 15-member staff that same morning. "My older brother wants to retire, and my sister and I want to retire too," she added, agreeing on the rigors of the restaurant industry. "It's a lot of work, but very rewarding because of all the wonderful customers we have had across the years."

Renee Joseph Downer was especially busy at the cash register on Tuesday as a steady stream of regular customers descended after learning the popular eatery will soon close. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

She stressed the closure was not due to increased rent in a gentrifying Austin dotted with closed mom-and-pop businesses succumbing to higher rent amid soaring property values, nor was it a matter of insurance requirement chances. "It's not the taxes the insurance or the rent," she emphasized in noting the reason the joint soon will close, but strictly based on a decision to enter retirement.

A hall of fame of sorts depicting famous customers — the late Texas Tech head football coach Spike Dykes and retired UT-Austin women's basketball coach Jody Conradt among them — hangs over the front counter of El Patio. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

As word spread of the imminent closure, the little eatery was filled up as usual but with a disproportionate number of longtime customers making the pilgrimage specially to patronize the place in its waning days. One longtime customer named Connie is one of those customers, telling Patch she's been coming to the place since she was a little girl.

A steady stream of customers descended to El Patio as word of its imminent closure spread. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

Taking a smoke break outside while her husband, nephew and a family friend finished their meals inside, she recalled how Paul Joseph — Mr. Joseph, as she refers to him to this day as a form of respect — would walk her around the tiny place in an impromptu tour of the building whenever she would get fussy at the table.

Later, when she herself had a child, the restaurant owner employed the same calming technique with her child, Connie recalled.

"My daughter, when she was maybe eight months old — we come as a big family all the time, and they'd make this big table — and Mr. Joseph would come and greet us, and he came over and he got my daughter out of the high chair," she recalled. "She was fussy. We all wanted to eat, you know. I have pictures of him carrying her all around the restaurant — in the back, in the kitchen — and they did that when I was a little girl."

On Tuesday, she had the beef nachos with a couple of Carta Blanca beers to wash it down. "I'm gonna come back every day 'til they close," she vowed. But as much as the food, it was that sense of family that kept her religiously coming in.

Despite its odd hours of operation (always closed on Sunday and Monday, open Tuesday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8:45 p.m.), the iconic spot at 2938 Guadalupe St. always draws a crowd of eager patrons eager for its culinary wares — namely the signature enchiladas and the salsa incongruously served with, not tortilla chips, but saltine crackers — a tradition started by the late family patriarch.

Mr. Joseph's preferred salsa vessel is memorialized at the front counter. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

That culinary twist ended a few years back, but servers still bring the salsa-saltines combo to the table upon request, Connie told Patch with the hushed tones of an insider. The culinary aberration is memorialized on the front counter as something of a tribute to the family patriarch.

Those oddities are part of the charm of El Patio, where a mix of oldsters and young families can invariably be seen enjoying Tex-Mex comfort food amid cramped quarters. Those coming in for dinner are greeted by an enlivened version of the place as the neon sign with its familiar sombrero beckons motorists along Guadalupe Street with its welcoming glow, augmented with colorful neon bars lighting the horizontal edges of the old building in purple.

The inside of the place isn't much to look at, and the exterior isn't exactly worthy of an Architectural Digest cover story either. There's a long hallway lined by jagged stone facade as one enters the place before reaching the front end to seated. Let's face it, it's a dive — but a beloved one at that where patronage is generational.

Downer was behind the counter on Tuesday as she usually is, but on this day doing a brisk business given the steady stream of regulars wanting as much to pay homage as needing to be fed.

A young mom with her two boys in tow arrives to El Patio on Tuesday, poised to walk the long hallway to the front before being seated. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

The window-lined, long hallway customers traverse before getting to the dining area at El Patio. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

Round Rock resident John Gibson happened on the place almost by accident. Recently, he and other members of a parking lot repair crew learned about the El Patio after a recent project nearby. He decided to drop by on Tuesday, ordering the "El Patio No. 2" consisting of a guacamole salad, crispy beef taco, two cheese enchiladas with chili, beans and rice.

Gibson said he found the dish "excruciatingly messy," but tasty, and reasonably priced at $10.50. "I didn't even know this place existed until I got here," he said. "I've decided that if I can get back before they close, I need to have the beef nachos with jalapeños.

An unfailingly expansive hospitality makes up for cramped quarters of El Patio, enjoyed by generations of customers. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

News of the El Patio's imminent closure comes after a spate of announcements from other iconic eateries alerting to their shutdowns, including Eastside Cafe after more than 30 years in business, Hut's Hamburgers due to close this October after operating on West 6th Street since 1969 after having opened along South Congress in 1939 and the Riverside-area Threadgill's that closed this past December after 22 years in business.

Asked if she had a message to her customers past and present, Downer said: "We, the Joseph family and the staff, want to thank Austin and he surrounding areas very much for supporting us for 65 years. Thank you very much!"

The last day of business for El Patio is Aug. 9.

In a city where the unofficial mantra is "Keep Austin Weird," the iconic eatery did its part in furthering local eccentricities with its odd hours of operation. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.